Grundlsee and Odonsee

After a good night's sleep, we pulled ourselves away from Weisses Kreuz, and walked back toward the train station to the Hertz office.  There, the agent asked us if we'd like the Ford Fiesta we had reserved, or would we be interested in, at the same price, a Mini;  when we heard that, we said yes, we believe that would be nice.  Then we saw it:  a 2011 shiny black on black Cabrio convertible -- SCORE!  Greg had already decided to forego the direct and faster route to Grundlsee for a more meandering scenic route, and this car confirmed his decision.  However . . . we underestimated the time we were taking and ended up a bit concerned about a late arrival.  Greg pulled into a parking space and found a shopowner who happily called the resort for Greg to tell that we were still coming.  All was good -- please take our time!  Well, ok!

Getting all domestic -our  tiny fridge at my knees!

On Saturday, June 18, we left for Grundlsee;  once at the resort, over the next day or two, some of our attention went to practical matters of grocery shopping to stock our little kitchenette,  and to use the resort laundry room to freshen our travel clothes (we had limited ourselves to a single carry-on each and depended upon very few changes of clothes).




Over the days before Greg's son, Chris, and bride, Tisha, joined us, we also spent our time  relaxing in the apartment and in quiet mountain walks around lakes (our own and another smaller one, named Odonsee, a short drive away).

Grundlsee from a path we walked

Sometimes, you just need to settle back and not do much, which was a good thing, because we had a couple of days of cool and rainy weather, perfect for nesting. One good day, however, the Mini Cooper top came down, and off we went, to explore along more twisting mountain roads with sweeping vistas, including many  homes bursting with flowers.

After a drive by the huge and spectacular Lake Halstatt (much larger than our Grundlsee), we enjoyed a lovely lunch in an outdoor cafe under a warm sun.  But the day before that, we were off to explore Odonsee:

Odensee
On Monday, following our Saturday arrival at Grundlsee, we had a lovely slow morning, awakening to a cold overcast day over the lake.  After breakfast, I made a brief visit to the resort office to look at emails while Greg read in our room.  Following a light lunch, we found the clouds clearing and the temperature climbing, so off we went in our Mini through curving mountain roads to explore the small lake of Odonsee, and to walk the path around it under the trees.  From the parking area out of sight of the lake, we walked down a small incline and around a bend to our first view of a lovely wooden restaurant with several guests out front seated at a covered brick dining patio, facing the water, and a waitress shooing away about a half a dozen lazy silky cafe au lait cows who had been munching at the grass bordering the lake and who apparently decided to visit too close to the restaurant's patio.

As we explored the lake's edge, we were charmed by the receding soft-toned cowbells and quiet chatter of the diners, the birdsong overhead in the tall evergreens, and the muffled laughter of children from across the lake walking with parents and grandparents.

Along the way, we found benches and tables, and wooden bridges spanning narrow feeder streams.  One family stopped, bemused,  to watch Greg's attempts to build a stone tower in a mostly dry streambed.  Their encouraging words, spoken in German, had little influence on Greg's expertise.

Resuming our walk,  we saw a couple of floating shoreside boathouses reflected in the clear water and a diving platform bobbing enticingly at the lake's center.

Boathouse reflection

Greg, a beer, and some cows

After completing the circumference (which took probably 45 minutes), we joined the other diners for a glass of beer (for Greg) and wine (for me), and then watched, amused, at who must have been the restaurant's owner, erupt from the kitchen, red apron still tied around his waist, to clap his hands and slap the haunches to move what had suddenly become a real herd away from the patio.  Several more cows (these a larger black and white breed) had materialized at the restaurant during our walk, and the original local "girls" had become animated -- a bit frisky and ready for some fun.  When we returned to our car in the parking lot up the gravel road, we saw that the herd was gathered around a shiny tour bus, whose driver was marching from the woods, leafy tree branch held aloft, ready to whack them away.  This had been a good day for us and probably a day of little concern for those cows.

Back to Grundlsee after a good day