Tag Archives: Seefeld

adventure, C.G. Jung, Education

Swiss Studies… Sizzling in Zürich! (part four)

Tuesday, July 1, turned out to be a somewhat lazy day. It was very hot outside. Bill had a somewhat later start at the C.G. Jung Institute, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. I was amused by the rolls he bought, which had little Swiss flags in them. I’m sure there’s an official name for these, but I don’t know what it is… Edited to add: They are called “Weggli”.

After Bill left for his classes, I slathered on sunscreen and got dressed. I decided to go back to the lake, if only because I figured it would offer cool breezes and opportunities to people watch some more. Instead of going straight back to the park where I’d been going, I turned in the opposite direction. I passed by the Strandbad Tiefenbrunnen, a public beach that offers bathrooms and a restaurant. I was curious about it and might have gone it, if Bill had been with me. Ultimately, I decided it would probably be too noisy for me, and since I wasn’t wearing a bathing suit, I kept walking.

Creepy entrance to the Strandbad. Reminds me of toadstools.

Continuing past the entrance to the Strandbad, I gazed at a different section of the lake. I saw two men who looked a lot like Mormon missionaries. They wore suits, although it was so hot that they carried their jackets. They also stood close to each other, as if they were companions. But, as they had their backs to me, I couldn’t tell if they were missionaries. Then I noticed one of them had a beard, and the other looked like he might be too old to be a missionary. I noticed that a lot of men in Switzerland dress formally for work. That was probably what I was seeing, rather than Latter-day Saints.

Looking further down the sidewalk, it appeared that the way was going to be less conducive for pedestrians. So I turned around and went back to my usual spot at the lake. I actually had to wait for a bit, because the bench was taken by someone else. By the time I was able to claim it, the sun had moved to a point at which the area was no longer shady. At least I got some more photos. The lake is so beautiful. I also got some video, as I stood by the water’s edge and enjoyed some gentle splashes.

Proof there was a gentle breeze.
Christmas in July?
Gives you a feel for how things were last week, during the heatwave in Switzerland!

After a short while, I realized that I was hot, sweaty, and worried about sunburn, in spite of the sunscreen I’d applied. After a short while, I decided to go back to the apartment, where I hoped after doing some writing, I might get further into my latest book… but, if I recall correctly, I ended up falling asleep and taking a very long, deep nap for a couple of hours.

Later, when Bill came back to the apartment, we decided to try an Italian restaurant called Miracle. It was just down the street from the apartment, on the way to the lake. We would have preferred to sit outside, because it was so hot on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the outside tables were taken by a large group of locals. So we sat inside, and enjoyed a very lovely dinner, in spite of the heat. I especially liked the aperitif, with was made with prosecco, lime, and mint. Bill had his usual Campari with soda.

For dinner, we started with bruschetta, and then I had fried shrimp with chili-coriander butter and salad, while Bill had Loup de Mer, with lemon basil butter. The food was very good, and beautifully presented. Service was friendly and professional. We had after dinner drinks instead of dessert– grappa for Bill, and a refreshing limoncello cocktail for me.

We walked back to the apartment and ended our Tuesday with sleep. I enjoyed Miracle. I would have liked to have gone back there again. It was a bit hot the day we visited, but I can see why this place is a local favorite.

The next post will be a departure from the lake, as on Wednesday, I went to the botanical garden. More on that in part five.

Standard
Uncategorized

A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 4

Yesterday morning, we got up, again our joints creaky from the mattress and our increasing ages.  We packed up all our stuff and put it in the car.  I was excited about the prospect of visiting Italy again.  Our last visit was in May 2013.  We flew to Venice, then took a train to Florence and Rome before we picked up a weeklong SeaDream cruise in Civitavecchia.

The visit before that one occurred in July 2009, when Bill, his mom, and I literally got stuck in Italy.  I had published the story on two different Web sites that have since gone *poof* or I would link to the story.  Long story short, Bill and I decided to take his mom on a whirlwind trip through five countries.  We ended up getting stuck in Italy after a summer storm flooded the autostrada near Lake Como.  We did manage to get out, but not before we spent the whole night trying to find an opening to the Swiss border.  It was a bit of a disaster.  We still talk about it a lot, though…  It’s not often that you can see Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy in less than 24 hours.  And on the way home, we went through France and had lunch, just so my mother-in-law could say she’d been there, too.

I think it’s safe to say that we like to travel by the seat of our pants.  So I was definitely ready to venture back to Italy and see this place called Vicenza, which I have heard so very much about.  Bill has a conference all week, so I pictured myself wandering around the city and making discoveries.  But first, we needed to stop by the Spar again.  I needed toiletries.

I picked up some toothpaste, lotion, and conditioner and we went to the checkout.  A strikingly pretty and surprisingly chipper young lady with dark brown hair and big expressive eyes was working the register.  We didn’t even have to open our mouths before she switched to English, with an apology, no less!  She asked if we were British people on holiday.  We said no, we came from Germany…  Then added that we are Americans.  She smiled, displaying two rows of perfect white teeth and said, “Oh, so you’re Americans who live in Germany and have come on holiday to Seefeld?”

“Yes.” I said…  That about summed it up, alright.  She wished us a pleasant day as we gathered my toiletries and headed for the door.

Just as Bill was about to climb into the RAV4, he realized that he had forgotten to turn in the hotel key.  He went back to the lobby, where the hotel owner had just arrived.  In German, he said he’d forgotten to give back the key.  The two snickering ladies who had been making fun of us for two days suddenly realized that Bill spoke some German.  I wasn’t there to see it, but Bill said their eyes got big and mouths dropped open in shock.  It was probably a fine Kodak moment.  All told, our two nights at Hotel Diana, including beer bath, two bottles of wine, and half board, came to about $450.

We got on the road and I entertained myself taking lots of pictures of the beautiful scenery.  As I mentioned before, Seefeld is up in the Alps, making it great for those who wish to ski.  However, good brakes are an absolute must because they will be taxed coming down the mountain.  There are many emergency escapes on the way down that are no doubt there because people have died or been hurt by brake failures.  I would not want to try driving up there in snowy or icy conditions, though I know people do it.  I can’t even imagine what it must be like for truck drivers bringing goods to the two Spars in Seefeld.  Must be a nightmare in the winter!  Anyway, the following pictures were taken on the way down.

One of the more obvious emergency pull offs…

Innsbruck in the distance.

I had to take a photo of this WC.  Back in 2009, I took a couple of tours through Edelweiss Lodge.  One was to Innsbruck and Crystal World and the other was to Bolzano and Vipiteno.  I see they have changed up some of the tours since then.  Anyway, we did stop at the rest area and I did use the bathroom with the big sign.  It was closed yesterday.  I noticed a sign in the restaurant next to it that read that anyone not eating or drinking has to pay 50 cents to pee.  

 

The area around the rest stop is absolutely stunning.  The mountains are very dramatic and gorgeous. But they do get you with a nine euro toll…

Italian border.

We stopped a little ways into Italy so I could have a pee break and we could both enjoy a cappuccino.  Sud Tyrol is as lovely as its Austrian neighbor.  And I was very impressed to see what was being sold in the convenience store.  There was bacon, ham, wines from the region, and cheeses.  I didn’t see any of the usual crap sold in truck stops/convenience stores.  I did get a kick out of the old guy who was collecting money for the freezing cold toilet.  Bill said he even patted him on the back because he managed to get the hand dryer working without assistance.

About an hour or so later, we decided to stop for lunch.  We were in a little town called Avia.  To get to the town, we had to go through a tunnel which allowed traffic to go one way at a time.

We were stuck behind this guy, who waved to a couple of folks passing by.  I figure he probably knows everyone in the town.

We had lunch at a trattoria called Statzione.  It was located right by the train station, hence the name.  We walked into the place and it was clear that it was full of locals.  Everybody stared as we took a seat in the corner.  It turned out it was one of those places where they serve a special and a couple of other choices.

Bill ordered a half liter of house wine… and a bottle of sparkling water.  The wine came in the pretty carafe.

Bill looks handsome as heck.  

I had a plate of penne pasta with bacon cream sauce (hello arteries) and Bill had penne pasta with cheese sauce, kind of like Alfredo…  We could have also had salad, but opted not to.  The cost for lunch was just 18 euros!  Cheap!

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the colorful toilet seat in the ladies room.  The men’s room also had one.

A shot of the outside of the trattoria.

 

We got back on the road and headed further south.  From Austria to Avia, we paid 13 euros in tolls.  We got another ticket for the rest of the way, making only one last pee stop at an Autogrill.  It was free to pee, but they made you walk the gauntlet past all the shit they were selling.  Everything from wine, to chocolates, to dehydrated mushrooms!  I didn’t mind, though.  In fact, I was a little tempted.

We arrived at Hotel Victoria in the mid afternoon.  I had already read some disturbing reports about this hotel.  Now that I’ve been here a night, I see it’s basically a big PCS hotel… the kind of place where Americans stay while settling in Vicenza.  It’s not far from the US installation.  Still, it’s not the kind of place I would have booked.  We are here because it’s convenient and what Bill’s work will pay for.

This picture is over our bed.

The furnishings are dated and a bit depressing, but the hotel has a self service laundry, a nice restaurant with good food, decent breakfast which is included and, in the summer, there’s a big pool with lifeguards.  More on this in the next post…

Standard
Uncategorized

A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 3

We decided to have lunch after we visited Crystal World.  Although we could have gone to the restaurant on site, we thought we might have a more peaceful meal in the town of Wattens.  Sadly, it was not to be…  But we did come away from our lunch at Pronto Pasta with a fun story.

I’m not sure what the restaurant scene is like in Wattens.  I do know that it was a Sunday and Pronto Pasta had lots of signs around town, advertising their restaurant.  I don’t usually like to go to restaurants that are so heavily promoted because they are usually tourist traps.  Indeed, Pronto Pasta has signs in five or six different languages… a sure sign that they cater to the clueless who visit the little Austrian town of Wattens.  We went anyway.

Now, usually when there are lots of signs attracting tourists, you’d expect a huge restaurant with lots of tables.  As it turned out, Pasta Pronto is a very small place with a menu in English and German.  We noticed that they’d set up a couple of large tables which took up most of their tiny dining room.  We were directed to a pub table near the front door.  I eyed the large tables nervously, figuring that a big tourbus was about to arrive.  Bill tried using his rudimentary German, but our waiter immediately switched to flawless English.  Just as well.

 

Bill ordered a nice glass of red…  I had white.

Bill had penne pasta with truffles, cream sauce, and ham.  I had a salmon filet with cherry tomatoes and a side of tagliatelle.

Another shot of the food.  It was very good.

 

Just as we were about a third of the way into our meals, a large tourbus full of Chinese people showed up.  A small, nervous looking little Chinese guy who spoke English hustled into the restaurant.  He had a large plastic bag full of individual packets of spicy Hunt’s brand ketchup.  Bill overheard him explain that a number of the tourists with him were “addicted” to the stuff.  The Italian bus driver took the table next to Bill’s and mine, meaning he shared a bench seat with me.  He seemed a bit “over it”.  I couldn’t blame him for that.  The tourists all sat down at the tables that had been prepared for them.

The little tour guide approached one of the waiters and started asking about the menu.  He wanted pizza.  The restaurant doesn’t serve pizza, though they do apparently have a pizzeria in a separate location.  Then the guy was asking about sausages.  The waiter seemed to be doing a good job maintaining his cool as he explained to the tour guide that they had ordered a set menu, so they were all going to be served the same thing.  It looked like they were having some kind of soup with a dollop of cream on top (sprayed into a decorative etoile), Wiener schnitzel, and tiramisu for dessert.  From what I could see, the food looked good and everybody was reasonably happy.  The two waiters were hustling and Bill overheard one of them complaining about their boss, a plain clothesed man who dropped off a couple of plates and claimed to have been helpful in the process.

 

The waiter deals with the tourists.  Bill and I were, of course, no trouble at all…

I got up to go to the bathroom, but it was occupied.  I stood and waited, feeling more and more intrusive.  I wasn’t sure what was going on in there, but the lady ahead of me had some issues.  At one point, I figured maybe I shouldn’t try to use the toilet at that time, but then she came out…  It was a tiny girl, looked no older than fifteen and no bigger than a size zero, apologizing profusely.  It was no big deal at that point.  Poor thing.

A shot of the outside of the restaurant.

The above signs were all over Wattens.

 

Finally, after more wine, Bill paid the check.  We headed back to the car, bypassing the tiny little Christmas market going on.  As Bill paid for the parking, I noticed a ladies room.  I ducked in and waited again.  I didn’t really have to go so badly, but I remembered the arduous mountain drive and didn’t want to have to pee while Bill was stressing over the drive up the 16 degree grade.

Christmas market in Wattens.

Graffiti on the bathroom door.

We stopped by Spar for more wine, which we didn’t end up drinking.  I took a photo of the Williams pear schnapps because Bill has a funny college story about it.  He and a buddy were once held hostage in a DC bar by a mischievous bartender who wouldn’t let them leave until they could explain how the pear got in the bottle…

Beer tubs at Hotel Diana.  I didn’t have a chance to get a shot of Bill and me this time.  If you want to see us in a beer tub, I recommend checking out my Moorhof writeup.  

 

Our appointment for our beer bath was set for 5:00 pm.  I had Bill go ask at the reception if the bath would be with or without bathing suits.  When we were at the Moorhof, we did it with suits.  While that preserved our modesty somewhat, it also got hops and other debris in our suits.  I would have been fine doing the bath naked.  But the guy at the front desk either didn’t understand the question or didn’t care one way or the other.  Bill came up and told me we should wear our suits.  I had brought my “spa robe”(which I like so much that I wear it around the house, too).  Bill only brought his bathing suit.  Since I also brought a cover up, I let Bill borrow my robe (Santa will bring him a spa robe for Christmas).  I wore the cover up.

We showed up at the beer bath and the lady from the video I posted in the first of this series said we should bathe naked.  I was game, but I think Bill was a bit bashful.  The whole thing was kind of awkward because she was telling us to get undressed and we’re typical Americans who aren’t used to being nude in front of strangers.  Finally, she told us to just get in the tub.  I think the tubs at Hotel Diana are a little smaller than the one we used at the Moorhof.

Bill and I were not as cramped in the one at the Moorhof as we were at Hotel Diana.  It was ultimately okay for us, but Bill and I are short people with short legs.  If this writeup makes you want to try a beer bath at Hotel Diana with your partner and you have long legs, you may want to go for separate baths.  Also, I recommend this treatment without bathing suits.  The barley they use in the tub gets stuck in your suit, plus you have to undress for the straw bed, anyway.

So anyway, we got in the tub…  this time, unlike at the Moorhof, the beer spigot was not purely for decoration.  We were allowed to drink as much as we wanted.  The water was a little too cool for me at first, but I had access to the tap, so I was able to heat it up.  The hotel owner was kind enough to light candles and dim the overhead lights.

Later, we told her that we booked Hotel Diana because of the beer bath.  We explained that hers was the fourth beer spa experience we’ve had.  She then told us that Moorhof was the first hotel to offer the beer spa experience in Austria.  The family that owns Hotel Diana went there to check it out and decided to offer it at their hotel, too.

After the lights were turned down.

 

After about thirty minutes in the tub, we lost our bathing suits and got in the straw bed.  I mentioned in my review of Moorhof’s beer spa that the oat straw seems like it would be itchy, but it’s really not.  In fact, it’s very relaxing to lie there next to your loved one and enjoy the smell… and the softness.  But remember, I grew up in a barn with horses, so it makes sense that this experience would especially appeal to me.  Overall, it was a nice experience, though it seemed like Hotel Diana hasn’t done as many beer baths as Moorhof has, so things were a little less smoothly run.  Still, we managed to leave the beer baths very relaxed and contented.

Bill in the straw bed.  I shared it with him until I needed to use the potty.

 

After our beer bath, we went up to the room, showered, and dressed for dinner.  I was feeling a little nervous that the militant waitress would be helping us, but she was off that night.  Instead, we were waited on by the guy who had checked us in.  He told us to pick one of the first three tables, all of which had been set for two.  I liked that.

Bill enjoys the pleasantly decorated restaurant.

And orders us a nice bottle of Austrian red…

 

Our waiter apologized for the menu in German.  We said it was okay because we live in Germany and can speak menu somewhat.  We started with the same salad as we had the night before…

Then a very nice cold tuna appetizer, followed up a cup of chicken noodle soup.

I had the Cordon Bleu which came with cranberry sauce and parsleyed potatoes.

Bill had pork with a pepper cream sauce and a baked potato with sour cream.  

And for dessert, we had rice pudding…  It was very good!

 

The same two ladies who had snickered at us the previous night showed up when we were halfway through our dinner.  Fortunately, they sat two tables down from us, so we were spared having to serve as their source of entertainment.  After dinner, we went to bed and slept well until morning.

Standard
Uncategorized

A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 2

Sunday morning, we woke up in Seefeld.  My back was a bit sore, probably because I’m used to sleeping on a feather bed.  The mattress at Hotel Diana was a bit firmer than that which my old back is accustomed.  I had taken a shower the night before and enjoyed it.  Hotel Diana doesn’t have a rainfall shower like the Moorhof in Franking did, but it was very clean and got great water pressure.  Unfortunately, my shoulders and hips were a little stiff.

We got dressed and went down to the breakfast room.  One of the ladies who had waited on us the night before was there in her dirndl.  I went to sit down, but she directed me to a different table, one in the middle of the dining room.  For some reason, there was “assigned seating”.  Before I could stop myself, I shot her a filthy look.  I can understand assigned seating when someone is serving you a full meal, but not for a breakfast buffet, especially since where I was about to sit was already set for two.  Poor Bill.  He caught the brunt of my side eye.  You’ll be glad to know that I didn’t make a scene, though.

We sat down at the assigned table in the middle of the dining room, and enjoyed the usual breakfast spread.  Hotel Diana offers meats, cheeses, cereals, juices, tea and coffee, as well as breads.  I was feeling a bit peeved about the waitress’s militant sticklerism for where we sat, so we decided to take a walk around Seefeld so I could burn off some steam.

Hotel route.

This church was connected to the Klosterbrau Hotel.  Very expensive digs!

This is a town that is custom made for ski holidays.  I saw lots of people skiing down the slopes with artificial snow (for now).  People were ice skating, too.  If we’d wanted to, we could have hired a carriage ride.  I’m pretty sure most of the horses we saw were Haflingers, which is a breed native to the area.  All those hours I spent as a horse crazy kid studying horse breeds has paid off here in Europe, where I often see horses I never saw in the States.  Anyway, they were all well looked after and appeared to enjoy their work and the horsey aroma helped lift my spirits.  It was very cold on Sunday and all the cars had frost on them…

As you can see, someone took advantage of the frost.  This was parked right in front of a five star spa hotel.  I’m not sure why someone drew a penis on this person’s car.  It was funny to see, though.  Maybe it wouldn’t have been had it been my car.

 

One thing to know about Seefeld is that on Sundays, things are open.  There’s a huge Spar market next to Hotel Diana, as well as a smaller one near the center of town.  Most of the souvenir shops appeared to be open, too.  Bill and I didn’t do much shopping, though, unless you count the wine and liqueurs we bought.

There was an impressive assortment of funny boozes…

We had plans to visit the Swarovski Crystal World in Wattens.  I had gone there alone on a tour with the Edelweiss Lodge back in June 2009.  I thought it was a really interesting place and figured Bill would love it.  I suggested that we go together, since we were conveniently located nearby.  Bill was game, though getting down the steep mountain road to get to the autobahn was a bit scary.  I’ll write more about that in a later post.  Suffice to say that if you have plans to stay in Seefeld, your car must have good brakes!

Crystal World was pretty busy on Sunday.  Bill and I happened to arrived at the same time as a large group of Russian tourists, who arrived in a late model luxury SUV.  The women were all dressed to the nines and a couple were wearing fur.  They seemed excited to be there and oblivious to everyone else.  In fact, they got in line ahead of us.  One of the ladies, doused in some kind of pungent cologne, was excitedly directing her husband which tickets to buy.  It turned out they were in the wrong line, though, since there were sixteen of them.

The museum costs 19 euros per adult if you’re not in a group   However, you do get a little break if you spend money in the shop at the end of the tour.  I came away from there with three new pairs of earrings.  I might have bought more, but the store was pretty mobbed and I was getting a bit stressed out by the aggressive crowds.  Besides, as much as I like sparkly stuff, I don’t tend to take good care of my “pretties” as Bill puts it.  I’m not good about dusting and almost never entertain, so buying pretty knickknacks is kind of a waste of money for me.

Near the entrance.

Crystal World was just as cool as it was when I visited in 2009, though the throngs of people made it somewhat difficult to enjoy everything fully.  Lots of folks were stopping to take selfies and pictures of the exhibits.  I didn’t take any selfies, but I did snap a few photos to go with the ones I took in 2009.  The exhibits are mostly the same, though I did see a few different ones this time.  It’s a great place to go with kids.  They do have reduced admission prices and family prices available.

Jessye Norman singing while wearing Swarovski.

This is a blurry picture, but the exhibit was cool.  You stand in the light and the lasers put on a show for you.

Walking into a giant crystal.

Bill loved it.

A mechanical exhibit.

A frozen pond in Seefeld.

Salvador Dali in crystals.

The outdoor exhibit.

A statue of Daniel Swarovski in the town of Wattens.

Pyramid at Crystal World.

And the Taj Mahal.

Royal jewels.

 
Standard
Uncategorized

A whirlwind trip to Austria, Italy, and probably Switzerland, part 1…

Some weeks ago, Bill told me that he had to go on a business trip to Vicenza, Italy.  Neither of us had ever been there before, but there is a chance that we could one day end up living there.  Bill’s company has a lot of jobs in Vicenza for which he is very qualified.  Because of that and because it had been awhile since our last trip, he asked me if I wanted to go with him.  I agreed.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we heard some disturbing stories about the place where we regularly boarded our dogs.  I was no longer feeling so confident about leaving Zane and Arran in their care, though we never personally had any problems with them.  I thought I was going to have to stay home. because it’s so close to Christmas and I figured we wouldn’t be able to find a place for the boys to stay.  But then, Bill and I managed to get a spot for them at Dog Holiday.  Last week was rather stressful for me, mainly because of what we had to do to get the dogs ready.  They had to have a tour and a test day with Max, owner of the facility.  I had to update their shots, which was stressful because both of my dogs tend to react to vaccines.  And then, Zane was supposed to have his allergy shot, but that had to be postponed because of the vaccine.

Anyway, we were able to put the dogs up for our nine night trip down here.  I am now sitting in Vicenza with a lot of time on my hands and plenty to write about.  It’s already been an eventful trip.

On Saturday morning, we dropped off the dogs.  Bill was irritated because one of the headlights on our SUV burned out.  We went to the Obi to buy new bulbs, not realizing that they wouldn’t work because our car is American and what they sell in German auto parts stores are for cars with European specs.  We went to Kelley, where Bill gassed up the car and unsuccessfully tried to change the bulbs.

We finally ended up having to go to Panzer, where we were annoyed by someone in a car asking for directions from someone going the opposite way.  Instead of parking and handling their business that way, they opted to hold up traffic.  Then they had the nerve to get pissy when the people being held up by them got annoyed about it.  That’s not the first time I’ve seen something like that happen on a military installation.  Folks, allow me to be the asshole who says that if you need to chat with someone while you’re both in different cars, please go park somewhere.  Parking spots are free of charge and plentiful, and the rest of us have shit to do.

Bill successfully changed out the headlight bulbs.  Then we went to Brauhaus Schoenbuch for lunch. We were waiting for our food when over my shoulder, Bill caught sight of a woman who inspired a most unpleasant memory from the summer.  She didn’t seem to recognize Bill as easily as he did her.  We were grateful when she sat on the other side of the dining room and did not come over and put her hands on either of us.  What a coincidence that we would be at the Brauhaus at the same time once again.  At least this time, my mom wasn’t with us.

Finally, after lunch, it was time to get on the road.  We headed down 8, grateful that we didn’t have to stop for lunch at the place we did on our last trip.  It was good to be fueled up and ready to go, not feeling cranky, hangry, or hearing the gaseous emissions of octogenarians.  The drive was mostly beautiful and uneventful as we headed for Seefeld in Tirol.

Just over the Austrian border…

 

Since we were just in the Tirol area in September, I had a bit of deja vu as we made our way toward the resort town near Innsbruck.  I had originally planned a stay in the city, but cancelled when I thought I was going to have to stay home.  When it became clear that I was going to get to take the trip, I went looking for another place to stay.  The rates at the hotel where I had originally booked had gone up a lot.  Suddenly, I remembered a video I saw on YouTube a few months ago.

A video about a beer spa at Hotel Diana in Seefeld.  Bill and I used an unseen third tub on the other side of the guy in this video.  

 

Having done a similar treatment at the Landhotel Moorhof in Franking, Austria, I knew we would enjoy the treatment in Seefeld.  Aside from that, it looked like a nice town and it was roughly halfway to Vicenza.  So I booked us a room at Hotel Diana, realizing that not only could we have a beer bath, but we would also be saving money.  The rates were significantly less expensive and more inclusive than they were in Innsbruck.  Our rate included breakfast and dinner, as well as parking and Internet.

We arrived at Hotel Diana at about 6:00pm.  We were warmly greeted by a bearded man who spoke excellent English.  He assigned us room 103.  It turned out to be a very impressive room, with a bedroom, sitting room, and hall, along with a large bathroom with a tub, towel rack, and shower.  There was a minibar stocked with affordable drinks, a bottle of free mineral water, two TVs, and two apples.  We also had access to a balcony.

Nice digs!

 

After checking out the room, we headed down to the dining room for dinner.  Two dirndl clad women were waiting for us and had a table set in a corner at the end of the room.  Neither spoke English and I had more difficulty than usual understanding them because I think the accent in Austria is different than it is near Stuttgart.  Nevertheless, they did present us with the set menu, which was in English.  Reading, I can generally do with not too much trouble.  It’s speaking and understanding spoken German that trips me up.  I had the opposite problem when I lived in Armenia.  There, I could speak and understand spoken Armenian, but reading and writing was a nightmare.

We both enjoyed a Gosser, which I used to drink all the time in Armenia.  It was probably my first exposure to European beer that isn’t mass distributed like Heineken.

We started with a little salad…

Then cream of rucola soup…

A Balkan pork appetizer that I can’t remember the name of offhand…  It was good.

And finally, I had the chicken leg with potatoes and vegetables…

Bill had pork medallions with hunter sauce (mushrooms, blecch!)

For dessert, there was apple strudel and vanilla sauce.

 

As we were about to enjoy the main course, two women showed up and were seated across from us.  They seemed to immediately tag us as Americans.  They whispered and giggled, while sneaking looks at us.  I was annoyed, mainly because I’d been in a car all day and just wanted to relax.  The fact that I took photos of the food seemed especially hilarious to these two as they tittered and snickered away.  I cast a dirty look at them, then we made a hasty retreat to our room.  We were both tired and ready for bed.  Bill scheduled a beer bath for five o’clock on Sunday.

Looks like the very same company that provided our beer bath in Franking.

Shots outside the hotel advertising the beer bath.  Oddly, they don’t really advertise it on their Web site.  There’s just a picture.  If you book on Booking.com, like I did, you’ll see it advertised there.

Standard