Today we decide to go for our morning walk at 730. Kumar annan and Murali, both want to come this time. As we leave the hotel, they start chatting and I walk ahead. My knees survived the two walks yesterday and so I decide to do short jogs in between my brisk walk. Last time I did this, I ended up limping to work for the next few days. After a while they are way behind and nowhere to be seen.
I notice pretty wild flowers lining the railway track. Lilac, pink, white and yellow. A sight exclusive to the spring and summer months. The flowers can be seen extending for a long distance into the forest. Once again the lake is calm, with just the occasional ripple when a drop of water hits the surface. There is a guy in his boat trying to fish. He needs to keep his boat absolutely still to catch the fish. I see a single duck in the distance. There is no sign of his family in the vicinity. Looks like he is enjoying the peace and quiet on his own like me.
There are not that many joggers at this time of the day. Maybe they’ve already done their running and are on their way to work. A grandmother is pushing her grandson in his pram. I see a lady in an orange tracksuit jogging towards me and smiling. She must be in her forties or fifties.
‘Surangani’, the Tamil version plays on my playlist. There is no one in the vicinity and I try to singalong to it. The original Sinhalese version is a favourite amongst my Sri Lankan friends at their parties. After I’ve covered a couple more miles the orange tracksuit lady has run around the lake and passes me again. She must be running at almost double my speed. My pace is quite good today and I manage to keep it well below 14 minutes per mile for the whole distance and shave about seven minutes off my time from yesterday. I even manage to have a shower before Murali gets back.
We catch a taxi and go to Meisbach to collect the hire car and then drive back. After stocking up on a few essentials and water, we go for a drive. There is a waterfall on the way up the mountain to the next lake from here. We tried to walk there once and gave up halfway as it started raining. Today we drive and park near the waterfalls and walk the short distance to see it. You can walk up the mountain from here to see the Spitzingsee lake and the signposts I think say the walk is over an hour and a half hours from here. We take a few photos and then drive up the mountain to Spitzingsee. It’s quite breezy and cold up here. Maybe it is because of the height from the sea level and the restaurant we were hoping to have lunch is closed today. So we decide to come back another day when it is warmer.
There is a restaurant in Fischbachau where dreams are made off in the form of cakes. It is one of those must go places for us now. The area around it is quite a quiet and deserted looking place till you walk into the restaurant. It is usually heaving and we had difficulty getting a table the last two times. It is not that busy today and we have a leisurely lunch followed by four different types of cakes which we all share.
There isn’t much else to do and so we go back to the hotel. We have given the hotel swimming pool and spa a miss so far this time and today as well no one wants to go. Soon it is dinner time and we walk to the restaurant. I order the duck dish, which turns out to be a huge portion. There is no way I can finish this today. I ask the waiter how long he can keep the restaurant open for me to finish the dish. It was delicious but I had to concede defeat when the others finished their mains. The waiter and the rest of the gang have a good laugh at my expense. Another lovely day over and there is more to come.
