MSI Press Blog

  Seefeld Many years later, I took that train ride in reverse, as far as Seefeld. Once again, the east wind had blown me into Garmisch, and I had a day off. I contacted Johanna. Where could we meet somewhere between Innsbruch and Garmisch? Seefeld! So, once again I looked out onto the large Alpine meadow with Wildsee, a lake, on one side and the town of Seefeld in the center. Johanna and Franz met me at the train station, and we leisurely walked to the lake. Being with Austrians, I expected to walk—a lot. The walk brought back the leisurely, healthy, so-very-desirable pace of life I have experienced in Innsbruck. On the way to the lake, we came across a small, picturesque chapel in the meadows, Seekirchl little lake church, also called the Heiligkreuzkirche, or Church of the Holy Cross). Original construction in the 17th century explained its baroque style, featuring a distinctive round shape and dome quite unusual for Tyrol. The interior of the Seekirchl (Holy Cross Church) in See...

    Die Alpen Johanna worked in Telfs, a mountain town 25 kilometers west of Innsbruck, nestled in the Tyrolean Alps on the Inn River. She taug ht German at the Bundesgymnasium (secondary school). That school made Telfs unusual compared to the smaller villages nearby, which only have primary or middle schools and send their older students into Innsbruck. Telfs was well connected by bus and train — daily commuting to Innsbruck was easy. Johanna would leave early, before I got up each morning, leaving Franz and me to put breakfast together for ourselves and giving me time to get to know Franza (and improve—and sometimes challenge—my German). She would return at 2:00, Austrian lunch time, and we would go into Altstadt for lunch. Franz, who left after breakfast to teach music classes at the university, would join us. My lectures were in the afternoon, so lunch was always a pleasant interlude, another piece of the easy-to-live Austrian lifestyle. One day school had vacation, ...