Mirabelle Gardens

Our first stop was Mirabelle Gardens, in the middle of the (newer) city, south side of the river Salzach

Rose and other flower garden 

Vicki by a unicorn we think we have a photo

of from '89

Mirabelle view

Us, in Mirabelle, with the Salzburg High

Fortress behind us

Salzburg: A Few Words of Explanation

The next six or eight posts, whenever we have internet long enough to upload them, are all about Salzburg. There are several reasons for this. First, Salzburg is the ancestral Sherouse (Scheraus) home. The Scheraus family emigated sometime in the 1730s, following Prince/Archbishop Firmian's 1731 edict expelling all Jews, Gypsies, and Protestants. The Scheraus's went first to Augsburg, then, in 1741, to the new colony of Georgia, settling with other Salzburgers at Ebeneezer and later New Ebeneezer, not far from Savannah. That's another story. Second, Salzburg is one of the prettiest small cities (c. 150,000) in the world, and a place with which we have considerable previous acquaintance. Third, it is one of the best-known music and festival cities in the world. W. A. Mozart owns the place; they even named the airport after him. And fourth, Salzburg has a very affordable tourist day-card, which, if used judiciously, can save a ton of money; and get you into a lot of places you might not have otherwise visited. We bought the 72-hour card, and it nearly paid for itself just in public transportation. Anyhow, on to Salzburg.

Salzkammergut

We spent the evening at an aire near Bad Aussee, torrential rains continuing. Since we were entering the Salzkammergut, the lake country east of Salzburg, we decided to watch The Sound of Music, much of which was filmed in the area.  Corny as it sounds, it's a movie we still enjoy. After the Grossglockner, we weren't going to climb any more mountains, nor ford any streams (too high with all the rain, etc.). Anyhow, the next day (Sunday?) we did a driving tour of the Salzkammergut, ending up at the Panorama Campground in Salzburg.

Traditional boats on Halstattsee; we had wanted to visit

Hallstatt again, as we did in 1989, but there was no RV

parking, and the natives did not seem friendly

One sees much evidence of logging in the Alps--logging

trucks like this one, mills scattered here and there; but

never any clear-cuts or anything unsightly

A canoe-catcher on the river (weir)

On Traunsee, approaching Gmund, the Traunkirchen, which

is pictured prominently in Sound of Music

Closer-up of Traunkirchen and its amazing

backdrop north of the Dachstein Gruppe

Market square in pretty Mondsee

The Mondsee Basilika, where Maria and the

Captain married

Interior

Mondsee and more of the Dachsteins

Austrians seem to think they have an identity

problem (I think a Jim Carey line in Dumb

and Dumber led to this)

Grossglockner

Our next Alpine goal was the Grossglockner, Austria's big mountain, in the Hoch Tauern and the Tauern National Park there. We drove to Heiligenblut and stayed there in the same campground we stayed at with Rachel and Rebecca in 1989. Heiligenblut has not changed a lot. It was still raining, as in 1989, torrents, with very dim prospects of actually seeing the mountain the next day. We never really saw it in 1989. I do not know what micro-climatic feature makes this mountain and its weather so nasty.

Up on the Hohenalpenstrasse, the high alpine road, part of

which shoots over to the Grossglockner; looking back 
toward Heiligenblut

The Kaiser Franz Josef high place--visitor center,

restaurants, cafes, a 5-story parking garage

Us at the RV parking lot; the weather steadily improved for

a couple hours

The Grossglockner's major glacier, one of the largest in

the Alps

And, finally, a good look at the summit

I took one of the trails, the Gambrubeweg, I think, which

went through six tunnels before emerging on the side of

the adjacent mountain, the Fuchserl, I think; this is a water

chime...drops of water from above create a random sort of

melody

Complete view of the glacer and the summit, and also the

wand; although only 12,000 feet or so, it's a serious

mountain

After an hour's walk, I was rewarded with this display on

the birth of the Austrian National Park system, due to a 
man named Albert Wirth, who visited Yellowstone (the first

national park) in 1899 and came back to Austria with a

dream; he is pictured with John Muir; damn, I was proud...

Love the signage

Ditto

Click to enlarge and see people on the glacier below...

probably not very smart people

Anyhow, we finally got to see the Grossglockner. Did I mention that the temperatures were in the high 30s and it was snowing the whole time we were up there. What happened to summer?!

We drove on, through nearly the worst white-out I have seen, and then through more torrential rain, into the Salzkammergut, and stopped at an aire near Bad Aussee. G'day, mate!

Strada della Dolomiti, parto secundo

From our aire, the next morning, after a walk, we drove on through Cortina and then back north, leisurely, in the direction of Austria.

A walk near the clouds

Distant crags

And not so distant

Features almost like the American southwest

And more like the Alps

A popular hiking valley in the national park

It turned into a cloudy day, but no less exhiliarating

More clouds moving in

Italian Park Rangers, enforcement-types (note side-arms)

This whole part of Italy was earlier part of the Austrian

empire--till 1919--Mussolini did his best to Italianize the

place, but it is still bilingual...the rangers above spoke

German

Strada della Dolomiti

Italy owns parts of the Alps' greatest mountains, Monte Bianco, Monte Rosa, Monte Cervino, all in the northwest. In the northeast are the Dolomites: generally lower, not glaciated, formed more by wind and rain than other things. They are extremely picturesque, however, something no mountain aesthete could pass up. From the Brenner Pass we drove on to Bolzano, a nice-enough looking small city, but with no obvious parking for RVs, so we headed straight-on, up ever-climbing roads, generally east, to the Strada della Dolomiti, which we followed a good number of miles. It was serious mountain driving, however.

Peaks and crags everywhere, much limestone

In a small town

Tower on a larger mini-massif

And other features too

Back down in a valley, before heading up to Cortina

I am not sure whether it is boasting or serious road

information, but they number the hair-pin turns on these

roads

The road to the Pass Giua had 28 such hair-pins; the roads

are good, however, nice and wide; no tour busses up here

We found an aire, of sorts, just beyond this peak, and

stopped for the night

Other views in the vicinity

Parked at our "aire"

Table with a view: tomatoes and mozzarella and veal

piccata

The view

Brenner Pass

After Zugspitze, we took the Brenner Pass back down into (very nearby) Italy, to see the Dolomite Alps

Our campsite, a Tyrolean lay-by, en route to Brenner Pass

Mountains on the Brenner Pass

The Pass is littered with old fortresses, to guard the pass,

and to charge tolls...nowadays, a mere 8 euros

Another