Thursday was our biggest travel day. Teresa really wanted to see Switzerland, so we got up fairly early and headed that way.
When going to Switzerland, it is a good idea to at least have some long pants with you, rather than just shorts (yes, it got kind of cool).
We headed west from Maria Alm and drove around Innsbruck (where they have had the Olympics and routinely have winter sports). From there, we drove to the border.
The Austrian border guard was trying to flirt a bit with Teresa (in broken English), the main gist of which was that she was going to be cold in her shorts.
The Swiss guard, on the other hand, was very efficient and no nonsense. His concern was if we were carrying alcohol or cigarettes.
It turned out that St. Moritiz (where a lot of the rich and famous go to ski) wasn't that far down the road. Therefore, Teresa and I decided to go and check it out. We got very nice St. Moritz tee shirts, a nice (but COLD) cable car ride to look around and a look at some superb scenery.
St. Moritiz is above two small alpine lakes. The slopes looked good and there was a large variety of skiing available.
Apparently, the place has an attitude. "If you aren't 'somebody', why are you here?"
I got that attitude from a clerk in a sporting goods store???
Next, we decided to loop through the Italian Alps. Hey, we were on the way home (at least sort of).
We really LIKED the Italian Alps. This is probably as good a time as any to confide in you our perceptions of some the various countries.
Austria and Italy won that competition in my mind�.
We ended up going through a valley that must produce most of the apples in Italy (or at least it looked that way): rows and rows of apple orchards, and ski lifts up on the hills.
This was one of the secondary roads, and at times it really showed. There were two walled villages (I'm not kidding, the walls still surrounded the village) which had a center section of road that was only wide enough for one car. I don't have a clue how the excursion buses made it through there.
We grabbed some "real Italian pasta" for dinner, looped through a town called Meran (that we would like to go back to - very nice place) then headed back for Austria.
Now, we could have driven south and about 50 to 70 miles out of our way, and hit the autobahn about 40 miles out� or we could take the road that went "directly" to the autobahn that showed on our map.
We decided to take the direct route. Before I talk more about this, let me say that I am actually glad we did so: but if the opportunity comes up again, I'm going to drive south and there is NO question about it.
From Meran, we found Jungfrau Pass on Road 44.
As the suburbs going up the slopes dwindled, so did the road.
The road dwindled A LOT.
The next time you are on an interstate highway, look at the right hand lane (just the right hand lane - not the shoulder and not the left hand lane). Now imagine another car coming at you in that lane and you having to pass.
That was Road 44 over Jungfrau Pass.
Teresa was driving this portion. Remember my talk about the "twisty, turny country road" on the way into Maria Alm?
I really didn't know what I was talking about at that point: THIS was the twisty, turny country road. It seemed like there was a switchback or at least a seriously tight turn about every 100 yards or so. I think we met three cars that were coming down while we were going up (although I'm not sure, I think I had my eyes closed at least once). I can say categorically that, on one of those meetings, I looked out my window (the passenger side was away from the hill at this point) and all I could see was air - no ground at all.
Then, we got higher and the guard rail went away, along with the trees (we had driven above the tree line).
The Open had a thermometer on it� as we climbed, it steadily dropped (remember, this is July we are talking about). Once we got to the top of the pass, we hopped out for a quick look. It was a very quick look, because the temperature was about 3 degrees centigrade (around 38F).
As soon as we got over the pass, we saw the TOP terminal of a ski lift: in other words, we had driven to where people would take the lift to ski.
Coming down the other side wasn't nearly as nerve racking, I guess we'd gotten used to the size of the road, however it was still an experience.
Evidently Road 44 was a fun place for motorcycles - we saw several on that road.
After that, we got to the autobahn and went over Bonner Pass. The Bonner Pass drive is extremely scenic and a sight to see all by itself (there is an Austrian AND an Italian toll both on the road).
From there, we went back to Innsbruck. Checking the map again, I thought I saw a better way back (effectively, it was a back way to Saldefled). It turned out it was a bit shorter.