So that is how we start our Vienna adventure. We take our GPS and go to the centre of the city. Seems to us now that we completely forgot how to find our way without the navigator – since we cannot find the right direction for quite a long time. But then we take out the GPS and with its help get to the very centre of Vienna. What can we say – to our mind, after the amazing picturesque places of the Southern Austria, Vienna is just too urban… Although, of course, to each – their own. We are more of nature freaks than the fans of architecture, but if you prefer to observe amazing buildings you are welcome to the Austrian capital because here you will find plenty…

The first one we see is St. Stephen’s Cathedral – and we even climb to its tower by going 343 stairs up to enjoy the view of Vienna from the top of the Cathedral. The only disadvantage is that there is no open viewing platform and we have to observe the city from the windows.

When we go down, nearby the Cathedral we find the Deutsch Orden Church that is 800 years old.

After dinner we go to visit the Hofburg Palace – the former residence of the Austrian government, and spend some time in a garden surrounding it. In the evening we take a metro to the Prater Park – the most famous entertainment park in Austria. It’s mostly suitable for kids, yet we quite enjoy our being there and even enjoy some of games and attractions it offers. After Prater, we go back to the hotel (the way to which we had to search using our navigator again…)

Next morning we go to Schönbrunn Palace – perhaps, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Austrian capital. The most interesting part of the palace for us is the labyrinth, so we search for it… but it’s a huge disappointment as it seems to be built for kids – its walls only go up to the waist level and we can see it all from the above. Then we just sit and relax next to the famous Schönbrunn fountains. And after than go to see the beautiful Vienna opera palace, the House of Hundertwasser and the Burgtheater. The Bugtheater turns out to be the most impressive place in the whole Vienna for us! Mostly because of the atmosphere that is there in that area. We hear the sounds of opera music and soon discover that there is a huge screen at the square rights in front of the theater. So this creates exactly the impression that Vienna was connected in our minds with.

After the Burgtheater we go to the UNO-city which turns out to be just a complex of four modern rivers on the river bank. At night it is hardly distinct, anyway we are happy that we have seen it. After this we go to the hotel and sleep till the next morning – tomorrow we go to Germany.

Related posts:

1. Around Austria By Car - Part 8: Making Our Way To Vienna. Virtual Reality and Some Realities of the Northern Austria

This is the first time in Austria that we have a problem finding a place where schnitzel is served. Most restaurants offer seafood, and only one offers this traditional Austrian dish. Amazing!

After that we get to the parking where we left our car and decide to go and see some wonderful mountain lakes close to Hallstadt that we heard of. But because the rain starts again, we have to go back to Bad Ischl where we have our hotel booked. It takes us not more than half an hour to go around the whole town, but we spend about 2 hours looking at the fast running river. After that we go to Sankt Gilgen that is only 9,35 miles from Bad Ischl and enjoy the view on the lake. That is how our day ends.

On the next day, we also just rest and relax and enjoy ourselves and the Austrian landscapes full of mountains and lakes. Finally the sunny weather – and we go to Sankt Wolfgang again so that to take a train to Schafberg – a mountain 5570 feet high from which there is an excellent view on all the lakes in Salzkammergut! Excited at this perspective we drive there, park our car (incredible but the parking is completely empty!) and prepare to take the train to Shafberg. However when we get to the train station, we change our minds – first of all, the price of the ticket (40 euro) seems a bit too high, taking into account that we have already seen plenty of Austrian views from the height; secondly the tourists are supposed to stay on top of that mountain for an hour, and it is a bit too cold there (41F).

So we go back to our car and decide to explore Sankt Wolfgang again. It looks so much better on a sunny day! The mountains are seen clearly (before they were covered in fog), the lakes are tremendously beautiful with their clear sparking water… So we are happy. It seems that Sankt Wolfgang is a place to relax and enjoy the views, however this trip of ours turns out to be completely different.

The matter is that on our way to Sankt Wolfgang we see the plan of Wolfgangsee lake, and there is some mountain lake called Schwarzsee (‘black lake’) nearby, so surely we decide to go there. This turns out to be a private lake so we pay for entering this territory, but… it is certainly worth it! In this paradise, we decide that these views are the best of whatever we have already seen in Austria! Idyllic pictures of the lake, mountains and glimpses of nature – the ones of the kind that one would normally see in advertising booklets or magazines.

After this fairy-tale place we decide to see Traunkirche – the church that has been standing on the edge of a mountain for 200 years. There is a nice village there so we walk a bit and enjoy the views. After coming back to Bad Ischl, we have cakes in a small restaurant, watch the Bad Ischl river for about an hour, and go back to our hotel to get prepared to tomorrow’s trip to Vienna!

Related posts:

1. Around Austria By Car - Part 5: Many Beautiful Lakes and One Huge Disappointment...

The view from Hochosterwitz, as pretty much everywhere in Austria, was really amazing. Although, I would say, Landskron is prettier. And the Hochosterwitz Castle is not particularly interesting. So we went around it, had a look, listened to some Austrian songs that somebody sung inside the castle, and went further on.

After passing by some small and pretty lakes, we again start ascending to the Alps. Kärnten is the area of Austria that is totally surrounded by the Alps, so it is impossible to go into or go outside this area without crossing the mountains. The road here is not as high as in Grossglockner – the maximum we had to go up was 6250 feet high – and the views are not so impressive. By the way, if you choose to ride the paid autobahn, getting to the necessary place will be faster but the views are not nearly as nice.

We have lunch and make our way to the Blue Dome World of Water – a thematic leisure park devoted to water. According to the promotional materials, this park is equally enjoyed by grown-ups and kids, and it has some water show, etc., etc. This park is named after the blue lake near which it is located. From the descriptions, we understood that the park area was quite huge – so we expected to find something really impressive. However, this turned out to be the biggest surprise for us in Austria – the only thing we found was a small unsighty house, and next to it – a pile of stones and a crowd of people. So we come closer and see something that remotely resembles the picture of the Blue Dome. At the picture the place looks much, much prettier though… We actually start thinking that this Blue Dome is made from something that resembles a stall!

Anyway, since we have already come here, we decide we would have a look at the Blue Dome World of Water anyway. It consists of both outdoor and indoor areas. The stones at the entrance inside the park look like a pair of giant hands – such a view promises something interesting inside. The water is falling through these hands, and from distance it seems as we have to walk under the pouring water to get into the... well, stall. The impressions were not particularly profound or exciting – we see demonstrations of some physical effects of water, of the water’s role in shaping the caves and mountains of the area, participate in a ‘superb flight around the lake’… and so we are not really happy about it. Anyway, we leave the park and go further on.

Since we don’t have plans for this day, we decide to go to Saint Wolfgang – a stunningly beautiful town at the Worfgangsee lake. We take a walk around the lake and enjoy the view a lot, but when the rain starts we have to hide in some coffee shop.

Since the rain has not finished yet, we go back to our hotel. So that is how the fifth day of our Austrian adventure is over!

Related posts:

1. Around Austria By Car - Part 6: Relaxing and Enjoying the Landscapes...
2. Around Austria By Car - Part 4: First Day With Great Weather And Lots Of New Impressions!

The first lake has an amazing view… with the mountains and the forest surrounding it and the small little chalets at the mountain top… There are so many bicyclists around the area that we suddenly get an urge to stay there too, enjoy the views, visit multiple cafés and restaurants – and of course do a bit of cycling as well! But we’ve already got plans, and we still need to do a lot more sightseeing and besides the water is still quite chilly – so we go around the lake to see the Ossiach Abbey, the Castle Landskron (which is quite impressive, although is all in ruins), and then go to another lake, Wörthersee – the warmest lake in Austria. We stop by Maria Wörth church and enjoy the park near it.

Further along the lake there is Piramidenkögel – a peak with an excellent view to the lake that is 1700 meters high. We take an elevator to this peak and enjoy the view to both lakes through the binoculars, looking close at the boats and the houses and the rest of the beautiful views of the neighborhood.

After Piramidenkögel we go to the Minimundus – ‘the world in miniature’ exhibition. Again – a couple of dozen minutes spent in a fight for a space in two huge parking places – and here we go, after making several circles around the parking zone, we manage to get into a free space. So we become absolutely firm in our conviction that parking is quite a problem in Austria…

Anyway, most important is Minimundus. Here it is possible to see all most famous and amazing buildings and sights of the whole world in about an hour or two! We really loved viewing them, taking pleasure in both looking at those that we did not yet have a chance to see ‘in full scale’, and those that we have seen in the original and could compare to their Minimundus counterparts! Here we found Eiffel Tower, Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Statue of Liberty, Sydney Opera House, Taj Mahal, White House, the launch pad of the space shuttle – and many, many other amazing constructions. You may see some of them at the photos, but we highly recommend that you see them with your own eyes!

We found the Vatican square – we recently took photos in the actual, ‘full-size’ location, so it’s really kind of cool to make a similar photographs not under the column but above it. All the buildings are recreated just the way they are – with the scale about 1:25, and all of them being made really meticulously, with the slightest and finest details of the originals reproduced… If you photograph them separately, so that the scale is not noticeable at the picture, you can hardly tell them at the photos from the original ones. Some of the constructions are animated! The small mills are working, the small trains are going to and fro, the crane is loading and unloading the cargo… So, it is quite interesting and impressive!

However, two hours there is more than enough, because after that, your brain just cannot perceive any more information. So we say goodbye and thank you to the Minimundus and have lunch – of course, schnitzel, because it is so traditional for Austria!

Although we have fulfilled our plans for the day, there was still plenty of time so we decided to see something we planned to visit later during our trip and went to Magdalensberg that was only about 12 miles from our hotel. Again – the road with abrupt turns and the cows walking freely alongside. We looked at the excavation sites that featured the remnants of Celtic and Roman cultures, and then got ourselves onto the top of the hill and enjoyed the wonderful sunset.

Related posts:

1. Around Austria By Car - Part 5: Many Beautiful Lakes and One Huge Disappointment...
2. Around Austria By Car - Part 3: Waterfalls and High Alpine Road
3. Around Austria By Car - Part 1: The Very Beginning and Some F***ing Sign...

There is still raining, and there does not seem to be an end to it.

On our way there we stop by a small water mill – the last one of the kind, and it is situated in German territory, not Austrian.

It took us all in all five hours to get to the Krimml Waterfalls, including a lunch break. All the time there is still raining, however in some places the fog becomes thinner, and the view is quite nice. In several places we stop so that to see the scenic viewpoints. For driving on all autobahns in Austria, you have to pay. However the difference in time spent for the travelling by autobahn or ordinary road is not very huge. So it is totally up to you whether you pay for a faster ride or not.

Finally we arrive to the place… park our car and follow the arrows showing the path towards the waterfall. The Krimml Waterfalls are truly very impressive! First of all, we heard the roaring of water while we were still walking on the path. Secondly, when we find ourselves in the nearest closeness to the water, we are enchanted by its majestic beauty… The water is thundering, and the view is really majestic… There is a small brook and a mini-waterfall close to the place. It is also possible to go up the mountain so that to have a look at the view from there.

After we leave the waterfalls, we continue driving so that to get to the High Alpine Road that lays through the mountains. The ascent of the alpine road is more than 2 kilometres (!!!), and the highway serpentinous road is interesting in itself of course. The whole road is more than 48 kilometres long, and the driving experience there is truly unique. Yet sometimes scary. The bends are quite many and very abrupt (180° turns are at approximately each 200 metres of the road!), and there is snow everywhere.

From time to time, we see the parking places on the road which are specifically designed for you to take some rest, read about the flora and fauna of the place, take pictures and so on. On our way we drive through the cloud, and can hardly see anything – so it’s a bit scary… Especially scary, as it turned out, was descending – even the 40km/h speed seems cosmic on this kind of road, especially when as you drive nearer the 180° turns. Oh, and do not forget that to the right hand side there is a downfall… With the temperature of the air 3.5 degrees and 1900 metres height, we feel as if we are onboard of a plane!
We skipped the observation peak with the height of 3000 meters because the snow seemed extremely thick there – so we decided we better not take such a risk. However, we got nearly to the same height at the highest point of the road – 2500 meters.

The views that we observed from the windows of our car were amazing… alpine meadows, mountain cliffs, forests, cows, lake and even a brook… these all are truly beautiful! The air is so clean. But of course it was a bit scary driving all the way there, with these turns and everything…

At the end of the day we arrived to the small town named Spital. The journey continues! Tomorrow – new impressions and new sights...

Related posts:

1. Around Austria By Car - Part 4: First Day With Great Weather And Lots Of New Impressions!
2. Around Austria By Car - Part 2: Salt, Rain And Ice
3. Around Austria By Car - Part 1: The Very Beginning and Some F***ing Sign...

My previous "walking on glacier" experience had been at the Columbia Ice Field, in the Canadian Rockies.  While that was interesting (and shocking, to see how quickly that ice has receded), it didn't prepare me for Perito Moreno glacier, in Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina.

Mini-trekking on Perito Moreno glacier, Argentina

Perito Moreno was one of the stops on our Patagonia tour, and our aim for the day was to strap on some crampons, and go out "mini-trekking" on the glacier. We took a boat across Lago Argentina in front of the glacier, and a short walk through the woods, then emerged at the edge of the glacier, where we donned our gear.
.
The first surprise was how rugged the surface of the glacier was.  It was all steep hills up and down, with jagged peaks of ice towering over our trail. You can tell from the pictures this is no smooth field of snow!  As we walked along, we passed holes in the ice filled with frigid water and the distinctive blue light of the glacier, and crevasses that went down who knows how far...
.
Perito Moreno glacier is one of 48 glaciers connected to the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, high in the Andes mountains of South America. The ice field straddles the border of Chile and Argentina, with glaciers reaching out in both directions. Only three of the glaciers are growing, and Perito Moreno is one of them.

The glacier moves several feet/day, constantly breaking off at the front edge

The glacier is a slow-moving river of ice, advancing several feet per day. At its front end, at Lago Argentina, there's a vertical wall of ice about 200 feet high. Enormous slabs of ice are constantly falling off the front of the glacier, so that the ice keeps moving, but the front stays in pretty much the same place. With this constant shifting of ice, every morning, the glacier guides have to scout out a new route for the day's tours.

The guides are experts, who straddled crevasses cavalierly, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Their stories of off-duty adventure were astonishing.

One guide said the most dangerous thing he ever did was free climb up the face of the glacier. (He said he would never do that one again - unless somebody bet him a lot of money!) This is 200 feet up a wall of ice that's constantly breaking off! We saw numerous huge chunks calve off and crash into the lake while we were there, testament to the constantly shifting nature of Perito Moreno.

Scotch on the (very old) rocks!

But the tale of derring-do that took my breath away was scuba diving in the glacier.  Those holes in the blue ice we passed that were filled with freezing water?  They'd find a large hole that looked promising, and scuba dive into it, following wherever it would lead.  I get shivery and claustrophobic just thinking about it!  And with the ice continuing its relentless forward march, who knows how long the hole you came through will be there?

Ah well, there's a reason they're out there doing glacier diving, while I'm sitting with my laptop writing a blog post about it!

At the end of our Perito Moreno mini-trek, we got a nice surprise - a little scotch on the rocks.  In this case, the rocks were "millennial ice" - glacier ice that's a thousand years old.  Most places the scotch is older then the ice, but not here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not sure when we'll be back in Argentina, but the next time we do our women's trip to Patagonia, I definitely want to include Perito Moreno again. It was quite a highlight, and so much fun. Definitely recommended!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Orcas on the beach, Peninsula Valdes, Argentina
2. Giant dinosaur found in fossil ''Lost World''
3. Awesome Argentine Armadillo

On a rock? With a fox?

That was last year.  This year, we were back at South Beach - we go there every year on our San Juan Islands trips (up in the Pacific Northwest, near Seattle). Every trip is different, and you never know what you'll see, but I was keeping my eyes open for foxes.

This year, we saw a black fox, nosing around near the same spot.  The black one looked scrawnier, and seemed to be hoping for scraps around someone's picnic table, rather than hunting for wild prey like the red one from last year. 

I read that all the foxes on the island are red foxes, but that they come in different colors, including black.  So that would mean last year we saw a red red fox, and this year we saw a black red fox! 

Another week at South Beach this year, we saw an otter cross the beach, and take off into the water.  Just minutes later, he came back out of the water and across the beach, with a fish in his mouth.  It sure didn't take him long to find breakfast!  It was wonderful to see, but unfortunately, I was camera-less.  We also saw orca whales, quite close in to the beach, and easily visible from shore.  We normally see orcas out whale watching, but this was a first for me, seeing them from the beach here.

Driftwood on the beach

If "South Beach" makes you you think of Miami, this is the complete opposite.  This one isn't about neon and nightlife - it's about wind and wildlife.  It may be foggy or blue, chilly or warm, but it's a beach where you can stroll for miles, rarely encountering anyone else.  It's a place to feel the wind and smell the sea, and contemplate the patterns of the waves.  All that, and the biggest piles of driftwood you could ever hope to see.

This is also the site of the American Camp, during the "Pig War" vs. the British in the 1800s.  But that's another story!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you ever feel like getting away from the rat race to a place that's exceptionally peaceful and beautiful, the San Juan Islands is a good choice. As soon as I step onto the ferry heading out there, I can feel it, and just writing this post makes me want to go back. That's one danger of writing a blog!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. San Juan Islands - scuba diving (video)
2. San Juan Islands by float plane (video)
3. San Juan Islands - The ferry ride (video)

So there we were.. ready for our medieval feast

.
Bevagna is a small town in Umbria. It's a charming and picturesque walled town, that was an important place in ancient Roman days, situated along the Via Flaminia. It's also home to a festival called Mercato Delle Gaite. For a few days each spring, the town is time-warped back to the middle ages.

If you visit during this time, you'll find quite a different place than normal! The townspeople are all dressed in medieval garb, and the locals are very much into the spirit of the event. As you wander through the streets, you'll find all sorts of unusual activities underway, from falconry, to blacksmithing, to paper making.

The town is historically divided into four quarters, "Le Gaite". These neighborhoods compete against each other in different events as part of the festival, and there's a real rivalry between them. Archery is one of the events. Watching the contestants in their tunics engaged in this traditional endeavor, can really take you back. Just pretend that the spectators are of a different era, too!

One of the competitions is cooking, and that's where our banquet comes in. For this, we all got to dress in character, and attend an authentic medieval feast. There were jesters and musicians, and food and drink appropriate to the time.

"Appropriate to the time" has a very specific meaning here. It must be "food as it was prepared and served between 1250 and 1350, in this region of Italy". They're very particular about this authenticity when it comes to judging. A dish could be eliminated from competition if it used a type of apple that wasn't grown at that time! Somehow I expected this historical food to be bland, but I was surprised by how delicious it was. I was fortunate enough to be given a cookbook with the secret recipes from Gaita Santa Maria.

You can see photos of the town at Excursion to Bevagna, taken at a quieter time of year, without all the medieval activity!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not sure when we'll be back in Bevagna, but looking at this makes me hope it will be soon. We'll have to start planning another Tuscany and Umbria trip before long... That was so much fun!

PS. The guy in the middle looking like a happy Friar Tuck was our driver, Massimo. His true calling should have been opera singer -- what an amazing voice!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Rome Italy - Chariot racing at Circus Maximus
2. Rome, Italy: Shady side of the Spanish Steps
3. Space alien fires in Italy

The armadillo gets my vote for most unusual mammal

.

Peninsula Valdez in Argentina is a sweeping, open space, where the dusty brown desert stretches right to the sparkling sea. Where else do you see armadillos and elephant seals all on the same walk? Not to mention guanacos and sea lions, killer whales and rheas!

I'd always heard that armadillos were shy, and that we were unlikely to see one. However, this little guy (or girl, for all I can tell!) was so intent on lapping up the drops of water that had spilled on the ground here, that his thirst overcame any fear of people, and we were able to get an excellent close-up view.

From a distance, the armadillo's protective armor looks like a hard shell. How appropriate that the name "armadillo" means "little armored one" in Spanish. As you get closer, you see that it's hairy. In fact, this particular animal is the species Hairy Armadillo -- once again a very appropriate name! Yes, this little armored creature really is a mammal, and one of the most unusual ones anywhere. When you get even closer, it looks like he's wearing an ornate golden headpiece!

Armadillos are omnivores, which must be a useful trait when living in such a harsh environment. They live in burrows, and in desert climates adjust their schedule day or night to take advantage of the best temperatures. Among their more surprising characteristics is an ability to swim, inflating their stomachs & intestines with air to keep themselves afloat. See more at the Wonderful World of Armadillos.

So next time you're hanging out at Peninsula Valdez, keep an eye out for hairy little armored ones, especially around the miniature watering holes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're going back to Argentina for our women's trip to Patagonia in February 2010. It's an exciting trip! Peninsula Valdez is a stop half-way down the coast of Argentina, not far from Punta Tombo (with its hundreds of thousands of nesting penguins). But that's another post!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Orcas on the beach, Peninsula Valdes, Argentina
2. Mini-trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina
3. The President's wife

Napa trail spiral - in one end, out the other

.

I was out hiking by myself on a trail up in the hills above Calistoga (north end of Napa Valley), when the trail took an unexpected detour.  One minute I was striding down a fairly typical trail, admiring the views of the valley.  Then next, I was going around and around and around in circles!  Then back to the normal trail -- just carry on as though nothing had happened.  What an odd feeling!

Somebody had put in considerable effort, out here in the middle of nowhere, to add this rock spiral to the trail.  What you can't tell from the photo (because I didn't have the bird's eye view) is that it's a double spiral, so you go in one end, follow it into the center, then keep going and you come out the other side.

Now I know that some people would say the area should stay as natural as possible, and would want to remove this spiral.  Personally, I thought it was a lovely, unexpected addition.  After all, the other 99.99% of the area is still left as-is, and this is rearranging a few rocks that were already there, not pouring concrete.  Of course, if there were rock spirals everywhere, that would be a different matter, but it doesn't seem to have caught on that well. 

The trail is up in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park.  On our Napa Valley tours, we visit this park and take a different trail, so that we can see the site of his famous abandoned mine honeymoon.  I still wonder what his new bride thought of that!

On the way back to the car, I found I was looking forward to finding the spiral again.   Sure enough, it was still there.  (It's hard to find a more distinctive trail marker!)  I dutifully walked through it the other way on my way back.

Afterwards, I had a thought.  Does reversing the steps through it undo the magic from going through forward the first time?  Could I have won the lottery and found true love if only I didn't "unwind" the spiral on the way back?  Shoot!  I might just have to go back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We'll be back in Napa Valley this Sept/Oct for our women's trip to San Francisco and Napa.  I love going back there every year!  Both San Francisco and Napa rate way up there on my list of favorite places on earth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

1. Photo: Napa Valley, vine-covered winery
2. Mud baths and mine squatters
3. Maltese Falcon - with and without the fire