Pavel's Journey: Vienna-Krems-Melk-Salzkammergut-Salzburg and the mighty Großglockner Hochalpenstraße

I could live in Austria. The landscape is amazing and varied, the people friendly and helpful and it's in the middle and very close to everywhere else. There is a feeling that everything is well organised and so nothing could possibly go wrong. There was more bad weather than good on this trip so far, but luckily I could spend two evenings in the rainy Vienna with an old friend...(danke Eiko)
The sun was trying hard on the Sunday morning when leaving Vienna, and by the time I got to the Danube Valley, it came out in its full glory (which was most welcome). The sudden change in the climate made me spend a very relaxing couple of days in the tranquil medieval towns of Krems and Melk just by the Danube, where I have gone swimming and also went to see Melk's very impressive Benedictine monastery.
I thought I would then spend a few days in Salzkammergut, Austria's lake District, but the weather turned against me once again and so just after one night I packed my soaking things and rode into Salzburg. I was craving a hot shower, some company and a lovely cup o' tea... And I got all that in a very lively hostel with a pleasant bar scene and very cheap beer too.
Salzburg, Mozart's hometown, is that cool, lively and small kind of a city with cobbled streets and baroque architecture, overshadowed by the Salzburg Fortress. Despite the crap weather there was a lot to do there. Especially as it is the kind of place where you bump into people you know from the hostel and then it's impossible not to go for a beer...or three..
Yesterday morning I left Salzburg, going south through the Tirol mountain range- and boy- what an experience!
The Grossglockner High Alpine Road is the most famous Alpine road in the heart of the Hohe Tauern National Park and leads to the highest mountain in Austria- the Grossglockner (3,798m). The road was built in the 1930s and is now a cultural monunment. You have to pay €19 (€29 for cars) to ride through it, but in return the experience is an unforgetable 48km of high Alpine ride with 36 bends amongst cliffs, mountain forests, and snow capped mountains! Within minutes of entry into the park I was above the clouds and my ears were popping with the change in pressure. I have never seen so many bikes at once either...
At the end of the road, in Heiligenblut I met two Czech bikers, who turned out to be great company for the day and just at the right time to share the experience! We rode together into Italy where the roads suddenly turned a little worse and the petrol more expensive. in Toblach we said our goodbyes and I rode a few more miles into Bruneck where I am now staying with a friend from Germany (diky Rene).

The main language in this part of Italy still seems to be German, as this used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Signs are in both Italian and German and people seem to be speaking both.