Day 1, Part II
Basel, Switzerland – Bad Ischl, Austria
After finally getting that mishap sorted out the windscreen repair centre and draining a considerable chunk out of my account, we fled Basel and headed for Austria. One good thing about going through Switzerland was we didn’t need to buy another vignette, which we already got when we last got here after visiting its back garden that is Liechtenstein earlier this year.
In Austria, we have a friend who is living there this year, also as an assistant. She is living in a small town called Bad Ischl, which is in the Salzkammergut Region. The region is an amazing place with mountainous landscape. I visited the area almost two years ago with the hiking club at uni and stayed in nearby Hallstatt for about two weeks. It was also the first time I’ve been to a German speaking country (if I don’t include those three hours in Aachen when I was a nine year old).
Anyway, this area is absolutely amazing. The mountains are huge, they are so high, it’s not often they are clear of cloud or fog. They tower the valleys, which they form and dwarf the trees that grow on them. On the mountainsides, you often see small wooden huts and chalets dotted around and isolated from civilisation. It even seems a long way to reach the tiny village below them on the valley floor, even though there may be a small track winding down the mountainside. If there was one place to come for some peace and quiet and solidarity (and a few good Kodak Moments), this was it.
As I was driving along the Autobahn, I though to myself that again, this was another good day of driving. Luckily, the weather was again cloudless and warm and the roads were also clear. But what really got to me that day were impatient and arrogant drivers. It’s a common thing in Germany, when businessmen and the type who drive those expensive executive style cars, such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes cars. I’ve mentioned this before in the blog. But they really get so close up to the back of you, they try to intimidate you and get you out of the way so they can jolly up the Autobahn at a ridiculous speed. One driver in particular did this, but was not German or Austrian. Well, he could have been, but his van, which was white, was registered to Estonia. I don’t know how they drive up there, but if this guy was anything to go by, I would not be too pleased if I were to drive there.
The first time I came across him was when I was overtaking him, as I got in the outside lane and sped up, he also picked up his speed as I neared him. This left me unable to get in front of him and get back in the inside lane and carry on. Instead, I had to go back to the inside lane and stay behind him until he slowed down again.
Eventually, I overtook him and went on. I was going along and decided to overtake this car in front. The car was going at an awkward speed, when it was too slow to stay behind, yet too fast to overtake efficiently. But I thought I’d get around him anyway, and picked up a decent speed to do so. I was overtaking well, but all of a sudden and from nowhere, the White Van Man appeared right behind me. I still have no idea what his problem was, but it seemed he was eager to get going. He got right up behind me, so close that I may well have been able to hook him onto my tail hitch. He then decided this wasn’t enough to get me out of the way, so he put on his full beam lights, and at such a close distance behind, it was such a blinding through the mirror. But what could I do? I couldn’t slow down for him to back off, in case he’d shunt me to get moving. I couldn’t speed up because there was a limit and also because my car just wouldn’t gain another 10mph in a matter of a second, especially with all that weight in the car. I couldn’t move back into the inside lane because it would have meant I’d cause some damage to my car and even more so to the car right beside me.
What really annoyed me about that was the fact that not only it was plain arrogant and disrespectful and intimidating to other drivers, but also it was dangerous to go so close behind and use those full beams in order to make people to give way. What would have happened if those lights shone into my eyes, forcing me to lose sight of the road and what’s in front, making me to swerve into the central reservation or the car next to me? What if his plan backfired and I hit on the brakes? I think his van would have received more damage than mine due to the tail hitch at the back of mine.
Anyway, the idiot overtook me eventually, and went on, but not even at a fast pace. After he overtook me, he was going at normal speed then. So I was really not in the mood for such games and just put my foot down and angrily fed him my dust.
Unfortunately, time was running a bit thin after that ordeal in Basel, which meant that our stop in Innsbruck had to be binned. Dai was landing at Salzburg soon, and we had to get a move on in time to pick him up. We even had to alter our route slightly to take a shortcut via Germany and straight up to Salzburg, instead of going via the more countryside-esque road and staying in Austria. But by this time, it got dark and would not have mattered anyway.
One thing that we didn’t check with Dai is which terminal he was arriving at. We realised this as we passes signs for the airport and its north and south terminals. Rob quickly phoned Dai and asked, who told us there is only one terminal. I remember that the airport was a small place, and therefore it shouldn’t be problematic to find him there, so I went with instinct and carried on for the northern one, hoping that it wouldn’t get us lost and waste even more time.
As we got there (without any glitch), we found out that there were two terminals, but numbered One and Two, with Two being closed. By this time, Heather was still there with Dai in a McDonald’s somewhere in the airport. As I cleared the back of the car from all the crates and bottles and jackets, Rob went to search for them.
And so we were back on the road again to Bad Ischl, which had an awkward one-way system and small and narrow lanes. It didn’t help that it was dark and we ended up this way because the easier route was missed as the junction was inconveniently concealed by a bend and signs that looked as if they prohibited access, soon finding out that the small print stated that it was so between certain times for certain vehicles.
We got to Heather’s flat, and after watching painfully bad wrestling that was on the telly for some reason, I shortly fell asleep on the sofa bed thingy that was there.
After finally getting that mishap sorted out the windscreen repair centre and draining a considerable chunk out of my account, we fled Basel and headed for Austria. One good thing about going through Switzerland was we didn’t need to buy another vignette, which we already got when we last got here after visiting its back garden that is Liechtenstein earlier this year.
In Austria, we have a friend who is living there this year, also as an assistant. She is living in a small town called Bad Ischl, which is in the Salzkammergut Region. The region is an amazing place with mountainous landscape. I visited the area almost two years ago with the hiking club at uni and stayed in nearby Hallstatt for about two weeks. It was also the first time I’ve been to a German speaking country (if I don’t include those three hours in Aachen when I was a nine year old).
Anyway, this area is absolutely amazing. The mountains are huge, they are so high, it’s not often they are clear of cloud or fog. They tower the valleys, which they form and dwarf the trees that grow on them. On the mountainsides, you often see small wooden huts and chalets dotted around and isolated from civilisation. It even seems a long way to reach the tiny village below them on the valley floor, even though there may be a small track winding down the mountainside. If there was one place to come for some peace and quiet and solidarity (and a few good Kodak Moments), this was it.
As I was driving along the Autobahn, I though to myself that again, this was another good day of driving. Luckily, the weather was again cloudless and warm and the roads were also clear. But what really got to me that day were impatient and arrogant drivers. It’s a common thing in Germany, when businessmen and the type who drive those expensive executive style cars, such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes cars. I’ve mentioned this before in the blog. But they really get so close up to the back of you, they try to intimidate you and get you out of the way so they can jolly up the Autobahn at a ridiculous speed. One driver in particular did this, but was not German or Austrian. Well, he could have been, but his van, which was white, was registered to Estonia. I don’t know how they drive up there, but if this guy was anything to go by, I would not be too pleased if I were to drive there.
The first time I came across him was when I was overtaking him, as I got in the outside lane and sped up, he also picked up his speed as I neared him. This left me unable to get in front of him and get back in the inside lane and carry on. Instead, I had to go back to the inside lane and stay behind him until he slowed down again.
Eventually, I overtook him and went on. I was going along and decided to overtake this car in front. The car was going at an awkward speed, when it was too slow to stay behind, yet too fast to overtake efficiently. But I thought I’d get around him anyway, and picked up a decent speed to do so. I was overtaking well, but all of a sudden and from nowhere, the White Van Man appeared right behind me. I still have no idea what his problem was, but it seemed he was eager to get going. He got right up behind me, so close that I may well have been able to hook him onto my tail hitch. He then decided this wasn’t enough to get me out of the way, so he put on his full beam lights, and at such a close distance behind, it was such a blinding through the mirror. But what could I do? I couldn’t slow down for him to back off, in case he’d shunt me to get moving. I couldn’t speed up because there was a limit and also because my car just wouldn’t gain another 10mph in a matter of a second, especially with all that weight in the car. I couldn’t move back into the inside lane because it would have meant I’d cause some damage to my car and even more so to the car right beside me.
What really annoyed me about that was the fact that not only it was plain arrogant and disrespectful and intimidating to other drivers, but also it was dangerous to go so close behind and use those full beams in order to make people to give way. What would have happened if those lights shone into my eyes, forcing me to lose sight of the road and what’s in front, making me to swerve into the central reservation or the car next to me? What if his plan backfired and I hit on the brakes? I think his van would have received more damage than mine due to the tail hitch at the back of mine.
Anyway, the idiot overtook me eventually, and went on, but not even at a fast pace. After he overtook me, he was going at normal speed then. So I was really not in the mood for such games and just put my foot down and angrily fed him my dust.
Unfortunately, time was running a bit thin after that ordeal in Basel, which meant that our stop in Innsbruck had to be binned. Dai was landing at Salzburg soon, and we had to get a move on in time to pick him up. We even had to alter our route slightly to take a shortcut via Germany and straight up to Salzburg, instead of going via the more countryside-esque road and staying in Austria. But by this time, it got dark and would not have mattered anyway.
One thing that we didn’t check with Dai is which terminal he was arriving at. We realised this as we passes signs for the airport and its north and south terminals. Rob quickly phoned Dai and asked, who told us there is only one terminal. I remember that the airport was a small place, and therefore it shouldn’t be problematic to find him there, so I went with instinct and carried on for the northern one, hoping that it wouldn’t get us lost and waste even more time.
As we got there (without any glitch), we found out that there were two terminals, but numbered One and Two, with Two being closed. By this time, Heather was still there with Dai in a McDonald’s somewhere in the airport. As I cleared the back of the car from all the crates and bottles and jackets, Rob went to search for them.
And so we were back on the road again to Bad Ischl, which had an awkward one-way system and small and narrow lanes. It didn’t help that it was dark and we ended up this way because the easier route was missed as the junction was inconveniently concealed by a bend and signs that looked as if they prohibited access, soon finding out that the small print stated that it was so between certain times for certain vehicles.
We got to Heather’s flat, and after watching painfully bad wrestling that was on the telly for some reason, I shortly fell asleep on the sofa bed thingy that was there.
Below is the view from Heather's balcony the next morning.
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