Sunday, September 12, 2010

Sunday: Thayatal National Park

About 10:30 we drove north and west about 80 kilometers from Vienna, up near the Czech border, to the Thayatal National Park.

The Thaya River runs through this park and divides Austria from the Czech Republic.

There are several hiking trails that begin in different towns within the confines of the park. We started near Merkersdorf and went into the woods, walking mostly along the banks first of a quiet stream, then eventually of the Thaya, across millions of exposed tree roots.
This is the ruins of a small mill (or something) near the stream.
We began walking along this pleasant stream.
Eventually we came to the Thaya and walked along its banks.
In this part of Austria, the middle of the Thaya divides Austria from the Czech Republic.
In the Commie days, this area was heavily guarded on both sides and no doubt mined on the Czech side.

We had a hiking map we'd purchased the day before at the Erntedankfest, from a booth promoting Austria's national parks. But we didn't really need the map, as the trailheads had good maps and the trails themselves are well marked with small metal signs---which I was glad to see contained no goddamned grafitti.

B had talked to her dad on the phone the night before. He's walked these trails and gave us a good suggestion as to which end of the trail to start with. B, as usual, had done her Web research and had a great idea of what to do when we reached the end of the trail, in a town with the unappetizing name of Hardegg. Unappetizing name, but a beautiful little town. Did I say little? In fact it is Austria's smallest town.

And the idea was: take the local cab back to where we'd parked the car. This ended up saving us another two hour walk, on top of the 2.5 hours we'd already spent schlepping ourselves and our rucksacks up and down some very steep trails.
Mushrooms! The woods were thick with them---but not any we knew to be edible.

The skies were overcast and the area had experienced very heavy rains in recent days. The trail was wet and the rocks and tree roots were very slick. But from time to time the sun poked through and lit the woods with that peculiar other-worldly light. 

We found a place to eat lunch, on some large rocks on the river bank. It was quiet. Like a lot of thick woods, you didn't hear birds singing. But we did see a happy little bird flitting from rock to rock, back and forth across the border, skimming the water looking for whatever it is he eats. We, meantime, ate a sandwich.

There weren't too many people out. We passed a few on the trail, but mostly we had the woods to ourselves. Which was a little surprising. Austria is one of the most outdoor-oriented countries around. Everyone likes to take to the woods, the Alps, the various swimming holes, etc. In winter, of course, there's skiing and snowboarding and winter hiking. It makes sense for the people of a beautiful country to want to enjoy nature. I think about this every time I'm on the bus and pass a local "fitness center" and see the drones in there literally running on treadmills. WTF? There are plenty of places even in Vienna to exercise outdoors. Run along the Danube, take a hike somewhere.
After a very steep climb, the trail spit us out in the town of Hardegg.
This footbridge spans the Thaya. On the other side: the Czech Republic.
What you see if you walk across the bridge. Note Commie-era roadblocks, still in place but no longer used.
Burg Hardegg. Yes, even the smallest town in Austria has a fucking castle.

We walked through Hardegg then sat on the curb for a rest. B called the cabbie. About 25 minutes later he showed up from whichever village he'd been in and drove us several kilometers back to our car. B pulled out €10 and asked me if I had €5, which I misunderstood to mean the total was €15. So I dug around for the money and handed to the guy and got out. I figured B had already given her share to the guy and we were done. But after he drove off, I found out I'd misheard----it hadn't been €15 but only €5, total, and she'd only been looking for exact change for the guy. €15 was a bit much so I didn't feel inclined to throw in a tip, but €5 was way too little, I thought, so I felt bad for not tipping the guy. When my paisan Mod hears about this, he'll ream me good because he already thinks I'm a shitty tipper. But it was an honest mistake.

Then we drove to a beautiful little town called Retz. It's known for its local vintners and in fact we ate outdoors on the patio of a place that had a fantastic selection of wines and was ultra-modern inside---the food was very reasonably priced, too, this far from Vienna.

Then we took a little walk around town. By now the sun had come out and the sky, instead of a sick white, was a pleasant blue.
Ancient church tower in Retz.
Old door in Retz.
A view through the old city gate to the old center of Retz.

After Retz, we drove through the countryside and into villages on our way back to Vienna. Fall is coming; we saw smoke tumbling out of a few chimneys. The vineyards are bare of grapes now, though the vines are still lush and green. The sunflowers in the fields are all withered and brown. 

A few miles outside of Vienna, the usual Sunday afternoon traffic jam on the highway. Everyone's coming back from wherever they were, doing whatever outdoor thing they were doing. We were one of them.

Tired from the hike through the woods, and through Retz, but a good tired. Home, some leftover chili, some wine. This place, Vienna, feels like home.

Saturday: Erntedankfest

Rural Austrians have their own version of Thanksgiving, called Erntedankfest. Actually it's more of a harvest festival. Traditionally just celebrated in their own villages, about ten years ago they brought the festivities to Vienna where it morphed into a joint harvest fest / fair, where you can watch traditional activities like log-sawing, folk dancing, etc. and sample / purchase some of the stuff the farmers produce----different cheeses, sausages, oils, wines / spirits, breads, etc.

It's a Saturday - Sunday thing and is held at the Heldenplatz, a huge open plaza attached to the Hofburg.

It's Sturm season and I had my first Sturm yesterday at the festival. Two Sturms, actually...but it was a young Sturm and hadn't developed a kick yet. Still quite delicious, though.
There were several displays of veggies like this.
This crown, made of plants, is paraded around.
Just a few of the few hundred thousand folks they expected this weekend.

There were a lot of places to get drinks and food---and hardly any plastic cups. Almost everything was served in actual glasses and on actual plates. The few exceptions were plastic beer cups if you wanted to walk around and drink, and I saw damned few of those (despite all the happy drinking.) You buy your drink and included is a €2 deposit on each glass. Finish up, bring the glass back, and get your deposit back.

This cuts way, way down on trash. WAY down.

We bought some roedeer salami. I like wild game because it tastes good, and the animal has a natural, wild life until the hunter gets him. We also bought some pumpkin seed oil and some delicious bread.

I really enjoyed these fresh homemade potato chips----
Efficient assembly line operation. This guy carves potatoes into spirals with this machine.
These guys fry them up.
This lady takes your money then puts the chips on a plate for you.

Austro-potato goodness....

These folk dancers were called Voigasplattler and they were bad-ass.

There were a lot of people wandering around in the native costumes of their region, and some interesting folk dancing / music. For instance, one trio of guys cracked whips in time to the music, but they were tame compared to the guys above, Voigasplattler, which roughly means "Full Throttle Plattler." A Schuhplattler is a dance that involves a lot of slapping of the hands against the thighs, the shoes, the chest, etc. accompanied by much jumping around and moving in circles and other patterns. But these guys have taken it to the next level, updating it for the 21st Century.

At first, watching them, I thought: "This is going to be kind of corny and lame." But as they got into it, I saw they were pretty athletic.  Most of these guys had legs like oak trees and had cardio to spare, which I guess you would if you danced all the time at high altitude. Plus they had a great sense of humor and showmanship.

The videos below only show parts of the dances they do, but some of these things go on five minutes or so and they have to be one bunch of in-shape mofos to pull this off.