Vorarlberg in Retrograde

Year in Vorarlberg Retrograde!

Reversing Directions

All good things come to an end, and when planned properly, the end leads to the beginning of new and appealing opportunities. But, before getting to the next ‘good thing,’ we still have to finish the adventure in proper style. Year in Vorarlberg Retrograde!

We’re about at the ninth month of our abbreviated ‘Year in Vorlarlberg’ adventure and working through the planning sequence to return home. Moving, even when you have a lifetime of experiences (over 30 moves?) behind you, it never gets easier; its simply as exasperating and nerve-racking each time.

The biggest challenge in the last few weeks is squeezing every bit of life out of the remaining time (while moving). Friends all want to see you before you go; the local bucket list still has a few ‘must-dos’ to experience; the last minute purchases need to be made; I have to give my paycheck to DHL, rather than the airlines for excess baggage – and the lists go on. The saddest part is having to decline some wonderful opportunities as there is just not enough time. But that’s ok – it makes those remaining engagements even more magical as you know it’ll be your last time together for quite some while.

The down-side of moving

The darker side of moving is managing all the arrangements such as rental cars, plane tickets, storage coordination, mailing parcels, cleaning the apartment, cats and just trying to figure out what to do with all the minutia we collected over the past 9 months. Regrettably, we’ll return home with just the day-to-day things we needed to live and very few particularly unique keepsakes or gifts – except photos and memories. Lots and lots of photos. I think I’m up to about 4,000 in all!

Notable MentionsYear in Vorarlberg Retrograde!

Just to highlight a few notable mentions of ‘last days’ activities there are two that will stick with us for quite a while. The first is with a recent fest. It was another summer weekend, which means another fest (or series of them throughout the Rhine Valley).

Local Fests

Our Feldkirch featured a ‘Street Performer’ fest from Friday afternoon to late on Saturday night. The Community invited street performers of every shade and variety: Jugglers, magicians, acrobats, high wire walkers, storytellers, organ grinders and a handful of street musicians and bands. Each was strategically located throughout the cobble-stoned walking zones so that you could bounce from scene to scene to take it all in.

While the organ grinders deserved only a quick, curious look, a few of the musical groups were captivating. Everybody just had to stop and listen and let Nature invade your body as she controlled your tapping toes and swaying bodies. Quite a few people walked away with purchased CDs (the performers had to supplement the end-of-session ‘donation’ hat)! Every hour or so they’d break down and move to another site around the town just to keep the variety going and the crowds of onlookers in search of their favorite groups (fortunately the handout pamphlets were organized in the typical Germanic flair – meaning very well organized and accurate).

Cobble-stoned acoustics

To gain a full appreciation of the wonder of it all imagine yourself surrounded by 800-year-old stylized buildings connected with a cobblestone rug, adorned with outdoor cafes and bars. The lightly trickling sounds of the numerous fountains are overwhelmed by the chaos and echoes of laughter, yelling performers, and serenades of Spanish Flamenco music, brogue Irish accented tunes, or the lightly swaying Argentinian rock bouncing off the old buildings and sun umbrellas. The crowds surround the more popular performers while other strollers needled their way through the small alleys and tightly knit onlookers of the more popular performers. Nobody seems to mind those pushing through the audience as all, sooner or later will make the rounds through this happy landscape of people enjoying life.

Pool Party Fest

Late in the evening after most had departed quite a few stragglers sounded and encouraged the Spanish Music group to play well beyond its curfew with repeat chants ‘Zugabe” (encore!). After all the groups were rolled-up by the town organizers and the beer and wine tents came down, we moved across the footbridge over the Ill river to the “Pool Party” at the base of the local hills.

This fest is a month-long event with bands and DJs enticing listeners from all the local villages and as far off as Switzerland and Liechtenstein (which, actually, isn’t that far away). The town converted an old pool hall into a performance hall. Its multiple rooms feature different bands while others serve as bars or trinket shops. Between the building and river lies a small raised dais with a DJ stand. This is surrounded by seats, small bleachers and other stalls selling drinks and the typical wurst and other necessary gut food for late night drinking and band groupie type activities! Although the crowd this late at night is decidedly young….very young, it’s a blast to hang out and listen to the music, people watch and generally relax in the evening breeze from the unseasonably hot days.

Impromptu Meetings

The second event was a somewhat impromptu gathering with limited expectations. Ursula’s niece and her partner stopped by for a visit and late breakfast at the bakery across the street. We found ourselves still seated there four hours later with empty coffee cups, plates with cake crumbs and two dead bottles of Prosecco. After our crowd had grown with a few of our neighbors we relocated to our apartment balcony across the street for another two bottles of something or other, and lots and lots of chat, and even more laughter and good cheer.

Finally, after hunger hit again, we meandered into town to find our nieces old friends at a local outdoor cafe. More chat, food, and drinks, then off to the Pool Bar for music and the general extension of the magical moment. Without expectations, everybody relaxed and  extemporaneous enjoyed the company. A very simple, ‘let’s meet for breakfast and catch up’ turned into a spontaneously marvelous day/night long soirée.

We all experience these serendipitous events on rare occasions. If we’re clever about it, we seize the wave and ride it for all it’s worth. It might be a while before the heavens bestow such a blessing on us again. We sized it, and enjoyed the simplicity of it for all it was worth.

Good things ending and leading to other good things

This is the magic that final days of an extended visit bring. Life can be good if we allow it to be so, and don’t sweat the small stuff (there’s more than enough of that to take you down). As I wrote, all good things must come to an end. So it’s time to pack these events deeply into the recesses of our memories as we begin to execute the next ‘adventure.’

Our current plan is to fly from Frankfurt (cats and all) into Pittsburg and then drive up to Granger, Indiana to pick up the RV we purchased a few months ago – sight unseen. Ursula and I are captivated by the idea of being traveling nomads (no kidding), but doing so with a little more material comfort than our backpacks and hotel rooms. This will be our ‘proof of concept’ run to see how well we can survive each other (and cats) in a 26-foot rolling efficiency apartment!

We’ll slowly meander up the Alaska-Canada (ALCAN) Highway and into Big Lake for our return home. After provisioning the RV with what we learn from the two-week trip, we’ll wander back down into Canada and eventually into the lower 48 before the first snows fall. We figure we can get in a lot of ‘friends visits’ and ‘sights seen’ in the next five months before the highways unfreeze and we work our way home again. Who knows, perhaps ‘Snow Birding’ is in our future!

Interesting Links

 

 

 

1 Comment

  1. You forgot to tell, that one of our neighbours Elisabeth Watson, on the pic with my niece Conny and Tom, turned into a real good friend and I am very sad to not see her again till next year. She has captured our heart in a moment. She’ll be my role model. She’s 85 and sharp as a needle. I admire you Elisabeth ! It was a turbulent, fun and also somewhat sad 9 months for me. I lost friends, or shall I say, they are not in my life very much anymore , but I also gained friends, and life taught me some hard lessons. I experienced the best skiing ever in my whole life. I took every bit out of natuere, that I could, hiking, biking and swimming , eating drinking and last but not least dancing. Thank you Vorarlberg.

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