We left our comfy
hotel in Salzburg and made a fairly quick trip to Vienna. On the way
I suggested to Stephen that we leave the tree lined autobahn and
detour into the surrounding countryside. With no idea of wheat was
around us we did that and found ourselves in a small village called
Rutzmoos!!! such a picturesque village – see photo – houses quite
typical of what we expected to see with Swiss influence.
Another village ran
into Rutzmooz, by the name of Alm. There we saw sites that our guide
in Salzburg had described – parents build family home with attached
upstairs barn for cattle fodder and downstairs barn for wintering
animals . . around their home they build other such establishments
for their children to live in with their family in turn – designed
to cope with work load on the land – we saw old houses like this
with new versions around them so this appears to be a tradition that
continues today!
Suddenly Stephen
had to throw out the anchor as I had spied 2 , two humped camels
seated in a small field quietly ruminating and enjoying the view over
pasture and woods! Thence followed spirited debate between the
Berties senior re the purpose of these animals in this situation.
No
answers made sense so on we went.
Camels in Austria???
Having arrived,
checked into our hotel, in the outskirts of Vienna, we spent time ,
between cold showers to combat high temperature with associated
lassitude, working out what we would do next. Decision finally made
we ventured forth to buy cheap travel pass for 48 hours at the
underground station ( across the road! How convenient and how clever
of Stephen to book us in to such a site)Thence on wards to Schonbrunn
Palace – up the road quite a bit on tram 10. Maria Theresia, hubby
and 16 kids ( one of whom was Marie Antoinette)lived there sometimes
– spreading themselves around Austria in the many and various
palaces they owned. We intended to stroll through the vast gardens
but before we could do that we were drawn but the sound of a brass
band playing beside the imposing staircase to the palace's front
door. We trundled up staircase and hung over the railings to watch,
listen to ,applauded and sing along as the band from the Netherlands
played a large range of music – classical, a medley of folk music
for children around the world and then – to our delight excerpts
from Queen! How the audience ( and we) loved that! So many items
evoked memories of a special time for our family. The musicians
played and role played at the same time - The crowd would not let
them stop – the Dutch conductor responded to the mood of the crowd.
The encore was enthusiastically received then conductor bade us all
farewell – go home please – so they could have their photos
taken.
As I said – these
incidental moments are truly highlights.
We then wandered
through gardens that were largely arboreal – cunningly laid out to
trick those keen to explore. Flowers are laid out in lawns in
fascinating patterns but not in beds as is common. Rather the flowers
grow in the lawn – carefully tended so grass does not intrude
amongst the flowers. Grass is kept low so the flowers stand higher.
Does that make sense?
Once our tummies
stared to rumble at the same time as lightening began to do its thing
so we found our number 10 tram again and whizzed back to hotel /
restaurant Mataushenk – or something like that. And wouldn't you
know it! The 3 nights we are here the restaurant is closed for a
holiday!!!
So – with
instructions from our host we ventured forth with brollies into rain
– lovely and cooling as it was still very hot- to Martin's Bier
Garten. Great Austrian food – always huge amounts. Completely
stonkered – as my grand parents used to say – and with Stephen
with somewhat soggy knickers as we ate outside under umbrellas and he
insisted he was fine on the outer edge!!! - we tramped back to our
beds. Finally had to shut double glazed windows as traffic noises
were considerable. Ah! Peace at last. Double glazing over here is
great sound proofing. Nonetheless it was a hot night and as there is
no air conditioning in Austria yet ( again, info from our sound of
music guide – she was great source of info sleep au naturale was in
order. Oh dear – back to NZ temps will be a shock – never mind.
Scotland will prepare us!
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