How do you say tow truck in German?

Two days after returning from the US, we were off again to the Salzkammergut region of Austria. After our Venice trip we both decided that we needed a truly relaxing vacation which was more about nature than city sights.

The Salzkammergut region is known for its bright blue lakes, surrounding mountains and quaint towns as well as its salt mines. The literal translation of Salzkammergut is good salt chamber. Due to the salt mining industry, the towns existed before the area became known for skiing so are more developed and charming than your typical ski area.

We rented an apartment in Haus Anastasia (www.hausanastasia.com) in a small spa town called Bad Ischl. It was the perfect size for us and had a nice balcony overlooking the surrounding low mountains. The owners were English so they were helpful in recommending things to do in the area and more importantly had a huge movie selection so we didn’t have to watch any of our own DVDs.

Our first evening was a little rough. Jim had an 11:00pm call for work so we didn’t get to bed until after 12:00. Then neither of us slept well. Jim had work on his mind, and I’m not sure what my excuse was. I’ll blame it on the weird pillowcases and duvet cover which were made of a bumpy seersucker material. Who picks seersucker for bed linins? Anyway, we both got only about 3-4 hours of sleep which is less of an issue for me but Jim struggles when he is sleep deprived. Essentially what happens is that I have 2 kids for the day.

After checking the weather and realizing that the forecast for the week was pretty gloomy, we decided that our first day should be the day we go hiking. Our hosts guided us to the Dachstein mountain where we could take a cable car to check out some caves as well has have a little hike.

When we got to the cable car parking lot we were surprised how cold it was. Somehow living in Germany has made me forget all of my mountain common sense. I completely forgot that although the weather was going to be 76 down in Bad Ischl it would be much colder at the top of Dachstein mountain. I unfortunately had only dressed Sabine in a short sleeve onesie, light pants, cardigan and a summer hat. We decided that it was too cold so got back in the car and started driving down the mountain. We then realized that Wednesday was probably the only day we could do this based on the forecast so we turned around and decided that we could put Sabine in some of our clothes to keep her warm. She looked quite cute in her dad’s smart wool pull over.

The cable car had three levels to it. The first stop took you to the ice caves and mammoth caves. The second was the high point with a 5 fingered lookout point and the third was down the other side of the mountain closer to the glacier.

So having decided to brave the cooler weather we bought our cable car tickets and tickets to the caves. Surprisingly although we had been concerned about the 50 degree temps on the mountain, we didn’t give a second though to taking Sabine into the ice caves which would obviously have to be close to freezing temperature for there to be ice.

We went to the top of the mountain first and hiked around the top taking in the views of the surrounding mountains, lakes and the glacier before heading back down to the middle station for some lunch.

After fueling up on Wiener Schnitzel and Pfefferlinge Pasta, we hiked up the steep path to the ice cave. I was ready to strip down to a t-shirt once we got to the cave, but Rick (yes, we are on a first name basis with Mr. Steves) said that you want a sweater for the tour of the ice caves so I left my jacket on.

Before the tour started we saw one mother putting winter coats, hats and gloves on her children. Jim and I both thought that was a little overkill.

The tour started out in your average run of the mill cave and after 3 big caverns, I wondered aloud why these were called ice caves. After another 50 meters and through a door, I got my answer. We were walking along a giant ice flow and the temperature dropped sharply. There were huge ice pillars and even an ice formed room, called the chapel. At one point it seemed like it was actually snowing in the cave.

The ice formations were amazing but we had a hard time enjoying the views because we were so worried about Sabine. We were quite cold ourselves and since we were moving we figured that Sabine must be freezing. We wrapped another jacket around the hiking backpack to form a cocoon around her. While we were busy chastising ourselves for being bad parents, Sabine decided to take a nap. Of course instead of calming us (how uncomfortable could she be if she is able to fall asleep?), this actually fueled our anxiety as we irrationally started to worry that she was suffering from hypothermia.

We were very thankful when the tour finally ended and we were able to get back out to the warm weather. After our harrowing ice cave experience, we decided to pack it in and headed back to Bad Ischl for a nice dinner at the apartment and to let Sabine crawl around.

On Thursday, Jim had scheduled a massage for my birthday at the Eurothermen resort in Bad Ischl. (http://www.eurothermen.at/en-bad-ischl-arrival.htm) Since Sabine is such a water lover, Jim decided to hit the thermal pools with her while I got my massage.

When we walked into the spa, it looked like a cross between a mental institution and a public pool complete with a turnstile entrance. Germans and Austrians take their spas seriously so it has almost a medical feel to it.

Massages are a bit different in Europe. The therapist doesn’t leave the room when you get undressed and the room is usually not darkened. I think that Europeans are generally a lot more comfortable with nudity. Even the locker rooms were co-ed in the spa. They had dressing rooms, but a lot of people just changed out in the open because there were only about 12 dressing rooms for the 100s of lockers there.

After my massage Sabine was tired of swimming so we went to have lunch at a pizza place that our host recommended. The Italian restaurant was a perfect spot for lunch with a baby. It wasn’t crowded and it had bench seats so Sabine could crawl and stand between us.

After lunch we went for a short hike near our apartment. Like a lot of German trails, this one wasn’t marked well and we lost the trail about 3 times. Thankfully, we were able to find our way back to the apartment without getting too lost.

The weather on Friday was rainy and cold so we decided to go back to the Eurothermen resort and pools. We wandered around Bad Ischl in the morning looking for a swim suit for me and a spot for lunch.

After scouring the town, we ended up back at the same restaurant we had lunch at the day before. Like German food, Austrian food is ok to have when you have no other options but I wouldn’t want to eat it on a regular basis so the schnitzel we had on Wednesday sufficed.

We stopped for a post lunch coffee and saw three little boys in Lederhosen and I had to take a picture of them. I was surprised how many people we saw in traditional dress on our trip.

After a late lunch, we went back to the Eurothermen pools. There were 5 different pools with varying salt levels and even a lazy river. The pools were both indoor and outdoor with tons of lounge chairs around.

We both felt great after the salt baths and decided that the Germans and Austrians may be on to something. However, unlike the Germans, the Austrians wear swimsuits in the baths and I was thankful for that.

On Saturday, we went to Gosausee which is on the other side of the Dachstein mountains. We took the cable car up to the top and started hiking. At first I was a little worried because we saw people with serious climbing gear. However, after hiking up about 45 minutes, we saw where the climbers turned off to scale a huge rock wall. Unfortunately, the rain from the day before wrecked havoc on the trails and made them extremely muddy and slippery. So after getting friendly with a few Alpine cows, we decided to turn around and try another more established path up to a lodge where we enjoyed a tasty wurstl.

Of course, we decided against making it easy on ourselves and hiked down to the car rather than taking the cable car. There were some slippery spots so we had to take it pretty slow but that allowed us to take in the gorgeous views. The deep blue alpine lake was gorgeous against the backdrop of the mountains and the glacier.

After our visit to Gosausee, we stopped at the little town of Hallstatt. Hallstatt is a tiny town built into the mountain on the lake and is the only town Rick recommends in the Salzkammergut area. The town itself isn’t much more than some souvenir shops, hotels and restaurants and a salt mine museum. The only other sight in Hallstatt is a cathedral with a skull altar. Unfortunately the only way up to the cathedral was up a flight of stairs so we decided that seeing the picture in our guide book was good enough.

We stopped at a little out of the way restaurant on the end of town for a relaxing drink lakeside. Jim wanted to get a t least one knoedel (dumpling) while we were in Austria so he ordered a beef broth soup with a baked liver dumpling. I, for obvious reasons, passed on the knoedel.

Our last day in the area wasn’t supposed to be nice but ended up being the nicest day of our trip. We headed to St. Wolfgang to wander around.

Jim ended up finally buying a pair of Lederhosen and then decided that he better go to Oktoberfest so that he has the opportunity to wear them. I tried on a dirndl but wasn’t about to shell out 180 euro for a dress I probably wouldn’t even wear (except for Halloween when I’m back in the states). I understand why Lederhosen are so expensive; they are obviously made of leather and are usually hand stitched. I, however, don’t understand why dirndls are so expensive. The material is often not very soft or comfortable and it is really just a dress with an apron and a corset waist.

The town of St. Wolfgang ended up being our favorite in that area. We had a wonderful lunch on a terrace overlooking the Wolfgangsee. We ordered the Tyrolean ravioli with Bergkase that we loved so much from the Dolomites as well as Zander (Walleye) filet with a crab sauce on a bed of spinach.

After a leisurely lunch staring at the lake, we decided that we’d try to find a beach to go swimming. We didn’t bring suits with us but I figured Sabine could just swim in her diaper. The bigger problem was that we didn’t have a map of the lake or any idea where the swimming areas might be. In Europe there aren’t public beaches so we knew we’d have to pay to go to any of the beaches. We found one swimming spot but there was on a small rock beach with a steep drop off that didn’t look very child-friendly so we decided to keep looking.

After a few wrong turns and about 75 minutes later we finally saw a sign for a beach but didn’t have enough warning to make the turn. We had both gotten quite frustrated driving aimlessly around looking for a beach and what happened next didn’t ease anyone’s frustration and required a tow truck.

On the bright side though we discovered how helpful Austrians are when you are stranded in a ditch on the side of the road. Two cars stopped and offered to help pull us out. We also learned where the tow hook is located on our car. Sadly though we didn’t figure that out when we had free offers to pull us out. It was the expensive tow truck driver who showed us where the little removable tow hook was located on our car.

After our little accident, we decided it was too late and getting too cold for the beach so we went back to the apartment for the last night and watched the movie Missing.

The movie had a few Native American characters in it so when Jim said that he really missed American breakfasts out of the blue, I thought he said that his Indian name should be American Breakfast, as in “American Breakfast has traveled many moons and out of ditches to get here”. For the rest of our trip, Jim’s new nickname was American Breakfast, as in “Hey, American Breakfast, why don’t you unpack the car, I have to go to the bathroom.” (A little tactic I learned in grade school to avoid unpacking after a trip.)