Grossglockner Pass - August 21, 2011

 Sunday Morning at Edelweiss

 

Spent the morning with vacationing military families at Edelweiss Resort.  Started the morning with a nice Catholic Mass at Our Lady of the Alps with the most dramatic priest going and a 15 year old cantor.  (Side-note: easy-to-understand blurbs about the Old Testament readings = a great idea)  Excitement was definitely building after Mass for the breakfast buffet at Edelweiss only to be replaced with disappointment when we learned that they only have a fancy brunch now.  Benson came up with a great alternate plan to try the dining hall at the U.S. Kasern, but that too was closed for breakfast.  Back-up plan C: Subway and the commissary.  Good thing we got food when we did.  We had no idea we’d be on the road for 9+ hours!

In Search of Grossglockner

We couldn’t have picked a better day for a drive thru the mountains.  The Austrian countryside was at its finest…blue skies, sun shining, cascading flowers flowing beautifully over the window boxes of every building in every town, turquoise streams, and Austrians out for a Sunday ride on their bikes or a quick stop to pick wildflowers along the road.  Although we drove out of our way to get there, Tirol was beautiful!

Highlights:

• Grossglockner Pass: TK hasn’t stopped talking about this drive since last year so of course we had do it.  Dad…you were right, it was a beauty!  JLP and BPH shared the 42km drive.   Even in August, there was some snow visible on the top of tallest peaks, especially from lookout point at Edelweiss-Spitze.  Still can’t believe people biked to the top!    

   

If you look closely you can see them taking a picture of us taking a picture of them

• Tirolean & Dolomiti towns: We must have driven thru every small town south of Grossglockner on the Austrian-Italian border today en route to Montegalda.  It took forever on the windy roads, but at least it was scenic, especially with the Dolomites towering overhead!  Not much difference between Austria and this northern section of Italy where signs are in both Italian and German.

• Pizzeria da Pasqualino e Cinzia: While visiting Lisa & Benson last summer, we picked a pizzeria at random near their house to try one night.  We will now take credit for helping them find their favorite pizza shop and making them the famous Americanos who come in weekly.  Pizzas here are cheap (3 euro margheritas) but delicious!  Cinzia = my new favorite (mozzarella, pomodoro, ricotta, spinaci)  

Unfinished Business: Innsbruck…we’ve driven by it at least 6 times, but we still haven’t been.  Would be nice to visit in the winter for skiing there and//or in the Dolomiti.