squirmelia | Niederau, Austria

18.09.04

The plane descends and then the clouds turn into mountains. Stepping onto the ground at Salzburg airport, I see the peaks that soar so high, but they are still close enough to look dreamy. In a sleep-deprived state, none of this looks real, but is there a time when it would?

The coach I travel on goes through villages full of typical wooden chalets, as well as lush meadows, dense forests, spectacular hills, and maybe even some mountains. Rows of pumpkins and various figures made of corn line the streets to celebrate farmers' harvest.

We pass through St Johann, where the KnödelFest (dumpling festival) takes place. About 30,000 dumplings are consumed and St Johann holds the record for the world's largest dumpling table.

In many places in the Tyrol region, it's the day when the cows come down from the mountains (before it gets too cold), and the coach becomes stuck behind a parade of large brown and white cows adorned with colourful arrangements of flowers and large bells.

We arrive in Niederau, a quiet and picturesque village, in the Wildschönau (wild and beautiful valley), which apparently gets a bit busier during the ski season. A spikey yellow caterpillar moves slowly across the pavement. The cows and goats fill the valley with the pretty-sounding tinkling of their bells. A teddybear starts to yodel. Nordic walking is popular. Music that sounds like people imitating clucking chickens can be heard. Pear schnapps is for sale.

The church in Niederau, like most in the area, is of the baroque style, white and orange, and very oblong-shaped. It looks so new compared to most churches I've seen.

19.09.04

Wandering up the hills towards Anton Graf Hütte, we walk past lots of beautiful varieties of fungi (such patterns!), as well as gentle streams (grey-coloured, as opposed to the light emerald colour that some rivers are due to the mineral content), many trees, steep hills, mud, more cows, a few ski slopes. The cable car floats above our heads, occasionally bouncing as we watch. There are clusters of pretty pink flowers, and red paper resembling a flower is fastened to a tree. After a few hours, we reach a point where the view of the mountains in the distance has become spectacular. They look so perfectly blue and white, and I gaze at them admiringly. The houses of Niederau look tiny in the valley below. Even that high, the music from the cowbells can still be heard chiming delicately.

20.09.04

Oberau is the village next to Niederau, and the path leading there passes a stream and a number of pink and gold sculptures. There is also a wooden bridge into an area that resembles a swampy nature reserve, with lots of tall green plants surrounding benches. Oberau also has a church similar to the one in Niederau, and it is opposite the Kellerwirt, a former monastery. There are wooden beams with what looks like corn cobs hanging from them. In the centre of Oberau, noisy construction work is taking place, but on the outskirts, there are gentle hills with pretty houses, as well as a mass of trees that look over the valley.

In Niederau, the cows parade around in flowers again. Some strangely have what looks like a picture of Christ as part of their head-dresses, and as they eat grass, a crowd gathers to watch.

Photos of hills, caterpillars, fungi, and mountains.