Market and Mountains

Our internet connection has been bad to nonexistent since leaving Oberndorf, so I will be playing catch-up for a while.

Frday, July 29: This was a low-key day for us with intermittent rain. We took advantage of some clear moments to check out an open-air market in the neighboring town of St. Johann in Tirol where we ate lunch like locals--pretzels and frankfurters with mustard, horseradish, and bread. It was pretty good! Unfortunately, our dessert of strawberries from the produce stand was postponed by yet another shower.

Market in St. Johann in Tirol

After nap, we spent some time at the hotel playground and went to dinner in the village of Oberndorf.

Saturday, July 30: today we checked out of our hotel in Oberndorf and headed towards our stop, Oberdrauburg. In the first of many animal sightings for the day, we spotted a doe on our way out of town.

Along the way, we drove the Großglocknerhochalpenstrasse (Grosglockner High Alpine Road--written as all one word!). It had been listed as one of the top 20 sights in Austria. Now I understand why. Even in the overcast weather, we had some impressive scenery.

Here's what we might have seen on a sunny day:

We spotted more waterfalls than we could keep track of...

And we saw a glacier that, sadly, is likely to disappear in the next 20 years.

My husband also enjoyed driving the switchbacks as we ascended to about 2,500 meters (approx. 7,500 feet) elevation and came back down.

I mentioned animal sightings. My daughter enjoyed seeing many cows along the side of the road on the way to Großglockner. Once we were on the Großglockner, we came across some sheep in the other lane.

We also spotted marmots near the observation point for the glacier, but they were small, so we didn't get any good pictures.

We reached Oberdrauburg, outside of Lienz, in the mid-afternoon. The town has some cute buildings and is set among the scenery of the Dolomite Alps. There also was a playground where my daughter could blow off steam after the drive.

We then had dinner in the restaurant at our guesthouse. My daughter ordered off of their kids' menu and got an enormous portion of schnitzel!

We leave for home tomorrow morning, but I will keep posting until I am caught up. Thanks for reading!