Zell am Ziller & the Geisler Trail

First of all, let me wish a very Happy Anniversary to Jim & Heather. Hope you were able to do something special today.

Marty and I were enjoying a fabulous breakfast in our hotel when we suddenly found ourselves being the center of attention of the staff. We received an introduction from one of the employees who seemed quite impressed that we were from America. She actually spoke excellent English.

Suddenly, the waitress was all excited, asking if we were from America (in German), and when we said yes, she became very animated and began a long one-way conversation in German, then she pulled out her cell phone and began calling people to give them the news. We weren't quite sure why our presence would be that exciting, but hey, we'll take exuberant Austrians over crabby ones any day!

I have been meaning to mention our surprise at the religious devotion of the Europeans that we have encountered in Slovaki and Austria. In Slovakia, there were Crucifixes adorning the walls of the Penzions where we stayed, and it is no different here in Austria. Pentecost was a two day celebration (which I thought was a great idea), and we had arrived on Monday in Salzburg to find most places closed due to this religious holiday.

Today, Marty and I set off on a hike to the Church of Maria Rast, and, once again, were surprised when we began the ascent up the hill, to suddenly find shrines to the Stations of the Cross along the trail. Scattered among the Stations were Grottos dug into the cliffs, with religious statues behind screens. It was kind of strange to find these religious reminders along a path that was originally along a gold-mining section of town.

So, we hiked up the trail in the pouring rain, but the end results were definitely worth the effort. The inside of the church is breathtakingly beautiful, and the vistas from the top showed the town of Zell am Ziller, although it was slightly foggy due to the rain. The trip down the hill took very little effort on our part, although we were really quite wet by the time we reached town.

Marty and I spent the rest of the day exploring the trails around the town, which imbedded us right into the locals, walking past some very frisky goats and cute little bunnies.

Our hotel here is very cozy, although the room numbering is definitely interesting. Our room is number 110, and we are on the top floor, which is the third floor, and we must ascend 6 flights of stairs to get to our room.
So, between walking up and down to our room, and hiking about town, our tootsies could use a break. And our jackets need some drying time!