"The Hills are alive with the sound of whinging..."

 Okay a little housekeeping from my previous Scotland post.  Forgot to show what Clark's I bought.  Gawd what an oversight!  So without further adieu...

Too Scots-like to resist!

Seriously, I am tempted to wear socks and sandals.

Out this morning on a recovery ride (more about the wkd to follow) when what did I spy along the edges of the Danube?  Obviously I had ridden soo fast that I had gone through a time/space portal, what could be any other explanation for it?

Kinda creepy as their tails wagged and their heads bobbed.

Anyway, last weekend, we went to the Salzkammergut region about 2hrs away from Vienna.  It's next to Salzburg and prerhaps the most stunning area we've been to so far. We got a place in Altmunster near Gmunden which is famous for it's cream and green striped pottery.  But I will never know because we did not get to the factory!!! G always had some trick up his sleeve to divert my attention away from it! 

View from our balcony.."pretty gut", I'd say.

So we set out on Saturday for a 65km loop over to the next lake.  It was a pretty mild incline and I didn't suffer too too much, but I still whinged though!  When we hit the height of the pass I was so glad that we had chosen this particular route as the other side was a long, long, long climb at about 13% or as I call it "divorce hill."

Top of the pass.

Means "slow" in German, like I had a choice?

The return part of the loop was more pastoral through farms and small towns.  

This groovy place is probably 3x as old as Canada.

Indecisive horses ass, there's always one on the path.

G's birthplace.

Closer to our return to Altmunster I spotted this guy mowing his lawn in the most ingenious fashion.  He had the machine on a strap which he would release then pull back up again.  I watched mesmerized for quite awhile, I figured that it would have to end in tears.

Austrian know-how.

That night we went into Gmunden for dinner by the lake.  There was a concert going on in town and the place was rockin'.  

Across the lake is a gondola ride.

Hard to see, but the people on the dock released a whole bunch of balloons (99 Luft ballons?)

Gmunden had funky little streets like this one.

Sunday G wanted to ride down to Hallstatt (one of the most photographed towns in the region) but I needed a more sedate ride so I rode along the see to see what I could see!  Afterwards I drove down to Hallstatt to pick up G and it was literally overrun by tourists.  We had agreed to meet on the outskirts of town where we had a picnic and then drove home to Vienna.

Sunday morning ride to Traunsee.  Just about perfect.

All in all , a very commodious trip.  (I crack myself up.)