Fall Cattle Drive – "Viehscheid" in the Alps

We spent a beautiful four days in the Alps this week! It was our own birthday present – after AMERICANA and our involvment with Kansas and Oklahoma there, followed by a visit of four dear friends from Oregon for two full days of sightseeing, we just needed to get some R&R.

On sunday afternoon we drove to Oberjoch, closeby the Austrian border – a not too impressive little town in about 3800 ft. height, surrounded by mountains and ski lifts. In the off-season it's mostly a destination for hikers. Clouds were hanging low and until we got to see our booked "Panorama Hotel" (see pic) and our large room, we were pretty sceptical about our choice. It proved to be fully worth the money, especially on the first two days of our stay, when it rained most of the time. Then we had a pretty lazy, though active itinerary: sumptuous breakfast buffet - workout in the fitness room - swimming inside and outside - visit of one of the three sauna or steambath - a nap - a short hike - a 5-course-gourmet dinner.

This changed on our 3rd day, when the sun was out and it became warmer. We were fortunate and able to watch a fall "cattle drive" in the quaint town of Unterjoch. A herd of about 60 head was driven down from an "Alpe"  - a pasture higher up in the mountains with a cabin, about an hour by foot away. This event in fall (and in spring) is always a big deal in these mountain towns – school is off, boothes, vendors with local food and beer and lots of people watching ...

The cows were curried artfully and decorated with big bells and flowers and herders wore their sunday best. The two girls in the group were probably seasonal assistants, the bearded guys rather the professionals and one of them was taking care of the cabin (which is selling food and drinks to hikers in summer, too, and possibly also producing mountain cheese) year-round.

The cattle was settled and then sorted on a pasture in the town center, where the ranchers were waiting with trailers and trucks to pick up their cows and transport them home (which was not always easy since cows seem to be pretty stubborn!). The breed is mostly "Allgäuer Braunvieh", used both, for milk and beef, and for the most part heifers (and a couple of retired milk cows) are sent up to higher grounds to spend the summer there, to fatten up and get ready for calving. The rough winter they will spend closeby the ranchhouse or in stables.


We were hiking from our hotel's location down to Unterjoch, where the event took place. It was a beautiful hike of about 8 mi. round trip. On that day, which was my birthday, sun was out for the first time and we thoroughly enjoyed nature and peace and worked up an appetite and some aching muscles.
On our departure day the weather changed again (fast changes are common and can be pretty dramatic in the Alps),and on our way back home it started to rain at only 50 deg. F. Vacation is over and we are back to everyday life (without gourmet dinners and breafast buffets) and work ...

Just for fun: A visit to Vienna

Until about last year, we considered Vienna as being boring. We have visited a couple of times, first during studies (to study roman statues in the museums), then for research for a soccer book (European Championships 2008) and last year, for the first time, for fun. Thanks to a colleague, who lives in Vienna and is an expert in cultural and culinary aspects of his city, it's become a pleasure now.

Well, he "settled down" in the meantime, married and has a little baby boy, moved to a larger apartment in the suburbs and is renting out his old city apartment with his office in a typical Vienna residential neighborhood, close to Schubert's birth home and the famous Strudlhofstiege made famous by author Heimito von Doderer. He invited us over to stay there and since we were able to get cheap train tickets, too, we went for it. Unfortunately, he wasn't in Vienna at the time of our visit, but on a business trip, but, fortunately, he gave us good instructions for visits to "Heurige" – wine tastings.

The main wine region in Vienna is to the Northwest, on the slopes of Kahlenberg and Nussberg, usually with gorgeous views towards the city. Nussdorf, Grinzing, Sievering are some of the best-known, most important wine villages, but you'll have to be careful since there are big differences: There are some real big, touristy "Heurige", open all year round and rather a restaurant than an original "Buschenschank". These are usually operated by and often in a winery, serving only their own produce (as long as it lasts) and simple (cold) meals.

For the first time, we visited Nussdorf, where large areas are covered by vineyards. Some vintners, especially smaller family operations, arrange "pop-up heurige", just setting up a couple of chairs and tables and umbrellas on specific summer weekends to serve wine/snacks out of a shed or container in the vineyards. Focus is on the wines – from last year's production, which in Vienna is mostly white wines such as Weissburgunder, Riesling or Chardonnay.

We took the streetcar to its final stop in Nussdorf and hiked up the wine terraces for about 15 minutes, steep and hot. Our friend had given us description of the way to a vineyard. Without him we wouldn't have known about it, since they only publish their "open house" on the internet and send out emails to subscribers of their newsletter. It was well worth the sweat! "Windischbauer" is a rather small family operation, just offering their wines a couple of weekends a year directly in their vineyards. No fancy winery, store or tasting room.

The winemaker and owner himself was sitting outside, coolers underneith the table, and serving his two flagship wines: Weißburgunder and Riesling. A handful of tables and benches were set up, shaded by umbrellas. We guessed that a maximum of 30 people at the same time would fit in. Since we had made reservations we got the probably most romantic table with the best view of Vienna (see pics). Not too many "foreigners" came up to visit. Of course, we tried the wine and had a mediterranean inspired deli platter with sausages and cheeses, olives and chutneys and a bread basket to soak up the wine. All was prepared nicely by the winemaker's wife and daughter.



We chose the wrong order, that's for sure, but, also the two other "Heurige" which we visited afterwards, were worth the hike, too. Wieninger was a little larger, more of a permanent structure (open on summer weekends) with more tables and a broader spectrum of food and wines. View was still very good here, but much less romantic in total. Mayer, the third winery we stopped by, was more for the younger crowds, with deckchairs, a lot of food/drink offerings and a modern Austria-Pop band playing. We shouldn't have ended with the Heurige (the simplest and cheapest wine being served), but, since Peter is a good navigator, we found our way back to Grinzing, to the streetcar stop ...


Stephansdom (cathedral) contrasting to modern Haas Haus – Pestsaeule

With the exception of wine tasting we did quite a bit of sightseeing, passing by all the main sights, from Hofburg, Staatsoper to Schloss Schönbrunn, Stephansdom and Museumsquartier, Hofreitschule, Albertina and MAC, a great design & art museum, Donauinsel und UNO City (see pics). On the City Hall Square there was the annual summer festival with openair cinema and concerts (all for free!) going on and we enjoyed an Austrian singer-songwriter's concert. Also, Ottakringer Brewery had a brew festival with a different guest brewery each week going on and we tasted some beer and boar sausage one evening. Enjoyed the Naschmarkt (see pic), which is getting more of a deli than a farmers' market, and bought our favorite vinegar at Gegenbauer, and even more we liked the Brunnenmarkt (a real farmers' market, the largest in Vienna!). We ate in typical Vienna Beisln (restaurants serving traditional dishes for cheap) and walked the neighborhoods and had a lot of fun.


... and more sights (Staatsoper – Hofreitschule – Historic Old Town – Castle Schoenbrunn)

Farewell to St. Augustine and another mishap

Sunday morning, our last day in St. Augustine, started out fine, sunny, hot from morning on, and interesting, too: The Pirate Museum - a unique museum – transported us back in time over 300 years to the Golden Age of Piracy with big names like Sir Francis Drake or Robert Searles.

The best tour by far in St. Augustine was the following one, given by Grimm, a fabulous tour guide and talented actor, in the Colonial Quarter. He introduced us to the four most important periods in St. Augustine’s history: three different "departments" in this openair museum introduced to the Spanish time (First City/16th century, Fortified Town/17th cent. and Garrison Town/18th cent.) and one was concentrated on the British period (14th Colony/18th cent.).

Grand Finale: Fried shrimps in different variations at Barnacle Bill’s, afterwards departure for the airport (again in different groups and with different shuttlebusses). We arrived early (3:20 pm) for our scheduled 5 pm departure to Atlanta. JAX Airport is very airy, bright and modern, all fine first...

Then, briefly before boarding, we got to know that the arriving plane has to undergo a complete technical check because of a seagull which had hit one of the turbines; 4 to 5 hours delay (later it was rescheduled for the next morning). This initiated a run for the counter to get rebooked (long lines, of course), but since we would have missed our connecting flight to Amsterdam in any case, we got rebooked for monday - another day lost! This was especially annoying because we already had a cancelled flight and a one-day-delay on the way over to the U.S.

Well, since we were booked on a direct flight from ATL to MUC (no stop-over in Amsterdam) and received a hotel voucher, we wouldn't have complained too much... Provided, the agent at the counter would have been a little friendlier and, especially, if the waiting time at the luggage carousel wouldn't have been 2,5 hours!!! At 8 pm we finally checked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the airport. Drank a beer at the bar to soothe our nerves and retired early. Couldn't believe that it had happened again, twice on one trip!

Tuesday morning eventually we got on a flight out of JAX to ATL, last row seats (stand-by list). Only positive aspect of this trip was that we were upgraded from ATL to MUC to First/Business class and got much better food and drinks (see pic) and could stretch out with real pillows and comforters. Nevertheless, didn’t sleep much and, when we finally arrived to MUC on Tuesday morning we were greeted with a little over 50 deg. F and light rain instead of the comfy 80-90 deg. we had in Florida.

450 years young: St. Augustine – Spanish Heritage at daytime, "Little New Orleans" and ghosts at night

Similar to Charleston or Savannah, St. Augustine is a quaint, touristy city with a very long history. Main difference to the other two cities is that in St. Augustine the Spanish heritage is predominant. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America. Our last visit to the city was in 2000 and though, of course, the historical structures haven’t changed, tourism has picked up considerably. Right now the city is getting ready to celebrate its 450th birthday.

Juan Ponce de León (see pic) was the first to set foot on Florida in 1513 in his search for a Fountain of Youth – and gold –, without success. Finally, in 1565 Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the settlement "San Agustín". The Spanish needed a stronghold in Florida against the French and British interests in this part of the New World and as a safeguard on their ship route from the Carribean back to Spain. After two devasting attacks of British pirates (1586 Sir Francis Drake and 1668 Robert Searle) the massive and very well preserved Castillo de San Marcos was added in 1672. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years, then – 1763 – the territory briefly changed hands between Spain and Britain. The Brits ruled for only 20 years before 1783 the Spanish got the land back.

During the American War of Independence Florida played a part as a important Royal Colony – five times George Washington ordered his army to take over the so-called 14th Colony, but the British troops, with the help of local American Indians, were able to fend off all attemps by the U.S. Eventually, in 1821, Spain decided to cede Florida to the U.S. and 1845 Florida became the 27th State of the Union.

Only when Henry M. Flagler (1830-1913) a wealthy industrialist and founder of Standard Oil became interested, the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida picked up speed. Flagler (see pic) was the founder of what became the Florida East Coast Railway and this connection caused the region to become a popular tourist destination and vacation retreat.

St. Augustine's City Gate with its main axle, St. George Street (see pic), leads into the old Spanish town, which is sort of an openair museum with many superlatives: „Oldest School“ (see pic), „Oldest House“ or „Oldest Store“. An authentic and instructive lesson on St. Augustine's history is given in the Colonial Quarter (see below). Also, in the city center there are three famous and gorgeous hotels built during Flaglers times: the Alcazar (nowaday’s City Hall and Lightner Museum, 1887, see pic), the Ponce de León (Flagler College, 1888) and Casa Monica (still a hotel, 1888).


Well, there is a LOT of history in St. Augustine, one side we especially liked, but there is also another side, which shows at night: the city being a little decadent, morbid, screwy, a tad like New Orleans, with its specific smell, with live music bands inside and outside the many restaurants and bars, people standing around with their drinks and smokes. Also, the mixture of ethnic food – e.g. the Menorcan clam chowder which originates from the high percentage of mediterrannean settlers (Greek/Italian/Spain) – and the many ghost tours added to the feeling that there is some similarity in atmosphere to New Orleans.

When we checked in the Bayfront Marin House on Friday afternoon we got a large room with an ecclectic mix of modern-boutiquey and historic - very tasteful and nice! Our group was split up and sent to different hotels and the two of us lucked out to get this place. And we were walking again briefly after check-in: First, to visit the Fountain of Youth Archeological Park - a living history park with re-enactors and archeological excavations, which brought back good memories to the times we worked as archeologists ourselves. Besides a native Timucua village (see pic) - the settlement of the native Americans living here – there is the 16th century Spanish village, side by side.


The St. Augustine Lighthouse: 219 steps to climb, but well worth the effort. Especially, since we got drinks and snacks first and an interesting presentation of one of the maritime archeologists working to retrieve artifacts from 18th century shipwreck off St. Augustine coast. Also, I learned that each and every lighthouse has a different color and pattern scheme outside and a different light rhythm as well. Also, didn't know, that the Frenchman Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827) who produced the lenses, had a monopole on them.

Barbara, our St. Augustine contact and excellent trip organizer, had not only arranged a tight program for us, but had also arranged dinner this evening at the Columbia Restaurant, which is a Florida staple since 1905 with Spanish atmosphere and hugh portions of mostly Spanish food. We enjoyed excellent seafood and steaks. Saturday morning, we first visited the 450th birthday exhibition in St. Augustine Visitor Center: Tapestry: The Cultural Threads of First America. It showed in an interesting way how three intertwining cultures – Hispanics, Africans and Native Americans (see pic) – melted.

Very informative was the following park ranger’s tour through the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (see pics) with a canon demonstration, and, equally interesting was our following tour through the magnificently decorated Flagler College (see pics below), the former Hotel Ponce de Leon built by railroad magnate, Henry M. Flagler in 1888. It was one of the most exclusive resorts of its day and very elaboratly decorated, e.g. with the largest collection of Tiffany glass panels in the original context in the U.S.A.


Our bellies were about to burst – we ate and drank our way through St. Augustine’s culinary scene during a Culinary Walking Tours and got tastings at five different stops. Food and drinks showed the wide variety St. Augustine has to offer, e.g. great Greek food and cakes (see pics above).


Everybody was stuffed at the end and during the evening tour - after a short break at the hotel to pack and freshen up (it’s been very hot all day) - a ghostly pub tour, the group became a little slow; even all the delicious oysters and burgers being served at Meehan's Irish Pub were not as inticing any more by then. To see the Castillo by night was a special treat, though we didn't meet any ghosts...

JAX – River City of the South

Thursday morning we left Orlando in the early morning with another ten journalists – a very mixed group of people from six different countries - and Pam, the PR representative from Visit Florida, in a bus and arrived to Jacksonville Landing (in downtown, at St. Johns River) at about 11:15 am. With Patty, the local tourism rep, and Gary, our tour guide in an Andrew Jackson replica uniform, after whom the city is named, gave us a "Top to Bottom Walking Tour" through downtown Jacksonville. We got to know that the city got its start in 1822 as "Cowford" and that there are strange tunnels underneith the modern skyscrapers. We explored one of them under the old Atlantic National Bank building: After a long, narrow, dimly lit corridor there was a small room with an old safe/vault on the wall. Also, we learned that the city was considered the "Hollywood of the South", with formerly 26 movie companies.

The devastating fire of 1901 burned the city to the ground and that's the main reason for its nowadays appearance, modern and sleek, with a couple of historic buildings left; e.g. the historic Florida Theatre, a former movie theater in fancy Moorish style. From the top of one of the modern highrises, the Bank of America Building, we got a great overview over the spread-out metro area and the river. Jacksonville is the largest city by population in Florida, and one of the largest cities by area in the U.S. (see pic).

Lunch was arranged in a cool place, very eclectic and whimpsical (see pic): Candy Apple Café, an excellent, tastefully designed restaurant, with an adjecent colorful shop, Sweet Pete's, famous for its home- and hand-made candies produced on the property. During a boat trip with the "Foxy Lady" on the river we spotted not only the great skyline of Jacksonville, but also a group of playing dolphins.

What we liked most about Jacksonville was its beautiful long beaches. We were fortunate and stayed in a Courtyard Hotel directly at Jacksonville Beach (see pic), with balcony, ocean view and just a couple of steps away from the ocean. In the hour left between check-in and pick-up for our brewery tour, we succeeded in having a quick bath in the ocean (not cold at all) and enjoyed it thoroughly after a long, hot day of touring.

"Green Room" is a microbrewery and one of the stops on the Jax Ale Trail. There are about eight micro- and craft breweries in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach, partly just selling on premise, partly distributing and bottling. Green Room is one of them and their Double IPA, which we chose, was the best proof that the beer scene has improved considerably in Florida, and, that Jacksonville seems to be its flagship. Also, the restaurant, café and bar scene is pretty vivid and eclectic in Jacksonville Beach. We had dinner at North Beach Fish Camp at the Beaches Town Center with delicious appetizers and superb local shrimps. Only drawback was the high noise level in this restaurant - conversation was almost impossible.

Friday, after breakfast at Maple Street Biscuit Company in Atlantic Beach, with home-baked biscuits in very creative combinations, we got a paddleboarding lesson on the Intracostal Waterway – fortunately, on calm and warm water! We were not too eager at the beginning to learn how to handle these shaky boards with a single long oar, but since it was part of the program and since you can't write about something without having experienced it, we gathered all our courage. It took me quite a bit of time to get upright on the board (one complete dip into the water included), and later, on the open water, I wasn't able to handle the waves produced by far-away motor boats and I fell in again. Most of the others did the same, so, it was not too embarrassing. Pics to follow, since, for obvious reasons, couldn't take pictures.

Quick 15-min. stop at the hotel to get "presentable" again, then on to St. Johns Town Center - a shopping mall - where we had lunch and a tour in a surprisingly creative and uniquely designed restaurant, especially unusual for a mall! Moxie Kitchen & Cocktails (see pic) served excellent food, I got my second kale salad in a row. Because of being served three full meals every day (completely uncommon to us), and, in addition, very nice food (especially, I loved all the seafood!) during the whole trip, I felt it was necessary, just to get a salad for a change (kale/beets, excellent!). On to St. Augustine in the afternoon.