In the morning, we woke up early to catch the empty bus that would take us about 20-30 minutes down the road to a hiking trail. The whole bus situation threw us off a little bit, and we accidentally took it too far to a ski town called Obertauern. It was completely lifeless at 9:45 AM (off season), and we were stranded there for about a half hour before our bus driver came back to get us.
This time, we got off at the right stop Maria had told us about. We crossed the street and entered into a lovely little valley with some huts and cows. We followed the trail signs and walked a while on flat ground until we came to the base of one of the Alps. We came looking for some nature and some quiet — and It’s safe to say we got what we wanted because we didn’t see another person for the next two hours. We climbed up slowly, taking millions of pictures and gawking at the insane amount of unsupervised cows (although they were probably wondering why we were unsupervised). They were everywhere and all over the trails we were trying to walk on. We were kind of spooked at first, not knowing if they were aggressive or not (I’m sure the feeling was mutual). But we managed to sneak by them without any major incidents.
This was one of those hikes where everyone is all gung-ho in the beginning, and then as the hours drag on, we all become tired, hungry, and ready to just get to the summit already. Maria had promised there would be a hut at the top that would have food and drinks we could buy, and by 2 PM we were so ready for it. The problem was we saw the hut but no people; the place was empty except for like 40 cows that were roaming around. There was someone kind of creeping inside at the window watching us — so while I was having flashbacks to every European-set horror movie I’d ever seen, Jim was brave and went inside to ask about food. Thankfully there were no kidnappers, deranged doctors or Nazi zombies inside.. only a nice lady who got us all beer, goulash and this amazing pancake dessert called Kaisershmarrn? Maybe.
After a while, we realized we needed to get to the bottom of the mountain to catch the bus back to the apartment. It was 2:30-3, the bus we wanted would be there at 4 (the one after that wasn’t until 6). We left the cozy little hut and swiftly made our way down the mountain in what I believe to be record time. We literally ran up to the bus stop about a minute before the driver got there. Although we did stop to do this:
We gave our same bus driver from earlier 4 Euro and sat toward the back (even though the bus was entirely empty). We were all exhausted and fell asleep for the next half hour — it was during this fateful half hour that my wallet fell out of my lap and onto the floor. This, of course, started a whole chain of events once I realized it was gone back in Radstadt. Thankfully, I had my passport, iTouch, & camera all with me.. just not the wallet with my ID and credit card. We went back to the station and saw that another bus was coming at 6:22, and hopefully, it would still be there.
In the meantime, a few people went to get groceries to make burgers for dinner, while I accidentally(?) fell asleep. Megan and I went to go catch the bus (again) and unfortunately, it was not our same driver as before. This driver barely spoke English, but somehow we were able to communicate with him that I had left my wallet on the bus from earlier that day, basically by pointing to my purse and yelling “EUROS!”. He knew the driver we had had, and called him. After speaking in German for a few minutes and laughing at us — he said that the driver from before remembered us (how could he not?), did have my wallet, and would bring it back at 9:30 the next morning — Thus confirming that I am the luckiest person on earth.
We got back and had delicious homemade burgers for dinner (Thanks JIm, Alyssa & Gary!). We invited our hosts up to eat and had a great dinner just as we knew we would. Werner brought up more schnapps and insisted that the real tradition was to sip on it after the meal and enjoy each others’ company. We talked about our hike, more Austrian traditions and world travels. I was sad that our last night here had come so soon; I could have happily stayed another couple days.. or a million.
We all slept well after the excitement of the day, and in the morning woke up to eat a quick breakfast before saying goodbye to Jim, Alyssa and Joe (who were preparing to travel around Germany and France for the next couple of weeks). We then went to the train station early to catch the bus and (hopefully) retrieve my wallet, which we did 🙂 If I would have done the same in Prague, I would have never gotten that wallet back. It really goes to show how different and wonderful Radstadt and its people are, and for that, I am forever thankful.
We caught the train to head back to Prague. We were sleepy and our hips hurt, but luckily we got an entire train car ALL TO OURSELVES, which meant sprawling out in ways that regular train-goers, I imagine, only dream of. Back in the city, we enjoyed Kmotra pizza for the last time, and discussed plans for our final day abroad.
A Place in Prague 