Rural Austria

We woke up out of Lofer, Austria this morning to rain and drizzly light. Sunday morning, creeping like a nun, we snuck through the sleepy streets in search of a bakery. The ski village dripped quiet and peaceful, and it wasn’t till we reached the end of town (a total of six blocks) that we saw lights on and a couple of cars parked. Something was open. Well, almost. The door was locked, but a cheery cook let us in and in a matter of moments we were sipping coffee (actually mine was a cappuccino with plenty of foam) in the quaintest little dining room ever. Apparently, the establishment was an inn, and we had caught her just as she was waking. Only a couple of lights were on and the kitchen radio was playing a local oldies station and the innkeeper, dressed in traditional Austrian garb, was having her coffee and reading the paper at a nearby table. Half awake ourselves, the whole event took on a sweet dream-like quality – it was an ethereal moment epitomizing rural Austrian hospitality (a notion significantly reinforced when our coffee was served with a free helping of home-made bread, butter and honey).

You see, we had a hunch that Austria might be low-key and friendly like that. At first, the country didn’t seem to differ from Switzerland in the slightest. Towering mountains, green foothills, quaint villages, gentle-faced cattle, telecabines, shuttered chalets with geraniums glowing from the windowboxes – all of this is the same. And yet, upon closer inspection, Austria is decidedly more piecemealed and homegrown. There’s not as much touristy glitz. More families. More gardens. More random clotheslines, bikes and animals. Less zoning.

We first started to notice this difference on our hike yesterday. We had emerged from our campsite just as dawn was breaking. The sky was purplish and stars twinkled over groves of pear trees. Wait a minute. Pear trees? In someone’s yard? Wow. And there’s a pony! We ended up hiking over five hours and when we came back through the residential area we had our camera ready. Enjoy a few photos of rural Austria. – Kate

---

Given enough time five miles an hour will get you anywhere, maybe even to contentment. Today we woke up before it was light and went on a hike in Blundenz, Austria. The mountains here are severe, treacherous looking masses of rock. But if you stay on the trail and just keep walking, with an occasional rest, it’s almost unnatural how far you can go. In a few hours it’s possible to walk to a place that appeared impossible from an earlier perspective.

I’m choosing to believe that life is similar. Dreams and goals that appear impossible from the present perspective can be miraculously realized given enough time and slow persistent effort. – Philip