After yesterday’s walk, everyone wanted a day off. So, after a late breakfast, we set out alone to see our village of Amlach.
I could live here.
As in, I really don’t want to leave and this is one of the best places I’ve ever seen. I guess the closest comparison I can make is that it is like Switzerland. The general impression you get, walking around, is that the Austrians are very neat, organized, healthy, active and sports minded.
I said I could live here.
But in reality, I am not neat, nor industrious enough, to make the cut.
Everybody has a woodpile, and the logs are cut to a precise length and stacked perfectly. The yards are all well tended and full of flowers and vegetable gardens. The houses are kept up, You see no trash out back, no dirt lots, and there is no litter. None. Not in the village, along the country or main roads, not even on the train tracks. On our walk today we saw one place where there was graffiti, by a pedestrian underpass.
We see people out running, riding their bikes, swimming and walking. The Austrians we meet all look fit; for example the grandfather of the guesthouse here. His arms are still well defined with muscle, and he is out tending the horses and doing woodwork.
Yet, the people we run into have time to talk, take a café and lunch break, stand and talk out in their yards, or spend days to do something like go hiking with the Americans. (Thanks, Jürgens and Vrone!)
The trails into the mountains start right at the edge of the village, so you could literally get up and walk out to the nearest mountain hut, just a few hours away.
There is no wasted space in the village here. What I mean is this: any open space next to the creek has been made into a little park. Just up the street there is a public picnic table, and by it someone has a little garden planted with flowers and vegetables. Next to us, just 100 yards away, is another park with another table, a whimsical statue, and currently one camper under the tree. We are not sure if he is a relative visiting, or if it is a town camping spot or what. Just down from that is another spot with some kids play equipment in it.
The city hall is unlocked today (Saturday) though no one is in it. We walk in to look at the displays, get a little map of the area, and use the WC. It is not vandalized or messed up, and on one step the workers have neatly left a line of opened drink bottles, waiting to be recycled on Monday.
It is contagious, this neatness. When I used the sink in the bathroom, I used an extra paper towel and wiped the sink down when I was done.
The town meeting hall is a modern sort of curved building, with large, outside covered patio for winter functions. The creek runs right under the building.
We have one church and one beer garden, thus giving equal opportunity to sinners and saints.
The church bells ring at 6:00 every morning, and 19:00 every evening, right on schedule.
There is one campground with a “restaurant,” small store and play items for the kids, one small school, and a fire house.
There are barns mixed right in with the houses, we are surrounded by hay and corn fields, and there are fruit trees everywhere. The cow barn in the middle of town, belonging to the milk producer, does not even have that cow stench. The only fences are to keep horses or cows in, otherwise everyone’s yard kind of blends into the neighbor, or the park next door.
Gail says it is like we are in an alternate universe, like in the Twilight Zone.
It is colder here. The days are warm, the nights are cold enough to sleep under the comforter. We leave the door to the patio open all day and night, and sleep to the sound of the water and birds. In the morning there is one rooster, but he sleeps in till about seven.
It is overcast at least part of every day, and it has rained some each day we have been here. We are tucked into this narrow valley, so close to the mountains that they actually loom high over the buildings and trees, grey and jagged they tear the clouds or catch the sunlight. In the winter here, there is actually an eight week period when the sun never rises high enough to clear the peaks, and the valley is in shadow. There is a celebration on the day when the sun first peeks over, returning to the valley.
Amlach Photos
There is a walking path down one side of the river, the other side has the bike path, but in reality people use either side as they wish. There are houses, but they are not right on the river taking up the view and the land; that is for everyone. There are a few parks, basketball court and soccer fields, and just open areas along the way.
Well, the bike and pedestrian paths line both sides of the main street, and at the underpass for example, they are (combined) wider than the street itself.
Lienz is just a bigger version of Amlach.
Just as clean, same good use of space, lots of public areas and access. This is where we saw the one bit of graffiti. There are a lot of sports stores here, especially for climbing and biking.
The old section of town is really nice, a row of brightly colored buildings leading up to an onion-domed yellow church, a big triangular main platz, with some palm trees and cactus (I wonder if they put them inside during the winter, or cover them up somehow) and flowers everywhere. Of course there are cafés lining the streets, and it is a pedestrian only zone.
The menus are all in German, or perhaps in Italy as a nod to the tourists, but as far as I can tell by listening and looking, we are the only Americans in town. We are assumed to be German, but it becomes obvious that we are not, so then they guess English. It surprises them to know where we are from, and I notice people listening in to our conversations at the café.
There is a statue I call “Boogie Knight” just like the song, and people walking everywhere.
Angelika and Gail go inside to see what is in the case. We quickly order five! things to share: Linzerschnitte (my favorite, with the cinnamon topping), Tiramisu, Sacher Torte (chocolate), Apfel Schnitte (almost an apple cheese cake) and Apfel Strudel. Coffees all around and we are talking and watching people.
It starts to rain, then pour; safe under our umbrella we just order up another round of coffee and wait it out.
Within the hour we are out walking along the bigger branch of the Drau river, or perhaps it is the Isel? I am not sure. I can’t really tell on the map if it is one big river that has branched (The Drau) or two rivers that converge (The Drau and Isel). Anyway, we walk up river a kilometer or two to the Schloss Burck, the castle built in 1252.
It is really not that impressive, and it is closed anyway, but it was a destination to walk to, something to see.
We pile in the car and head off to a spaghetti dinner at Ralph and Angelika’s apartment, in the next village up from us, called Liesach. It is even smaller than Amlach. With wine and salad, it is a perfect, simple meal. We check the Dusseldorf soccer score on my iPhone, but they are playing tomorrow as it turns out.
We all decide to turn in early (22:30) since we have a climbing day tomorrow.
There is a huge thunder storm with lightning this night.
Will we be able to climb tomorrow?