Ok, well yesterday (Monday) was a bad day. Super frustrating. But today was great.
So, the back story on yesterday was that early in this whole trip, I lost my main credit card. I think it fell out of my pocket while I was peeing in the woods. At any rate, I didn’t cancel it and have kept track and no bears have been charging anything on it, so all good. And I like having it alive so I can use it for stuff like Booking.com or Airbnb.
I had my backup card, my Amazon Prime Visa. Unfortunately, I don’t know its PIN and have never needed to use it. But here, if I need cash (which I rarely have needed since most places take cards), I need to do a cash advance on my credit card and the machines require the PIN.
When we split up, Rick had given me one of his credit cards to get cash.
Saturday night, when I made the reservation for this farm, I had assumed I could use a credit card (because it didn’t say cash only) but in emailing Maria, who runs it, she said cash. Grr. So, Sunday morning on the way to the train station, I tried getting cash with Rick’s card. Turns out the PIN he told me was wrong and his only other guess for a PIN didn’t work either. So, I took the train to Saalfelden and in the meantime Rick contacted Maria and got her ok that I’ll pay on Monday when the banks open. This is because when I checked with the Amazon prime card folks, they said I could walk into a bank with my card and passport, and they would give me money. (Note: they lied.)
So, Monday morning I leave the farm about 9:30 am, go to a bank, and am told NO they will not give me a cash advance. I can only get it from the machine that requires the PIN. I call USAA, my bank, holder of the lost credit card, and they help troops, so they know about international travel. Talk to a range of folks there for a couple hours or more. They say maybe they could send emergency cash, but there is some computer problem, and they can’t do (something?) and maybe they could wire money. But the Western Union guys don’t open until 7:30 am central time, which is 2:30 pm here. Oh yeah, and I hadn’t eaten since 4:30 the previous day. So, I stop to eat. That was nice.
Then I went in search of the Western Union. Looks sketchy to me. It’s a printer store with all these boxes of printer trash outside, and a sign (in German) that he is closed until 1 pm.
Oh, and Rick had gotten distracted by castles or something and had not been in contact, so I was beginning to think he was lying on the side of the road somewhere. Sometime after 1:00 pm, he finally texted me back and we started trying to figure out options. Worst case, he could take a train from Salzburg and bring me money.
So, I went back to the Western Union and the guy says he can’t give me cash from Western Union because he hasn’t had any cash come in. (Did not know that was a thing.) But if I use MoneyGram, he has cash. I had also wandered into a post office, and they said I could do money transfers under a system called Ria. So, Rick and I both started working to see if we could make either of these alternatives work. And the answer is no. After a lot of time trying. So, Rick hopped on a train from Salzburg, and I sat in the train station for a couple hours while it was raining like crazy.
Lesson for travelers, bring extra credit cards and know all the pins!
And then one additional hiccup. I had explained (apparently poorly) that while the ticket should be to Saalfeldon, he would not see Saalfeldon on the list of destinations on the signs for the platforms. He needed to look for Worgl. So, he bought a ticket to Worgl. I watched as folks got off the train from Salzburg and he didn’t get off. I texted him and he says “Wait what!” And hopped off at the next stop, 8 kms away and rode back to Saalfelden.
Things got better then. We went to an ATM, and he pulled cash out. We grabbed some food (it was now after 8 pm) and came back to the farm and paid Maria. (Side note: another couple staying here said they reserved this place on booking.com! So, in theory, I might have been able to do the whole thing on the credit card that way. Grr again.)
Rick took off this morning and biked back to Salzburg. I talked to the other couple here at the farm and they suggested I visit Zell am See, a cute town about 13 kms from here.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to go both ways, so Rick suggested (after studying the elevations) that I take the train there and ride back.
But before I left, I got to meet the pony, who was in his stall and one of the two mama cats with brand new batches of kittens. They had also let the cows out.
On the train to Zell am See, the nice conductor chatted with me. As we were pulling in, I noticed there was a bike path and he confirmed that the path went all around the lake! So that’s what I did. It was lovely!
I went counterclockwise, south around the lower end of the lake. There the path veered away from the lake. I think it might have been marshy between the lake and the bike path. And there were horses!
When I got to the far side of the lake, I could see Zell am See across the way.
When I got to the north end of the lake, there were lots of activities. The water temperature was around 60 F, but that won’t stop kids!
Then I saw a sight on the bike path.
A big ole swan! I nearly rode by, but then I spotted on the left side:
Mommy swan and her babies!
They then wandered across the path.
And one little guy decided he wanted a nap in the middle of the path!
The other ladies and I were alerting cyclists, but finally the little fella moved on, and so did I.
Completing the loop around the lake, I paused for ice cream and enjoyed the view.
Then I hit the road back to Saalfelden, back to the north side of the lake, from which I had just come.
Then lovely scenery on the way back, including curious cows.
The town of Saalfelden is at the bottom of the mountain in this last picture.
Stunning beauty! And the ride back was good. I even made it up the last climb to the farm without stopping on the way up the hill!
Tomorrow morning, I take the train back to Salzburg. We talked about me biking the way Rick did today. He would meet me halfway and ride back with me. But it’s 78 kms and the most I’ve done so far was 66. And while the first half is mostly down, there is some more challenging up as well. So, I decided to take the train (I also had pre-purchased the ticket.)