Day 20 - Nov. 2 - Eating Again!

We had breakfast in the hotel - a rather chaotic scenario. The breakfast room was small, and there was a big crowd. Everyone was trying to fit into a small space to serve themselves from the buffet. There were also more noisy children.

We went for a ride to see the Ossiachersee (lake). It was interesting that its claim to fame is camping. There are at least 14 camping grounds in and around the lake. We drove through one out of curiosity - seemed like mostly long-term people who had attached large tent structures to their small camping caravans. You don't see RVs like we have in the US here. For one thing, the roads are often so narrow that the big RVs wouldn't be able to fit through.

I had read of a nice restaurant in the hills above Velden, Landhaus Kutsche. They were not ordinarily open for lunch, but I saw on their web-site that they were opening at mid-day on Nov. 1 and 2. Our hotel had called to make us a booking for 1:30 PM. It was nowhere you would ever stumble upon - several miles outside the city along narrow, winding roads.

The place was quite charming with a very rustic ambiance. We sat next to the fireplace.

They charged a "gedeck" of 2 Euros per person. This is a kind of "cover charge" which generally includes at least bread, rolls, and butter. In this case we were served a pumpkin spread and another with proscuitto. The "gedeck" used to be very common in Europe, but we are finding it much less frequently.

Potato soup

Ron had a very rich, delicious cream of potato soup with truffle oil. His main course was a veal gulasch. I had the largest meal I have eaten in months: a 100-gram (3 1/2-oz)  filet steak and three large shrimp with basmati rice. These were served with a cognac peppercorn sauce and a garlic butter.

Filet steak, garnelen (shrimp)

View from Landhaus Kutsche

After lunch we returned to Velden and walked through the Kurpark and along the lake. We then went to the casino again, but the machines were quite unfriendly, and we didn't stay long.

That evening we walked from the hotel into town (about 15-minutes). Being a Sunday in off-season, not much was open. We went into the Post Hotel and sat in their bar area for a drink. After walking back we ran into Claudia (the gal who had worked for Seabourn), who was just locking up and leaving to go home. Ron said we were going to go out on the terrace to look at the lake, and she offered to bring us a beverage, and escorted us to where we could sit. She is really friendly and helpful. The owners are lucky to have her as an employee.

Unfortunately, fog was coming in and we could not see any of the lights on the lake, so we didn't stay out in the cold air very long.

This is how our camera showed the fog