A trip to Gmunden

Gmunden is less then an hour ride from Bad Mitterndorf, so this holiday we decided on a day trip into this very picturesque area. The little town of Gmunden and its surroundings are a well known holiday centre in the Austrian Salzkammergut, it is situated at the Traunsee, and years ago there was a series called "Schloßhotel Ort" (Schloß Ort also sitting here) which is probably one other reason - at least I googled this - why people love to come here and see. But already in K.u.K. Monarchy times it was famous holiday spot, many nobles had there villas here - which still can be seen today. (The villas, not the nobles.)

The kiddos and us of course came here for the beautiful scenery!

"Alle meine Entlein schwimmen auf dem See....", comes to my mind instantly. This is a famous children song here, and translated it goes about "all my ducklings that swim on the lake", and believe me, they swim a loooong time. I wonder if there is something like it in English? Oh well, it is a lovely picture anyway, and it shows a part of the Traunsee when you are slowly approaching Gmunden.

Other strange sightings happen here all the time! Is it Nessie? The Aquamaniac?? Call off the guards, it is just our Indy.

This is the church of Altmünster, a little town next to Gmunden. I would not say it is a tourist spot, you won´t find things like an esplanade or convenient tourist shops there, but it definately is a great place to live. It is very pretty, and I have visited a friend when I was still in school, so I wanted to come back and have a look on how things changed there. Things must have changed a lot, because I did not recognize anything anymore - but it still is lovely!

Behind Altmünster is the Gmundnerberg, where you find a Neurology therapy centre, a couple of inns and a gorgeous view. It reminded me a bit to the view you get in Sigrisville, Switzerland.

Actually we thought we could conveniently go down at the other end of the little mountain, but there is a dead end, and you have to turn and go back all the way you came. I guess it is because of the therapy centre, they probably do not want to encourage a lot of traffic. I do see their point.

But it definately was worth it. The view is so lovely, that even the kiddos wanted to get out! Out! Out!

Finally we arrived in Gmunden at lovely Traunsee. I will always remember it for its great hot dogs! We had a quick snack before we ventured out and the guy at the burger place said he would not do hot dogs, and then made one for me out of a huge bun with two sausages inside!! I confess it distracted me from the lovely view for a bit.

There is a small walkway when you are coming from the little esplanade, and this is the view you get from there. This is the little harbour where the tourist boats come and go, where you can buy icecream and souvenirs and watch the world go by.

The townhall of Gmunden, and the Choo-choo-train......

And of course Schloß Ort. Today you find a restaurant there, seminars are held, and it is also known as a wedding spot.

My two boys posing. No, it is not the Blüamlisalp behind having followed us to the Traunsee, we have our own steam boats operating on the lake!

It was a great day - except that on the way back I wanted to make a detour to Bad Ischl for some of the famous Zaunerstollen, but I was not allowed to. Okay, then some food and relaxing evening times on the balcony....

Der Stockerwirt

It is much too hot right now. Much much too hot. Boiling. Not nice. We even postponed going to Styria because sitting next to the pool is safer. You can crawl in any time and stay there like a hippo when it is resting on a blazing hot African afternoon.

But now and then we dare to leave our cool little nest, like today when we went for lunch to the Stockerwirt. This is one of those "Landgasthäuser" in the Wienerwald area that pretend to serve "rustic Austrian food" and when you go there it rather turns out to be a 5*-place with 5*-star prices! Of course we knew that before, and I really must say that it is definately worth it, especially on a Summer´s day like it was today. Go there when you have something to celebrate or when you simply want to pamper yourself once in awhile. And to give you something like a taste of it here is the web page:  http://www.stockerwirt.com/Stockerwirt2010/index_edit.html Go and check the menue!

This is the front area when you enter from parking:

We have been here on ice cold Winter nights, and it is almost like coming home when you step into the little reception area where candles are glowing and all the lamps are lit.

The inside of the restaurant is a number of little rooms in different country styles, I might show them to you some other time, maybe in Winter. But today it is High Summer and I want to take you out into the garden!

The habitat right behind where we were sitting, is simply gorgeous! Dragonflies were zipping past us and bumblebees bumbled and were busily minding their own business. (In front of Stefan you already can see his main course that actually followed a little bit later: Tafelspitz! Something oh so Austrian and something I oh so do not like. Well, actually I do not like the meat and the Roesti, but I like the spinach, the apple horseradish and the sauce it comes with! It is one of Stefan´s favorites, and so I get to pinch some of the complementary things now and then.)

But if you do not want to sit close to the water because you are afraid the water witch might grab you there are other areas too.

And now let´s order some food.....

As a starter we both had the gravad salmon. Definately yum!

And here now the famous Tafelspitz, that goes down especially well with a light and ice-cold beer!

I had the Picata Milanese - it was absolutely gorgeous. I already had this dish there like three times and it always was a feast and never tasted greasy at all. The waiter told us that it is not cooked in oil but on a griddle without any oil at all. Now that´s it! Look here, Jamie Oliver!

And now for dessert. We had the Griesflammerie and the cheese and shared. Shared, ha!! Stefan complained that he did not get enough Flammerie, but where was my full share of cheese??

Great food, great place! Bye-bye, Stockerwirt, we will be back soon!

Strolling in Thun

If you happen to be somewhere near the Thuner See on a weekend and feel like taking a little stroll I would recommend Thun. It is situated right where the spout of the river Aare leads into the Thuner See, and even though I always would prefer Spiez to Thun (lots of traffic here, and Spiez simply is much prettier) is has got a nice historical center and a walk along the Aare, especially when there are enormous amounts of melting water and it is a sunny and warm day, is something very cheerful.

Schloß Thun reminds me a bit of Disneyland! There is a museum inside, and the steep little lane leading up there is not too challenging. So again very convenient for strolling....

Walking down to the Aare you cannot miss the Ferris wheel the inhabitants decided to put there. I don´t have a clue why, but the whole area has got festival character now, and there are lots of places to eat or have a drink.

(Just don´t hope to find a decent restroom there. If you desperately try to find one the restaurant waiters could not care less. You are immediately informed, "But you have to order something!" This is so Swiss, it drives me mad!!! They rather shoot you on the spot before they let you use their bloody toilet without you paying for it. One of the not so nice sides of the country. Money is REALLY everything - no exceptions. And you know me: I would rather die on the spot before I leave my money in a shack where they are only interested in me buying something. If you need a restroom go to the square right behind the Aare from where this photo is taken, there are public ones. But don´t wait for the waiters to tell you.)

The embankments you find along the river are beautiful. Especially when the water is thundering downstream like this!

There is this new kind of sports - river surfing? Or something like this? It is stunning, and one might think that if you can handle the current here surfing on the ocean will be just a piece of cake!

And here we got some abandoned dog. Poor thing! - Oh, thank Gods, good Daddy is here! So no need to beg for money with our little dog-hat.....

The riverside area is really lovely, walking up here a bit is definately worth it, especially if you are a photographing sort of guy.

Well, okay then. Thun is actually kind of nice, right?

Ausflug auf den Gurten

The "Gurten" is the "Hausberg" of Bern - the little mountain (or rather hill by Swiss standards) right at the gates of Bern - and the people use it as a recreation area where they can walk, hike, take the kids, go mountainbiking and lots more. E.g. a week before there had been a huge Pop festival there that had lasted four days.

We like to come to the Gurten always once in a while, go up the short ride with the little "Bähnli", bring some food for a picknick and walk down to the ground station of the Bähnli again.

This time we met Beatrice and her three girls Laura, Lisa and Joelle for a day out and about. Laura had been to the Gurten Festival a couple of days ago - and boy, it must have been great fun!! (When the Swiss party, they party.)

This photo here is the only one you will find in this blog with Beatrice, standing on the very left. She just HATES to be photographed! Thanks for posing anyway, Beatrice! : )

Of course the kiddos liked the idea of strolling down the Gurten. Indy had a great time as usual when he can run after something....

... and Dessa as always hoped for something interesting - like food - to come her way.

And of course it would not be Switzerland and a Swiss trip into the country if there were no barbequeue station and no griddle involved.

After lunch break some more photos with the family....

And then it seriously was time to start our walk down. Please enjoy the beautiful view of Bern, the charming capital of Switzerland!