Campsites,Austria #2of2

A man next to us in the campsite in Mariazell, had just returned from a trip across the US, riding in a bus with beds. We see that a lot in Europe, but remember seeing only one bus with beds in the US. He had enjoyed himself, but said everything was very expensive. We had just arrived in Austria, so haven’t checked yet this year, but we always thought Austria had very high prices the other times we were here.

We never stay anywhere very long, but Kramau would be a good place to start. The site is on a small lake with boats for rent, tennis courts, excellent scenery, and the facilities and the people were pleasing. We probably drove 25 miles out of the way to find this site, but since we are always sight-seeing, we never add the cost of extra gas to the cost of camping. We don’t keep an exact record of the costs anyway, and if that was necessary we shouldn’t be here, we would have stayed home.

As we arrived at Graz, we decided to stop at the first campsite, even though it’s still early in the day. Well, four o’clock isn’t exactly too late in the day. After she rested awhile and had eaten dinner, Emmy decided to do the laundry, since we could see the laundromat through the window near the office. Now we found they did the wash for you. No one else is qualified to run their washer/dryer. No thanks.

We were in the campsite early, and while Emmy rested, I walked around Zams. It wasn’t hard to find her relatives, since right across the street from the campsite was a “Zimmer Frei” with the name “Mungenast,” and the grocery store next door also says “Mungenast” on the awning. Later, Emmy knocked on the door of one house, but no one answered. We did meet with others with her family name in Zams, and in the nearby town of Schnann, a picturesque little village. One ancestor, Joseph Munggenast, from this area, was the architect for the Baroque Benedictine monastery at Melk, Austria.

There was a cold rain all day and all night in the Salzburg campsite, and we could see fresh snow in the Austrian mountains in mid-June. The scenery is much better from the little roads, but in this weather, we wanted to use the Autobahn tunnels, not drive over the mountains. At one place along the Autobahn, a sign directed us to the town of Wagrain, where Joseph Mohr wrote the song “Stille Nacht,” or Silent Night.