Thursday, May 27, 2010

Piran, Slovenia


On what coast of the Adriatic Slovenia has, lies this gem of a town, Piran.

Desperate for the feeling of summer and the kiss of sea air, we decided to check it out.

With it's narrow labyrinth-like streets and beautiful Piazza, Piran closely resembles Dubrovnik, Croatia, and several of the Italian villages that hug the coast of Italy. Autos are not allowed to drive in the town, so we had to park in a garage outside and carry our suitcases to our bed and breakfast, Miracolo di Mare, a lovely and newly renovated B&B with a charming garden to have breakfast and service with a sense of humor.

We really had nothing on the agenda except to relax, explore the maze of streets, dip our toes in the chilly water and enjoy Slovenian wine with fresh seafood, which we did.



An interesting fact for us Hoosiers, Piran is the sister-city with Indianapolis, Indiana.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I loved, loved, LOVED, Ljubljana!!


Jason and I had to escape the cold, rainy weather of Austria. We headed south for a perfect weekend getaway, a sunnier Slovenia. It was just what we needed!

We spent a day in Ljubljana, just walking around and taking in the mash-up of Germanic, Latin, and Slavic culture.

One of the main attractions is a castle that overlooks the city. We did not tour inside because we were not feeling the need to take any information in this day; we decided to save the history intake for another trip. We did enjoy a nice walk through the park up to and surrounding the castle that surprised us occasionally with glimpses of the city through trees.

There was a very laid-back Bohemian feel to Ljubljana. Most stores close by noon on Saturday, leaving the streets empty in the early afternoon. It reminded me of siesta in Spain; it's like Slovenia closes down in the afternoon for a nap, and by late afternoon and evening, people start filling the cafes and gracing the streets and the pedestrian areas again.

For a capital city, it is not particularly large, I guess with less than 300,000 population. It did not give me a feeling of being overwhelmed, like most large cities do.

The combination of renovated buildings and those wearing history I found very poetic. It is the first city where even the graffiti seemed somehow tastefully placed. The architecture was a combination of Baroque and Art Nouveau, reminded me of Salzburg and Vienna, but also slightly of Slovenia's neighbors Croatia and Italy. The occasional building built during communist times added something, and I appreciated how pieces of communism and history were integrated to create something new and unique.

Another thing I noticed, almost every building in Ljubljana had flag holders. Ljubljana seems to enjoy honoring it's famous people by having Bust Sculptures made and placed on buildings, there were several, some very interesting (Jožef Blaznik is a book publisher from Slovenia, the heads below are from the door of Stolnica svetega Nikolaja).
We did not find Ljubljana to be unreasonably expensive; it was nice not to have to worry about going to a nice-looking place and then being surprised by prices. Jason and I had a very pleasant evening of drinks and dinner for less than 40 Euro and stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast very close to the downtown for less than 100 Euro, breakfast included.

Despite the many choices of cuisine, we decided on some Balkan Ćevapčići. Was the best Ćevapčići I have ever had, and went so well with beer! The restaurant Harambaša (which we learned about from our city guide) was a little off the main road, has a quaint and cosy dining room, complete with old photos, antiques and a Balkan soundtrack.

We only spent about 24 hours in Ljubljana, but you could easily spend a relaxing week! There are several museums and art galleries, not to mention parks to explore and shopping opportunities. I personally just found it to be the most relaxing city, perfect for people watching.

I really cannot say enough wonderful things about Ljubljana! We used the Destination City Guide, published by In Your Pocket and found it to be a perfect guide. We used their suggestions for where to stay and where to eat and could not have been more pleased!

More Vacationing in Austria: Klamms!

Here in the middle of the Alps we have a ton of gorges to explore. There are a handful less than 20 KM away that we have been checking off our list. Here are a few pictures from the Seisenbergklamm. It is directly in the town Weißbach bei Lofer in an area called the Saalachtal (Saalach Valley).

The Seisenbergklamm, much like the nearby Vorderkaserklamm that we went to when my parents were here last summer, had a nature trail where you were informed of the flora and fauna of the area.



The Liechtensteinklamm is near St. Johann in Pongau is one of the deepest and longest Klamms in the Alps.

I have had a lot of free time of late, so I have been trying to learn new things. One of the things I have been reading up on is the Ayurvedic diet. I learned that I have a "Pitta dosha", and when it is "imbalanced" things like walking around water help. (I can feel your eyes rolling. :) )



It even has a little legend:

The blacksmith of Oberarl, in the Plankenau area of St. Johann, had promised his crippled daughter to the devil if the devil would deliver the famous Gastein hot springs to his doorstep. The deal would have to be completed before the rooster crowed in the morning. The devil agreed and went to work in the dark of night. However, the blacksmith’s wife, a sly old woman, found out about the deal. To put an end to her husband’s boundless greed, she dunked the rooster into the drinking trough, causing it to crow before daybreak. The devil, who was at that moment flying through the Klamm with the hot springs, heard the rooster crow at Oberarl and realized he was too late.
Filled with rage, he threw the hot springs into the Klamm where no human being would ever find them again. Indeed, to this day, no one has been able to capture the healing waters and pipe them out of the gorge.


I do not know why I am so obsessed with waterfalls! I am sure most people will not find 7 pictures of rushing water quite as interesting as I do. But the feeling of being in these Klamms just makes me tingle. I do not know if it is the cool blue of the water, the changes in speed and levels, or the general beauty of this earth that just moves me.

Vacationing in Austria


Jason and I found ourselves wide awake early on Mother's Day morning. Even after walking to the bakery for semmel and enjoying a leisurely breakfast we found ourselves at 9:30 AM wondering what to do. We decided to hike.

We ended up exploring the Stubach valley. At the top of the valley we found another hydro-electric power station. This particular one is run by the ÖBB and construction began in 1906, as a result of "predicting that coal would eventually be unavailable and from a wish to be independent from relying on foreign sources" which to me was fascinating. Anyway, we would have liked to see the dam and lake, but it is still winter in these parts, so we will have to come back in late June. The area is the Uttendorf - Weißsee. The glacier and Weißsee are about 3000m above sea level.

I have been paying attention to the old style farms and houses of the region ever since visiting the open-air museum in Salzburg.

After all the hiking, a traditional Wiener Schnitzel seemed to be deserved.

Monday, May 10, 2010

This and that....

It dawned on me that I have not been doing a whole lot of anything lately. Sure, I do daily housewife things: cooking, cleaning, grocery and I have been working on cleaning up quickbooks for an organization in the US, reading IRS regulations, trying to find interest in things in the news, reading for pleasure, administrative things, but all of this at my own leisure and nothing of urgency.

I can spend hours walking alone only concentrating on the birds and on not stepping on ants. It is strange, but I am happy I have been able to achieve this state, that is, not constantly worrying about the past or future, but just being in the present.

It is annoying how this pleasant bubble can burst just by being asked a few pointed questions that even you don't know the answer to.

Anyway, here are some pictures of this and that here at home in Zell am See...

We had 4 big trees in our backyard. Now there is only 1 and an amazing view.

I made Thai Fresh Spring Rolls in an effort to clean out some of the random things in my food pantry.

We are always fascinated by this hideous "flower sculpture duck" that to me has come to symbolize that Zell is indeed a hot destination for tour buses filled with Omas.

Here is the other hideous bird that comes out for the summer crowds...sans head.

And here is Jason being silly....

Finally, Murmeltier!

This last weekend we decided to vacation in Austria. The weather was not super on Saturday, but that did not keep us from enjoying the outdoors.
We decided to try to hike to the top of the nearby Walcher waterfall. The waterfall is located right before the toll on the Großglockner Hochalpenstraße and the base is about 1200 meters above sea level. The Quelle of the Walcher, which is also the base of the Walcher Kees, a glacier, is about 2200 meters above sea level. So we had about 800 meter elevation climb.

Halfway into our climb, I was complaining about how we have been in Austria for over 2 years and I have yet to see a Murmeltier, which I guess are Groundhogs in the US. Not 2 seconds had the words come out of my mouth then I glance over to the left and down the hill a few feet sat one!
It was a curious little creature. Jason and I took dozens of pictures of it and managed to scoot ourselves closer and closer so that we were practically sitting right next to it. It kept running in to it's hole, but as Jason and I quietly sat there waiting, it would poke it's head out to check on us!

As we continued further up the mountain, we saw several! They had a shrill bird-like chirping cry that I assume they used to notify the others that people were coming.
Hiking in these parts of Austria is basically straight up and straight down. One thing that is so amazing about the Alps is how suddenly the environment can change. We went from pine trees to an alpine glacier basin that was snow, clouds, and wild purple and white crocus.

A closer picture of the glacier.


Part of the trail went under the waterfall. You can barely see me on the left on the trail.
This picture was taken on the decent. On the left, you can see a zigzag outline in white, of the snow covered trail that we took up. There were two Alms, although neither of them were open yet because apparently it is still winter here!!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

May Day



I really thought today was all about bringing the cows out to pasture. Apparently it has a socialist undertone and some kids just use it as a day to party. According to wikipedia,
May Day is related to the Celtic festival of Beltane and the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night. May Day falls exactly half of a year from November 1, another cross-quarter day which is also associated with various northern European pagan and neopagan festivals such as Samhain. May Day marks the end of the uncomfortable winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations.




We went on a bike ride and were a bit late for the Maifest, but Jason still gave a go at climbing the May pole...
welcome summer!!

45 days and 1006 KM


I did it! I put over 1000 KM on my snowboard this season. 90 KM in the last week! The surprise snow on April 1 really helped.

I kept track of my kilometerage on www.skiline.cc. I actually think I might have found a glitch in the system (according to computer nerd Jason) because instead of showing up as 1000 KM it started over, and shows me as 1.006 KM. I Y2K'd the thing!


The question I have to ask myself is, "What now?" I have traded my snowboarding boots for my bike and hiking boots. The picture above is of the Schmittenhöhe from the mountain across the lake, which I decided to climb yesterday. I was not in Austria on the 18th of April, the last day of my pass, to see what exactly the slope conditions were at the season end, but as you can see from the picture above the snow is almost gone.

My hike yesterday was about 3.5 hours/10 KM long with about 600 meter change in altitude. I know I do not like trading in the downhill boarding for the uphill climbing, but it is a different way to appreciate the mountains I guess. I hiked number 89 and part of 84 above Thumersbach. I found a few waterfalls that were very worthy of a sit-down, but I resisted.

Because it is the low season, the Alms are not yet operating during the weeks. There is a romantic concept of an Almsommer, spending summers in the Alps in an Alm, and until I went to this open-air museum in Salzburg, I was a bit unclear on the purpose they served. Apparently they were not just built as a place for hikers to get beers, but were the summer residence of the farmer, or worker from a farm, while tending the cows in the summer months.

From this side of the mountains there is a lovely view of the Gletscher.