John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 5 - OETZTALER GLACIER ROAD


Soelden

This morning we climb the Oetztaler Glacier Road to the high mountain resort of Soelden. This remote village is surrounded by giant snow-capped mountains, which marvel us during our scenic drive. Why not take a minute to take some deep breaths of this rarefied air with its medicinal qualities whilst taking in the magnificent views of the glaciers and peaks.

This afternoon we return to the River Inn for our visit to The Cistercian Monastery at Stams. As we approach, the unmistakable onion shaped towers of its 17th century Basilica come into view. This magnificent building is renowned for its Baroque style, and despite suffering a turbulent history, including dissolution by the Nazis, it has been beautifully restored. There will be time for lunch at a choice of eateries before our guided tour. All visitors are made welcome and the monks even make their own bread. We arrive back at our hotel late afternoon in time for our evening meal.

Janet reported in her journal: “[I] wasn’t awake long (we were both weary) and slept well until ca.5.15am, then dozed. It was light and Mr. B[lackbird] was singing his socks off. I was up at 7.35am. By 8am it was sunny and warm. However, we are going into the mountains this morning… Breakfast. We departed, 9.45am.”
 According to my notes, “Janet [was] up just after 7.30. [She] vacated the bathroom, 7.52”, which is when I got up to shower, etc.
 “We departed at 9.45am,” Janet wrote. “It was already warm and sunny.” In my notes I wrote:

David
Tatiana

Those were the names of the two young Spanish people who waited on us at mealtimes, so this was when Bernie was making suggestions about gratuities for them because they were so hard-working. He insisted that, for any and all gratuities, no collection be made: each one (or each couple) should give individually. I also wrote “Zugspitze”, the highest mountain in Germany on the Germany–Austria border, which we would pass tomorrow on the way to Neuschwanstein.


Today’s route
Click on image to enlarge.

I noted that we went “through Zirl” and that we passed a “go-carting course”. In fact, I misinterpreted what I saw, because this was in fact AMC Tirol Ring, a race track for model cars, not go-carts, situated on the south side of the Inn near Kematen in Tirol, just west of where the road we were on crossed the river and went round in an anti-clockwise loop. Bernie informed us of an event on Thursday that I jotted down:

THURSDAY EVENING
8.30pm concert brass band

Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:10:06
Going up the Sellrain Valley along the Melach river

I kept jotting down notes: when we went through “Gries im Sellrain”’ and a little later through “S[ank]t Sigmund”; when we were “stopped by cows on [an] upland pasture, 10:35”; and when we halted for a break at “Kühtai”. About this, Janet wrote: “At one point [we] stopped for a photo-shoot. It was about 18 degrees, so quite pleasant despite the altitude.”


Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:46:24
Views during a stop in Kühtai


Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:46:40
Views during a stop in Kühtai


Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:46:58
Views during a stop in Kühtai


Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:47:20
Views during a stop in Kühtai


Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:47:20 (detail)
The couple from Oswaldtwistle, whose names we couldn’t remember


Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:49:32
Views during a stop in Kühtai

Kühtai is on a saddle between the Sellrain Valley up which we’d just come and the Nedertal valley down which we proceeded next.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:02:38
Continuing westwards down the Nedertal valley


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:13:14
Continuing westwards down the Nedertal valley

I noted a “zigzag road down, 11:16”, descending into the Ötztal,—


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:22:54
Descending to the Ötztal valley: glimpse of Oetz


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:23:14
Descending to the Ötztal valley


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:26:50
Descending to the Ötztal valley : another glimpse of Oetz

—and that we reached “Oetz/Ötz, 11:27”. We were heading for Sölden, ca.5½ miles as the crow flies from the Italian border and some 15 miles from where Ötzi was found. We continued on up the Ötztal,—


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:43:08
Proceeding up the Ötztal along the Ötztaler Ache


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:45:22
Proceeding up the Ötztal

—passing through “through Längenfeld, 11:46”,—


Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:55:18
Proceeding up the Ötztal: Gebrüder Scheiber GmbH quarry, Winkle 39e, 6444 Längenfeld

—and arriving at “Sölden — [we] arr[ived at] 12:00”. We went “through and back [and] stopped, 12:10”. It was just a bus stop, not a parking place for coaches, so we had to make a “swift exit”. I initially wrote in my notebook, that our rendezvous, following the free time we were about to have, would be:

2pm at church

This was crossed out and the following written below it:

13:50 near church

Tuesday 4 July 2023 12:11:40
Shortly after arrival in Sölden: (right:) our coach, at Sölden Postamt bus stop, Dorfstraße

“I’d spotted a restaurant, Marco’s, so we went there,” Janet wrote— “as did most of our group!” From the viewpoint of the above photo, one turns left, crosses a street immediately ahead, and there it is! “[John] had a beer and a salami pizza, and I had two Coke and a tuna salad. It was a clean place — I was impressed with the toilets and told the waiter. He was surprised! No one had ever said that before! The bill and tip were only €41. Again, so cheap.” The salad included sliced onions, which Janet kept passing over to me whenever she discovered some.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 12:20:20
Marco’s, Dorfstraße 80, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 12:28:04
Lunch at Marco’s, Dorfstraße 80, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 12:28:26
Lunch at Marco’s, Dorfstraße 80, Sölden


Bill from Marco’s, printed at “13:02”


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:13:12
Marco’s, Dorfstraße 80, Sölden

Then we went to visit the church, the tall red spire of which we could see ahead of us to the south, behind the buildings lining the main Dorfstraße. If we’d turned right, along the street we’d crossed to get to Marco’s (Rettenbachstraße), that would have taken us to it; but we continued along Dorfstraße and bore right at the end of the block (the southern end of Rettenbachstraße).


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:13:54
South along Dorfstraße, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:16:22
View right (west) just after bearing right into Rettenbachstraße, Sölden: Parish Church (“Maria Heimsuchung”)


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:17:02
Continuing south-west along Rettenbachstraße, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:18:16
North after a sharp right turn in Rettenbachstraße, Sölden: Parish Church (“Maria Heimsuchung”)

And so we entered the Pfarrkirche Maria Heimsuchung (Parish Church of the Visitation of Mary).[i]

[i] Luke 1:39–56.

Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:19:46
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:20:04
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:20:12
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:21:00
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:22:22
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:22:42
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:23:00
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:23:28
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:24:40
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: (left:) Station VIII. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem who weep for him; (right:) Luke 2:35, “And a sword will pierce through your own soul also.”

Most churches are built with their axis orientated east–west, but this one was more or less north–south. So the “liturgical west” door at the opposite end from the altar and apse, through which we entered, was actually at the southern end. And the door through which we left was actually in the middle of the east side. It led us into the church’s multi-level burial ground, finding the exit of which was a bit like the episode of Father Ted, “A Christmassy Ted”, in which Ted and Dougal find themselves unable to escape from the largest department-store lingerie section in Ireland.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:31:18
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: after exiting through the door on the east side


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:31:36
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: going through the extensive burial grounds


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:31:54
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: going through the extensive burial grounds


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:32:12
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: view while going through the extensive burial grounds


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:34:00
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: going through the extensive burial grounds


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:35:04
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: going through the extensive burial grounds


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:36:02
Parish Church “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: exiting from the extensive burial grounds


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:37:10
North of “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: looking south-west up the Rettenbach


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:37:32
North of “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: looking south at the church


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:37:52
North of “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: looking north-east down the Rettenbach


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:38:02
North of “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: looking north-east


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:38:34
North of “Maria Heimsuchung”, Sölden: view south-east

We finally made our way back to the bus stop, where we’d been dropped off, along a footpath by the Rettenbach.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:42:06
Back at the pick-up point, Sölden (cf. 12:11:40): view south-east


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:42:16
Back at the pick-up point, Sölden (cf. 12:11:40): view east


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:42:42
Back at the pick-up point, Sölden (cf. 12:11:40): view north

We were all aboard the coach, and on our way, six or seven minutes before the “13:50” that I’d scribbled in my notebook. We returned the way we’d come, along the Ötztalstraße. We’d joined it earlier at Oetz from the Kühtaistraße, but now at Oetz we continued on the Ötztalstraße to its end in the Inn valley.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:44:02
Returning down the Ötztal


Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:54:04
Returning down the Ötztal

Beyond Oetz, I noted our going through “Ambach, 14:29”, and our turning “into the Inn Valley, 14:31”.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:34:30
Bend of the Inn, seen from the Inntal Autobahn

We “arr[ived at] Stift Stams, 14:44”. Janet and I wanted a loo, but a café with one near where we were parked was closed, so we found one in the building facing the Abbey on the other side of the Abbey Court.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:52:40
Stams Abbey


Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:52:46
Stams Abbey


Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:55:30
Stams Abbey


Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:56:40
Stams Abbey


Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:58:30
Stams Abbey


Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:58:42
Stams Abbey

We were introduced to our young guide, who escorted us through the Basilica, explaining the various tombs of rulers of the Habsburg and other dynasties, notably in the Princes’ Crypt, and pointing out the huge, ornate main altar, before leading us through the Cloisters, and on by a somewhat indirect-seeming route, to the intricately and ornately painted St. Bernard’s Hall (named after Bernard of Clairvaux, a major leader in the founding of the Cistercian Order. Stift Stams is a Cistercian abbey).


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:02:20
Stams Abbey: Basilica: narthex


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:02:44
Stams Abbey: Basilica: narthex


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:05:08
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:10:26
Stams Abbey: Basilica: the Princes’ Crypt


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:11:14
Stams Abbey: Basilica: the Princes’ Crypt


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:12:06
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:17:34
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:17:58
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:18:52
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:19:50
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:20:34
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:21:26
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:22:16
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:25:34
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:25:58
Stams Abbey: Basilica: Crypt of Friedrich IV, died “MCCCCXXXIX” (1439)


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:26:42
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:27:26
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:27:36
Stams Abbey: Basilica: high altar


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:27:44
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:27:58
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:30:30
Stams Abbey: Basilica: high altar


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:32:14
Stams Abbey: Basilica


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:32:52
Stams Abbey: Basilica: going to the cloisters

“Then we went in the cloisters which, unusually, were closed in,” Janet wrote.


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:34:00
Stams Abbey: Cloisters


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:35:46
Stams Abbey: Cloisters:
[Station XI.] “Jesus is nailed to the cross.”


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:35:54
Stams Abbey: Cloisters


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:37:40
Stams Abbey: Cloisters: relief of a knight with a swan-crested helmet


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:38:12
Stams Abbey: Cloisters: corner chapel


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:38:36
Stams Abbey: Cloisters: corner chapel


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:38:48
Stams Abbey: Cloisters


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:39:08
Stams Abbey: Cloisters: a peek at the cloister quadrangle


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:40:22
Stams Abbey: heading for St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:42:22
Stams Abbey: heading for St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:43:16
Stams Abbey: heading for St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:43:24
Stams Abbey: heading for St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:44:12
Stams Abbey: heading for St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:44:44
Stams Abbey: heading for St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:45:40
Stams Abbey: St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:45:56
Stams Abbey: St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:46:32
Stams Abbey: St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:47:00
Stams Abbey: St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:50:12
Stams Abbey: St. Bernard’s Hall


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:51:36
Stams Abbey: St. Bernard’s Hall

Of St. Bernard’s Hall, Janet wrote: “We went upstairs and entered a room which was covered in frescoes: the ceiling and all the walls. I’d already felt a bit claustrophobic in the Basilica, and this was the final straw. I had a bad do and a Scottish lady on our tour helped me. I went outside, feeling very upset. Tearful. After a while I felt OK — then the tour was over and I found [John]. We went in the Monastery shop.[ii] I saw the Scottish lady, hugged her, and thanked her for looking after me. We both bought some sparkling water,[iii] two postcards,[iv] and [I bought] a tactile blood-red gemstone in the shape of a heart.”

[ii] This was in the building that Janet and I had been in earlier for the loo.
[iii] Limo brand. Only one appears on the till receipt, for Janet had bought the other one separately.
[iv] When I asked about postage stamps, the clerk told me that they only had one; and I had some difficulty explaining that although we were purchasing two postcards we only intended to post one of them.

Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:54:34
Stams Abbey


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:55:26
Stams Abbey


Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:55:50
Stams Abbey


Till receipt, issued at “16:04:10”

I wrote that we’d “just got back on [the] coach when rain started, [with] lightning to the east of us.” I jotted down what Bernie told us of forthcoming arrangements:

Tomorrow
7.00 breakfast
8.15 meet
7pm dinner
7am breakfast

Janet wrote: “The day had been fab, weather-wise. Wall-to-wall sunshine and it was in the high 20’s at one point. As we left it went very dark and the heavens opened. How lucky were we?! We saw the hanging bridge, and were back in our room at 5pm.”
 I transferred 104 photos from the camera’s SD card to the WD Elements HDD (17:09–17:11), and copied them from there to the Samsung computer’s “Pictures” (17:13). I looked up how “Mieszko”, the name of our driver, might be spelled (17:28–17:31). If we were going to be putting tips in envelopes, we might as well spell the name that we’d on the envelope correctly. Mieszko was the name of the 10th century first ruler of Poland. Because there was a lot to cram onto a postcard to Chris, I wrote a draft first—



—before writing on one of the postcards I’d bought. I also photographed what I’d written (17:48:16):


One of two postcards bought at Stift Stams today
“Stams Abbey: steel engraving by J[o]h[ann] Poppel around 1840”


Tuesday 4 July 2023 17:48:16
Postcard to Chris
“Stams Abbey: steel engraving by J[o]h[ann] Poppel around 1840”
…
 Janet wrote: “We ‘sorted our bits’ then went to the bar before dinner at 7pm. We sat in the lounge, as the outer door to the bar was open and there was a draught. We saw the ‘Hong Kong People’ who had been dropped off in town earlier [before the coach got to the hotel with the rest of us], and were told (after I’d been as blunt as they are and asked where they went!) that the older woman had shingles and had seen an Austrian doctor. Poor woman, she was in pain.[v] We chatted for a while then went in to dinner.”

[v] The shingles lesions were on her feet.

This evening’s menu, with selections made this morning

Janet wrote: “We sat with Chris and Patsy. I like them. I had salad and a bit of bread, and disappeared at 8pm after I’d finished — knowing that [John] would be fine with them: in safe hands! I had a shower, did my teeth and was in bed at ca.9.00pm. I’d been awake really since ca.5.15am. Mr. B[lackbird] was singing. It was still raining. Another good day. Two to go.”
 According to Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers’ song My Favourite Things:

Cream-coloured ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

But, in fact, this was not the last time that I would have Wienerschnitzel with French fries and cranberry sauce. However,

Cream-coloured ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with French fries and cranberry sauce

doesn’t scan or rhyme! I did have a “crisp apple strudel”.
 After Janet departed, David the waiter came around for drinks payments. I was adamant that Janet had only had one Coke Zero, and after David fetched the bars manager it was conceded that I only pay for one.
 I “got back upstairs, ca.9.40pm”, as I wrote.

[Wednesday 5 July 2023]