A stroll down memory lane.

There was need to race to breakfast this morning as it’s our own apartment and we call the shots! After a leisurely wakeup and yummy breakfast, we headed for a walk. The plan was to do a 2-3 hour walk taking in the Bischoferalm, a fantastic, seriously cute mountain restaurant with views to die for. However, the walk ended up being 6 hours, and it was our favourite walk ever. We made it the Bischoferalm after 90 minutes and enjoyed a well-deserved coffee whilst enjoying the views.

After a breather and a long debate with the map, we headed off on a rather treacherous circumnavigation of the Gratlspitz mountain. This entailed walking on paths ready to land-slide down the ravine and snow filled gullies, requiring a steady foot and nerves of steel! Any negative thoughts were erased as we were looking forward to the famous Zottahof pancakes that Sonja’s Mum talks of. 

On our descent, we came across a very familiar, tiny chapel on the mountainside. There are loads of them dotted around the mountainside, but this one we recognised with good reason. We’d been to it on one of our previous snow-shoe walks with Sepp Lintner, an old family friend. We finally arrived at the Zottahof and, you guessed it, it was closed. The main Summer season was till a week or two away!! Oh well, onwards!!

We finally arrived back into the village just as a funeral was taking place for a local who’d passed away three days earlier. It was an incredibly moving experience with most of the village community attending to pay their respects whilst following the coffin around the village in a procession led by the brass band. Family, community and tradition are central to everything that goes on in the village and we felt very privileged to be part of it. 

After a quick shower and change we headed out for a pre-dinner drink at the Jakober.  Many of the locals were still around and we were lucky enough to bump into a few old acquaintances. Adi Moser (the registrar who had married us), Sepp Lintner and Frans Larch (who runs one the ski schools). There were plenty of other faces we recognised and it was great to see a smile back at us in recognition. A few beers and a Wienersnitzel later, were headed back to the apartment and a rest before tomorrow’s walk.