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| ...Mountains and Lakes |
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| Driving through the countryside, we had a list of places to explore. However, we learned early in the day that an itinerary is not necessary, every village has interesting or historic churches and buildings, every road has greater beauty around the next curve, and one�s interest is diverted easily. (Even running an errand in this land becomes a sightseeing tour.) For instance, late in the day, we saw a spectacular view of lush green hillsides and an immense, rocky mountain, the Traunstein, shaped like Yosemite�s Half Dome in the background. and Lynda just had to divert and take a picture. The view was even more spectacular in that it was almost surreal, this beauty couldn�t exist. It should have only taken a few minutes, but we kept driving as Lynda wasn�t satisfied with the line of sight for the picture, and a few kilometers later, we found ourselves at the northern shore of the Traunsee (�see� translates to "lake" in English), with an even more beautiful view that now had the lake in the foreground, the mountain Traunstein on the east side of the lake, and the famed Schlafende Griechische mountain directly ahead, whose outline is that of a lady in repose, the "sleeping Greek lady." Schloss Orth is linked to land only by a small bridge, and is a well-known castle in a television series, complete with the stunning backdrop of mountains behind. Lynda would often take visitors here, rename the mountain according to the country they were from, i.e., Schlafende Italienerin (the sleeping Italian lady), or Schlafende Spanienin (the sleeping Spanish lady), delighting the visitors with the story. |
| Austria |
| Travels with Me and My Shadow |
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| Die Schlafende Griechische and Schloss Orth |
| The exquisite town of Gmunden lay behind me, with it's quaint, steep streets and the carillion of bells in the marketplace. We couldn�t leave, and stayed until dusk, watching the sailboats and swans, sitting or walking along the shore. We would find that during our residency in Austria, we would return here again and again. |
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| Gosausee, the Dachstein and it's Glacier |
| Langbathsee |
| above: The switchback road of Stilfsjochpass; below: View from the pass road |
| Gosau am Dachstein remains to this day a favorite destination. Maybe it is the various hiking trails, or the skiing, or the unreal beauty of 3 serene lakes, a massive mountain and a glacier presenting themselves at the end of a long, gently rolling valley. We hiked to that glacier from where this picture was taken, and yes, we were quite tired at the end of the day! |
| Langbathsee is and easy destination even by car, but we arrived there the hard way, naturally by foot, and on different trails from different directions. I wonder that Lynda knows any other way than the hard way. |
| We drove the Stilfsjochpass. Not one step was by foot, except inside a restaurant door. The wonder of this road was how it was very steep and long, with very sharp curves. Chatting with a friend, MEchelle (no, that's not a misprint), we were suddenly aware of a presence on the driver's side of the car. Standing there, at seat level, face to face with us, caused by standing on the steep mountainside, was a cow, casually chewing a flower, the yellow bloom dangling outside of it's mouth. |
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