Deadly serious

The reverse journey back to Innsbruck was obviously faster without us stopping for the view but still involved three different cable cars as we switched stations and queued for each ride. It was well into the afternoon by the time we returned so after thinking it would be a quick trip it pretty much became the day. What a day. 

Just in case you missed it, we were on top of a mountain...taking photos. 

There's an odd collection of attractions up here, if you can call them that, but perhaps the most surreal was this metal structure a short walk away from the main tourist area. I have no idea what it was but it looked fit to be on the moon. As the fog came and went it too added to the eerie feel up here. It was actually quite beautiful. 

A short walk from the official peak was another peak that didn't have a path and with our ill-prepared footwear was out of our reach. But some tourists were almost recklessly clambering over the rocks to reach the top without any apparent care in the world. We walked halfway up and met a friendly German tourist who admitted he loved Britain and offered to take some shots of us walking down. He could have been a thief looking to run away with my camera but then it's an odd place to try so we posed for him and got a lovely group photo. 

At the summit we find the cross. Do these crosses represent Christ's sovereignty over the world or a place to thank your God for making things so damn hard? Thanks to the cable car there was no hard here. With the chains holding down the cross you'd think maybe Christianity is getting a little fed up. No need for God here, nature has done a pretty good job on its own. 

By now Innsbruck is far away, a couple of kilometres at least. The valley below makes for a perfect drop and that feeling of altitude. I'm sure some mountains at their peak can be an anticlimax if your surrounded only by equally extreme peaks. I remember Mount Snowdon, which is a baby here, appear so impressive because the surroundings were so majestic and the place where you stand is immediately so exceptional. As it is here, the views below remind you where you are. And to perhaps add a tint of absurdity, one of us has made it here with flipflops. It's something not missed by others around us, some of whom are equally out of place in their footwear.

What can you do? It's not every day you get to stand for a few minutes in a small cabin and be transported to places that once would have taken determined hikers or mountaineers a few hours to reach. It's a remarkable first world luxury. OK it's not Everest but to us mortals it might a well be. We've seen plenty of mountains in Switzerland but always from below. This trip would have missed its peak without at least once getting up there. And, hey, we get to do a traditional holiday cable car. Where would the world be without cable cars? 

We finally arrive at the top and the views were as spectacular as we'd hoped for. Well, while we could see. Patchy fog (actually it's just our heads in the clouds) was drifting past continuously so one minute it looked liked we were standing on the top of the world, and the next moment you wonder if maybe your eyes have malfunctioned. When the cloud passes over, the city and surrounding vista vanish, to be replaced by a clean dark gray wash. It's like we've been cut off. And the two minutes later the fog passes and the city and mountains reappear. 

We hadn't yet reached the top of this peak and there was another stop on the journey, by another cable car and a different station a minutes walk away. It's only a five minutes wait and we're back in the air looking down on the many paths below. We see hikers and mountain bikers making the route and I do wonder what it's like to cycle down here with these views around and gravity going the right way for a change. At the top we meet a whole new view and it's breathtaking. To think we almost dismissed this. To think you can get up here from down below by cable car alone. Oh I haven't shown you the view from the top yet. 

A short walk from the restaurant, around one of the bends in the walking path that allows you to do this whole journey on foot, is this viewing platform elegantly reaching out from the mountain side. We had to wait a few moments for others to clear but it wasn't so busy and the views down to Innsbruck and indeed the view of the platform itself was outstanding. Literally, in this case. It's one of many well designed structures throughout the tourist route along this mountain. It adds so much to the experience when it's so well maintained, attractive, and blends with the environment. 

There were a few stops on the cable car including a zoo. We took it as far as the (middle) cable car would go, to 2256m, one stop short of the top. At this level there's an outdoor restaurant so we enjoy some welcome caffeine and I top up on some sun lotion (although in error do miss some patches and suffer for it later). At this altitude it is cool but the sun is very strong and glaring. Even looking away the sun stings your eyes. Down below Innsbruck looks very far away and I suppose it is. To think we almost dismissed this trip and we're going to spend the afternoon walking the streets of Innsbruck. Looks like we'll be here a while. We still have another stop to go. 

With a little advice from the guesthouse we park our car at the base station for a funicular and cable car that rides up the side of the Nordkette mountain range. At first we intended only to go to the first level as the top station was much more expensive but when I realised it actually takes you to the very peak of one of the highest mountains overlooking Innsbruck it was impossible to refuse. In any case a ticket included free parking. Definitely a win win. The station itself is deigned by an Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who has won many prestigious prizes. At very close quarters, the building looks a little worse for wear but still great in photos. Innsbruck is not just an ex-imperial city but also host to the Winter Olympics. 

So back in the car yet again, but well rested, we set set out for our next city Innsbruck in the Tyeol, western Austria, only 30 minutes drive from the guesthouse. We snap a few more shots on the way down to the wide valley that nestles this imperial Alpine city, passing by a small group of cyclists taking advantage of the decent and freewheeling at 30-40mph.

We wake on our first morning in Austria in a guesthouse surrounded entirely by nature. You cannot see very far for the mountains surrounding us very close by. Our breakfast was another quality German buffet. In fact our whole stay here has been to a high standard and the Dutch expatriots who run the place have done a fine job. This was definitely a good find. 

Ok this time it's for real and we cross to Austria but only after purchasing our second motorway vignette to sit above the Swiss sticker. As the sun sets we get another display of shifting shadows on the mountains. But there's nowhere to stop now to get better shots. A few more miles on the motorway and we pull into a small town just before Innsbruck. Unfortunately the GPS takes us to the outskirts of Innsbruck first and then back. Seems wasteful but maybe a faster motorway journey. Our next sleep takes us on another ride back into the mountains where we are greeted by the guesthouse owners with their dogs. We've even arrived early enough to share a drink with them before heading to bed. 

Back on the road we continue on our way out of Switzerland and enter Austria towards Innsbruck. It's a long road but fast enough. The valley widens but the mountains seem no less impressive. We even notice some snow or ice still clinging at high altitudes but not on the peaks themselves. I take a particular liking to these lines of water flow down the side of one mountain. You can see the very start of the water cycle that forms the great rivers of Europe. 

So we find a nice cafe in Scuol and park the car in a space that has a one hour limit. That should be enough time. The staff are lovely and we enjoy some refreshments with the local mountains as a stunning backdrop. This place is so beautiful I even ask the woman who served us whether she still thinks it's so beautiful seeing this view every day. She answers yes. I understand the local official language here is Romansh, closer to Italian than German. It sounds like Italian when I hear the staff speak. We notice a greyhound passing by and can't help greet the owner and pat the dog. 

As we proceeded on our drive through the Alps towards Austria we came upon a town almost by surprise and in seeing its name I remembered the woman back at our hotel recommending a visit. It was difficult to miss but we actually turned off the motorway looking for somewhere to eat and found this whole community almost hidden among the mountains. It is very heavily dominated by a mountain range clearly visible in these photos. The area is a major skiing resort in winter and once housed a major hotel, apparently one of the earliest in the Alps, from the 19th century, but it burnt down in 1989. I can't say the town looks too much worse for it. 

As we depart St Moritz we leave behind the drizzle so the sun and blue sky once again bring life to the mountains. It all looks as pristine as a perfect English garden except with 3000 metre clumps of rock bursting through the earth. Personally I like the way the tarmac with its clean white lines cuts through the bright greens. It adds a sort of geometry that complements the almost immaculate landscape. Although the word immaculate makes me think. What is the stain we are avoiding? Nature or civilisation? Is this a natural landscape? Is this artifice? Does that matter? Whatever the case it has great beauty.