There were quite a few work trips in quick succession earlier in the year, and the trip in June to the small town of Kundl in Austria was one of the few that actually offered a chance to see something other than walls and meeting rooms.
Kundl is actually very small, so if I had to use a common term for the place I was staying, the place I went for my meetings, and the old town we went out to for a team outing, I would need to refer to it as Tyrol, though I didn’t by any means cover the entire Tyrol area.
This trip was not easy. I could write a whole post just describing the minor (which seemed major till the next one struck) and major inconveniences that marked this trip- from missed train connections, to missed food orders, to delayed flights which effectively caused me to spend almost a full day extra at the Frankfurt airport than planned, to my sleep deprivation which I thought couldn’t get any worse till it did, to- when I finally landed at my home city’s airport and finally heaved a sigh of relief at 1 am in the night, only to realize my luggage had gone missing!
Travel is never easy for me- my motion sickness being a big factor. And this one, combined with the fact that there were several other personal and work related travels within a short period of time, effectively killed my appetite for travel for a long time. The next one was in October to Rome- more coming up on that- and had it not been for family visiting, I probably would have given it a pass.
But enough of the ranting- over to the positives. Which were many for sure… for one, this view from my hotel bed:
The place was tiny yet vast… and idyllic. One of the evenings we went out to the old town of Rattenberg, which has the distinction of being the smallest town in the country, and sits beside the River Inn (close to Innsbruck). We had the pleasure of a local guide who was an adorable lady of about 50 in a lovely blue frock. I kept thinking how I would love to have a field of work where I could wear that frock.
Our guide told us about how this beautiful town, or parts of it, had been destroyed by floods and fires on different occasions and how the people diligently built it back. You need only to look at the buildings from hundreds of years ago to know the care and concern with which they have been preserved.
The town was almost empty when we visited, with it being after 5 pm. But several windows had displays of glass produce, apparently rivaling the Murano glass from Italy. I wouldn’t be able to judge that, but I certainly saw among the most charming churches in this little town..
While one dwelt upon the higher things during the church visit, we went still higher for supper..
And off I went still higher the next morning.. not easily, but eventually!
