No One Likes a Frowny Face

April 28, 2010

I am getting accustomed to the roundabouts.  We encounter them quite frequently on our road travels and after a few missteps, I am much better about being aggressive at the "Yield" sign, driving defensively, and getting off on the right exit.  Driving in Austria hasn’t been too much different than back at home… except for the roundabouts and construction road signs.

We see these green signs on a regular basis as we are driving around from place to place.  This must be the high season for Austrian road construction.  So far as we have observed, there are happy faces, really happy faces, sad frowny faces or noncommittal straight lip faces… depending on how the construction crews anticipate that drivers will feel about each respective stage of road construction.   To be perfectly honest, my carload enjoys seeing all of the signs... but as driver, I definitely prefer the smiley faces.  :-)  

My biggest issue with the frowny face construction zones is when there is a narrowing of the driving lanes to accommodate the road work, and temporary lines are drawn to try to convert a 1 ¼ lane width into 2 lanes.  Those are some tight lanes.  I literally hold my breath when I shoot the gap between the median wall barrier and the truck or car I am passing… and pray I don’t lose a mirror. 

  

Today's destinations were a little closer to home:  we went to Goldegg and Werfen.  They are both beautiful small towns.  In Goldegg, our 14th century castle explorations brought us to a medieval hall where they were setting up for an evening concert, but were kind enough to let us come in and take pictures.  It seemed very cool but a bit unexpected to find that a hall with more than 600 years of history and painted ceilings and walls would be in regular use as a community center.  Perhaps it is only for special events.  A woman who was singing in the evening’s performance gave us a quick tour of the hall.  She was very friendly and invited us to come back that night.  If we weren't all so tired and a trifle bit grumpy (and if the concert had started earlier than 8 p.m.) we would seriously have considered it.

We drove to Werfen, where we found that that tourists are not as welcome during the hours of 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. when they close the tourist information office and lock up all of their helpful city maps inside.  Luckily, it's hard to miss the Hohenwerfen Castle, so we found our way there, parked our car, and climbed up the hill to reach it.

If this massive looking castle in the Alps looks familiar, you might be recalling the background scenery during the Sound of Music scene when the children are gathered around Maria Von Trapp in a green meadow and learning to Do Re and Me for the very first time.  Or maybe you've just been to Salzburg.  At any rate, the place dates back to 1077 when it was built as a fortress to protect Salzburg, which is 20 miles away.  Over the centuries, it has also been used as a court, a prison and a police academy.  Now it is just a museum and tourist destination, and a gorgeous spot for taking photos and checking out the valley below.