Kitzsteinhorn

Turns out that Italian trains aren't running on July 6th (some sort of holiday we think). So, we extended our stay in Zell Am See by one day, and slid our reservation in Siena further back by one day as well. Because it is raining on this extra day in Zell Am See, we won't get much hiking in today which means that this is a convenient opportunity to recover easily from our hike down from Kitzsteinhorn yesterday. Klaus, our hostel manager had advised us the day before that we could hike down in 4 hours...the lady at the info booth on top of the mountain said 3 and half hours. So, after goofing around on the sliding hill in a snow saucer and a plastic sled, we decided it was time to commence our hike. When we left the glacial peak at 14:20, we were comfortably assured that we would arrive at the bottom by 18:30 or so. Either the Austrians are super-human or they take a different path down (eg the service roads to the cable car stations are evenly graded and provide an opportunity for much faster hiking. It took us a full 6 hours to reach Kaprun from the glacial peak on Kitzsteinhorn. The dark brown Austrian wheat beer went down very easily when we finally reached Kaprun on weary legs at 20:30. It may have taken us longer that the estimated 4 hours because we took the the Alexander Ezinger Weg trail which follows the top of the western ridge of the gorge descending and ascending ever so slightly until the very end of the ridge, where it finally zig-zags quickly downwards towards Kaprun. The beuaty of the path was the compensation for the weariness inflicted upon our legs and knees. The path was also more interesting and challenging than the trail on Smittenhohe and I think our trek on Smittenhohe was a good prepartory exercise for Kitzsteinhorn. Well worth the effort if you are ever in the area and are looking for a great day's adventure....just start the downward hike earlier than we did. The walking sticks on this trail were indispensible...thanks again, Heimo! The schnapps is on me, when we next meet.

Kaiserschmarren and Tafelspitz

Easy day today. On the train from Koblenz the other day, we met an old German couple who were enroute to their chalet near Rossenheim, Austria. They were rather animated by our destination of Zell Am See and they enthusiastically suggested before disembarking that we try five Austrian dishes while we are here. We managed to find two so far, both of which were excellent. The first is something called Kaisertschmarren. It wasn't on any of the menus we read, but one waitress saw us studying her menu, and she asked if she could help translate. We asked if she had any Kaiserschmarren, and she did. It's a sweet dessert dish which resembles an omlette and tastes like a custard fried lightyly with raisins, chopped up into bite-size pieces, sprinkled with icing sugar, and served with a bowl of fresh chunky plum sauce. Good thing we only ordered one, because Michele and I were both full after sharing one as a morning snack with coffee. We didn't need lunch after that. The second recommended dish we found is called Taffelspitz which is a main course of tender boiled meat served with spinach, potatoes, carrots,turnip and three kinds of horseradish. We might get lucky and find the other recommended dishes as well, but there is one which I transcribed from the German couple as Kagrelschweist, but no one seems to know what that is, so we may not discover that one. The clouds finally drifted off this evening, and we were able to see surrounding peaks which, up until now, have remained obscured by heavy mist. What a difference the sun makes to the landscape.