August 12-13 Eisenstadt and the Alps
August 12 Wednesday
To say I was not prepared for our day today would be a bit of an understatement. I was somehow under the false impression it would be a much easier day than it was as I seemingly had convinced myself our trip to Eisenstadt would be a brief stop before heading off to the alps, I was not expecting an 8 hour day in Eisenstadt so I made the fatal error of wearing sandals for the day. Our day begun with us meeting the earliest we've meet so far, about 8 am, for our bus ride out of Vienna. It was a relatively short and uneventful ride, only about an hour, but it was my first real experience of the Austrian countryside. And although the countryside was very beautiful, I've seen countryside before, all the countries have countryside, what I had really been looking forward to today was the alps, and while I've made it now, there was still a long day awaiting me this morning.
Arriving in Eisenstad we were affored sometime to walk around before making our way to the Haydnkirche on the hill for our tour there. The Haydnkirche, featured high in the skyline of Eisenstadt was originally constructed in the early 18th century at the behest of the Prince Paul Esterhazy I, the Esterhazy family had their political seat in Eisenstadt and with Paul's own dedication to the Mary and Child meant the city was the perfect place for the church. The exterior of the church is quite magnificent in its own rights, bearing many of the iconic marks and features of the baroque architecture at the time. But the main attraction of the church is within, particularly there is the tomb of Haydn but the real focus is on the 24 stations of Christ depicting the events of the final days of his life.
I think the most incredible part of the displays were the master crafted wooden sculptures themselves. To create such wonderful pieces of art from wood and for many of them to survive in near original conidtion is a feat in of itself. Following our tour within Haydenkirche we were afforded about an hour and a half to find lunch in Eisenstad so naturally myself and a couple other made a b line to the nearest pub for what could best be descriebd as an unpalatable burger.
After lunch we came to the main portion of our time in Eisenstadt, that being our tour of the old synagogue which along with its relics managed to survive WW2 as the Jews of Eisenstadt had been expelled from austria prior to anchluss so it was much easier for the local population to hide the temples relics as there was never a manhunt in eisenstadt. After a time in the synagogue looking upon the torahs and a tour of the museum we took a walking tour through the two local jewish cemeteries. One of which, featured a strange looking candle dedicated to a grave site by Donald J Trump, 45th president of the United States, for "The Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad". Inescability of Trump aside we made our way back to the buses for our hourish ride out to Rax for our evenings in the Alps. Feet blistered, legs sore, sleep deprived, I await our hike tomorrow in a mix of dread and excitement.
August 13 Thursday
The night of sleep last night was about the best night I have had in two weeks as the evening temperatures were closer to 15-20 rather than the lingering 25-30 it has been in Vienna that has made sleep near to impossible some nights. The extra sleep I was affored last night would prove to be a necessary boon for getting me through a day like today as I pushed my body to its breaking point on 8 hours of hiking up hill than up a different hill. I was only able to make it about 1/3 of the final strecht before having to throw in my hat if I wanted to have the energy to make it all the way back to the lodge. The walk back, even at a snails pace was fairly miserable besides the beautiful views but there wasn't much of an option to stop on the mountain somewhere for good.
At least now here at the site of the first lodge my eidelweiss beer and Frankfurters feel less like an indulgence and much more like a reward. The rest of the trail awaits me now, but at least the end is near and tomorrow promises to be a easier day.
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