Late Summer/early Fall in Bad Mitterndorf 2011

The area around Bad Mitterndorf is our not-so-secret little hideaway from daily life. It is ideal for small trips, Bad Ischl, Salzburg, St. Gilgen and many other places of interest are close by, the landscape is just beautiful, and it is a great place to relax and feel, smell and see the wonderful nature around.

We also enjoy the view from our balcony, when the fogs of the night dissolve in the light of the mild September morning sun...

Past weekend we decided to take a trip to Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut, which is a market town and one of the many picturesque little villages in the region. The weather was perfect! At the moment we have this very special kind of weather which is called "Altweibersommer" in German (which is roughly translated "Old hags´ Summer" in English) - it describes a period at the end of regular Summer/beginning of Fall, where the weather is extremely nice and mild, the light is golden, but the sun does not burn down anymore as it does in High Summer. You could compare it with the Indian Summer in New England - a little later in the year the leaves of our trees get the same beautiful colours as the ones in Maine or Vermont.

One of the top hotels in the area is the "Im Weissen Rössl" ("At the white steed"). It is a 5* place and offers lots of luxurious amenities, but this is probably not the main reason why zillions of tourists go there and take photos every day. Das Weisse Rössel has become very famous because it was the main site for an Austrian film from the Sixties - "Im Weissen Rössel am Wolfgangsee", basically a funny love story around the head waiter (Peter Alexander) and the female owner of the hotel (Waltraud Haas). Like "The sound of music" this film has done much to spread the sometimes naive sometimes amiable clichées of Austria worldwide. So even today people - us too - go there and visit "Das Weisse Rössel"! And we all hope to hear some echoes of Peter Alexander singing there, catching a little glimpse of the ghosts from the past, when life was maybe simpler, more colorful, more charming...

Right next to the hotel you find the little church of Sankt Wolfgang. The tiny lane leading there offers a grand view onto the lake. Human beings like to pose there, little kiddos are picked up and positioned on the window sill without being asked for permission. And then comes the command, "Look at mommy!"

And the bigger kiddos have to hop up all by themselves with the order, "Try to look happy!" Which does not work all the time, as you can see.

The church of Sankt Wolfgang was built in the year 976 and very quickly has become a famous pilgrimage site since then. Most definately it is also one of the very busy tourist places around.

Inside the church it still is very quiet inspite of the many visitors. Take the time if you feel like it and light a small candle there. Maybe it does not help, but it is pretty and has a festive touch to it.

Afterwards, this is my advice, do a little bit of shopping. Walk down to the lake where you find lots of nice shops, I am sure you will be successful and find yourself some souvenir from the Salzkammergut. - I got a little something to be opened on my birthday. Now definately counting the days!

And don´t forget to have a look at the lovely town houses, many of them with lots and lots of flowers. How do the people there tend them?? My flowers never look like that!

There are less flowers at the bakery, but great wall painting and yummy cakes and pastries. If you feel like coffee and cake - that is the place!

The next day it was time to amuse our canine friends. No dog has ever walked a city happily, and no dog ever enjoyed sightseeing.

  

So this was better. LOTS better.

Indy even confronted himself with the great mysteries of life. If a dog jumps into a little creek and carefully puts his stick down on the surface of the water before he relaxes and is very distracted by many other things.... 

... he won´t be able to find his stick anymore when he wants to pick it up again. What the heck happened, and where did it go???? This mystery kept him busy for quite a while. And Stefan was busy documenting this glorious expedition.

Dessa and I, on the other hand, preferred to chill and watch the tragedy (the stick was never seen again) from a dry place in the sun. "Girls just wanna have fun" - and sometimes it is darn funny to see the guys run around!

Wavies, Mitterndorf and lovely area, we will be back soon!

La Rambla/Castle at Montjuíc

Dearest,

One more Barcelona dish I would like to serve to you. Today I would like to tell you a bit about la Rambla (les Ramblas/Rambles - not even the people of Barcelona are sure how to call them correctly, it depends wether you feel Catalan or not and even then...) and the castle at Montjuíc.

La Rambla is a very popular street in Barcelona, people meet there and do a little shopping, sit in one of the tapas bars or cerveserias and watch the zillions of people pass by. Tourists are usually warned not to consume anything there, as you are supposed to find only tourist traps. Obviously word passed on and business at la Rambla went down, so the shop owners changed the prices or at least serve better quality. We have found that you need to compare: Some places still are tourist traps - shy away from them! And some places are allright, considering that you are in the hottest spot in town!

We lived nextdoor, so it was hard to avoid la Rambla, la Boqueria is also there, so I am sure if you go and visit Barcelona you will definately find yourself at this very place. But I assure you it is fun!

Well, maybe this does not look like so much fun. The Ramblas are one of the most frequented streets, cars are only allowed in side lanes, and in the evening you shove and push. But go there a little earlier, and you will see lots of fun things.

You will find many artists in the most peculiar outfits, and for some small cash they are happy to be photographed with passers-by. You can also forget about the small cash, but that does not make them very happy...

After a while at the Rambles you will feel the definate urge to get out of there. It is just too crowded, and you will long for a remote, green place to chill. This is what we did. We took the telèferic up to the castle at Montjuíc.

It takes you up to the castle, and the price for a not very long ride is quite dear, but it is wonderful up there, so it is definately worth the price.

 I heard lots of recommendations before we went: The best view would be here, there, somewhere else. We went to all these places, the view always was lovely. But believe me, around Barcelona you won´t get any higher than Montjuíc, and the best view is definately from up there.

You see the endless ocean on one side, the city of Barcelona on the other side.

We absolutely were not happy to leave Barcelona, but we will be back most definately. So many other new things to check out, places to see, for example the little town of Sitges right at the Spanish coast, only a short drive from Barcelona. Finally I have found my personal European Miami which is only two hours flight away, yipee!!

We went with FlyNiki, a line we can recommend any time. Nice crew, nice snack and of course there is always the spirit of Niki Lauda himself floating over the waters. I am sorry that I am not able to properly translate the German word here, but it is a very colorful, very Austrian phrase for "sickbag". Oh gee, it is soooo typical for Niki....

Our nighthaul back lasted around two hours and we did not see a single cloud in the sky, but everywhere the lights of the cities we passed. Nice, the whole cote d´azur, Venice... It was lovely, even for somebody like me who is not....well, too fond of flying.

And there we are, that is the final chapter of our great holiday in Barcelona. Thank you for joining me, and thank you for helping me digest everything we have seen and done during that wonderful time we had. If you liked it - comment on it, if you did not like it - please also do. Now we are off to a weekend in Bad Mitterndorf, Styria, hopefully I will be able to provide you with some interesting photos and stories from there too!

Love for this time and have a great day!

On commenting/Sagrada Familia/Aquarium/the Beach

On commenting:

My dear friends and readers,
I have received indication that leaving me comments sometimes did not work. *sigh* I don´t know what it is with this, since I opened the "Anonymous"-function it should have worked problem-free - due to Google of course. Now I added the full-page form which works - also due to Google - even better and changed a few clicks, I hope that problems have been solved. Please try again and keep me informed on that issue!
Thank you so much to all of you who provided me with nice comments or even just said "Hi" - on the blog, per email or on FB - please try again to leave comments on the blog, I love receiving them and I value them very much! And it is so much fun to communicate with you folks! :)

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Now I think it is about time that I tell you a bit about Sagrada Familia, the famous Gaudi church, which we have visited in Barcelona.

The Basílica y Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia or short Sagrada Familia is Gaudi´s masterpiece. It is still work in process, so  it was very difficult to make a nice shot from the outside without too many cranes to be seen, so unfortunately this is all we can provide you with at the moment. They are very busy building the outside, for you people who go there next time most probably the whole church will have changed a lot!

As a friend of mine - who is very good in architecture - said, "Gaudi probably was on LSD when he built that!" Lol, the outside very much gave me that impression, it all looks melted, with so many details that you get dizzy - and I personally just can agree with a couple of English travellers we met there, "I loved it inside, but I don´t know about the outside..."

Anyway, Gaudi took over the Sagrada Familia project in 1883, and he knew that he would not see it finished, therefore he left very detailed descriptions on how it should be done. After he had died 1926 in a train accident - lonely, grumpy and disappointed by the world, having lived alone in the crypta of Sagrada, which he had transferred into his office and appartment - the world forgot about Gaudi for a while. But in the 1950s work picked up again with full speed, and the Gouvernment expects the church to be finalized by 2026. So let´s wait and see!

You know that architecture definately is not my field of expertise, and the Art Deco district in Miami or Austria´s Wiener Moderne are complete lost on me. But when I stepped into Sagrada Familia, the first thought that shot through my head was, "Wow, it definately has got something!" And that is an understatement.

The inside of the church is very light, with lots of colours, wonderful details and always reminiscences to nature, where Gaudi got many of his inspirations from. For example the columns remind the visitor to trees, holding up the firmament, the inlays of mountain crystal to the eyes of God watching over us, aso (most references of course in connection with the Catholic believe as Sagrada is a Catholic church and Gaudi was a deep believer).

We sat there for quite a while and simply admired what we saw. The audioguide gave us tons of details, but I won´t bore you with this. In case you are interested there are heaps of information on Sagrada Familia on the internet. Let me just say, that this church is a special place, for believers to worship, for the simple visitor to dwell in fasciation on how much talent and inspiration has been used on this brilliant work of art.

I especially loved the wonderful windows that have been put into place quite recently. The window on the photo is the "window of light", right opposite to the "window of water" - because Jesus is supposed to have said "I am the light and water of the world". (Good ego, mind! Well, I doubt that if he really said something like this that he said it exactly like this, he seems to have been a rather modest man, actually, but I won´t prattle on about this either.)

And here we have the beautiful "window of resurrection" which is the final part to "light" and "water". When I first saw it the light fell through just in the right angle, and it gleamed like a diamond! What an impressive place, we loved it there. Please bear in mind, if you go there, calculate enough time, you definately need a while to sit down and digest what you see. It is overwhelming!

In the afternoon we visited the Harbour area again, because we wanted to see the Aquarium of Barcelona. It used to be the biggest aquarium of Europe, but recently this title went to Valencia where they built an even bigger one. If you are expecting something like Sea World, you will be disappointed. No dolphins, no killer whales, no Shamu shows - and I give them high credit for this! I visited Sea World a couple of times, and I loved it, but I was younger and more naive at that time and I would not go there anymore. Whales and dolphins are long distance swimmers, you cannot keep them in a small tank - at least this is my point of view, no hurt feelings please.

The Aquarium in Barcelona is a much smaller place than seaworld, the main attraction being an immensely gigantic open water tank, where they keep lots of huge sharks and many other open-water fish. An endless moving walkway takes you around this tank with platforms to step back and watch in even better detail and for as long as you want.

The tank and its inhabitants are very hard to photograph, this shot here is meant to give you a slight impression - but believe me, it is enourmous! My curiousity was especially picked by some sunfish which live there at the moment. You obviously find them very often in the open water off the coast, and it happens that fishermen catch and bruise them with their nets by mistake. Then these rare fish are taken to the Aquarium, nursed back to health and released into the sea again. Well, these creatures are not only very shy and very rare, but also very clever, because we only saw a view glimpses of them, and then they were gone in a flash before our camera could even say "click"....

After all this excitement we were very tired and needed a place to relax - which we found at the beach!

The beach area of Barcelona is close by, it is only a good 20 minutes walk away from the Aquarium. And while walking there is plenty to see as one of the marinas is also right there.

The beaches are nice and clean and not as crowded as you might expect. What a perfect city, it really has got everything!!

And it is so close to all the other places of interest. The subway has a station right next to the beach, so there is easy access, they are free of charge, and people seem to integrate the beaches into their daily routine. We saw bikers, joggers, moms pushing their prams.... I definately would integrate the beach into my daily life! Can we please hold our next lecture there?

And back at home base some relaxed evening stroll before bedtime. Oh happy day.... 

Monserrat, Codorníu and Parc Güell

The next day took us up into the mountainous area around Barcelona.

The Benedictine Abbey of Monserrat is the number 1 point of interest for all visitors of Barcelona. It is an important place of pilgrimage, a very active Catholic community and in the Indipendence Wars between Spain and Catalania it was the centre of resistance. Always Catalá, the Catalan language, has been spoken there, and due to its important role it is still spoken today everywhere in Catalania (which is the district of Barcelona, the district of Valencia and the Balearic Islands). So all you fluent Spanish speakers out there: Forget talking Spanish.... (And for people like me who had tried to learn so many Spanish holiday phrases as possible it was a bit...let´s say unnerving. *smile*

The atmosphere there is very energetic, and there are also people claiming to have seen UFOs there. Well, this did not happen to us, but the feeling in the area is very special indeed. The monastery is set into a beautiful environment, and you suddenly feel very much at peace with the world around you.

We were told that if you come as "poor pilgrim" you are allowed to stay at the monastery for free for three days. I cannot answer the question though why they built this very expensive hotel at the site - wouldn´t everybody claim to be a "poor pilgrim" then or is it just my mean thinking?

The inner yard of the monastery, leading right to the church where services are held. In this yard you also queue to visit the famous "Black Madonna", the centre of worshipping in the monastery.

Scientists have tried to find out about the black colour of the Madonna, not being a representation of the typical African Madonna, but a European version with dark skin. It might be that the material darkened over time, that it was buried in the ground during the wars, which would have started a chemical reaction then....lots of interesting theories, but no definate answers at the moment.

We saw the Black Madonna from a distance from inside the church. Queueing to walk up there would have taken ages...

Then we took the furnicular to go up even higher.

Believe me, it is beautiful up there! The air is so clean and you seem to be able to see forever and ever.

Much too soon it was time to say good-bye, and the tour took us to a winery which we actually had not been keen on seeing. But the tour to the Gaudi church in the mountains had been cancelled, so we were booked onto the other tour, and the guy at the office had sworn that we would love it. Of course we did not believe him...

... and then the visit turned out to be one of these unexpected smash-hits. It was just fabulous and we had a brilliant time there!

Codorníu is the world´s largest producer of sparkling wine made by the traditional champagne method, and it produces 60 million bottles annually. Sparkling wine from this region is known as "cava", because only sparkling wine from the Champagne region is allowed to be called "champagne", but the procedure and making is just the same.

Codorníu is a family business and run by a woman! Thank you very much, I like that. And I also liked the entrance hall - which looked as if we had suddenly woken up in the middle of "Falcon Crest" (And that was poor compared to what we saw.)

They gave us a detailed tour around the whole area, we walked through exhibition rooms, pressing facilities and, of course, the cellars. 30.000 m2 of cellar area where the cava is stored. No kidding, we even had to board a train, which was like a roller coaster ride! You have to take care not to get lost down there. On the other hand, you could survive for a very long time with all the cava...

And at the end of the tour they gave us some cava to try. Boy, it was extremely refreshing, and we definately were fit for new adventures after this! We even bought a bottle of cava to bring back home with us - I doubt we will ever drink it. Probably we will just look at it and *sigh* think of the excellent times we had back at Codorníu.

We rounded up the day with an evening visit of Parc Güell, our first serious confrontation with Gaudi.

Gaudi was comissioned to build an "English park" combinated with a housing site where living and nature should be equal. It definately was a great challenge for the famous architect as he always oriented himself on nature and tried to combine art and the respect for all living beings. In the past days his project was not the big success that everybody had expected, but today Parc Güell has been turned into a municipal garden and is a really magic fairy-tale garden with hundreds of visitors every day.

The "drac" is the inofficial landmark of the City of Barcelona. You find replica of him in each and every souvenir shop, and thousands of photos are taken of him every day. Of course we were no exception!

The main terrace is the focal point of the whole garden complex, and from there you have a grand view over the City of Barcelona.

What I especially loved about Parc Güell was the fact that apart from the typical tourist sites it is very peaceful and very affectionately taken care of. The garden is lush and green, it smells of tropical flowers and you can sit there quietly, enjoy the view and nobody bothers you. Around me in the mild evening air crickets were chirping, dogs played, people went for their evening jog and indeed it is a place where people live and dream and do not think about their everyday worries. I guess Gaudi would have liked that - we certainly did.

And again night is falling over this beautiful city...