Munich to Filzmoos

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Geo: 47.4392, 13.522

After a nearly flawless flight, aside from a little turbulence over the North Atlantic, we began our decent towards Munich. It was dawn as I lifted the window shade and peered down onto the United Kingdom .... just in time to see Norwich, Lowestoft, Bungay, Ipswich, and London way off in the distance. As the plane transitioned from our cruising altitude of 39,000 ft the cabin lights came on and, being the high fallutin first class travelers we know are, were served breakfast. Quiche (of course) with a fruit cup. Coffee, orange juice, and I'm assuming more booze if you wanted. I'm not a morning boozer so .... Than again it was just past midnight back in PA so I technically could have but ..... I digress.

..... and then. Before I knew it. There she was. Deutschland. The small towns with the red roofs and a church older than America smack dab in the middle of each and every one. It seemed at the time almost unreal. Dream like. After 20 years .....

The landing was about a smooth as a landing could be. We had, thanks to a mighty brisk tailwind, managed to be on the ground an hour early. Now, keeping with my recurrent praising of first class travel, not only are you first on the plane. You're first off. Which, on an international flight, means you're pretty much first in line at immigration\passport check. After passport check, we got our bags .... Which also was an expedient experience, and proceeded to the Sixt counter to pick up our VW Touran. I'll be damned if that didn't even go smoothly.

Once the bags were in the back of the VW, the GPS switched from Deutsch to English, and the realization that I was going to be driving a standard for the first time in 5 years, we were on Autobahn 8 headed towards Salzburg. Final destination ..... Filzmoos, Austria!

The drive down was fairly uneventful. Once we hit the Alps the scenery went from awesome to spectacular. The only problem I had was the jet lag setting in and by the time we got to Filzmoos my eyes were heavy. Lucky for us we were able to get into the cabin early. Soon after we got the bags in I was asleep. That was the best 2 hour nap I can remember in quite some time.

Upon awaking from a wonderfully refreshing slumber, we headed out, down the hill, to the town of Filzmoos. Now, I'm never one to pass up a good walk ..... especially in such a beautiful area, but something kept wanting me to drive into town and not walk. I chalked it up to still being a little groggy from the nap .... and headed out on foot.

Filzmoos, Austria is basically a resort ski town. Very small, very quaint. Very pretty. Since its early September, there are not a lot of people around so finding a place to stop for bier und essen was no problem.

The Hotel Happy Filzmoos was right on the Main Street headed into town. It fit perfect because .... well .... We were in Filzmoos and we were all happy. We weren't sure unfit was open or not because there was only one guy sitting outside. We all walked up and I asked in my scattered German if they were open. They were and so the 4 or is proceeded to eat, drink, and be merry .... Or happy .... Happy @ the Hotel Happy Filzmoos dot freaking com! Heather, Tim, and Laurie got the Schnitzel. I forget the name of what I chose except I think the name was somewhere Ina Böhse Onkelz song ... And it contain Schwein so it was pork. It was awesome whatever it was. As for the beer .... Do I really need to explain? I'll just say Steigl Weiss. Hefe and Dunkel were equally fantastisch!! Wunderbar!

After great food and several weizen, the skies were looking like nothing good was going to happen so we decided it was time to head back up to the cottage. So yea .... We get about 100 meters before it starts to rain ..... and then it started raining harder. So the nagging feeling to drive down WAS the right thing after all LOL. By the time we got to the base of the hill, the prospect of the 4 of us trudging up that hill in the rain was not pleasant so Tim and I, being the noble fellas we are told the girls to take shelter and we'd go get the car.

It's all fun and games until .....

About 1/4 of the way up the hill, all hell broke loose. Thunder, lightning, and a downpour significant enough to completely drench the two of us. Now, I may be a pudgy middle aged guy but I can still ruck up a hill in short order when needed .... This fell under the "needed" category! Once up at the top, we dried off, grabbed the car, and headed to pick the gals up.

Note to self: Sunday nights in small Austrian towns are closed. My idea to grab some beer and head back to the Cottage was going to go unfulfilled .... So we decided to hit the one place that was still open. Hotel Reithof.

Hotel Reithof sits on a hillside overlooking Filzmoos. The scene is nothing short of breathtaking. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

After 1 drink overlooking our home for the next 2 days, we headed back to the cottage. A glass of wine later, I was in my sleepies and ready for bed. Heading off to schlaffland at 9:30 is something I don't typically do but here .... now .... just felt right. Sleep came quickly ......

Tomorrow is Salzburg .......

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Comments

[Sandi]

I love this! It sounds amazing...even the rainstorm. Keep posting!