Another short week

Another rainy weekend in Tirol found us hiking rather than biking. We had 3 good walks up Rauher Kopf, the hill that lurks just to the north of Julie and Georg's home; hence it is south facing and is locally called Sonnberg. Our hikes required about a 1200 foot climb on farm roads, paved near the valley floor but turning to dirt or gravel up higher. The meadows are strewn with a wide variety of flowers. Goats, sheep, and milk cows graze everywhere but the forest. A change we noticed this year was that the farmers (who are also the loggers) are harvesting a great deal of lumber, despite the fact that lumber prices are low (as they have been for years). Nevertheless, the underlying rationale is economic; they expect a flood of cheap lumber to come in from eastern european countries newly admitted to the EU, totally destroying the current price level.

Julie and Georg live near the end of a dead end street with various members of the extended family in the nearest three houses. Jessica and Sophie (16 and 9 years, respectively) wander freely among these homes. Although visitors, we are graciously included as part of the family and participate in the customary rituals. For example, it is common that all gather at Helena's (Georg's sister) house at 11 AM on Sunday for either a glass of prosecco or campari. It seems so civilized. After that Georg took us for the noon meal to Ruezen, a farmhouse that has been doing this sort of thing since 1736 when built by earlier generations of this same family. The fare is hearty, authentic tirolean, and of high quality.

As soon as we got home, my bike insisted that we hurry to the Kirchberg Bahnhof and ride the train back to Salzburg (it loves to ride the train - so many wheels, so effortless). Eli stayed in Tirol and I'll return there Wednesday evening since thursday is a traditional religious holiday (Fronleichnam) and Friday is a university holiday (Rektorstag). That will be the end of school holidays for me.

The weather appears to be (temporarily?) relenting. Tomorrow I may try biking up Salzburg's nearby Gaisberg. It is more taxing than my usual Schweitzer ride back in Sandpoint, being particularly steep for an old guy the last three kilometers.

Richard
2004.06.06