A Walk in the Clouds

What a day so far!  Movember is over and we made it up the mountain.  We were just about to leave town today after having some lunch at the Christmas market, and decided last minute that we may as well spend the afternoon at Magdalensberg.  I clarified directions with Sarah when all of us girls were out for coffee this morning and we managed to make it there without getting lost.

Jordan says "enough pictures"...
BUT the trip just started!

Magdalensberg was only about 20 minutes from us and it was gorgeous!  It is 1053 metres high which actually didn’t seem too big compared to some of the mountains we drove through in Colorado on our way to Cali. It appeared a lot higher than it was once we were overlooking the fog and could not see the city below it.  Klagenfurt is in a low valley and it is often very foggy and misty here.  Amazing how if you drive up about 300 metres you are above the fog and there is sun!  The drive up is beautiful, passing through snowy areas covered in thick fog and then breaking through on the other side where the sun was so warm we barely needed our jackets.

This is a big change from the last mountain we went up in California… we were all in shorts and t-shirts thinking it would not be too cold (after all it is Cali!).  The locals in their ski gear thought it was hilarious to see such ridiculous people riding a ski lift in flip-flops.  We were not dressed for the weather and tried our best to laugh with them, letting them know “we are Canadian; we’re used to the cold.”  We were freezing and embarrassed. Before I make us sound too senseless, we were told this was a gondola ride before we got there, and thought that any apparel would be sufficient.  We were only going to have drinks in the chalet anyways.  To our surprise the person we spoke to on the phone thought a gondola and a ski lift were the same thing.

FYI that's Jordan's long bent leg, not mine

Anyways, back to Magdalensberg… It was busy on the mountain and we parked pretty far from the main attraction.  We hiked up the last kilometre of the journey and I was out of breath and hot by the time we made it to the top.  I was so out of breath that I had to do a walking lap of the church once we reached the summit so I could stop huffing and puffing and sound like a normal person again.  I also wanted to check everything out before sitting down and relaxing, or at least this is the excuse I used with Jordan, instead of making him aware of how out of shape I am.  There was a spot with a few animals and a sea of clouds all around us.  It was like nothing I have seen before and a view I will never forget.

After taking it all in, we sat down for a drink at the Gasthaus.  Jordan ordered a coffee and I needed something cold so I ordered beer.  We also shared a delicious dessert.  What a view.  Sitting there having our drinks I could not believe how lucky we were to be here, to be in Austria, to be together, and to travel the world.  It’s not like I don’t already know how lucky we are, but it really sinks in when you are in a spot that takes your breath away.

Once our drinks were finished we did a final look around the gothic style church, built way back in 1200 AD, and started making our way back down to our car.  The walk down is also a site to see!  It is an archaeological dig site that is organized by the Museum of Carinthia.  Only 10% of the site has been uncovered to date but it is amazing to see how well intact a Celtic city from 40 BC is.  40 BC… that’s old!  It was occupied by the Norici tribe who developed the land in this area because it was just above the autumn mist.  So much history here!  That’s all for my history lesson on the place, I do not want anyone falling asleep by the end of my post.  A quick google search is all that is necessary to learn more.

Before I go, a final farewell to the moustache… I’m glad my boyfriend’s back, though I’m sure I will be seeing this guy again sometime soon.