Home away from Home

Mon 26th July

I have always felt and hopefully will always feel that Austria/Gmunden is like a second home to me.
On the train from Passau I was picturing what Traunstein looks like, it is a grand mountain that sits proudly looking over lake Traunsee and the towns Gmunden and Altmuenster. We were still approx 20km away when I first spotted the mountain. The weather was still overcast and as they write in the German weather reports, “unfriendly”. Eddie wasn’t too sure but from one year seeing the mountain I was sure! I felt as though I was 17 again and going to Gmunden for the first time but seeing familiar things this time.

At Gmunden train station we were greeted by a very friendly smile belonging to Florian. He had been waiting for us and it was great to see him again. Florian’s father, Walter also made a special trip to the train station to greet us and said I hadn’t changed in the 12yrs that I was last here. Hopefully if we come back in another 12yrs he might say the same thing J As Flo only lives 2km from the train station we rode our bikes to his place with him escorting in the car. His house is on top of mountain and I was quickly reminded of how steep the hill was by my heavy breathing and needing to ride out of the saddle. Once inside it was as though I was only here yesterday everything was still familiar with Gmunder Ceramic still in its special display cabinet. Ed was amazed at the amount of Gmunder Ceramic the Pollack’s have. Gmunder Ceremic is known all around Europe for it’s distinctive design. It is that precious to the locals that they threw it into the Lake during the world wars so it was not taken from them or destroyed.
Chef Flo cooked us a very yummy spaghetti bolognaise that we appreciated from our long day of riding. We spent the night catching up on Flo’s past adventures, like the time he decided to ride to Vienna which is 300km away and did it in 1 day…. or the time he decided to run to Salzburg which is 70km away….. Or the time he decided to swim from one side of the lake to the other side which is wait for it…..12km!!!! We said to him he should do Challenge Roth next year no problem. Bryan, we have found you a new soul mate.

Tues 27th July
For our first day in Gmunden the weather decided to stay rainy and cold and at times we could not see the mountain Traunstein. However the highlight of the morning for me was that we got to try Florian’s mum’s homemade/grown strawberry and apricot jams, absolutely delicious. We went to see Florian’s sister Eva, and her new house. Well the making of the new house. Eva and her husband are building onto the back of a barn on her husband’s parents property. We met all the workers on the worksite which are the couples friends. As a wedding present their friends gave them their time and hard work in the making of their new house. There are about 15-20 people on the worksite each day and even someone cooks the daily meals for the workers which may I add is a hot meal followed by some sort of dessert.
Ed and I were very interested to see how they build houses over here and what we saw was they build them with massive building blocks and glue them together for the foundation and structure of the house. No wooden/steel framework that we see the builders construct in Australia. We have lots of questions for Craig Shone about the construction process and are looking forward to see the progress of the Shone’s house as well.

It was only fitting the next thing we did was a look at a house for sale…Florian and his girlfriend, Sylvia have been looking for a house to buy and there just so happened to be a house inspection today. We were allowed (from the real estate agent) to view the house as well. In Austria the house viewings are during the week and the owner and Real Estate agent are both present at the house inspection. It was good having the owner there as any questions or concerns could be answered on the spot. The house was a fairly new house with 105msq of living space in the main part of the house and another 105msq down stairs in the Cellar which opened up to the backyard. The main living was finished but the Cellar was not been finished and needs all the trimmings to be completed like paint and floor coverings. It was however the first backyard pool that I was seen in Austria. It was a little weird looking being above ground and a perfect circle but never the less it was a back yard pool in Austria. (note; no pool fence around it or the next door neighbours inground pool)

Weds 28 July.
Our second day here in Gmunden and the weather is reasonable enough for us to go down to the lake. Florian’s family are lucky enough to have a boat house on the lake which has been in the family for a very long time. There are only a handfull of boathouses on the lake and they are no longer allowed to be built.
Eddie and I rowed Florian and Sylvia around the lake. My left arm sometimes got a little wayward at times and the oar wouldn’t enter the water on the right angle splashing Florian and Eddie a little. It got to the point that Florian had to put a rain jacket on…. - opps.

Looking at Gmunden from the boat it doesn’t look any different to when I was here in my exchange year. The Rathaus (town hall) is still the town’s signature green colour with the Glockenspiel (bell tower) made out of ceramic. I use to go into town just to sit and listen to it, it is definitely a piece of art. We rowed directly under the mountain Traunstein, it was impressive looking at the sheer cliff face from a closer perspective.

The water temperature was a chilly 17 degrees so we opted out of swimming however when we were walking down to the boat house a lady was swimming in the lake naked. Florian’s aunt told me that afternoon the lake’s temperature has been 22-24 degrees for the 2 weeks prior to us coming. It had only dropped so much since the weather changed to cold and raining. I can’t believe that Russia is experiencing the hottest summer it has ever had and we are what it feels like back in an Australian winter. I hope Muddy, Rose, Pete and Ann are ok on their bike travels up north.

For those people that were lucky enough to try Florian’s banana knodels when he visited Ed and I in Australia would be very jealous to hear that he made us Apricot Knodels for lunch today. In Oz we had problems finding all the required ingredients so Florian was a little unsure if they would turn out ok but I think it was a success. Knodel’s (dumplings) is an Austrian signature dish either sweet or savory. We would have the sweet varieties as a dessert at home but here they are served as a main dish. Florian’s Knodels were light and fluffy with the apricot spilling out it’s bright orange puree once sliced into. Absolutely perfect and we appreciate all the time and effort Florian put into planning and making them for us. I think he did too as he polished off around 20 to our 4.

An afternoon stroll was required after lunch to help with the digestion. No better place other than around the lake. It was still cold and overcast but okay for walking. Once down at the esplanade plenty of memories came flooding back of the times spent down there in summer of 97. A camping area with tennis courts, beach volley ball, grass area to sunbake (that was referring back to 97 memories) and an outdoor opera house.

Thurs 29th July.
Florian and his dad went to the house worksite on Thursday to help with the installation of the roof of Eva’s house. They said everything was still working out well with the extra helpers (15) which made it a very fast installation with the professional roof installers.

We took the opportunity while the sun was making it’s first appearance for a while to ride down to the end of the lake (20km) to a town called Ebensee. Once in Ebensee we turned left into the mountains and rode 7km mostly uphill (I was glad we didn’t have the panniers on the back of the bikes) to a little lake called Langbathsee which we were able to ride around in about 10mins. Yesterday while in Gmunden we were informed the temperature of this lake is much warmer in comparison to Traunsee so we thought it would be a good idea to go for a swim. The lake is in a valley surrounded by many tall mountains. At this stage the sun was gone and there was a cloud just over the mountains covering their peaks but being typical tourists we thought nothing of it and proceeded in the lake. When I was in the water I saw a couple of men on the side of the bank. At first I thought they were waving to me but then I realized they were pointing to the mountain behind me. I turned around to see the cloud that was just hovering over the mountain before getting into the water was traveling extremely fast in our direction and the water on the other side of the lake had white horses from the strength of the wind pushing the cloud and water straight towards us. I quickly got out of the water and as soon as Ed got out the wind and the very low cloud were right over us. It was the fastest change in the open I have every accomplished and we jumped back on our bikes and made the descent into Ebensee at a decent pace. We didn’t want to be caught in the middle of a storm so we rode back into Gmunden with the wind behind us.

Once in Gmunden the rain started and didn’t stop for the rest of the day. We took refuge by going into the shops and checking out Gmunder Ceramic workshop. The ceramic is still the same, very nice and very expensive. We watched a film showing how they hand paint the different patterns on the plates and the unique technique is the same as it was 300 years ago.

This brings the blog up to date to today Friday the 30th of July, Timon Schmidt’s 12th Birthday- Alles gutes zum geburtstag Timon J the plan for today was to go for a trek up Sonnstein and take in the panoramic view of Gmunden and the surrounding mountains but from the minute we woke up until now (4.30pm) it hasn’t stopped raining and the mountains are covered in very low covered clouds. I hope that tomorrows forecast for sunshine is a reality so we can get outside again and on Monday carry on with our bike travels.