- Scratching the travel itch - http://www.fouroceans.org -

Weeks 74 & 75: Heading to America

My weekend in Vienna was nice, if short, and it was nice to explore the city with Gulzar and Karl. We spent most of our time exploring the old part of town, wandering streets, popping into churches and eating ice-cream. At one stage we were sitting in a park near a church, in free beach chairs, when I realised that it was the church that the one in Helena, Montana, was based. Yesterday I drove past the copy, built from 1908 to 1924, from materials which were apparently brought all the way from Europe. Not as speedily as I made the trip of course, they came by ship then steamboat then horse cart. The original stained glass windows were made in Munich.

Back in Vienna the sun was shining so I avoided museums and we spent our time wandering instead. Sunday morning was spent exploring Schönbrunn Palace, which was owned by the Hapsburg royal family from 1569 until 1918. The grounds were originally only used to breed game and fowl for hunting but later the impressive buildings were constructed, and in 1752 the world’s oldest existent zoo was founded. In 1683 the Turkish Ottoman Empire clashed with the House of Hapsburg and got as far as Vienna before being defeated. The Hapsburgs controlled a pretty incredible amount of land all over the world, mainly through selective marriages and inbreeding that eventually led to various genetic disorders. Looking at Charles II of Spain’s family tree [2] there are all sorts of linkages that just shouldn’t be there, including far too many examples of men marrying their nieces.

Back in Munich I packed up my apartment. Moved out and headed up to the mountains near Garmisch. I’ve heard so much about the area and it was beautiful. My relatives had a holiday apartment for 2 weeks and I visited for 2 nights, with a stunning day in the middle. With the sun shining and an almost totally blue sky, we headed up the Karwendel cable car to almost the top of the mountains. From the top we did a round trip walk that took us up to the Austria border and gave us some stunning views to the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain, as well as the Alps of Germany, Austria and Italy.

From the top of the cable car a 430m long tunnel through the mountain takes you to the top of what must be, in winter, a pretty amazing ski run. At 7km, the Dammkar run is the longest in Germany, and it’s pretty impressive that until the cablecar was built in the 1960s, people would carry their skis up to ski back down. Now that’s a sport! Of course they also built an ice bar for people who needed refreshments (though I can only assume this was near the bottom!). Sybille and Pit were making lots of great plans for the rest of their time there and I think Brett and I might head up there pretty regularly, it was beautiful.

Heading back through Munich to pick up the rest of my stuff and finish off some admin, I then headed to visit my relatives near Stuttgart before I flew to America. They had organised a BBQ with some of the rest of the family which was cool, I got to see Markus, Whitney and Colin again and also met Hans’ sister in law.

While waiting for my plane to Miami, I checked email to see a message from my dad that my uncle had passed away earlier that morning. He’s been battling prostate cancer for a long time now but somehow the fact that this outcome was pretty much inevitable didn’t make it any easier to handle the news. My thoughts are with his family, my father, my grandma and everyone else who lost a good friend.

Actually, getting on my flight to America wasn’t as simple as it should have been, I didn’t know about the new ESTA registration which is meant to be filled out online 72 hours before arrival in the US. Even for visa waiver countries. Consider yourself warned! Thankfully I’d got there in plenty of time and was approved instantly. Phew! The flight itself went well apart and I was let into the country by a semi-daft immigration officer. A free shuttle to the hotel in Miami and dinner nearby where I made the rookie error of thinking I could fit in two American sized entrées because I was hungry. Fail!

In Helena I was picked up by Brett’s dad and step mum, who have made me feel very welcome in the time before Erica and Brett arrive. It’s been nice to hang out and spend some time with them as the only times I’ve met them have been my brief trip here in mid 2007 and then for the wedding where I obviously had a lot going on. When Brett and Erica get here (tonight!) we’ll sit down and talk about our ever changing plans and work out where we’re going next. Mexico is looking ever more dangerous so we’ll have to see what pans out.