M12 It-1 travel

Our last day in Austria and I wanted to share some things we saw while here.

In restaurants - tables always have salt, pepper and toothpicks
Ate Salzburg schnitzel alot - pork stuffed with bacon, cheese and herbs pounded thin and cooked
Eggs are soft-boiled and sliced to put on sandwiches for lunch with cucumber
We had to get used to seeing "1" looking like "7" when they write
Towels had a loop on the end to hang easily from hooks
Lots of energy saving motion activated room lights especially in little-used entry ways and especially in public WCs (restrooms)
Most wait staff have mobile for order taking and the same large leather wallet for taking payment
Many restaurants have a small indoor playground downstairs with the WCs (water closets, restrooms)

Another carefully planned trip as we traveled from St Martin, Austria to Montegrotto, Italy - via hike, bus and 3 trains. Started out very early by taking our last 40 minute hike into Lofer to catch the bus to St Johann in Tirol. The parking lot of the Lofer bus station was filled with cars, campers and kayaks. Apparently they'd camped overnight in the parking lot and were now going to kayak down the river rapids.

Our 35 minute bus ride was going according to schedule until we suddenly came to a stop then inched along for the next 25 minutes. We finally saw the source of the problem when a herd of cattle turned left from our lane into a field! They were being driven down the street ahead of us! When we finally arrived at St Johann in Tirol, we'd missed our train. At least this one ran every hour and we'd built that into our schedule. But had we made that train and not had extra time in the station, Jim would not have used the WC and taken this picture of a fly painted in the urinals. Yet another instance of the Austrian's sense of humor. We also were able to watch 4 people parasail - starting on the high mountain on our left and eventually landing in a nearby field.

During the 45 minute train ride to Worgl, Austria we saw:

many people/families board the train in colorful Austrian dress which we realized was for the bauernfest weekend, this being Saturday.
the back 1/3 of one of the train cars had bike hanging racks (and we're so proud of our buses with 2 bike racks on the front - yeah right!)
what looked like tool sheds along the river - probably holiday homes because they had flower boxes and beautifully kept lawns

From Worgl we took the 1.75 hours train to Padua, Italy. Relaxing in our seats we suddenly realized the volume of talking in the train had significantly increased. We'd crossed over into Italy and after a few stops had picked up alot of Italians! Yes, they are much louder and more exuberant than the more reserved Austrians. From my window seat....(as Jim slept)

passed many medieval keeps high on mountains as we whizzed past
Fantastic scenery with vineyards terraced in the bowl of the mountains and occasional beautiful buildings
the agriculture changed. Saw what looked like apples, but some were green and others red and they were staked with fields of these interspersed among the vineyards. Miles and miles of these, tomatoes?, with grape vines next to the tracks
Always church steeples surrounded by a village
Areas of new vs. established vines
Not acres but hundreds of thousands of acres of vineyards - different color vines and staking configurations

Finally, the last leg of this journey was the 15 minute local train ride from Padua to Montegrotto for a week at our 2nd timeshare on this trip. The train was packed and after a really long travel day with our backpacks we REALLY wanted to sit down. Jim found one seat and after he called me back to sit there, one girl on the other side of the train got up so he could also sit. Minutes later the girl across from me passed a huge bottle of wine to the girls on the other side who offered Jim a swig - all of them being 3 sheets to the wind. She explained that it had been a hard day - I noticed the mascara stains on her cheek. Apparently they'd come down from their college in Bologna, Italy for their first weekend planned by themselves as "adults" and had to leave early - something to do with the hotel NOT being in Venice as they'd thought. We started talking and they were from different cities in the US. It was really nice to be chatting in ENGLISH for the short time we were on the train with them.

Arriving in Montegrotto we exited the station on the wrong side so had a short tour of the street and surrounding buildings before finding Hotel San Mioni which was to the left of the train station and not across the street. (pictures of the hotel/timeshare)

After two wks of German immersion I'd just begun thinking in German and now need to switch to Italian. Eeks. No I don't know German but from what I learned during the 2 weeks my mind was not ready for the immediate switch to Italian. When we'd last visited Italy almost 5 years ago I'd been able to figure out some Italian from my high school and college Spanish and French.

After checking in and dropping our backpacks in the room (MUCH smaller than our castle studio) we went to walk around the town. It was 40 degrees when we'd walked to Lofer this morning and was now 78 degrees in Italy. Unfortunately it was now after 5pm so all the shops were closed, but we enjoyed getting acquainted with this beautiful quaint town.

(Picture - Yes, that's a giant mosaic penguin in the lobby to the right of the reception desk. The doorway to the right is into the dining room)

Headed down to the lobby at 6pm for the Welcome Gathering. Wow, they do it up right. Lobby was filled with people all dressed up fit to kill and we were in our blue jeans. (I decided that this was definitely a spa resort and most had arrived with WAY more luggage than we did - just our backpacks.) An elegantly dressed couple was providing music - he on the keyboards, her singing - in Italian of course. The lady behind a table laden with colorful drinks attempted to communicate to us in broken English what was in the blue, orange, green and pink concoctions.

After 7pm we all started strolling into the dining room where the maitre'd took you to your assigned table for the week. You see, daily dinner was part of the timeshare stay - in fact you paid extra for the required dinner that reviews said was fantastic and worth returning for daily from sightseeing trips. We were shown to an intimate 2 person round table with cloth tablecloth and silver candlestick with lighted candle. Unfortunately our waitress was very busy/hasseled and not willing to spend time with us to explain the Italian menu and what we needed to do. But eventually we were served our antipasti, chose our starter and entree and visited the salad bar.

After dinner the music continued in the lobby and was such fun to watch many of the couples dancing. There were many group-type dances making one think of movies we've seen of Italians after the grapes have been gathered. A long day so we returned to our room "early".

Travel to Italy - Sat, Sept 20 (UK trip day 39)
Our last day in Austria and I wanted to share some things we saw while here. In restaurants - tables always have salt, pepper and toothpicks Ate Salzburg schnitzel alot - pork stuffed with bacon, cheese and herbs pounded thin and cooked Eggs are soft-boiled and sliced to put on sandwiches for lunch with cucumber We had to get used to seeing "1" looking like "7" when they write Towels had a loop on the end to hang easily from hooks Lots of energy saving motion activated room lights especially in little-used entry ways and especially in public WCs (restrooms) Most wait staff have mobile for order taking and the same large leather wallet for taking payment Many restaurants have a small indoor playground downstairs with the WCs (water closets, restrooms) Another carefully planned trip as we traveled from St Martin, Austria to Montegrotto, Italy - via hike, bus and 3 trains. Started out very early by taking our last 40 minute hike into Lofer to catch the bus to St Johann in Tirol. The parking lot of the Lofer bus station was filled with cars, campers and kayaks. Apparently they'd camped overnight in the parking lot and were now going to kayak down the river rapids. Our 35 minute bus ride was going according to schedule until we suddenly came to a stop then inched along for the next 25 minutes. We finally saw the source of the problem when a herd of cattle turned left from our lane into a field! They were being driven down the street ahead of us! When we finally arrived at St Johann in Tirol, we'd missed our train. At least this one ran every hour and we'd built that into our schedule. But had we made that train and not had extra time in the station, Jim would not have used the WC and taken this picture of a fly painted in the urinals. Yet another instance of the Austrian's sense of humor. We also were able to watch 4 people parasail - starting on the high mountain on our left and eventually landing in a nearby field. During the 45 minute train ride to Worgl, Austria we saw: many people/families board the train in colorful Austrian dress which we realized was for the bauernfest weekend, this being Saturday. the back 1/3 of one of the train cars had bike hanging racks (and we're so proud of our buses with 2 bike racks on the front - yeah right!) what looked like tool sheds along the river - probably holiday homes because they had flower boxes and beautifully kept lawns From Worgl we took the 1.75 hours train to Padua, Italy. Relaxing in our seats we suddenly realized the volume of talking in the train had significantly increased. We'd crossed over into Italy and after a few stops had picked up alot of Italians! Yes, they are much louder and more exuberant than the more reserved Austrians. From my window seat....(as Jim slept) passed many medieval keeps high on mountains as we whizzed past Fantastic scenery with vineyards terraced in the bowl of the mountains and occasional beautiful buildings the agriculture changed. Saw what looked like apples, but some were green and others red and they were staked with fields of these interspersed among the vineyards. Miles and miles of these, tomatoes?, with grape vines next to the tracks Always church steeples surrounded by a village Areas of new vs. established vines Not acres but hundreds of thousands of acres of vineyards - different color vines and staking configurations Finally, the last leg of this journey was the 15 minute local train ride from Padua to Montegrotto for a week at our 2nd timeshare on this trip. The train was packed and after a really long travel day with our backpacks we REALLY wanted to sit down. Jim found one seat and after he called me back to sit there, one girl on the other side of the train got up so he could also sit. Minutes later the girl across from me passed a huge bottle of wine to the girls on the other side who offered Jim a swig - all of them being 3 sheets to the wind. She explained that it had been a hard day - I noticed the mascara stains on her cheek. Apparently they'd come down from their college in Bologna, Italy for their first weekend planned by themselves as "adults" and had to leave early - something to do with the hotel NOT being in Venice as they'd thought. We started talking and they were from different cities in the US. It was really nice to be chatting in ENGLISH for the short time we were on the train with them. Arriving in Montegrotto we exited the station on the wrong side so had a short tour of the street and surrounding buildings before finding Hotel San Mioni which was to the left of the train station and not across the street. (pictures of the hotel/timeshare) After two wks of German immersion I'd just begun thinking in German and now need to switch to Italian. Eeks. No I don't know German but from what I learned during the 2 weeks my mind was not ready for the immediate switch to Italian. When we'd last visited Italy almost 5 years ago I'd been able to figure out some Italian from my high school and college Spanish and French. After checking in and dropping our backpacks in the room (MUCH smaller than our castle studio) we went to walk around the town. It was 40 degrees when we'd walked to Lofer this morning and was now 78 degrees in Italy. Unfortunately it was now after 5pm so all the shops were closed, but we enjoyed getting acquainted with this beautiful quaint town. (Picture - Yes, that's a giant mosaic penguin in the lobby to the right of the reception desk. The doorway to the right is into the dining room) Headed down to the lobby at 6pm for the Welcome Gathering. Wow, they do it up right. Lobby was filled with people all dressed up fit to kill and we were in our blue jeans. (I decided that this was definitely a spa resort and most had arrived with WAY more luggage than we did - just our backpacks.) An elegantly dressed couple was providing music - he on the keyboards, her singing - in Italian of course. The lady behind a table laden with colorful drinks attempted to communicate to us in broken English what was in the blue, orange, green and pink concoctions. After 7pm we all started strolling into the dining room where the maitre'd took you to your assigned table for the week. You see, daily dinner was part of the timeshare stay - in fact you paid extra for the required dinner that reviews said was fantastic and worth returning for daily from sightseeing trips. We were shown to an intimate 2 person round table with cloth tablecloth and silver candlestick with lighted candle. Unfortunately our waitress was very busy/hasseled and not willing to spend time with us to explain the Italian menu and what we needed to do. But eventually we were served our antipasti, chose our starter and entree and visited the salad bar. After dinner the music continued in the lobby and was such fun to watch many of the couples dancing. There were many group-type dances making one think of movies we've seen of Italians after the grapes have been gathered. A long day so we returned to our room "early".

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