Sunday in Lofer - Sun, Sept 14 (UK trip day 33)

Ate breakfast at the campground cafe/store.  Jim was happy with cereal, yoghurt and fruit but I could only find the sliced meat and cheese for sandwich thing.  When I tried to ask the cashier about an egg, she had a man from the back come out who understood a little bit of English and I thought we finally agreed that I would get a hard boiled egg.  Fifteen minutes later, after almost 1 bite, I gave the very soft boiled egg to Jim and ate a roll.  Not an auspicious beginning.

Groceries.  Put on our walking shoes, brought our backpacks and grocery carrying bags and bundled up against the chilly 50 degree weather, donned rain jackets and carried umbrellas.  St Martin be Lofer is 20 minutes to the left and Lofer is 35 minutes to the right.  Online research last night indicated the 2 grocery stores would be in the direction of Lofer which is the larger of the 2 cities.  So we crossed the highway and used the paved bike/walking path alongside the road/highway so we wouldn't miss them.   It was really scary/disconcerting walking right next to the highway as vehicles continually whizzed by. Even crazier was that, except for the highway, we were surrounded by fields and mountains.  Shortly before arriving in Lofer we passed a grocery store but it was closed.  We soon discovered that just about EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday.

Lunch.  To get into Lofer we had to cross the intersection of 2 highways that met at a roundabout.  We found the pedestrian/bike underpass but the road our maps wanted us to take looked like it was the entrance to a hardware/nursery - but as we walked we found the cutest road and thankfully, an open restaurant - Bakerei s'Korberl -  (later found out that Bakerai means bakery)   They spoke only German but we managed to order bier and then managed to pick 2 items from the German menu.  Mine was a goulash soup and his was a tomato based soup.  Both were excellent. 

We enjoyed the ambiance and listening to the large family group - 10 adults 4 children - at tables across the room. It wasn't until we had finished eating and went to the WC (restrooms) that we discovered where the children had disappeared to after they finished eating and the adults were still sitting and chatting.  As usual - in Europe - the WCs were downstairs.  At the bottom of the stairs was a playroom with painted walls and toys!  How cool.

After lunch, we walked all around Lofer - but everything was closed.  It's an absolutely beautiful town, with streets going in directions all over the place, more stores around each corner. All the buildings are painted in pretty colors with painted architectural details.  Even the signs are painted on the buildings.  The crystal clear pale green water of the Saalach river flows around and through the town and was actually rushing and almost overflowing it's banks due to the rain of the past couple days.

We found the bus station and the visitor's center but it was closed so we couldn't pick up any information about the area.

We get more adventurous:  After we leave Lofer, and successfully avoid the roundabout, we spot one of the poles topped with yellow pathway signs.  One of it's multiple signs pointed to CampingGrubhof 35 minutes so we decided it would be a more pleasant walk back than walking next to the highway.  It was FABULOUS!  This path took us across the fields that we'd been seeing.  Every time there was a fork in the path there would be another yellow sign post to point the way.  We walked next to crystal clear streams and across small wooden bridges, thru cow pastures and along neighborhood streets. 

That's how we found Gastaf Bad Hochmoos  (Hotel/Spa Hochmoos, that we nicknamed bad house mouse) where we returned for dinner. (picture on the right)  We'd walked in to check the restaurant menu and discovered that dinners came with the salad bar.  We were ecstatic because we'd not been able to get any veggies so far in Germany - except sauerkraut.

The Hills are Alive!  I LOVE Austria!  The fresh air, hiking paths, incredible views, Austrian Alps.  Wow!

Dinner.  As a large spa with tour bus parking they are ready for English speakers - and we were given the English speaking server.  He was very helpful and appeared pleasantly surprised when Jim ordered the red deer, potatoes and veggie sizzler (frying pan) entree.  Of course I ordered wiener schnitzel, which was excellent, but it's been made with pork (instead of veal) except for that first night in Munich.