Like home in Venice

Yes, it's hot and humid like singapore, and I also feel a kind of "homecoming" here, as I am here maybe for the 5th or 6th time (or more). Have found a nice hotel very close to the station with air conditioning, although this attic is only good for people who can keep their heads down when showering in the "shower under the eaves".
I took a walk, supposedly to San Marco yesterday, got distracted by lunch (nice Italian 3 course meal) and promptly got lost after that. It gave me a chance to buy a vaporetto (water bus) ticket and float back on the Grand Canal. Today I got up early (adjusting to Singapore time) and took a calm, peaceful and slow ride in the deserted canal and city. It was great.
Later on this Sunday afternoon, the crowds were back. After jostling with people from all over the world, it was great to sit down in a small bar (coffee shop) and have ice cream and tea.
I'll be taking the train to Munich tomorrow to catch the night flight to Bangkok and the afternoon flight on Tuesday to singapore.

Last days in the mountains

Tomorrow will be the last day for walks. I might go off on my own, as the route is quite easily accessible. On Monday, I did the same thing, taking a cable car up to the Alpe di suisi, or at least on the fringe of it. No photos, as the weather was cloudy, and I was preoccupied with being able to climb back up to the cable car station!
The third day here was a free day, so I visited Bolzano, a city I know well from previous visits, but I went across the river to visit 2 churches. I then took the train to Bressanone, a nearby town with a walled old city, and was astounded by the richness of decoration in its church.
Yesterday was my favorite walk with Peter, our guide. He is a former RAF man, and still retains traits from his training! However, he was forgiving of my slow speeds, gave us plenty of rest stops, toilet stops, and good explanations. He is the route adviser for this area and his enthusiasm for walking is apparent in his thin legs!!
We took a cable car quite far up to the Col Raiser and then walked up about twice the height of Bukit Timah hill to a nice "Rifugio": a hut for hikers (but more like a hotel, with a restaurant). here we had refreshments. We then walked in the shadow of some dramatic limestone mountains. I regretted not bringing my camera, but there is just no time to stand and stare! After lunch, there was a LONG descent to our hotel.
Today I had the other guide, Cathy. She also loves this area and is an experienced guide, having done it since her teens! We went right up to the foot of the Sassolungo, which dominates the views in town. We went up by coach!. The harder walkers did a complete circuit of the base of the mountain. We easy walkers just walked a very small part of the circuit, but were nevertheless in awe of the vast block of the mountain. There was even patches of snow to walk through. after lunch, we descended into town again. it took 2 hours of unremitting descent. it was a bit tedious after a while.

The last day of walking was in a beautiful valley (flat!) and then a stony ascent (slight!) to a view of two waterfalls.
I'm off to Venice for the weekend and will be back in singapore on Tuesday.

Brisk mountain air

I'm glad to be back in the mountains. I feel very near the sky in the midst of these massive groups of mountains soaring up to the clouds. Yesterday, with sunny weather (24C) we could walk in "Singapore clothes" Today it is 14C and raining, so I had to wear 3 layers of woolies to take the cable car up to a height of 2005m, and then walked downhill for 148m. As Susan knows, downhill means uphill later, but I was happy that it was not very steep and and could do it in my own time. I do feel fitter than 2 weeks ago, but everyone still seems to walk faster than I can. Today I walked on my own, as I was quite worried about the "450m of ascent" for the "easy" walkers! It was good to exercise my brain to co-ordinate the transport, as opposed to following the leader all week!. After coming down to Ortisei from the cable car, I thought of walking on the old railway track back to Selva, where we are based. I could only manage about 2km of walking, and then I had to take the bus. The villages all seem a bit quiet. The summer season has not opened here yet.
Yesterday was quite a nice walk until the steep uphill before lunch. Fortunately after lunch it was a very enjoyable and long downhill, passing St Jakob's church with a small cemetery where everyone was "lying peacefully" in full view of one of the prominent mountains here: Sassolunga
We are quite an international group this week, with 3 new walkers from US and 2 walkers from NZ joining us, together with more couples from the UK.
The 4-course dinner here is just too much. The chef is excellent and I'm sorry to have to eat only 2 of his dishes every night!! The hotel has been used by this walking company for years, and they are very used to a large group. Service is excellent. Now, I'm to my 2-course dinner...did I mention the salad buffet...??

warm and breezy in Limone

It's our last day here, and 10 from our group are going on to Selva in the dolomites tomorrow. I am thankful for perfect walking weather here the whole week except on the first day where it rained for a short while. All thewalks were very interesting, and I think I'm getting better on the uphill walks. They always give us a shock the first thing in the morning with a steep slope and then, just when we are full of lunch, there is sometimes another slope. I believe that's why they do not have lunch at a cafe, or else we will never get up again with these heavy meals.
The hotel was well situated, and I will post photos from my room with balcony facing the lake. It was however 1 km from town and so we did not spend much time in the narrow streets of Limone (very touristy as well). Thankfully, the food was not that good, so I was not tempted to over- eat. On the contrary, I got up every morning quite hungry and before dinner I also had a growling stomach. So, food was well digested by a faster metabolism and I had very good sleep too.
The walks were just the kind I like. We visited old and tiny villages in the mountains, saw beautiful views from top of Monte Baldo (went up 1760 ft by cable car, something like genting's height), walked in cool forests, and unfortunately also on hot roads! we also took a couple of nice boat rides on the lake boats to visit the towns of Malcesine, Riva and Torbole.
After a few days, our group of 18 got along very well, and spent longer and longer time at the dining table chatting with each other. Apart from 4 couples from England, there was a couple from Isle of Man (independent from UK), an 80+ yr old WW II veteran from Tucson, 2 walkers who've been all over the world (1 from Brazil and 1 from Vancouver), and 2 ladies from Wales (musn't lump them with the English!)

more alpine travels

I´m back in Salzburg today. yesterday I took a tour to Berchtesgaden and Konigsee. It was cloudy and a bit drizzly, but Konigsee was as beautiful as ever. Unfortunately did not see much of Berchtesgaden as we had to wait for another tour group to finish visiting the salt mines near by. Anyway, I will upload the photos when I get connection with my laptop. Will perhaps visit another Bavarian town today.

Last day in the Salzkammergut

It has been a dry and sunny day today. I took the bus to Mondsee, a neighbouring lake, and was pleased that the tourist office recommended a lovely walk. It was rather "tame" as walks go, but there weren't many buses going back to St Gilgen, and I didn't want to be stuck in Mondsee for the whole day.
First, of course I had to "pay my respects" to the Cathedral. It turned out that I dropped in to a baptism ceremony by the Archbishop of salzburg. He must have had a busy season, because I saw him doing the same thing in Salzburg last Saturday. The church was packed full of people in their traditional costumes.
The route recommended by the tourist office went down one of the main streets in this town with colorful buildings. Then it turned into a street which followed a small river. After coming across a rather surprising printing press in the middle of the forest (!) I started on the the "real" forest track. Too soon, the track emerged at an old mill, where there is now a cafe, and not far away, there was a little picturesque chapel. One can find these chapels, large and small, all over Austria.
Getting back to town, I made a quick walk near the lakeside. On the bus, we had looked out to plenty of lovely views up and down the lake.
There are basically 4 large restaurants cum hotels in town, all serving good Austrian food. I was happy to be able to have very fresh salads and fish, while breakfast at the hotel provides me with my daily (unneccessary!) sausage.

warming up in Austria

Well, I have been away for nearly a week and still have not got over jetlag yet. I get up punctually at 4am everyday, and am tired out by 7pm! I must say that I´ve been tiring myself out everday with walking,though.
The first day in Germany, I used my Eurail pass to visit alpine towns of Garmisch Partenkirchen(ski town), Mittenwald (famed for violinmaker Klotz), and Seefeld, a ski town in Austria. When I got to Salzburg at the end of the day, I was shocked to see that they have guttered the inside of the station and it is all in a mess. I´ve used this station a lot in my travels and it used to be my "welcome home" to Salzburg. Never mind, the hotel owner recognised me and did in fact say "welcome home", so I felt good! Its a little family hotel near the station and the same family has run it for 100 years!
It was dinner time when I arrived, and I walked almost 20 mins towards the old town to look for food. In the end I had to settle for a hole-in-the-wall creperie. As nobody was in the cafe, I had attentive and fast service!
I had a lot of changed plans on my first day in Salzburg. I planned to go up to the fortress, but got distracted by a bus going to the Castle outside town, near where my dorm was, when I was studying here 37 years ago (Oh dear, it has been so long!). So I had a good walk in the Castle´s park and also a good bus ride outside town with views of fields and mountains.
After lunch I finally finished the walk on Monchsberg, where the fortress is. Looking at the map, I can see there is still a little bit that I have yet to do.
On Sunday (Pentecost Sunday), before church, I walked through the quiet streets of Salzburg, free from the noisy tourists. I also get a shiver when I walk in an empty Salzburg. I wonder if I will bump into Mozart coming round the corner!! I went to the Franziskanerkirche, my favorite church here: good music, good sermons. I later took the bus to St Gilgen, where Mozart´s mother was born, and where his sister Nannerl lived after she got married. Her very large house on the lakeside is preserved for visitors. I have not done any "sightseeing" in town yet, as I have been busy on the walks.
I rushed off to take the cog steam railway as soon as I arrived, but I could not get a return trip, so was not allowed to go up. I had to be content with the very crowded boat ride from St Gilgen to St Wolfgang and back. The holiday crowds were out in force with (screaming and frisky)children, (harrassed)parents and (doting)grandparents all out to enjoy the first warm days of summer.
Yesterday I also rushed out for my first walk, and of all things, forgot my walking sticks. I walked by the lakeside for about an hour and then attempted the slope up to the St Wolfgang plgrimage church. I gave up after 10 mins, also gave up more of the lakeside part because it was too slippery. I took a boat to a small called Ried and walked about 20 to 30mins from there to the cog railway station. Again, I could not catch the first train, and had to wait for an hour to catch the next one. One would have thought this was Singapore, as people were lining up 45 mins before the next train arrived!! All depends a lot on the weather, and I really was not expecting much at the top of the mountain. But...wow!... though it was a bit hazy, we could see so many snow-covered mountain tops and a 360 degree view of all the nearby lakes. That really made my day. After that I had to ride back to St Gilgen with an even bigger crush of holiday makers. Here they even have a "Whitmonday" holiday.
Today, I had breakfast a little later. They only serve from 8am!! I rushed out again, but it started to rain...anyway, I had planned to take the bus to the town at the opposite end of the lake and then take walks from there. By the time I got there, all was dry again. have to be ready for hot or cold, rain or shine, all in one day!
I enjoyed the flat walk by the lakeside near Strobl, around a kind of marsh. Then I walked into the small town. All seemed quiet and ghostly, very different from yesterday! I walked round a small little hill jutting out on the lake, and then took about an hour to walk to St Wolfgang again. I sure know this town well by now! I was in time to catch the boat home...yes, I know the boats well too...
I hope to go to Mondsee tomorrow to look at the church where "Maria" got married to "Von trapp". I´ll try to upload some pictures tomorrow when I can get connected from my laptop.
I´ll be back to Salzburg on Friday, and then on to the first walking tour in Lake Garda (Italy) on Saturday. The train,bus,taxi connections are always an adventure!