Our last full day in Austria.  Yesterday we passed a restaurant sign at a split in the path that headed uphill.  Decided to try that path to the restaurant for lunch. 

I now know how explorers hiked up and thru mountains as our path went around the mountain and had us do zig zags up and down around boulders and waterfalls.  The path was much more rustic than others we'd taken and didn't look as frequently travelled.  In fact this was the first time we'd not encountered anyone during our walk.  Also, these waterfall paths were much wetter than the others we'd encountered because the paths were more "natural" and ran closer to the water.  About 40 minutes later we finally came to a gravel road then walked across a field stopping in the middle to take advantage of the  fantastic view of the valley.

Finally arriving at Restaurant Knappenstadl we were pleased to find 2 couples eating lunch.  Yea!  It's open!  One couple had ridden bikes up the road and the other couple came by car.  We sat at the table next to them on the porch with an incredible view of the mountains and valley.  Their food was delivered and when I leaned over to see, they pointed out each dish on the German menu so we could more easily order - tasted great.   It was so beautiful and relaxing sitting there that I was loathe to leave. (especially with the 2 hour hike ahead of us, although most should be downhill now.)

Continuing on the path, we passed 3 older women with walking poles and were really impressed by their stamina.  A short time later we discovered their car parked along the road - so they could get exercise going up the short pathway to the restaurant - instead of just driving the whole way up to the parking lot alongside the restaurant.  We were still impressed with them.

The path on the way back took us by shrines, thru meadows, on curving roads thru fields and along streams and  roads thru farming communities with cattle gates.  The cattle roamed freely between these cattle gates but we've been getting used to the way the livestock ignores us as we pass thru. So of course these cattle had to be different.  As we walked along the road 6 cows crossed the road in front of us then stopped clustered about the yellow path sign we needed to read to determine our direction.  As I walked toward the yellow sign, ignoring the cow standing right next to it, one of the other cows started walking toward me and this one had horns!  I stopped, we quickly decided on a direction by expanding the picture of the sign I'd taken on my iPhone and were happy to be on our way away from them.

Later that evening we walked into St Martin for dinner at a restaurant we'd seen there.  We were surprised to be asked if we had a reservation but at least they found us a table.  Apparently a tour bus had booked the hotel and restaurant so it was a lively crowd with live piano music for dinner. 

Included in the video below are pictures of the bathroom doors in the restaurant.  Since we've been in Germany/Austria Jim is always commenting that he's had to be careful before walking into the restroom/WC because he'll bypass the door marked Herr (thinking her) until encountering the Damen door.  These doors, only marked H and D, had me chuckling and sending him to check it out due to the cute brass pictures on each door.