2011 Alps Journal Part III

2011 Alps Trip Journal Part III

Day 8



The route from Bozen, Italy to Landeck Austria. This was perhaps the busiest and most stimulating of all the days. I did have some chronology issues with this days content, so there is the chance that I am showing some event that actually took place on a different day. It should not matter to the reader.

I do not know about Steve and Stu, but I stayed completely disoriented during each of our legs on this trip. But this leg from Bolzano to Landeck was especially upside down. It was only during my map study of the route before pounding the Logitech this evening, that I understood where I had been. In addition, the total sensory emersion created by the majestic and never ending views began to numb me to all the beauty surrounding us. So, this morning I am less than motivated to do it all again. The first part of the ride did nothing to brighten my perspective. Sky perfect. Road perfect. Weather perfect.

What in the hell is the matter with me.

At around ten in the AM, we make the prescribed stop for coffee and Coke "with ice" close to the village of Stelvio. Even this diversion did little to get me on the step. As we are paying our bill and getting dressed to hit the road, I hear a very familiar sound. It's American Thunder!!! Around the corner comes a motorcycle club made up of nothing but Harley Davidson Ultras and Trikes with that familiar rumble of Milwaukee V Twins clearing their throats.. Each bike is tricked out to the max and I watch like a kid as they roar past us headed for Stelvia Pass. I did not know it, but that was where we headed as well.
I like this picture because it captures Stu in one of his classic good guy smiles. It's not that Stu does not smile, he just infrequently smiles for the camera. He shares this trait with one of our riding mates, Rex Decker. As I typed this, I thought I would provide an example from our trip to Alaska. I love him like a brother.



Down the road just over Steve's right shoulder lurks one of the best riding roads in my total experience in riding. This is the road that peaks at the Passo di Stelvio. This road begins in the valley where we are now and begins to wind its way to the top of the mountain ridge. As we ride, we will pass through verdant valleys with all sorts of cultivated vegetables on both sides of the road. Soon the road takes all your attention just to keep it up on both wheels. The landscape morphs from verdant forest to scarce timber, to the tree line where no trees grow. In its place is the gray of granite rocks. Rocks sharp in their relative newness to tectonic history, yet majestic in their vastness. The sharp edges of the mountains are made soft with the addition of low hanging puffy clouds and snow that has survived the spring and summer sun. The road is in excellent condition and workers are hand replacing cobble stones in the retaining walls. This appears to be a never ending chore. The road layout on this side of the mountain is a continual climb via inclined terraces that are connected via countless turns that are steeply banked and do little to help make the turns easier to navigate.

Although we are a small group of four bikes, I feel a strange, yet pleasant, sense of isolation as I wrap myself in the concentration necessary to do the thing with the bike that allows me to ride to the limits of my few talents, view the landscapes and finally remember that I am, all the while, making a video. I do these things in the order presented. It should surprise no one that each of these activities take a back seat to one another depending on our riding environment.

When we arrive at the Passo di Stelvio, it is clogged with cars, pedestrians, bikes and motorcycles. Getting a place to sit and have coffee or lunch is going to be a test. Manuel pulls into a parking lot and tells us to stay put while he checks out a lunch option. He is gone only a few minutes and motions for us to follow him. We pull out of the lot into the mess of metal and people, make an immediate right turn between two building and make a very short climb that takes us into a surrealistic vision almost devoid of other people. It is the Tibet restaurant and it has a view unsurpassed in all the places we have or will have visited. It is simply glorious. The photos below have been digitally compressed for file space concerns, but they still tell the story.
This is the road we just climbed.

We had lunch in this magnificent location and I ordered what had become standard fare for my lunch. In this part of Europe, they make a pasta dish that has a clear white wine sauce that is nicely spicy. It's light, fast to prepare and onolicious. (A local expression in Hawaii for delicious.)

If there was a highlight to the trip, this would have to be it! Words simply do not work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV7aJIYDfRs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftw2WCJpRcQ

Nearby, there will be the YouTube links for the video of this day. The ride down the back side of Passo di Stelvio is pretty interesting because of the great roads and the traffic we encountered mixed with some great tunnel/snow bridge footage.

Once we had descended to the valley floor, the ride was relaxing and a good come down from the excitement of the ride off the top of the mountains. I was in my own world when Manuel turned into a break in the curb that could not have been more than two feet wide. By the time I woke up to what was going on, I had passed all three riders and had to do a 180.

We were in the town of Lavigno, Italy and Manuel had turned into an entrance of a pay as you go parking lot without doing the paying. I joined them and sort of wondered why we had stopped here. The town was neat and Steve wanted to find a jeweler/watch company that sold first class watches. Specifically, Rolex's.

 Once in the fortress that was the jewelers shop, I got the heebeejeebees and asked Manuel if he would help me find a commemorative spoon for Margaret's collection. He was not going to buy a Rolex so we departed to look for a spoon. As we walked out of the watch store, my eye fell on the building across the street. It looked old enough to have been there since before WW I.

I have no clue how old it was, but the nearby photos will give some idea of how it looked. You can decide its age yourself.



This little town is not very busy now but I bet it jumps in the winter.

Manuel and I had not been away from the watch place more than 10 minutes and it began to pour down rain. We escaped the rain in a tourist shop but found no spoons. We waited for the rain to stop then continued our search. I finally found a spoon and made a purchase. We made our way back to the watch place and met Stu and Steve on their way out. Steve was the proud new owner of a Rolex watch.

With the rain gone, we hit the road but not before Manuel brought us up to date on a town down the road called Glurns, Italy. This tiny town had been invaded and pillaged so many times from the 10th century that they built a wall 30 feet thick to protect it from invaders. The town has about 800 individuals and the largest category are German speaking. We stopped in this town for a coffee break. It was here that we received our first culture shock. When the waiter brought us our drinks, it was Stu I think that order a cafe latte, the waiter set it down in front of him and declared the drink as coffee Obama. Most surprising and unusual. Nearby are some photos of the plaza and the walls and gates.

Back on the road this time to stop and view the sunken town in Lake Resia near the town of Graun, Italy. Apparently, the town was in the way of the filling of a reservoir so they moved all the people out and left all the buildings standing underwater. The bell tower of the church is all that is visible of the flooded town.
This photo was taken by an automatic video cam that took a picture about every five minutes. There were lights and bells to give warning of the upcoming picture. I went on the web that night and downloaded this photo.

We ended the day by checking in to the Tramershoff Hotel in Lansdeck, Austria. I have never seen a more beautiful setting and hotel as the Tramershoff. See for your self:




That's it for today. Tomorrow we head back for Erding the end of our journey.

Go to the post titled 2011 Alps Trip Part IV.