Austria Video

Western Austria 5 - June 2010

Well, we are now in the Swissair lounge in Zurich awaiting our flight to Israel; then back to Toronto.

We enjoyed our hotel in See which is another picturesque town in the mountains.

Today, we left See and headed toward Zurich Airport with a side stop at Schaffhausen(about 30 minutes north of Zurich) which is a beautifully preserved medieval town (the best example of medieval architechture in Europe, we are told).

It was also the first town in Switzerland which banned automobile traffic on all its inner city streets; you basically park your car at one of the many city parking lots that surround the city and walk thru town...it is well worth the walk. The reason why Schaffhausen is such a popular place is that the Rhine river runs thru it and about one mile from town you have the largest waterfall in Europe where the "Rhinefall" as they call it tumbles down a wide area of the river.

It is very picturesque (not as big or mighty as Niagara, but awesome nevertheless). They even have their version of the Maid of the Mist which actually deposits tourists on an island smack in the middle of the falls so that you can experience the falls up close!

On the way back into town, we had one of the most interesting and delicious encounters with a frum Jew that we have ever had. We were walking thru the town and I was speaking on our cell phone to Zvi in Toronto. Fran tugged at my sleeve and said "look over there...there is a guy with a kippah"! When I looked over, I saw a man working in a restaurant and he was wearing a kippah. There are very few Jews in Schaffhausen (about 25) and even fewer that are religious. It turns out that Ladd and Caroline own the Cafe Vordergasse and live above the store. They also operate a B & B there. They are frum and sell the store every Friday and go to Zurich for Shabbat. The restaurant/cafe is dairy; non chalav - Yisrael with no hashgacha, mainly because there are few if any Jewish clientele. Ladd was most welcoming to us and even gave us a gift of Chalav Yisrael local cheese with the hashgacha of a dayan from England. 

When I asked him about anti semitism in Switzerland and how he goes around with a kippah (we were warned by everyone not to wear a kippah in Switzerland or Austria; I ignored the warnings as I have done in most locales in the world and did not experience any overt expressions of anti semitism at all), he replied that those who find it offensive would not be welcome in his restaurant anyway. Most however, have no idea what it is that he is wearing on his head!

What an amazing experience.

Back to Toronto to plan the next fascinating trip!

Best regards

Fran and David

Western Austria 4 - June 2010

Sunday morning, we roamed about Salzburg and took a lot of photos. It is really a gorgeous city. But you will have to wait for the pics which I will try to send once we get to Israel.

We left Salzburg at about noon and began our drive in the direction of Innsbruck. It was a very overcast and much cooler day than any we had had since we arrived. We drove to a section of Austria which borders the southern part of Germany near a town called Lofer.

 There is a very famous gorge there, and when we arrived, the rain had held off and we decided to try the hike out. We asked the lady at the ticket office about the hike and she said that it was not difficult and was only 350 steps to the top and that a round trip walk would be 40 minutes or so.

We decided to give it a try and we began the walk up the steep slope. Once we got about half way up and had not yet hit any "steps" we realized that her description of 350 steps was still ahead of us; and given that we are in top shape at this stage of our trip and were already exhausted and given that we have done a couple of gorges already on this trip, we almost threw in the towel. 

We passed a couple who told us that we should push ahead...and that it would only take another 25 minutes to the top (all very steep uphill) so we said let's go for it. And we were very happy that we did. It was an amazing and breathtaking gorge...there was a narrow walkway of wooden steps anchored between the two face of the gorge. Each side must have been hundreds of meters high and the width was enough for a little more than one person to pass through. Looking up you saw a small opening of the sky and looking down there was a steel waterfall and rushing waters of the river below. 

On the way up, I (David) tripped and saw my camera fall between the steps and at the last moment I lunged for the strap which was on its way down to the canyon below and I guess all those years as a goalie saved the day...otherwise, we'd have to do the entire trip over again to get the pics that I hope to send all of you.

It was an amazing and tiring hike...but well worth it.

Once we finished our hike, we continued on to our destination for the night and had a delicious vegetarian meal in our apartment in the small ski village of Soll.

 This morning, we journeyed to Kitzbuhel which is a quaint picturesque village nearby and spent the morning walking around and enjoying the vistas. 

 

 We left there at about 11 AM and went to Innsbruck, site of the Winter Olympics (twice) which is a relatively large city with an old town that has a large pedestrian midrachov with beautiful, colorful, old architecture and lots of shopping. We hadn't really done any shopping till now and really have not spent any time in urban areas till today.

So there was no hiking today, just a casual stroll thru Innsbruck. We spent a few hours and it is really a beautiful place. By this time, the sun was out and the day was a very pleasant one.

We are staying tonight in a small ski village, called See, halfway between Innsbruck and Zurich. Tomorrow, we are going to Schaffhausen in Switzerland (which is only about 30 minutes from the Zurich airport). It is supposed to be another beautiful old town with amazing waterfalls in the town. We will hopefully file our last report for this trip once we get to Israel very early Wednesday morning (we arrive in Tel Aviv at about 3 AM), so we will let you know then what this city was like.

Thanks for traveling with us...hope you enjoyed this trip...we certainly did and we would recommend this area to anyone who loves great vistas, fresh air and the great outdoors!

Hope you are all doing well

Best regards

Fran and David

Western Austria 3 - June 2010

We are writing this motzaei Shabbat in Salzburg. We just spent a very relaxing and long Shabbat...Shabbat here ended at 10:07 PM. 

We are staying on the "Yorkville" street of Salzburg (the same style as Yorkville but much much bigger and part of a network of pedestrian only streets in the heart of the old town of Salzburg)...There are stores on the main level and apartments (usually 3 stories high) above; the buildings were mostly built in the 15th century (600 years old) and have been modernized inside. Our apartment is small and compact but has everything we need and we are right in the heart of town. This is a very beautiful city, very walker friendly and surrounded by beautiful sights and mountains that are within an hour's drive.

We walked today to the Mirabell Palace and Gardens which was only ten minutes from our place. Parts of The Sound of Music were actually filmed there...we now have to see the movie again to see if we can recognize the places that we saw today! Salzburg and the entire area is a great place for a short visit from Israel. We have had a great time and great weather thusfar, bli ayin hora.

Catching up on our update,....on Friday, we left Radstadt in the morning and drove to Hallstatt which is a town suspended in time. 

It dates back more than one thousand years and it is very remote and not that accessible by highway. It is on a beautiful mirror lake and there is nothing modern in the way of architecture in the entire town. It is suspended on a narrow piece of land between the mountains and the lake and is really a very beautiful place. 

High above the town is the oldest salt mine in Austria which is still operating. 

To get to the front of the mine, you have to take a funicular railroad up to the top of the hill and then walk a few hundred steps higher. We took the tour and it was very interesting. the inside of the mine was at a constant temp. of 8 degrees C. 

Following the tour, we went back to the town and drove to Gosau where we took a ski gondola ride to the top of a mountain to eat lunch and while we would have liked to hike a bit up there, it was Friday afternoon and we wanted to get to Salzburg.

On the way to Salzburg, we passed another gondola ski ride which Chaim and Sara had told us about, where you ascend by the gondola but then ride down the mountain on a sort of toboggan which is mounted on a metal monorail. You control the sled...we said why not...sounds like fun...so we seized the moment and it was an exhilarating ride. 

After that it was on to Salzburg and get ready for Shabbat...

We will hopefully post one more update and then the last one from Israel on Wednesday...

Hope you are all doing well

Best regards

Fran and David