A First in Human History

Author’s note:  This post covers the day of July 21^st.  I wrote it in the hotel on July 25^th.

So I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to write again, but the past few days have been IN-SANE.  And having experiences is going to take precedence over writing about them every time.  So without further ado…

On Saturday morning we got up quite early, 6:30, and ate a Barbara Moran prepared breakfast at 6:50.  Bruce and I then walked to the Sixt car rental, located inside the Hilton to pick up our rental car.  The first car was a Fiat, it looked cool, but in our inspection, Bruce and I found that the right taillight was broken.  The Sixt people said they couldn’t just note the damage because we were dropping it off in Croatia, so they put us in an Opel instead.  Shape and size nearly identical, but the Opel lacks in the style and comfort that the Fiat had.  No matter, it was taking too long anyways and Smith and I were running out of time to do a WHOLE lot of driving.

Bruce directed me back to their apartment where I picked up Smith and we said our goodbyes.  We got on the highway with only one wrong turn and just floored it.  Getting to Grossglockner in time was not going to be a problem…..but the rain was.

As we were leaving Vienna it was cloudy, then it started  to clear and I got hopeful, then it started to pour.  We got to the entrance to the Grossglockner High Alpine Road only to be turned away because it was SNOWING up on the top, and so it was deemed too dangerous to drive, BUT that we should wait and they would probably open it.  So, Smith and I grabbed lunch at the tavern next to the entrance.  Smith had a venison stew that packed some punch in the flavor department, and I had a beef broth soup and a bison goulash that was also very good.

After lunch, I grabbed my book to read, and Smith grabbed his computer to work.  Just as we were settled in, the clouds began to clear a little and cars were driving past the gatehouse.  We waited for the first mad rush to clear before getting back in the car.

The drive up the mountain was cool.  A lot of fun on the curving roads, gunning it out of a hairpin, always in first or second gear, third very rarely.  As we got higher we could see the edge of a glacier on the ridge across from us.  We stopped sporadically to see information or to see a view that looked good.  But unfortunately it was still too cloudy for any of the really spectacular views we were hoping for.  It actually got worse as we got higher, because we ascended into the clouds.  We took the optionally route to climb to the highest point where we were greeted by an empty parking lot, slushy snow everywhere, and not a soul in sight.  The blessing in disguise from the cloudy weather was the scarcity of traffic on the roads or people crowding the viewing points.  We saw only 1 big tour bus all day!

We passed through the tunnel that marks the highest point on the road that you HAVE to pass over, when we stopped to look at a museum of artifacts found in the area.  This highway used to be a walking path through the mountains, so many things were found, including chains used to link slaves together as they passed over the mountains.  I found that image quite powerful and disturbing.  When we exited the museum we were greeted by a herd of sheep clogging the road.  Us tourists were excited and got close to take pictures, video, and touch the sheep, who were excitedly licking the road (we think to drink the salt water that resulted from the ice prevention methods used by the park staff).  But the park rangers did not appreciate the sheep as much as we did, and used a snowplow to herd them off the road.

The way down the mountain got much better as the clouds continued to clear.  We began to see views from peaks of mountains all the way to the valley below.

Then we began our walking adventure.  We stopped to see the biggest glacier in the Austrian Alps.  We could look down on it from above.  I thought the blue coming from the ice that had been exposed from cracks to be quite majestic.  It looked like the new darker version of Carolina blue, but with a neon aspect to it like it was glowing of its own volition.  Then we saw signs to go see an ibex (a mountain goat with huge horns that only lives at very high elevations).  So we started walking in that direction, and came to a tunnel, passed through it, and came to another, that kept going and going.  We started to wonder what was going on.  We talked in Spanish to a couple coming down the tunnel, and they said that the path just kept curving up the mountain in and out of tunnels.  That they had walked for about 30 minutes and then decided to come back, but that they had seen a marmot on the path up.  So, we decided to keep going.  And sure enough, the path kept climbing, mostly in tunnels, but every once in a while we would pop out long enough to see the glacier from a slightly different angle.

At one tunnel, just as we entered I told Smith to stop.  Look at the marmot.  Where?  Right there.  What?  To your right.  No down.  The marmot was about 5 feet from him.  I started my video camera, but didn’t get much as he very quickly began to run away, and Smith didn’t see him in time to get any pictures.  But it was cool.  Looks like a beaver with a small stumpy tail.  We continued to climb, baffled and confused by the information signs that were posted randomly with bits of some fable about an inn at the top of the mountain where people went and drank a draught that made them forget about their lives and stayed there forever.  Anyways, we eventually reached the end of the tunnels and walked on along a trail until we reached an information point that we were hoping would tell us how much further the trail went.  It didn’t.  And we decided that after close to an hour of walking and with it getting late (around 6) that we should get going.  So we reluctantly turned around to head back down when Smith’s eagle eyes, that had let him down so dramatically with the marmot, spied an ibex on the mountainside above us.  And then another one!  This one, with enormous horns, looked like a parent watching the smaller adolescent ibex graze.  The larger ibex didn’t do much, just watched the child, turned around and surveyed the area, us included.  But the ibex doesn’t have to do much to be impressive.  It just oozes confidence, like a king looking over his kingdom, this ibex just dominated the landscape with its stare.  We watched the ibex for a while, and then even more reluctantly began to descend.

As we started down we saw a group that had climbed up an embankment to look at something, but we couldn’t tell what it was from a distance.  We asked them what they saw, and they explained in broken English that it was an Edelweiss, a very rare and protected flower that only grows at high altitude.  We thought that was cool, but they seemed even more excited when we told them about the ibex on up the trail.  When we were looking at the flower, which is covered in a whitish substance that looks like frost, or thick cobwebs, we looked back at where the ibex was and saw that it had come down and crossed the trail just in front of the group of tourists we had passed.  Some people get all the luck.  Oh well.  We still saw 2 ibex, a marmot, and an edelweiss, not bad.

Once we got back to the car, we were greeted by a new sight as we descended into the valley.  A rainbow appeared, giving us a good sign for the night to come.

As we got out of Grossglockner, we still had a ways to drive.  We finally left Austria and made it to Italy, and then to the town of Tarvisio, where we had some difficulty finding our way to the venue for a Paolo Nutini concert.  Smith has a friend, Matteo, that does press for concerts, and he hooked us up.

The concert was great!  I was actually not that excited beforehand, but this guy is good.  A lot of different music styles, jazz, Scottish (he’s Scottish/Italian and raised in Scotland), acoustic crooner, he even finished with an MGMT cover.  I am definitely going to look this guy up when I get back to the US.

Smith’s friend Matteo is an incredibly generous, nice, and genuine guy.  He took us out that night and paid for drinks unless we fought him over it.  The mojitos were very sweet but very good.  The bar had a very cool vibe, with brick Gothic arches inside and a very active outdoor area for everyone to smoke, but it was so cold, especially for someone that’s been living in Florida for the past 5 years.

That’s one thing I feel I have to mention.  I tell people I’ve been living in Florida, but I’m living, and they want to know why.  They think that living in Florida is the dream.  But as Matteo and I agreed the grass is always greener.  I live in Florida, but want to leave.  He lives in Venice, but kind of wants to leave.  Oh well.

So, finally we left the bar, but not before seeing Paolo Nutini roll through and leave everybody clamoring for a photo that they could post to facebook in his wake.  We grabbed our bags from the car, and Matteo showed us to our hotel room just across the hall from his.  We finally slept, after that ridiculous day we needed it.

We are fairly certain that we accomplished a feat never been done before by humans.  We began the day in Vienna, passed through the Alps and the Grossglockner Alpine Road, before ending up in Tarvisio, Italy and attending a Paolo Nutini concert.  If you know of anyone that has accomplished this in one day, please let me know, and I will amend this posting.