Day 12 - on our way home.

We woke in our own time, went down for breakfast then left for our final drive home. We were aiming for the Channel Tunnel for our afternoon train but first we were stopping of near Ypres. 

I have a relative who died on the Somme in 1917 and it being the centenary of his death in Theo weeks, I wanted to visit his grave. I've been there once before and decided then I wanted to return this year. I had made a poppy wreath which encircled his photo and this was to be place on his grave. 

We arrived at Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery at about 1030am. It's just off the main road and in the midst of farmland and a few houses. It couldn't be a more peaceful place. As we stood there, paying our respects, I could only hear a cockerel crowing. No traffic noise at all. There are big trees on the site which adds to the feeling of calm and peace, a sharp contrast to how it must have been 100 years ago. 

We left, knowing that I won't be visiting here again, so glad I have recorded it for the family history album  

It's strange to drive around this area, knowing what had taken place here last century. The land has recovered, whether the people have is another matter.  

We continued on our journey to the Tunnel, arriving there early but being lucky enough the be allowed on an earlier train. We had enough time for a coffee and some last minute shopping at the terminal and then we were called for departure. 

It was a short journey under the Channel and we were back in Blighty!

In contrast to our journey through Europe, the traffic here was awful!  We got stuck on the M25 at Heathrow for quite a while. It it was entertaining watching the planes flying over us so low that we could have shaken hands with the pilot!

We eventually arrived home at 7pm, tired, but glad to be in familiar surroundings. Another trip over and done with!

Day 11 - the long journey home

Not much to report today. 

We left at 6.20am but found that the sat nav wasn't talking. I told the Husband what to fiddle with, but it was too early so that didn't work. In the end it was easier to switch it off altogether to reboot. Thank goodness it worked! 

It was very quiet on the autobahns which meant we made good progress. There were still the annoying roadworks, but generally if was fine. Of course, there were still lots of road racers and I was very conscious of keeping alert for them.  We had a prime example as we first got on the autobahn. Just past the entry slip road there was the end of a big accident and we saw a VW golf rammed right under the rear of a lorry. I can't see anyone surviving that. 

We stopped once in Germany then again in Luxembourg. We filled with fuel, but had a hard job finding somewhere to park. We found one alongside a kerb at the side of the building but then the Husband decided to trip over the kerb and go flying. He was okay though, just wounded pride, but he nearly give me a heart attack!

We decided to go on to the next services to eat, there are only two in Luxembourg! At the second one I stocked up on local wine and then we had our food in the car. It was 32 degrees and a dry heat so we were glad to get going again for the aircon. 

The sat nav took us a very perculiar way to the hotel but we got there in the end. 

I had booked a duplex suite as a surprise. We entered downstairs to a dining table and small, hidden kitchen then went upstairs to our room. It had a stand alone jacuzzi bath, a separate walk shower and a sauna!  It also had a massive flat screen TV at the end of the bed but on the other side was ANOTHER TV for using whilst sitting in the chairs!  

This was all well and good but he couldn't get the coffee machine to work! Of course it did when I remembered that I had to put the key card in the slot on the wall!

After we had settled in and relaxed after the really long drive, we went down for a nice dinner then went  to bed. 

Day 10 - the last day!

We didn't have to get up early this morning, so of course we woke early! 

I did some packing and then we decided to go earlier than intended to Sankt Johann to collect my watch that was in for repair. 

The drive there was surprisingly slow, as there was a lot of traffic. It was the last day of school and the pupils literally only go in for an hour to get their end of year reports. This became relevant to us when we found our usual car park next to a school, absolutely full of cars. It was so bad I had to abandon our plans and carry on driving to Kitzbuhel. 

This time we had no problem entering the car park, so we then walked down the hill into the town. 

Once in the centre, we saw that there were the remains of the Austrian road race, lots of cyclists everywhere. 

We managed to avoid all this and had our usual walk around the town. It's very pretty but also VERY expensive! It's full of ladies of a certain age with their bejewelled, collared dogs, chatting with their friends. Then there are the men of a certain age, driving around the town in their Ferraris etc. We saw nice such vehicle at the Rathaus (Town Hall) for a wedding. 

I'm fascinated by shop window displays here, honestly, the prices are ridiculous, as are some of the items for sale. A perfect example is this pair of boots!

After seeing the wedding, then we saw a funeral. All we needed next was a christening!  

We sat and had coffee and did some people watching, but most of the excitement was over by then. We made our way back to the car and left Kitzbuhel, returning to have another go at finding a parking space at Sankt Johann. 

The difference an hour or so makes!  Schools had finished, parents had left, so there were plenty of spaces. The thing then was to get to the jewellery shop before it closes for lunch! Fortunately we did and we spent a good half hour with the owners, chatting about everything. Of course I didn't leave without buying something, as I always feel guilty of I don't!

From here we walked around the market but we were shopped to death so came back empty handed to the car. We drove back to the farm for lunch, then I tried to write my blog. Yet again, the wifi was den and remained down all day. 

We went for our final visit to Cafe Schmid,  mainly to say goodbye. 

We were definitely going out for tea, so didn't dare eat much. I had an ice coffee, coffee ice cream in a tall glass with a spoon and a straw and the Husband actually had just mixed ice cream! No coffee and cake!

However, someone else was having this!

That's a dinner plate full of ice cream, fruit, nuts, berries and cream! It looked gorgeous!

After saying our farewells to everyone, we left and went to see our other friend and her children (and the puppy). We spent a lovely, final afternoon chatting and playing with both children and puppy before we really did have to say goodbye and return to the farm to finish packing etc. This is her house and views. 

We went for tea to Gasthof Strub in the small hamlet of Strub a couple of miles from the village. It's not open often and we were lucky it was tonight. They do the most amazing steaks! I only have a small on but the Husmand has the big one, 250g!

It's about two inches thick and smothered with pepper sauce. It would last me a week if I ate it!

Friday night is the night the village brass band performs a concert in the centre of the village and it's always brilliant. The band is made up of all local people, a few of whom we know in their daily lives, the cobbler and the taxi driver. 

I only had one thing left to do. I visited the church and lit two more candles. At the jewellers I had bought a silver tree of life on a chain. For some weird reason I decided to dip it in Holy water whilst I was there, not like me at all!

There was still no wifi when we got back to the farm so I've written this in Belgium!

Day 9 - an even longer day!

A big day today in more ways than one as we were driving up the highest mountain in Ausria and along the highest Alpine road in Europe!  The journey takes about two hours, along some of the best roads I've ever driven on. However, as usual, we had to put up with lots of roadworks on the way. 

The scenery is truly beautiful in this part of the Tirol and it's a privilege to be able to see it. Luckily I have a dash came so I'm going to save the footage for posterity! 

We arrived at the toll booths to see queues of vehicles waiting to pay to go up the mountain mint costs about £33 per car, which sounds a lot but it's well worth it. The road is full of hairpin bends with very steep inclines and it's a great test of driving skills, also the car!  You have to be more careful coming down the mountain as you can burn out the brakes if you are not careful. In the past, we have seen prototype cars being tested on this route, it's that challenging! I have to say I loved it, apart from the lycra clad cyclists. They insist on breaking the rules of the road and riding two abreast instead of single file. This is SO dangerous, as its bad enough negotiating the hairpin bends as they are, without have to go into the oncoming traffic lane as well. 

Some drivers are clearly out of their comfort zone because they drive up so slowly that they hold up the traffic. Fortunately, this has been thought of by the addition of intermittent second lanes so that others can pass. On the other hand, there are the utter lunatics who think they are in a F1 race and tailgate you until they can roar pass. I deal with them by slowing right down until they back off!  

The views going up the mountain defy description, so I'll just post the photos I managed to take when we stopped. After a certain height there is still snow, and it remains all year around. There is also a danger of falling rocks and this time we had to stop whilst workmen dealt with them. The lorry is in the left and the snow on the right. 

When we finally reached the top of the Grossglockner there were masses of people there already. Unbelievably, there is a multi storey car park at the top! We ended up on the top floor, just before the car park got full, so we were lucky. 

When we went down to the bottom we were able to see the glacier. We were shocked! We visited some years ago and were able to go down on a funicular and walk along the glacier. This time it had shrunk SO much that there was hardly any ice left and none where we had walked, it was just green, glacial water. 

We had a coffee and the Husband had a passable apple strudel and then we made our way back to the car. Negotiating the exit down the spiral ramp was more difficult that the drive up the mountain! Not for the faint haearted. 

I really enjoyed the drive down, which also involves going up! It was great to see the motor cyclists whizzing past us, I was envious as they could overtake all the slow drivers! 

We finally made it to the bottom and made our way back to the autobahn which would eventually take us back to the farm. On the way we stopped at two garden centres, one at Saalfelden which was enormous and displayed everything in such an appealing way, even I was interested!  We also stopped at the one at Lofer, supposedly to buy our plant like the one at the farm. However, as we about to pay for it I noticed that they had rung up DOUBLE what we had been told the price was!  We had been given duff information so suffice to say, we left empty handed! Never mind, I'll buy one at home, it's probably for the best. 

We were both tired by now, so we just went straight to Cafe Schmid. As we weren't going out for tea I had a banan split again, as its so filling.The Husband was disappointed when he looked in the chiller. There was NO cake at all. However, they were playing a joke on him as they'd saved him a piece and wrapped it in foil so no one else could ask for it! How's that for service?

Day 8 - the long trip!

'Today we decided to visit Wattens, the HQ of Swarovski crystal, which I collect. As a member of the collectors society I get access to the VIP lounge. We always pop in here for coffe and a loo stop before we back track to a lovely little town called Rattenberg. However today was going to be a bit different. 

We entered the grounds and got a ticket for the shop, which is free. The Kristallwelten is basically a modern museum, celebrating all things Swarovski. I've visited a couple of time but it is SO pretentious that I would never bother again. The entrance is a large grass mound in the shape of a giant. 

We bypass this and go to the lounge for our drink and this is the weird entrance tunnel!

After this, and once I'd been given my free gift, we made our way out through the he massive shop and returned to the car. As we were leaving more people were arriving. This is one of the major attractions in Austria.

The difference this time was that we were going towards Innsbruck for a change, so that we could visit a village in the mountains called Igls. We are staying there for the first time in Septemebr so whilst we were so close, I thought it was worth having a look. I decided to pop in to our hotel and see if we could upgrade the room. When I made the booking we weren't given the option so I thought it was worth calling in and speaking to the staff. It worked!  We were shown tow rooms in a higher category and we picked one, 301. It is lovely, with a balcony overlooking the mountains and so has a fantastic view. We don't have to pay until we go in September, which was good news in case I have to cancel the holiday.

This is the back of the hotel but you can get an idea of the views!

From here we made our way to Rattenberg where we always shop for glass. This time we stopped and had a picnic by the river that flows thought the town. 

Rattenberg is a medieval town, which is clear from its buildings and main road, now pedestrianised. 

When you pay for parking, the ticket gives a discount for the town museum.  Never having been there before, we decided to find it. What a gem! It's the old monastery and dates from the 1300's. I've never seen anything like it and was so glad we visited. 

The sacristy contained glass cabinets displaying all of the gold and silver belonging to the Augustinian monks. 

To our utter amazement, there was a full size church inside, with wonderful altars and wall paintings. The ceilings were painted too, it was completely breathtaking!  

From here we ascended to the first floor, which brought out to some gory paintings. Having siad that, there was a lovely picture of the Madonna and Child too. 

There were also doors, on leading on to a fretwork balcony, overlooking the altar below and the other at the rear of the church where all the monks would sit to listen to the service. This was all a little creepy but again, fascinating. 

From here is was up some very steep, open stairs to the roof. Suffice to say that I didn't go bu the Husband did. He managed to get some good photos on his camera but I haven't got access to them until I get home. 

We left the museum feeling really pleased we had made the effort to find it!

Now it was time for shopping for glass. We went to out usual shop, Kisslinger, and started at one end, searching for what I wanted. There are tow entrances to the shop as it takes up a massive area. In a town like this, with small shop fronts, it only looks like a tiny shop. 

I always look for unusual vases and, after about half an hour, I found it. The shop is amazing as its built into the mountain, so parts of it are very cold. As it was 32 degrees outside, it was most welcome!

There are corridors into what look like caves or the crypt of a church. 

Once I had finished we left via the second doorway, emerging into the bright sun and heat about 75 metres further along the road!

What a wonderful shop! I really hope I get back there in September, as its only about half an hour from our hotel, whereas it's currently and hour and a half from the farm. 

So, after all this shopping we only had to visit Aldi (called Hofer here) to get some supplies for tomorrow, fill up with fuel for the journey and then make our way back to the farm. 

We've decided that, if we are able to return to the village next year, that we will think about staying somewhere else for a change. There's a new hotel being built but I doubt that will be ready in time, but you never know in Austria! There's one hotel next to Cafe Schmid, where the Shearings people stayed but I wouldn't stay there now having heard their reports on it. We've stayed at two otheres, so wouldn't go back, which left one I hadn't even considered until now. It's a bit tucked away and I forget it's there but it's undergone a massive refurbishment, which has totally changed it from how it was before. Before tea, we wandered over to see it, having checked it out on the Internet first. It looked really good but very modern. We are going to think about it for next year, as we can only book a short time before we can visit. 

We went for tea at the Schnierderman - again but this time having something really basic, sausage and chips, Tirolean style! 

Having said that, this was my view out of the window!

And so to bed.