Week 2 - People

20 July - 26 July: Austria

Thankfully, while Germany was gorgeous, our roving has come to a momentary halt and we have camped at Seefeld for what will end up being a total of 4 nights. This is a record for Edwin and me. We have met some really warm people at this campsite – our neighbours are mainly Italian with quite a large representation of Norwegians. Germans, indeed and of course Austrians. There are also Belgians. Of course there is the requisite sprinkling of Dutchies, as they are to be found everywhere. Speaking of which, there was this amazing couple from Holland who were the quintessential beauties (in my eyes) of the Dutch man and woman. They were in their thirties, both extremely tall, tanned, had white blond hair, and piercing cornflower blue eyes. They had come in a small camper – a company camper, because the business name painted on it seemed to be related to outdoor sports – with roadbikes strapped to the back. They were probably skiiers in the winter, triathletes in summer and everything else in the seasons between. I enjoyed seeing the lady come out of the shower because she looked so fresh, relaxed and unself-conscious in her training gear. Her hair had been washed and was just casually hanging, wet, around her open, smiling face, which she used to greet us. The next day we saw that the camper had gone, which I was sorry to see. However, we did see her and her boyfriend again, but this time her able body a little worse for wear. They had been cycling and she had taken a stack. She had roughed up her knee, which was just bandaged, but her left arm was in plaster and a sling. She had broken her wrist, trying to protect some cracked ribs she had suffered the previous week from another fall. But still she smiled, and said, when Edwin asked if they´d continue on their holiday, `Yeah, it´s a bit annoying now, but I can still go walking. I mean, it´s not really running or riding the bike, but yeah, I´m okay.´ She was such an optimist, no breaking of bones could dampen her spirits. A couple of hours later we saw the couple again, having obviously trekked from the campsite into town under the beating Austrian sun – totally unphased, a busted wrist to be taken in her stride. (A day later, a beautiful couple from Belgium came along, he was a brunette, she a blonde. Something different about this couple – she always had clacky heels on and co-ordinated outfits, freshly blow-dried and salon-straightened hair. Edwin said she looked like a doll. He said it, not me! Give me the Dutch deity any day, and I´d leave the Belgium beauty far behind).

We made friends with Denise and Werner from Bad Zurzach in Switzerland four days ago. It started with their appearance at the camping plot next to ours shortly after we´d arrived. They are a couple in their 50s (oh, I hope I´m right if you´re reading this Denise and Werner!) who had a very cool old-school camper that I forgot to take a photo of (with them in front of it). They´ve had it for 20 years and it must have seen a lot of this wonderful contintent. At first our exchanges were in halting German (Edwin) and I would listen on, happy to watch their beautiful smiling faces and feeling like I could understand every word. I could, almost, but I just couldn´t communicate, so left the talking to Edwin and Werner. They left the campsite this morning, and only then did we exchange more details, like, what our names were, and Werner offered to keep in touch with us and gave Edwin his card. To my astonishment, Werner is an instrument maker. Not just any sort, though – he´s a cosmic music instrument maker. Well, I never. I made him switch to English and we chattered on about music, and this (relatively) new cycle of music using colour that was developed in the 50s and how he composes music for therapy, meditation and education. He and Denise have offered us to come for a visit when we come home via Switzerland, so we´ll have somewhere to stay and get to see and hear some of the instruments that Werner makes. I couldn´t stop saying `cool´, and ´wow´and must´ve sounded very silly and childish indeed. I can´t wait to get to Switzerland, not only for the beautiful countryside and the culture, but to see Werner and Denise once again. Werner gave us one of his CDs which we listened to this morning. Very soothing. Edwin reckons some of it sounds a bit Egyptian! We love the didjeridoo track in particular. Thanks Denise and Werner, also for the tip for St Pölter!