Journey to the World of the Ice Giants

Just back from a fabulous 2 weeks’ holiday in the Caucasus! (Exciting, huh? But photos will have to wait, hehe). Meanwhile, back in Dubai, work has been piling up like nobody’s business. (What’s new?)

Therefore, it’s yet another picture post.

At work, the Company has found an alternative Project Manager for the new project that I was posted to. In my place! Thanks to the ever-so cautious Consultants of the so-called ‘extremely prestigious project of national importance’ who did not trust the ability of yours truly. They think that I lack RTA (the Road and Transport Authority of Dubai) experience. But our Company still wants to keep me in the Project?? For what? I have absolutely no idea. But what the heck, a job’s a job, and as long as they’re paying me salary, I shouldn’t have any complaints, right? I’ll just have to make sure I get due credit for the work that I do, hmmmm….

Now, back to the post. This was what we did when we found it too wet in the countryside in Königssee, Bavaria. What do you do when it rains dogs and cats in your once in a lifetime (OK, make that a decade) Europe trip? Something indoors, like a museum, or a church, or shopping malls, market places? Why not a cave?!?!

And that’s where we went, Eisriesenwelt, World of the Ice Giants, an ice cave across the border, in Austria!


The path to Eisriesenwelt – We thought it’d be like some cave trip in Malaysia, etc, drive straight up to the mouth of the cave, have a quick tour, click some photos and that’s that. But no, not Eisriesenwelt. To get there, after buying the tickets, we had to walk 20 minutes to get to the cable car station, wait another 15 or so minutes to get a place in the cable car (the cable car trip itself is only about 5 minutes, if you choose to walk, it’ll be 90 minutes!!!), and then walk another 20 more minutes after getting off the cable car! The cave itself, if you follow the whole tour, will be about an hour and 15 minutes!


There, Eisriesenwelt!

Eisriesenwelt so happens to be the largest friggin ice cave in the world! More than 42km long! Yeah, no kidding (Wiki it willya?) Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside the friggin cave! (What good does that do? You go all the way to visit and can’t take back a photo or two for memory’s sake?!?) (I guess the cave management wanted visitors to feel how it felt like when the first explorers discovered the cave in the 1800’s). And that’s why we only have photos of the journey up to the cave. Besides, we didn’t finish the cave tour. It’s a single row of people walking on wooden staircases that goes up an equivalent of 40 storeys (that’s what the guide sez …to scare us off probably) in pitch black darkness and freezing temperature! It’s like walking into a friggin freezer! With flame lamps, which blow out every once in a while. The guides had magnesium lamps which give off bright intense light for short moments before dying out. This is caving experience in the early 1800’s! We went up a few flights of stairs before calling it a day. Hey, we had a 10-month old baby Jayden with us and a 6 year old Justin! When we u-turned back, so did a couple of other families with young children.

Here’re the photos!


The doorway into the ice cave – on the left are flame lanterns which you can carry into the cave. Above the door, you can see the sign saying No Photos! Right in front, you can see some white bloke blocking my photo of the line of tourists entering the freezer of a cave!


Hohenwerfen Castle, Werfen, Austria – This castle lies just below the ice cave


High in the mountains on the path to the ice cave – Can you spot Mommy and Justin in the photo?


A view of the countryside from the path


The path showing a pedestrian tunnel (no, it’s not the ice cave) that we had to walk thru to get from the cable car station to ice cave proper


Another view of the countryside from up above, with a view of the Hohenwerfen Castle from above


Papa and the kids, on the way to Eisriesenwelt


Calling it a day, back at the pedestrian tunnel


Getting from the tunnel back to the cable car – Hello little Jayden, where did you just go?


Hohenwerfen Castle – Bye-bye Werfen. We’re leaving for Salzburg!

A Wet, Wet Bavaria

Rain in Königssee (King’s Lake), Bavaria, Germany

Another quick picture post coming up. I am really, really short of time. I feel like being sandwiched on all sides by tasks and responsibilities, which I have no way of completing within the short time that I have. So what do I do? Take a break and post this…

Yeah, back on the Europe story, we headed back to Bavaria Germany after a night in Tyrol Austria. The weather was 'fabulously' rainy and wet. Rain is delightful when it is in dusty, hot Arabia, especially in summer when you least expect it. Rain in summer, in Europe, when you’re in a once in a lifetime trip? Sucks! Big time! But what can you do? Make the best out of it! Here’re pictures of a wet, gloomy, soaking Bavaria. Enjoy!


We were supposed to go on a boat ride to some beautiful island with a traditional Bavarian church in Königssee. We had a look at the rain and fog and decided to go somewhere else. Where? Wait for the next post hehe


Our hotel near Königssee, Hotel Köppeleck – Königssee and the area around it would be a nice place if it wasn’t for the rain. This was Hitler’s favourite place (and headquarters) during his leadership of Germany. There’re lots of places of interest in the area related to Hitler’s reign, but we visited none of that. We’re staunchly anti-Nazi. …OK, it’s the darn rain & fog!






Us in Schönau am Königssee, Bavaria, Germany


This would be a picturesque Bavarian country-side picture, instead of something from the Evil Dead or something like that, if it wasn’t for the grey skies and gloomy rain! – Parish Church of St Sebastian (Pfarrkirche St Sebastian), Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, Bavaria

Here’re some pictures from the Stupidest Day of Our Lives, i.e. the day we visited Neuschwanstein. We stopped at Wieskirche (Pilgrimage Church of Wies) and Oberammergau after leaving Neuschwanstein headed for Innsbruck. As you can see, the rain was similarly out in full force!








Wieskirche, Bavaria, Germany


Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany




The painted houses of Oberammergau

Wonders of the Crystal Worlds

Guardian of the Crystal Worlds – Swarovski Kristallwelten, Wattens, Austria

Here’s a quick picture post. Very busy, started a new Project, and the old one’s still not fully finished. Gotta run now between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Looks like the dog days are starting again! And my car mileage and petrol bills are going thru the roof, sigh! If only the Company recognized the sacrifices that I’ve made…

Anyway, continuing my story on Europe, near Innsbruck, there’s a small town called Wattens, where Swarovski, the world-renowned maker of crystals, has its headquarters. Crystal is Glass, literally, in Swarovski’s case anyway (I Wiki’d it). Swarovski is so hooked on crystals (who wouldn’t be, when you’ve made your fortune on selling overpriced glass, …but beautiful overpriced glass), that it created a complete park dedicated to crystals! This was where we went after Innsbruck – Swarovski’s Crystal Worlds (Swarovski Kristallwelten).


The Green Grass Giant is actually the gateway / entrance into the Crystal Worlds’ Chambers of Wonder – Looks like some pagan earth god, huh? “Oh, Mighty Guardian of the Earth, show us the treasures of the Crystal Worlds!”








Inside the Chambers of Wonder, Swarovski Kristallwelten




The Crystal Cloud – as you can see, it’s still friggin raining!


In the Playtower – This is the kids’ favourite (it's also Mommy’s favourite, incidentally)


Justin in the Maze


Swarovski Kristallwelten, Wattens, Tyrol, Austria

A Stroll in Innsbruck

Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria – at Hofgasse near the Golden Roof (Goldenes Dachl) (of which the sides can be somewhat seen, right ahead, in the gap between the buildings)

Inn’s Bridge, I think that’s what Innsbruck literally means, a bridge (brücke) on the River Inn. I’ve always wondered what Innsbruck looks like, since the August of 1994 when a group of young, measly student backpackers (including yours truly), made a 1 hour stopover in the middle of the night at Innsbruck Railway Station.

We were on a 1 month backpacking trip across Europe. We had Inter-Rail Tickets which allowed us to go on unlimited train trips in Europe in that 1 month (good, huh?). We were in Switzerland, in …umm if I’m not mistaken, the city of Basel, or was it Bern?? We couldn’t cover the places we wanted to see in the day, and wanted another day in the city but were too stingy to fork out the meagre amount of cash we had, on some bloody expensive hostel in Switzerland. (Yeah, even then, Switzerland’s bloody expensive!) We decided to hop onto a train to sleep (all the trains had sleeping berths!), get off somewhere, hop onto a return train and Voila, arrive back at the same place we were the day before! Ingenious huh?

Anyway, that stop in the middle of the night was at Innsbruck, and I remember smelling fresh mountain air, at 3am in the dark, in the nearly empty railway station. We were there for only about 1 – 1.5 hours, trying to sleep, but since that night, I’ve always been curious about Innsbruck! So, here we are!




Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof), the main landmark of Innsbruck …Just a li’l bit of gold, and it’s famous. Wait till they see the gold that the Asians use on their buildings. Like in Myanmar!


Maria-Theresien Strasse, Innsbruck


Innsbruck on the River Inn - If it wasn't for the clouds, you'd see snowy mountains behind the buildings!


Hofkirche (Court Church), Universitätsstrasse, Innsbruck


Anu at the Rudolfsbrunnen (Rudolf Fountain), Innsbruck, Austria

Here’re the awesome interiors of the Innsbruck Cathedral (Dom zu St Jakob), one of the many churches in Innsbruck: -









Central dome of the Innsbruck Cathedral


The famous ski jump Bergisel, designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid, can be seen straight ahead on top of the hill. The church on the right is the Wilten Basilica

Innsbruck was our stop, after Neuschwanstein, Bavaria, Germany. We arrived in the night after making short stopovers at Wieskirche (the Pilgrimage Church of Wies) and Oberammergau, in Germany. (I’ll post pictures of these in another posts, OK?)