Austria Trip 2019: The Cows

I didn't realize it before this trip but I sure do now:  the cows are very much a part of the Austrian way of life...and landscape.  They deserve a post all on their own!

You can start with the view just outside of Ehrwald, our home base for the week.

As far as I'm concerned, this would have been more than enough.
Talk about the "sound of music!"

However, long before our trip, Astrid had specifically earmarked a day to drive to Au, near the western border of Austria, to watch the cows being brought down the alpine mountains for their winter pasture.  We were like little kids, full of excitement.

As you know, the journey is every bit as important as the destination.

THIS is Austria...chalets, flower boxes and trompe l'oeil.

Almost every building we saw had paintings on them.

We were driving into the alpine skiing area of Austria,

some of which reminded me of places I have seen in America...like Colorado?

Like I said, the journey really was as important as the destination.

I was particularly charmed by the overpasses and tunnels, covered with vegetation.

Many are there to keep avalanching snow from blocking the roadways.

How fun is that...flying off into the wild-blue yonder!

By the time we made it to Au, 104 km from Ehrwald, it was time to eat.

That was when everything was coming up cows!

That includes the cow-herder lederhosen at the bar,

which I made Astrid try out for size.  HA!

Now, then...the cows.

Unbeknownst to us, they had come down the mountain on the roads during the night,
not through the town, ringing their bells, as we had been told (as seen here).
[It was our only disappointment of the day.]

My guess is that it was a hard day's night!  Poor thing.

But lucky for us, we did get to see a roundup!

Maybe it made up for not seeing them come down the mountain like we had expected?

Actually, as we left to return home, we did see these stragglers.

Let's hear it for the cows!

As we drove back, we saw stragglers still waiting their turn, I guess?
Some of them looked like skin and bones, and we wondered why???

At one point, near Lech, we stopped to view this canyon.
In Austria!  Who knew?!

But it was scenes like this that totally made my day.
The hills really ARE alive with music...and with cows...in Austria!

A Giessen River Boat Ride

Do you ever feel that sometimes you have way too much fun?!  HA!

Well, this is one of those times, almost 3 weeks ago, when Astrid and I joined our friends, Margreeth (mother) and Natascha (daughter), for a Saturday's boat ride on our nearby Giessen river, just 7.5 km from home.

It so happens that Margreeth's brother, who lives in Giessenburg, owns an electric-motor boat.

Out of the goodness and generosity of his heart, along with his wife, we had access to it for the day. 

(Notice that I have a photo of them and their house...but not the boat!)

Here's the collage I put up on Facebook of Natascha's iPhone images.

(Did I mention it was a hot day and I had to keep myself covered from the blistering sun?)

Think about 4.5 hours of lazily cruising the Giessen river...the operative word being lazily.

Just ogling the real estate along the way was worth the trip.

Location.  Location.  Location.  (right?)

We watched mamas and papas along the way feeding their babies. 

It was educational.

(Have you ever seen a great crested grebe that wasn't soaked to the skin?)

Speaking of eating, we did our own thing right there on the boat.

A picnic on a boat!

Everything else was frosting on the cake.

What you see is what you get when you are lazily passing by.

We especially enjoyed seeing the Ons Museum from the river, which we had visited in 2014.

But to be honest, it was the cows who made my day, there at the water's edge.

By now, back away from the water, our earth is parched for lack of rain and the heat.

The cows teach us about how to deal with this extreme weather, right?

And then it was the windmill at the far end before we turned back.

It's the Oudendijkse Molen from 1683.

What is it about windmills!

I put this collage on Facebook today and someone said Astrid looked like a little girl!

I think all 4 of us (each with our turn at the helm) were little girls that day.

I even got my "fix" of weathervanes, all from the boat.
(Most of these I've shown before.)

Let's just say we had the Life of Riley that day...

thanks to the generosity of dear friends.

The Vasse, NL, Trip

You may find this strange but a week after we came back from our Koblenz, Germany, trip (last weekend of November), Astrid had a week off from work because of too many free days to take over into the new year.  So, rather than sit at home, we were off again...this time to Vasse, NL, right on the Dutch-German border, 177 km east of us.

We arrived on Monday, 7 December, and stayed till Thursday,

with the Tante Sien hotel as our home base, built in 1881.

Because we had trips planned for the following days,

we decided to take the suggested 5-km walk around the area that first afternoon.

The St. Joseph and Pancratius catholic church opposite our hotel became our point of reference 

all along the walk.  If we could see it, we knew we weren't lost!

Almost immediately, at the beginning of our walk away from city center,

we were greeted by these lovelies, who totally made my day.

Later, it was the horses in the distance, waiting for supper to be called.

At which point we left the main trails and entered the Ice Age, literally.

Actually, because of recent rain, it was muddy and scary.

We slapped ourselves upside the head about starting so late in the day as the sun was setting.

While it was one of the best sunsets we've ever seen progress,

while deep in the woods, we were almost panicking.  Would we ever find our way out?

Well, yes, of course, because we got back to the hotel in time for our early 5 p.m. dinner!

Looking out the window from my seat I tipped my glass to St. Joseph and Pancratius outside.

Yes, we were back safe-n-sound.

It so happens this hotel stay was a special deal that included breakfast AND dinner.

We started every meal with the same Pott's Weizen beer from Germany 

and farmer's bread with 3 different spreads.
[As an fyi, Astrid and I drink red wine with our dinners at home but love
trying new, good beers while we're out-n-about.  There are so many!]

And this was Dinner #1.

Dinner #2

And Dinner #3

All dinners were 3 courses and were delightful.

We were happy campers, even though as a rule we prefer choosing different restaurants

while traveling out-n-about.  This time we had to return "home" to get our money's worth.

We were NOT disappointed.

The next 3 days we drove all around the area and found lots of goodies.

I never tire of these weathervanes!

How is it possible so many variations on a theme exist!

But, not to be outdone, I quickly found a new collectible from the area.

The following are uilenborden (owls boards) from the Twente area of east Netherlands:

They come in all sizes and shapes...

but can be unusually tall and complex.

Who knew I'd come away at the end of 2015 with a new collectible!

Not as exciting to me as the weathervanes, but exciting enough.

(to be continued....)

Het Lingebos in Nearby Vuren, NL

You wouldn't know that behind the scenes I am full-throttle ahead on getting posts done on our recent annual trip to Atlanta.  But, you know, sometimes you have to clear the way first....

So before I show you the incredible Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta, I want you to see what we came back to last week.  Astrid says she can't remember when the autumnal colors here where we live were this brilliant.  She says it was the right combination of warmer weather and less rain that made it happen.

Watch and be astounded again by the hand of Mother Earth.

Each week we ask, "Where are we going to eat this Saturday?"

It's my treat, every Saturday of the year, to have lunch out somewhere.  Out.  Away.

Because of the incredible colors, Astrid suggested we go to the pannenkoek restaurant 

in Het Lingebos...the wee forest in nearby Vuren, less than 6 km away.

We parked at the edge of the forest and walked 45 minutes through it to the restaurant,

and then back again to the car.

OMG.  This is exactly what our body-soul-spirits needed.

THIS is why I still live here...if for no other reason!

We had eaten once before at this restaurant in the woods, but years ago with Jeroen and Eva.

I had totally forgotten what it looked like, inside and out.

I even forgot to take a photo of the pannenkoek before it was all but gobbled up.

But you get the idea.

That pot of stroop, btw, is a Dutch pancake staple (even though we don't use it).

It's like molasses!  Good for what ails you.

Walking back to the car, our eyes were again wide open.

Even the cows way back near the highway, in the dazzling sunlight, were happy.

We ALL were happy, soaking it up like there's no tomorrow.

And it's right at our fingertips.

Yes, I'm home!