Vienna City Hike #2 - Hermannskogel - Dominique Hurley

This weekend was one of contrasts!

On Saturday, I spent at least 14 hours sitting on my butt in front of the computer. I did watch one or two movies at the end of the night, but for about 11 hours, I worked on a new project for my Facebook followers. I had been getting requests to see more of my work, and so I’ve decided to offer 1 of my images a day (painting or photography) as a backdrop to inspirational quotes. This was today’s offering, for example. I’m greatly enjoying this project as it definitely fits my business name – Dominique Hurley – Art & Inspiration. My public Facebook Page is open to non-Facebook members, so feel free to visit or Follow it. While I was working, I listened to several inspirational podcasts hosted by Deb Ozarko. Time just flew! They’re about letting go of fear, judgment, conformity, status-quo, and celebrating a simpler, heart-centered life of purpose, passion, and compassion. I found out about them because she contacted me from British Columbia asking to interview me, following a recommendation from a friend I’ve been “inspiring for decades”. Wow! Thanks Jo-Anne! If anything I say can be of any help to anyone, then I’ll be glad to do it – even if it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul conversation for anywhere close to an hour as it just hasn’t been a part of my Vienna experience. I know I’ll be fine, though. Actually, it will be great! I’ll let you know when it gets released on iTunes – we haven’t even set a recording date yet. If you’re looking for inspiration though, I recommend these podcasts – all sorts of topics like veganism, living with intention, standing in our goddess power, courage, and forgiveness.

Sunday Hike

On Sunday, however, I got off my butt! My classmate Martin Cash and I headed to Vienna’s tallest hill for a 4.5 hours exploration of City Hike #2: Hermnanskogel. Martin, it turns out, is a perfect hiking partner. His pace was almost as leisurely as mine, and if it wasn’t me uttering in awe “check out that vibrant green moss on this fence”, it was him exclaiming “look, these trees have eyes”. It was great being in nature with a fellow observer who appreciated subtleties in colours and textures.

I’m so glad I brought my real camera (last week I only had my iPhone)- I almost left it at home, not knowing how steep the hills would be, but it was worth the extra weight. There were a few times, though, when I’d wished I had also brought my long lens. Maybe next time – but that would mean a tripod too… Still, I’m thrilled with the results – lots of in-camera dancing and panning, as well as mirror work and other artistic adjustments in Photoshop. You’ll get plenty of straight shots too – a nice variety to represent both the visual and energetic experience of the day.

The trail head was 2 subways and a bus away from my place, but with Vienna’s amazing public transportation system, there’s rarely more than a 5 minute wait for anything – even on Sundays, it seems. From the bus stop, we simply followed the signs (and fellow hikers, many with their nordic walking sticks.) We were soon past the vineyards and into the forest.

The high was to be 12 degrees Celcius today – we’re having a very unusual winter… still fall, really! You’ll see that in the photos. I so resonated with the purples, greens and oranges (yes, some of these were digitally saturated, but others weren’t – that’s just how I experience colour). The birds provided background music at the beginning of our hike, but near the top, strong winds added to the impressive soundtrack.

We weren’t alone on the trails, but there weren’t nearly as many people as last weekend on Trail #1.

If you read about my love of dogs in a previous post, you’ll understand how thrilled I was when this little dog chose to walk with us rather than his elderly owners behind us – I think he preferred our calm and positive energy instead of their constant yabbering and complaining. I like listening to German for my learning purposes, but I kept my distance too. Anyhow, I couldn’t help but take these pictures of our companion checking out the smell-mail on this 1891 marker (a behaviour he would repeat along the way). Centuries of dogs have left messages there.

Once in a while, I could see the roadway and it looked shiny and wet, despite the fact it hadn’t rained in hours. It was only once we got closer that I figured out that it wasn’t an ordinary paved road. Wow! The work involved! There’s history to this, I’m sure… By the way, it’s a very long road!

At the very top top – the highest point in Vienna, we found this tower, which was erected in 1888 by the Tourism Club. This spot also marked the 0 km point during the Austro-Hungarian era.

On our way down, we stopped at a very busy restaurant (there are a few along the trails – some of which are usually closed by this time of year). We shared a table with a young couple and their newborn in a carriage. They had parked about 1km lower down and taken the smoother trail up. There’s no way they would have managed the very muddy steep trails we had taken. I sat with my back to the long wall plastered with stuffed animals (not the toy kind)- but I could feel that wild boar behind me staring… Although I resonated with many of the podcasts I’d heard on veganism yesterday (I was vegan for 3 years and vegetarian for longer), I ordered a chicken schnitzel. A few years back, after several health consultations by medical intuitives and a lot of tears, I had had to bring chicken and fish back in my diet. My body, it turns out, needs meat occasionally – and I prefer when someone else cooks it. Martin, who had eaten a sandwich partway up, had a cafe latte and Sacher cake – very Viennese!

Part of the #2 loop was closed due to trail maintenance (they were cutting down trees – a painful site to see, I’ll admit), so we took a detour. At one intersection, Martin felt we should veer right on an unmarked trail down. I used my necklace as a pendulum to confirm. It was the right decision – we ended up reconnecting to trail #2. Had we followed the crowds, we would have ended up back on the trail I did last week (which would have added another hill and about 2 hours to the trek). Instead, we were back in town for the 2:50pm bus. A truly wonderful day. I hope you enjoyed seeing it through my eyes. Now lets see for how many days this week my legs will remind me of today’s good work…