Columbus Day Weekend, October 2004
Austria
For the Columbus Day Weekend, I took a drive past München (Munich is the Anglicized name) through Bayern (Bavaria) into Tirol in Österreich (Austria). I got up at a little past 7:30am, got myself packed, and was driving off post at 9:00 exactly. It was raining heavily throughout the region. I crossed the border into the Republic of Austria and made my way into the Tirolean valley, and Innsbruck. I decided to try to get as much outdoor touring done as possible before the rain arrived in force.
I found myself a gasthof for the night in the Alpbachtal — a quaint alpine valley off the beaten path. By sunset, the clouds had started to roll in. I returned to my gasthof for dinner, where I encountered what is perhaps the best beer I have ever tasted: “Kaiser Dopel Maltz,” a dark beer brewed in Linz, Austria. Dinner was a local Alpbach cheese soup, and a Spätzli, ham, and cream sauce hauptgerichte.
Saturday, I learned on the weather that morning that the system of rain was actually the remnants of Hurricane Jeanne — now chasing me pell-mell through the Tirolean Alps. I stopped at the village of Umhausen to tour some waterfalls and the Ötzi-Dorf. About 10 years ago they found a frozen body high up in this very valley, determined to be over 5,000 years old — Ötzi the Iceman. I pressed on up the valley, keeping just ahead of the inbound weather.
At the Timmelsjoch Toll booth, 2505m elevation, the fog was so thick I could not see much beyond the front of my car. The Italian side of the pass is almost a cliff — a sustained series of hairpin turns at a 10% or greater slope. After spending some 3 hours lost in Northern Italy, I spotted a sign for the Brenner Pass back into Austria, and fled for it.
The following morning I returned to the Inn valley, and started for the Vorarlberg. I eventually crossed into Liechtenstein — 4th country in 3 days. I discovered that Liechtenstein is very small, and very unfriendly to budget travelers. I fled across the border into Switzerland, and eventually pushed for home. Hopefully the next time I'm in the Alps, I'll get to see more of them, and less rain. All in all though, it was a good and memorable trip.
Charles.