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| In Salzburg |
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| View of Salzburg from the Hohensalzburg Fortress |
Pat wanted
to take the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, so we did. The original story was
based on fact, but Hollywood added some entertainment, music and drama to make
it more popular. After that we took a short walking tour of town and took the
funicular up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which overlooks the city. We drove
to Hallstatt to tour the oldest salt mine in the world (7000 yrs old) and still
actively mined. Now they let the water do all the work, and just separate the
resulting salt brine. We moved on to Lake Bled, Slovenia and took a Pletna boat
ride out to an island which we walked around and took the boat back. We checked
out a bee museum, before heading to a rainy Lake Bohinj. The next day was
beautiful so we returned to Lake Bohinj and hiked some of the Mostnice Gorge and
took the gondola to the top of the mountain for spectacular views of the lake
and surrounding mountains.
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| 3400 yr old wooden staircase preserved in Hallstatt salt mine |
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Pat outside salt mine
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| Bled Castle and lake |
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| Pietna Boat Rower on Lake Bled |
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| View of Lake Bohinj |
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| Pat at the top of the gondola |
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| Mts around Lake Bohinj |
The main
scenic road through the Julian Alps was closed due to avalanche danger, so we
took the alternate route into Italy to get to Bovec, Slovenia. The area was
very pretty with some nice waterfalls. Next, I toured the Skocjan Cave, another
World Heritage Site. Pat didn’t go because it involved 500 steps, which was
about the limit for my heart. But it was spectacular, not for its formations
but for the sheer size of the rooms, making it among the largest caves in the
world. We toured the Postojna Cave, another cave so big that you ride a train
to get into and out of the main chamber. Here we saw room after room of cave
formations, so many we actually got tired of them, but what an amazing huge
cave. |
Boka Waterfalls
The main
scenic road through the Julian Alps was closed due to avalanche danger, so we
took the alternate route into Italy to get to Bovec, Slovenia. The area was
very pretty with some nice waterfalls. Next, I toured the Skocjan Cave, another
World Heritage Site. Pat didn’t go because it involved 500 steps, which was
about the limit for my heart. But it was spectacular, not for its formations
but for the sheer size of the rooms, making it among the largest caves in the
world. We toured the Postojna Cave, another cave so big that you ride a train
to get into and out of the main chamber. Here we saw room after room of cave
formations, so many we actually got tired of them, but what an amazing huge
cave. |
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| Virje Waterfall |
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| A Lipizzaner Stallion |
We went to
Lipica to see the Lipizzaner Stallions perform. They could stand on their rear
legs and jump forward three times. It takes many years of training to perform
such a feat. We continued on to Ljubljana and from there I wanted to do the
Vintgar Gorge hike. From our remote parking lot, it was a one hour walk to the
ticket booth. This was too much walking for Pat so she returned to the car to
wait for me. I told her I should return in 2-3 hours. I got to the ticket booth
and waited in line for 20 min. only to find out that I couldn’t enter the gorge
for another 2 and ½ hours due to a timed entry policy. That would leave Pat
waiting 5 to 6 hours for my return. I gave up and walked another hour back to
the car. I knew this place was popular, but this was a weekday in April!
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| Postojna Cave |
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| Ljubljana |
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| Grossglockner High Alpine Rd trip |
We returned
to Austria and drove the Grossglockner Alpine Highway that had just opened for
the year. It is the highest alpine road in Europe. The original plan was to do
the Werfen Ice Cave, but when we realized it involved over 800 steps, we both
had to pass. Instead, we drove back to the beautiful town of Hallstatt (where
the salt mine is that we visited) - unfortunately the parking lots were full so
we turned around and found another beautiful area to explore away from all the crowds.
On our last day of touring, a truck threw up a rock and cracked the front
window of our new rental car. The next day we completed our drive back to
Munich, returned the rented wheelchair and headed to the airport. After we
returned the car and checked in, Pat realized she didn’t have her phone. After
a thorough search of her clothes and backpack, we determined she must have left
it in the rental car. At this airport all the rental cars are returned to the
same place, so several cars a minute are being processed. It had been 20-30 min
since we returned the car, so who knows where it might be by now. I returned to
where the cars were being processed, looking for the guy who checked us in, but
I didn’t find him. One of the employees explained that this was not the same
bay that they were using 30 min ago. We walked to the next bay and the car was
still there. I found the phone in the center console.
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| Hohenwerfen Castle |
The flight
back was uneventful - all the plane parts that left Munich made it to IAD. It
was an Airbus, not a Boeing plane. In the past, we had a terrible experience at
Dulles Airport with major delays getting through Customs and Immigration. This
time we had Global Entry and we buzzed right through with barely a wait.
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| Site were the children were taught to sing, Doe a deer.... |
Reflections
on the trip:
Canal Trip: We
had envisioned a relaxing week doing the canal, but this was not the case. Pat’s
knee pain made it difficult for her to perform the required tasks. She did it
anyway. Another couple would have made a world of difference. The wind made
steering difficult, going through narrow passages and entering locks required
you to slow down, but doing so gave the wind control of the boat. We were
surprised we had to dump our waste overboard. Being at the start of the boating
season the canal was well flushed this time of year, so there was no odor, but
you could not forget that the water was not clean. There are more than 20
canals in Europe where you can rent a boat, and many have pump out stations.
These trips can be fun and relaxing.
Weather:
France was warmer and definitely windier than expected. Germany/Austria was
considerably cooler and wetter. Slovenia had several gorgeous days.
Crowds: Most
of the travelers we ran into were European. The only times when crowds were a
problem were in Slovenia at the cave tours, and Vintger Gorge, and in Hallstatt
Austria. How bad are these areas during peak travel season?
Air travel:
We had four flights with Lufthansa and we had no problem with them or their
planes. We will never fly Air France again.
Research: I
used 4 Rick Steves guidebooks to plan this trip, and found them very useful. I
used a couple Canal du Midi books.
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