The Hills are Alive!

Honestly, as soon as we crossed the border into Austria we had images of Maria running through the hills with her ‘chewdren’ in tow wearing the latest version of drapes from the bedroom. I was shocked to find out that actually the Sound of Music has never been translated and the people we stayed with had never even seen it!! Actual scenes from the movie were filmed very close to where we stayed. I was pretty excited about it.

The view from one of our hikes in Austria :)

So green!

We both didn’t realize how much we had missed the mountains and open spaces until we drove into Austria.  Coming from both New Zealand and Canada, I think we take for granted the amount of space that we have in our respective countries.  In Europe this is totally not the case.  But Austria is another story! Anyway, we met Sigi and Andy in New Zealand when we were at a campground for a night in the South Island.  They weren’t supposed to be home during the time that we were in Europe but lucky for us their plans changed and they invited us to stay! We were taken in by Sigi’s family, who wined and dined us and we sat out on the back deck of their beautiful home eating and laughing and carrying on until late. It reminded me of summer nights at my parents’ place and we both felt so comfortable and relaxed.  It was a little piece of heaven! Sigi and Andy had quit their jobs before they went traveling and hadn’t found new ones yet since they hadn’t even been home a week before we arrived.  This meant we were able to spend two full days with them. We went for a hike up one of the mountains and then to check out Hallstatt, a 5000-year old salt-mining town! The Hallstatt village is so popular amongst Asian tourists that they have completely replicated the entire village right down to the road signs back in China! The Winterauer family has an absolutely gorgeous typical Austrian home, complete with wood detailing throughout the house, flowers at the base of every window and a kind of stove that heats the main living area throughout the cold winters.  They built the house on their own and it is cozy like a cabin so we couldn’t help but feel relaxed. All the houses in Bad Goisern, the area of Austria where we stayed, were on properties that were a good size and surrounded by grass fields and trees. The grass fields were unmanicured, with wildflowers growing like crazy to later be cut in order to feed the cows in the winter. Speaking of cows, something unique to Austria and Switzerland is that the cows each wear a giant bell around their neck. This helps farmers to find cows that graze in forests or further away on the farm.  It’s quite the sound to hear a herd of cows all jingle-jangling away while they munch on the grass! We also wonder if this in any way affects the cow’s sanity, having a loud bell clanging incessantly right up in your face while you’re trying to enjoy a meal! We stayed for three nights with Sigi, Andy and the Winterauer family and hope that someday we’ll be able to return the hospitality!

With Sigi and Andy at the top of our hike. There are huts on the top of most mountains where you can stop in for snacks and drinks.  Not too shabby!

In Hallstatt the cemetery was so small that they ran out of room, and when someone new had died, they would dig up a grave in order to put the new body in it.  This is where the old skulls and bones would be stored.  They were painted to honour the dead. Pretty creepy.

Looks like home!!!

The Winterauer family household!

Hallstatt, the picturesque town.. this one is actually the original, not the Chinese copy (see blog)

We decided that we had to hit up Liechtenstein because we knew absolutely nothing about it and it was on the way to our next stop.  So stoked that we did! The country is a small valley whose borders are defined by the Rhine river on the Swiss side and the mountains on the Austrian side. Our CS host Evelyne has had hundreds of people stay with her as they pass through. She had endless stories of some of the crazy adventures past couchsurfers had been on.  She also told us that yes, the Prince of Liechtenstein does in fact invite the entire country to his castle on the hill for breakfast every year on Liechtenstein’s national holiday! Crazy!

Some of the only wildlife we've seen in Europe

The prince's of Liechtenstein's castle.

Starting to get used to the mountain views of the area.

Embracing the mountain culture, Chris and I did a couple of hikes in Liechtenstein and Luzern, Switzerland respectively.  Both were on mountains which in the winter season would be covered in snow and open as ski fields! In Luzern, Raffael took us on a hike up a mountain to see a view of the city from a bird’s eye view.  We learned the different types of edible fruits and weeds on the mountain which was fun, and Raffael also introduced us to some Swiss/Luzern specialties: chocolate, Rivella (a sports drink like Gatorade that somehow has milk products as one of its main ingredients!), sausages, and the best ice cream we have ever had and will forever try to find again! Mmm, just thinking about that ice cream now in this heat could drive a person crazy! Luzern is a beautiful city on the lake nestled into a valley surrounded by mountains, as many of the Swiss cities are.

Our host Raffael from Luzern. Chris is on his tip-toes and he's still shorter!

Switzerland has four different national languages –sure gives Canada a run for its money! We headed from German-speaking Luzern to French-speaking Fechy, a beautiful wine region (of which there are many in France and this bordering area in Switzerland). We were driving to meet Ketty and Nico, a couple we had met back in Luang Prabang. We were following our GPS Emily trying to avoid her having to re-calculate every two minutes as we navigated our way through the winding roads of Switzerland. On a side note, we have seriously been thinking about writing to Garmin to suggest some improvements to their current model.  I’m sure it works a lot better in Canada because we don’t have tolls on every highway that exists in our country.  This unfortunately is not the case in most of Europe, other than Germany and the infamous autobahn where freeways are in fact ‘free’ and speed limit signs act merely as roadside decorations.  The rest of Europe’s freeways in fact cost up to $12/hour! In any case, Garmin has a handy function to avoid toll roads. This often leads to our driving down farmer’s driveways, through fields out in the middle of nowhere and winding up switchback roads to climb up and over a mountain instead of going around it! It makes for some scenic drives that’s for sure, but often we find ourselves questioning why, if this is the most direct route, there is literally no one else on it? Anyway, end side note… “Emily” lead us up towards a hill looking out over Lake Geneva, through sloping vineyards.  We figured it must be a GPS error but as the kilometres dwindled away we found ourselves amongst a neighborhood of beautiful homes thinking “no freakin’ way they live here!?”! Well, actually Nico’s parents live there but were away and we were lucky enough to be there for a BBQ at a beautiful house, swimming pool and all, looking out over the beautiful vineyards of Switzerland! We have never had so much delicious food served in one sitting – it was a five-course barbeque! Sausage, steak, chicken, lamb and duck! Not exactly a vegetarian’s paradise but we were loving it! The duck led to a big debate as Chris was convinced it was not duck but rather beef.  The Swiss people were trying to convince him that no, in Switzerland the duck meat is actually a red meat! Apparently this is actually the case and they even dug out the packaging from the garbage to show Chris they weren’t having him on.  I think he’s resigned to believing them by now, though keen to have people visit Vancouver to show them what our duck meat looks like!

Our hosts Ketty and Nico :)

View from the property where we had the BBQ and stayed the night. 

Ketty and Nico, like many of the people in the area, both work in Switzerland but live in France.  It seems to work great as France is way cheaper and you can get better pay in Switzerland. During the time we stayed with them we were hopping back and forth across the border and making sure that our groceries and gas were always bought in France.  Sometimes it was half of what the price would be in Switzerland! Crazy, and I don’t understand how the Swiss gas stations and shopping centres would ever get any business.  There is no control at the border.  You could go back and forth as many times as you like I would think! In any case, many of the older Swiss people can be quite grumpy, especially in a driving situation or if they feel like you are inconveniencing them in any way.  This seems to be the case with many of the older generations in Europe.  Or is it just elderly people in general? I hope not, and that’s not our experience in other countries.

It took us three attempts to get the tour of the UN.  Finally on the third attempt we succeeded! 

Next we head down to Nice where we will hit up the Mediterranean beaches for a few days! I am so excited! European sunshine! We are also looking forward to it as we stopped at Lake Annecy, one of the best swimming spots in France (in terms of lakes) and we had to PAY 2 euros each to swim in the damn lake!!! Unbelievable! Again, it makes us appreciate where we come from, because this would be unheard of in Canada or NZ!

Love to those back home,
Lauren and Chris :)