Today kind of reminded me of a Florida beach day in January. You walk the beach in a fleece and windbreaker, enjoying the brisk winter sea breeze. But there they are: tourists from Up North in bathing attire and braving the cold water and air. “We’ve come to Florida for our vacation and we’re going to go swimming and get a tan no matter how cold it is.”
There we stood at 5 PM this afternoon on Munich’s Marienplaz in the pouring rain. “We’ve come to Munich for our vacation and we’re going to see the glockenspiel show no matter how hard it’s raining,” said we and several hundred other umbrella-wielding spectators. It rained, poured and thundered for the ten minutes leading up to the show and the ten minutes it took for the show to complete.
The glockenspiel is housed in the tower of the New Town Hall on the square (plaz). Bells chime out a tune while figures high up in the tower march and dance to the music.
I’d found the Marienplaz on a short walk I took this afternoon. It wasn’t raining then and I dragged Carter and Nana from our Bayerischer Hof hotel room. They were all tuckered out from out three-hour bus ride from the Aqua Dome hotel this morning. By then it was raining at a pretty good clip so our sightseeing was minimal.
In fact, it has been raining off and on all day. I didn’t take pictures out the bus window because of the dark, dreary scenery wasn’t very photogenic and the bus windows were streaming with water.
We arrived at about 11 AM and were joined by our local tour guide who conducted a city tour by bus, giving us history lessons in a humorous and animated way that made even kids like Carter and the others pay attention. Much emphasis was given to the House of Wittelsbach and the various Ludwigs who ruled Bavaria from 1623 to 1918. Ludwig II is the one who built the castle that was the inspiration for the castle at Disneyworld. The family line is still intact and is still quite wealthy.
What was to be the walking portion of the tour was conducted on the bus and we got to the hotel by 1 PM. Our guides gave us ideas for “on our own” places for lunch but, fear not, Carter led us the best pizza restaurant in Munich, L’Osteria. From there, my walk and the glockenspiel trek ensued.
Cocktails at 6 PM and dinner comprised the farewell party. Jeff, who had been out visiting Ludwig II’s castles joined us at dessert time and got to meet a few of the parents and kids. After, Carter took his dad back to L’Oseria for his dad’s first meal of the day. We joined them for a fun hour or two talking and watching them eat pasta and pizza.
So tomorrow Jeff and Carter meet in our hotel lobby at 5 AM and then head off to the airport. We’re going to miss that Carter a whole lot. He’s been a joy to be with and a great help in keeping his Nana and Grampa filled with Italian food. We’re going to have to fall back on schnitzel and sauerkraut for the rest of the trip. His loving sense of humor will be sorely missed.
A busy day with lots of activities. One measure: We took 627 pictures today. The previous high on this trip was 431 when we did the auto tour way back last Saturday. A total of 2,799 so far with tomorrow yet to go. Because of the number of pictures to process and the late hour (it’s almost 11 PM as I type). I’m going to post this epistle and maybe a picture or two. I’ll try to get the pictures processed and posted soon. I’ll let you know when they’re ready.
First stop today: an hour’s drive to Innsbruck and an Olympic ski jumping facility. You’ve probably seen ski jumping on TV: take off, flight, landing. Next jumper. What made this special was being close to the action and meeting a guy whose passion in life is jumping.
Our guide for this activity, Thomas, is a 28-year-old guy who once had dreams of a pro career but now jumps as a hobby and gives demonstrations for groups like ours. He started skiing at age 3 and jumping not too soon thereafter. While a good jumper, he never made the cut for World Cup or Olympic competitions so at age 21 he went back to school and today is a university research assistant. What a great guy: one with a burning love of the sport but who balances that with a healthy and seemingly happy life outside the sport.
Thomas did two jumps, as did a second jumper (who just this year retired from the pro circuit). Three other current pros were practicing so we got to witness maybe 10 jumps. The weather, forecast to be rain and cold turned sunny and warm. Thomas’s final jump, which he described as pretty good at 128 meters, equaled and beat several of the pros’ jumps. The old guy still has it in him. We viewed jumps at the top as they took off, midway down the track just before launch, at the landing zone and at the bottom of the hill.
Next, a local guide named Luc gave us a humorous walking tour of Innsbruck. Highlights: the Hapsburgs and their many inbred marriages and the founding of medieval Innsbruck. Two pairs of character actors brought some of the history to life. Innsbruck (translated as the bridge over the Inn River) came to life as a trading center. The location is near the lowest pass in the Alps between Italy and Austria and hence the Hapsburg Empire. A bridge opened a trading route; the toll paid to cross the bridge became a cash cow that financed the building of the city and its many cathedrals and churches.
Charlotte recommended a restaurant featuring traditional Austrian food for our “on your own” lunch. Carter put one foot in the joint and said, “This isn’t going to work. Give me your phone, Grampa.” Within 15 minutes we were seated at a pizza and burger joint where we had two pizzas and three drinks for 21 Euros. Kid knows how to save his grandpa some serious change and find food that satisfies. We topped it off with an ice cream, of course.
Back to the Aqua Dome hotel. Nap time was jettisoned in favor of hitting the swimming holes this place is famous for. There are three pools built on interconnected pedestals featuring, from top to bottom, a sulfur pool, a salt pool and a plain old water pool, each heated to 95 degrees. We spent maybe 15 minutes in each. There were probably 75 or so folks in each without feeling too awfully crowded. At ground level we waded in a walking pool, that included a whirlpool and a passageway into a large indoor pool. Not many photos of this activity since we were parading around in our swimsuits without a convenient way to bring an iPhone. Sorry.
That left us with an hour to get ready for the evening entertainment. A 20-minute bus ride brought us to Otzi Village (two dots over the O, please. Don’t remember how to do it). Otzi, you may recall, is a mummified body uncovered in 1991 not far from here. Turns out Otzi was a stone age man (copper age, more precisely) who lived, and died, about 5,300 years ago. Because he fell into a pond that froze over soon after he died, his body and many of his artifacts, remained intact until discovered by two mountain hikers.
Otzi was apparently a 48-year-old shaman of his village. He was murdered, as evidenced by an arrowhead stuck in his left shoulder. Why he was murdered is unclear. Many of his worldly possessions were found near his body. His gut contents revealed what he ate before his death. Medical analysis of his body revealed a litany of illness and conditions, ranging from heart disease, dental problems and severe arthritis.
Otzi Village is a recreation of Otzi’s life, death and supposed living conditions based on the evidence revealed by the discovery of his body. The museum here contains replicas of the original items. Otzi’s body and his belongings are in a museum in Italy. Turns out that his remains fell about 90 meters on the Italian side of the border. Austria had to turn over the body and artifacts to the Italians.
We divided into two groups. The kids went to a campfire and cooked their dinner (chicken, sausage, vegetables, bread and marshmallows) over the fire. Carter said he did OK but the raw dough tasted better than the cooked version so why bother cooking?
The adults went to a small restaurant that served a salty but tasty soup, a sausage-like, vegetable filled item of some sort, accompanied by pasta (potato pasta, maybe?) and strudel. The big deal for us was a husband-and-wife duo, guitar and a double-barreled accordion-like device. They put on quite a show, playing traditional Alpine songs (sounds much like polka music), drinking songs and yodeling. Before we were through, they had us all yodeling and up dancing to the music. The kids joined us and they switched to popular songs the kids could dance to. A fun time was had by all.
Tomorrow, we leave at 8 AM for Munich and our final day on the Tauck tour. There’s to be a city tour and the farewell dinner. Departure for everyone but the two of us is Sunday.
Carter’s dad Jeff flew into Munich this morning and will fly home with Carter on Sunday morning, leaving Judy and I to our own devices. Today, Jeff visited the concentration camp at Dachau and tomorrow plans to do a tour of two castles in the Munich area.
Judy and I think we’ll do the Dachau trip on Sunday. Monday we’re picking up our rental car in Munich and driving a couple of hours to Salzburg to begin the next leg of this three-legged journey. Stay tuned!
So, there I was, floating in the Class 3 rapids of the Inn River, headed towards Innsbruck some 100 Km or more away. Judy was floating beside me. The question: how can two ancient, arthritic, less-than-spry old goats like us ever get back in our raft?
No big deal: this was part of the scheduled “guest overboard” drill to show that it’s not impossible. Our raft captain showed us how to grab the straps of the swimmer’s life vest and pull them in. The puller falls over backward, if necessary, to provide the needed force. The right side of our raft went first. It was my job to pull in one of our fellow Tauckers who happens to be the largest, in mass and girth, of the entire 35-person crew. It wasn’t that bad and it gave me confidence that he would pull me in with no problem. He did and several others helped Judy back aboard.
In fact, the 45-degree water was refreshing and we were equipped with wet suit, shoes, helmet and the life vest. I went overboard two more times just for the fun of it. Judy was happy with once. Carter lost count. He said he went in every chance he could. He ditched us early on and went in a raft with some of the other kids close to his age.
The Inn River, if you’re interested, starts at the Bernina Glacier not too far from where we were yesterday. It’s a tributary of the Danube and flows to the Black Sea. You may recall our glacier yesterday flowed to the Mediterranean, North and the Adriatic. Switzerland’s got a lot of Europe covered. Here’s hoping those glaciers don’t melt entirely away.
The rafting experience took place at Area 47, a huge water park facility established in 2010. https://area47.at/en/outdoor/rafting/rafting-imster-gorge/ if you’re interested. Blobbing was another interesting-looking activity. You sit on a giant inflatable blob. One or two others jump onto the other end of the blob and you’re catapulted into the air and into the water.
We left St. Moritz this morning, stopping once for a “welcome drink” just after crossing the Austrian boarder and arrived at Area 47 just before noon. Lunch was in the cafeteria. Our path followed the Inn River. The Inn has cut a broad valley that, in the day, made this a prime trade route. Some of the towns in Austria had examples of a carved building art, the name of which I did not capture. Examples are included in the photos.
Water rafting started at 12:45. We were back on the bus by 4:00 PM after an hour-and-a-half float/paddle/swim covering 17 km.
Another hour’s drive and we were at our hotel, the Aqua Dome about an hour from Innsbruck. We haven’t tried it yet but this place has hot spring bathing pools and a nude-only sauna complex. Carter will be a tough sell for a sauna session but maybe we can coax him into the hot springs.
We’ll go to Innsbruck tomorrow for ski jumping lessons. The bad news is that we can’t jump if the winds blow too hard. Here’s hoping.
Bus ride to Diavolezza and the cable car to near the top of the Morteratsch Glacier. We spent 45 minutes in 45-degree weather viewing the glacier and surrounding mountains.
Back down the cable car and a short bus ride to the town of Morteratsch. There we were given two options:
Rock climbing with full gear, instruction and experience on a mountain wall. Carter did this and by all reports did well. He said he succeeded on the most difficult course but couldn’t quite complete the easier courses.
A hike with a biologist guide, which turned out to be about 2 miles each way, uphill going, at 6,000 feet altitude. I did this; Judy went a little way and decided, wisely, that hiking the pace they were going wasn’t for her. We hiked to the point at which water spews from the glacier, forming rushing rivers of water laced with the sediment from rocks dislodged by the water’s flow.
The Morteratsch region watershed serves as the headwaters for the Po River, flowing to the Adriatic, the Rhone River, flowing to the Mediterranean and the Rhine River flowing to the North Sea. As such, the water flow effects the lives of 100 million people. The Morteratsch Glacier is shrinking at a rapid rate. The two-mile path we followed had markers showing the location of the glacier’s head every ten years, starting in 1880. This past year has been especially hard due to low snowfall, warm weather and a coating of sand blown across the Mediterranean from the Sahara Desert. Dark material on the ice surface causes it to heat and melt faster.
Next, an outdoor cheese fondu feed put on by a local cheese making company. Cheese and fondu were great. I asked the server for the fondu recipe and he refused: Proprietary secret, he said.
The meal was accompanied by a quartet of Alphorn players. Alphorns are those super-long horns without stops or valves, that originally were used to communicate across the mountains and to call the cows. Pretty music. I’ll try to include a video clip.
Then, Swiss games where teams competed in four areas: Knowledge of the Morteratsch Glacier region; A five-person toboggan race (see the pictures); crossbow shooting; ball throwing. Sad to say, Carter’s team of four other guys came in last but scored first in having fun.
More options: mountain biking (Carter); downtown St. Moritz; back to the hotel. Nana and I chose the latter and the Alpine Power Napping skill.
We walked 10 minutes to an Italian restaurant. Good food and out in one hour flat. Carter hates wasting time in a restaurant.
