Auf Wiedersehen and Danke Austria

As our plane landed in Salzburg, Austria the massive and beautiful Austrian Alps took my breath away. There are not enough words to describe the impression they made. The sheer magnitude of their size, and gray rocky peaks were unlike what New England offers.

Many were nothing but rock jutting up into the clouds, others were pine covered until the very peak. Below all of this many areas were well cared for pastures, bright green with cows grazing. Much of this was on steep hillsides and I wondered how these animals had adapted to the terrain.

Our two day stay was in Villach, not far from the Italian border, and nestled in the Alps. Villach is a very old and quaint village with Baroque architecture. We did some touring around town, but cool and rainy weather put a slight "damper " on things. We hoped to experience Oktoberfest, but had missed it by a few days. We did have some fabulous Austrian food and beer.

The Austrian people were very friendly and welcoming. Even those who knew very little English went out of their way to be helpful. We found a way to communicate in spite of our inability to speak German. I did find many German words were similar to our English.

As we left Villach to continue our journey the Alps continued to impress as we entered Northern Italy. The highways travel directly through the mountains, not around, and I can only imagine what it took to blast through the rock to build the massive tunnels. Old villages built at the base (and sometimes the top) make you wonder how they have survived all these years; how many houses have been in the path of boulders tumbling down the mountain? And yet, they are still there.

So the journey, and the story continue. Next a brief stop at Padova, one of the oldest towns in Northern Italy, and then a couple days in Venice. Stay tuned.