Tag Archives: Lermoos

short breaks

Beer and Fucking Tour… Crossing the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge…

Monday was going to be a big day for us.  Bill had made reservations for us to visit the Starkenberger Castle and Brewery for a very expensive but decadent dip in one of their “beer pools”.  But we needed something to do in the morning.  The weather was pretty crappy in Lermoos.  It was raining.  The WiFi at the hotel was very slow, making it difficult for me to start blogging, which is what I really felt like doing.  But I could get the net going enough to search for Highline 179, which is the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge.

Nice breakfast.  We had assigned seating, probably so all the senior citizens could sit together.

Loved the quaint dining room.

Highline 179 was just built recently and has only been open since November 2014.  One of Bill’s colleagues had visited it, but didn’t go on the bridge because the people he was with were too tired.  In order to access the bridge, you do have to do some heavy duty walking uphill.  The bridge spans across the B179 near Reutte and connects the Ehrenburg Castle Ruins and Fort Claudia.  I had seen the ruins and Fort Claudia on drives through the area, but had never visited them.  Though it was raining, we knew there was a museum.  I was kind of hoping the rain would let up.

We got to Highline 179, paid three euros for parking, and visited the museum first.  I have to admit, the museum was surprisingly entertaining.  I was expecting it to be about the bridge, but it was actually about the ruins.  There were a lot of interactive exhibits that were done with humor and fun.  I would recommend it for kids, but as an adult, I also found it fascinating and a bit gruesome.  When you visit the museum, you learn about the plagues… and the Christian Crusades and how Christians murdered Muslims in very brutal and bloody ways.  It got me to thinking about our current issues with ISIS and how the problems between the world’s religions is an age old issue.  All of the exhibits were done in German, but English translations and subtitles on the films were available.

Yes, you can try on the armor and step on the scale to see how much it and you weigh together.  Needless to say, I didn’t do it.

Bill tries the sword.

And the helmet…

Rocks hurled from a trebuchet.

Learned about alchemy…

And the plagues…  Notice the coffin decor.

And I learned that burping or farting was considered ill mannered at the dinner table.

In German, too.

There’s even a 3D film at the end…  I liked that the museum ended on a humorous note.  I won’t spoil the surprise, except to offer a tip to would be visitors not to forget the 3D glasses as Bill and I initially did.

After we visited the museum, we bravely set off for Ehrenburg Ruins and climbed the very steep path.  Once again, I tested my mettle and heart health.  I’m proud to say I made it, though I did a lot of heavy breathing.  It costs eight euros a person to go back and forth across the bridge.  We decided to do the bridge first, then visited the ruins.  I must admit it was a bit nervewracking because of the rain and the wind.  But the views up there are spectacular and it’s very safe.  The bridge supposedly can support up to 1000 people at a time.  I sure hope it’s never tested!

The beginning of the bridge.  The people ahead of us were kind of rude… especially the guy.  Bill was upset because he didn’t help his wife.  Sometimes I wonder how in the world I got so lucky in finding such a nice guy to call my husband.

 

Stunning views, even with shitty weather.

A panoramic shot.

There is also a nature exhibit at the museum, but for some reason, Bill didn’t get a ticket for that.  No matter.  The museum and walk up to the suspension bridge ate up plenty of time.  Then we had lunch at the Salz Stadl restaurant located on the grounds.  I learned in the museum that salt was a very important part of the culture in this part of Austria and was very valuable.  There is a salt mine in Lermoos.

Though it’s not cheap to visit, I recommend the Highline 179 bridge and accompanying attractions.  They are very well done and entertaining.  In fact, Bill and I didn’t even see everything.  We missed Fort Claudia and another site because we were both tired and needed to get going to our next stop, the Starkenberger beer pools!

We enjoyed a nice Kaiser pils…  very refreshing after a long and taxing walk up and down the mountain.

I had smoked trout with horseradish cream.  This was served cold.  I wanted schweinebraten, but they were out of it.

Bill had wurst with a dumpling and sauerkraut.  It was really good.

And a schnapps!

More photos are below, taken with a digital camera.

A chapel near the restaurant.

Big mountain on the way back toward Lermoos.

 
Standard
booze tourism

Beer and Fucking Tour… a visit to Fuckersberg… and peeing on a snake!

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early, ready to move on to our next location.  After breakfast, we loaded up the car and checked out of the hotel.  Our total bill for two nights, two beer spa packages (beer bath, partial massages, and four course beer menu), Friday night’s four course “menu” dinner, and several beers, came to about 480 euros.

I noticed that the proprietor meant to take the day off.  She had set a sheet of paper with hotel keys on it next to the names of people scheduled to check in.  I guess these folks would later show up, grab their keys, and deal with the check in process later.  Obviously, the lady in charge was going to rest and enjoy her Sunday.  As we were about to leave, she showed up in a beautiful dirndl, said goodbye, and wished us a pleasant trip.

I really enjoyed staying at the Moorhof, even though it’s a bit 80s and in a somewhat rural area.  Salzburg is close enough to visit for those who need to see a city, yet the hotel is in a very serene, beautiful area.  The food is good.  The prices are reasonable.  There’s plenty of free parking and there are many places to take walks.  And, if you want to, you can even rent an “old time” tractor and go for a ride.  Though I thought Franking was lovely, I really liked the friendly people.  I would go back there if I ever need a place to completely unplug.  Franking is very tranquil and serene.

After we settled up, I told Bill that I was dying to see a place called Fuckersberg.  I was alerted to the existence of this place in Austria by ListOfTheDay, a hilarious guy on Facebook who posts funny stuff.  He claims he lives in Fuckersberg.  He’s hysterical and now runs the Everything 70s group on Facebook.

Anyway, because we were in Austria, I had to see this mystical place called Fuckersberg, even though we had big trouble pulling it up on the GPS.  While plenty of people posted pictures of Fucking, no one had posted pictures of Fuckersberg.  Yet I knew from Google (and now having seen it) that it’s a real place.  So, even though it was Sunday and Fuckersberg is over an hour northeast from Franking and in the opposite direction of where we were going, I convinced Bill to take me there.  Since it wasn’t in the GPS, we picked a small town about three miles from Fuckersberg’s location per Google maps.

The drive to Fuckersberg was absolutely beautiful!  I was really enjoying the scenery.  Unfortunately, I eventually really had to pee.  Since it was Sunday, a lot of places were closed.  I determined that I needed to find a bush somewhere.  As a side note, since we moved back to Europe, I am finding that I have fewer and fewer inhibitions when it comes to public urination.

Bill found a spot on the side of the road near a wooded area.  I don’t think we were supposed to park there and given what happened, I kind of wish we hadn’t.  But my bladder was screaming and I spotted a place I could duck behind and relieve myself quickly…

I ducked behind here… it was a good hiding spot for a whiz…

I was pretty pleased with myself for finding this particular spot, even though there were briars and debris back there.  I had just dropped my pants and squatted down when I spotted a stick near my foot.  As the first drops of urine flowed to the ground, I saw the stick move and realized that I was actually peeing on a snake who had the misfortune of hiding back there while I took a much needed whiz.  I let out a small scream, finished up, and rushed out from behind the machinery.  Later, I looked up the snake…  It wasn’t very big, nor was it poisonous.  Still, it gave me the creeps.  In fairness, I guess I gave it the creeps, too.  ETA: My German friend Susanne thinks maybe it was a different kind of snake.  She’s probably right.  Anyway, it was sort of gray and brown and not very scary.  Just creepy.

Near Fuckersberg…

We finally got to a town called Zell an der Pram, which is near Fuckersberg.  Bill turned on roaming services on his phone and we used Google GPS to get to the exact place where Fuckersberg is.  Fuckersberg is in a very beautiful area, but I could tell the locals aren’t used to strange people cruising through there.  One lady gave us a bewildered look as we drove past.  She was saddling her horse for a morning ride.  We passed her again when we determined that Fuckersberg only has one sign.  It’s pretty small and you could very easily miss it.  But here it is in all its fabled glory…  Fuckersberg is apparently a big field.

I had to take this photo in a hurry because the horse lady looked perturbed with us…

Once we finished our business in Fuckersberg, we headed for Lermoos, which is in the Tyrol region and very close to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  In fact, Bill and I passed through Lermoos several times last time we lived here because he had a bunch of conferences at the Edelweiss Lodge and I always tagged along when he went there.  I gotta say, I liked our traditional hotel in Lermoos a lot better than the Edelweiss Lodge.

Because we were so far east, we ended up going to Lermoos by way of Germany, which involved driving through Munich.  Bill was not a happy camper and neither was I.  In fact, I got pretty “hangry”.  More on that in the next post.

Standard
Uncategorized

The beer and Fucking tour…

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Dauth at Wikipedia.com (public domain)

That’s what I’m calling our next planned trip.  And no, it’s not because we’re planning to do a lot of boots knocking during our travels.

Since we’ve been back in Germany, Bill and I have been determined to try to see more.  The last time we lived here, we didn’t travel very much during the first year of our stay.  We thought we were going to get the standard three years.  We ended up with just barely two years.  Since Bill is now a contractor, we have decided not to take living in Germany for granted.  It’s entirely possible that we’ll have to move again a year from now.

Bill has been wanting to visit Gruyeres, Switzerland since we lived here last time.  We meant to go in 2008, but circumstances did not line up for us to make it to the land of chocolate, cheese, and weird museums.  On Sunday afternoon, I was trying to come up with a plan for a weekend in Switzerland next month.  Once again, the cards of fate seemed stacked against me.  I had a hard time figuring out exactly where we should go.  Then my attention shifted to Austria.

There is a hotel in a small town about twenty miles from Salzburg that offers a beer spa.  I have been wanting to go to that hotel since our last long term stay in Europe.  During our five years living in the States after our first Germany tour, I thought about how we could get there so I could take another beer bath.  I wondered how I’d justify visiting Franking, Austria when we’d have to travel thousands of miles to get to Europe and there were so many other, bigger, more exciting cities we hadn’t yet seen.  Salzburg itself is a great town and Bill and I were only there for a day back in 2012.

Anyway, I was looking at the hotel in Franking and noticed on the map that close to Franking, there is another town called Fucking (pronounced Fooking).  Naturally, that tickled me, since I have a filthy sense of humor.  I looked it up and discovered that this tiny little town has become the subject of much mockery from English speakers.  Town officials have had to put up theft proof signs and closed circuit television in order to discourage tourists from stealing the signs and/or having intercourse in front of them.  The town has been so rattled by tourists disturbing them that they even tried to get the name changed.  It was not allowed.

Well, that piqued my interest.  I told Bill about it and he agreed, Fucking is a town we need to visit, if only so I can get a photo of the theft proof signs.  Maybe we’ll just drive through.  Maybe we’ll stop for lunch.  And it’s not far from Franking, where we can take beer baths and relax in a country atmosphere.

Then I started thinking about Austria’s famed Starkenberger beer pools.  They are located at the Starkenberger brewery in Tarrenz, Austria.  Looking around the Web site, I see that Tarrenz is a very picturesque area.  Though a dip in the beer pool will be very costly, it’s the kind of thing that is often on a beer lover’s bucket list.  Having already enjoyed a weekend at Chodovar’s beer wellness land in the Czech Republic, this is just the kind of activity for people like Bill and me.  And it definitely fits in with the beer baths we hope to enjoy in Franking.

I started looking for lodging in Tarrenz and found there were slim pickings there.  However, the area is well saturated with lodging in other towns.  I chose a hotel in Lermoos that looks pretty damn awesome.  Lermoos is about ten miles from Tarrenz.  Better yet, because it’s not ski season time, the hotels are reasonably priced.

We have been to the Tyrol area of Austria, but in the past, we’ve always stayed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen at the Edelweiss Lodge.  Garmisch-Partenkirchen, as we all know, is in Germany, and the Edelweiss Lodge is not exactly authentically European style accommodation.  The only reason we went down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen was because Bill had conferences at the Edelweiss Lodge.  I’d go with him and take day tours with other bored housewives.  Now that Bill doesn’t go down there for work, it’s time we visited the area as tourists and checked it out more thoroughly.  It will be nice to stay in Austria instead of Germany, too.

I have to admit, my first impressions of Austria back in 1997 were not all that positive.  I thought it was a very pretty country with little soul.  I was wrong about Austria.  Every time I’ve been back, I’ve found more to like about it.

As for Switzerland, we are still planning a trip.  I think maybe we’ll try to go to Gruyeres in October.  Or maybe we’ll finally get to Ireland, which is another place we’ve been wanting to visit.  These plans are, of course, not in line with our usual champagne bucket method of choosing places to go.  The champagne bucket method should really be used in times when you can’t decide where to travel.  This time, we know we want beer and Fucking, so there’s no need to involve fate.

Hopefully, this beer and Fucking tour will turn out beautifully.  I look forward to blogging about it.  Incidentally, I have also written about this on my main blog, but that post was composed before we made up our mind to actually visit this fabled part of Austria.

Standard