Where has the Time gone? - Part 2: Aussee & Graz - Going Back in Time

Day 3 – September 30th

This is the big day. I start it off in style by sleeping through breakfast. I guess I really needed that sleep after all. The weather has turned overnight with lots of clouds obscuring the peaks in the area. To be fair, this is the weather I’m more used to from Bad Aussee, The area is known as Austria’s rainfall capital after all. I remedy the breakfast situation by dropping into what used to be my local café, an unassuming place where the décor hasn’t changed in the last twenty years, the breakfast is good and the coffee is strong. Afterwards, there’s still time for one last photo tour before I slowly make my way to the meeting point at the train station.

Ah, this is more like it. This is a more typical weather for this neck of the woods.

Unfortunately, even a small town such as Bad Aussee is subject to traffic jams...

The clouds are finally clearing.

Over the next half hour or so, more and more old familiar faces show up, many of whom I haven’t seen since I left this place back in 2002. I still recognise most of the faces though, even those I haven’t seen in over twenty years, and that feeling is mutual. Honestly, apart from the obligatory “so, what have you been up to?”, it almost feels like the last twenty years evaporated. The welcome couldn’t have been any warmer. We eventually grow to quite the sizeable crowd by the time we head off to the actual venue for the reunion, a small chalet in the Koppen valley, a narrow gorge linking Bad Aussee with the village of Obertraun and eventually Lake Hallstatt. It had been advertised as a pretty easy, level six kilometre walk.

At the meeting point. I can't seem to get away from this train station.

Ugh... even this area isn't safe from grafitti!

Me with the group, the class of 2003. I was debating whether to put this up but decided it was for the better. To my former classmates: Please let me know if you want me to take this down.

Yep. we're in the woods.

Yeah, my knee is inclined to disagree with that sentiment. It turns out to be a much more hilly and uneven path than I expected. But it is so worth it, if only for the sheer cráic at the destination. I’m not going to outline the entire course of the afternoon and evening, I will say that I wish it could have been longer. Seriously, how did I end up in such an amazing group of people? Yet, eventually, this far too short evening ends for me and thankfully, a former classmate offers to drive me back to town over some forestry service roads, and offer that my knee and I are grateful for. By the time I reach the hotel, I’m just about ready to collapse into bed, which happens soon thereafter.

Day 4 – October 1st

One final coffee.

It looks like another scorcher.

The Day After. Once again, I manage to sleep through breakfast, not that I mind to be honest. After a final tour through Bad Aussee, it’s time for one final espresso on the balcony of my hotel room. The clouds of the previous day have cleared and it promises to be another cracker of a day. I quickly pack my bags and head to reception for my pre-arranged transfer to the train station. I learned from my previous mistakes ;). I suppose I could have spent the entire Sunday in Bad Aussee, but there’s mothing happening here on Sundays, so I might as well head back to Graz.

I feel like I've been here before...

The station is a shadow of its former self, unfortunately.

Waiting for Godot, or was that my train?

Well, that plan begins to unravel as soon as I reach the station. The train station is effectively deserted, something that’s par for the course these days. The line doesn’t see much service anymore as ÖBB, the Austrian Federal Railways, focus more and more on their high-value “Railjet” And EuroCity services and their “Nightjet” overnight trains, to the detriment of regional services such as the Salzkammergut line. Yet, despite this, the inbound regional service that is supposed to take me to Stainach-Irdning has somehow managed to pick up a ten minute delay. Given that I only have a five-minute connection, this is what is generally referred to as “bad news”. Still, the train isn’t too crowded, and I manage to get some decent photos on the trip.

There it is, finally.

I love the interior of these trains, at least when they're empty.

At Kainisch, waiting for the oncoming service from Stainach.

Heading down into the Enns valley. Sorry about the reflections.

I've always loved this view!

Sitting around at Stainach-Irdning. All too familiar for me...

I still remember when these platforms were rebuilt back in the early 2000s...

This gives you an impression of just how imposing the Grimming actually is.

Until Kainisch that is, where the train picks up another five minute delay as we have to wait for an oncoming service from Stainach-Irdning, due to the line only being single-tracked. As if on queue, an email arrives in my inbox notifying me that I won’t be able to make my connection. The joys of online booking… On to Plan B it is, so: Wait 45 minutes at Stainach-Irdning and then take a local service to Selzthal, where I will then catch an  InterCity service to Graz. In a way, being stuck in Stainach-Irdning is something that I’m all too familiar with. A 45-minute layover used to be a staple of my Friday afternoon trips from my boarding school to my grandma’s place. And at least, I get some decent shots for this trip report, and my memories. And the local service to Selzthal arrives on time as well, operated by another 4024 “Talent” unit that seem to have become a staple of regional services here.

Ugh, this was supposed to be an InterCity...

Full train, no air conditioning, I feel like back in my school days!

The next surprise arrives at Selzthal. Despite being dubbed an InterCity, the train that will take me to Graz is more akin to a regional service, and one with what looks like half of its carriages missing. The four coaches are split evenly between InterCity carriages and old CityShuttle regional carriages, a type of carriage that started entering service while I was still going to school in Austria. Air Conditioning? Dream on. Oh, and to top it off, the train is packed, really completing that “Friday in 2001/2002” feeling. It’s almost as if someone arranged that and is now having a laugh. Mom? Dad? Do you have anything to say for yourselves? Either way, we make it to Graz without any further surprises, and I make my way to my hotel for the next two nights.

My home for the next two nights.

It's definitely one of the smaller hotels of the group.

The room is very much up to Motel One standards though, and I love it!

This is the newly opened Motel One Graz at Jakominiplatz, the city’s central public transport interchange. While it is one of the smaller Motel Ones I’ve stayed in, it is very definitely a Motel One nevertheless, with great staff, funky décor and small, but practical rooms. Oh, and fast WIFI as well as working air conditioning. What more could you want? Well, something to drink. I’m parched and the hot weather that has made my trip feel like summer shows no sign of easing off.

Yes, I'm taking a lot of photos of the Schlossberg...

I have to admit that I was never here before.

Still feels like summer...

Dusk over Herrengasse.

With that little refuelling stop taken care off, I go back to exploring the city. Which means mostly ambling through the mild evening air, particularly the parts of the city that I never got around to checking out back when I was living in Austria. Which is a depressingly large part of Graz. Then again, it kind of makes sense. Even though I had relatives down here for a while, my boarding school was well over two and a half hours away, and my grandmother’s place in Judenburg was still a bit over two hours away. And so, I just drift through the city, taking in the atmosphere and the amazing light produced by the setting sun. Walking along Herrengasse in this weather really feels like summer. After a quick dinner, it’s back to the hotel where I quickly fall asleep.

Day 5 – October 2nd, 2023

The overarching theme of this day is “retail therapy”, although most of that is going to be foodstuff, since my bank account has taken a bit of a battering over the last few days. I also plan to check out that giant sea urchin dropped in the middle of Graz, the Kunsthaus. However, before I make my way there, I have my eyes set on a different set of eyes, within easy walking distance of my hotel.

I’ve always had a thing for contemporary and avantgarde architecture, from brutalism to the sweeping shapes of Saarinen or Calatrava. So when I heard that Zaha Hadid, one of the most influential architects of our times, had designed a building in Graz, I just had to check that out. Argos is a managed apartment building in the historic centre of the city. Its façade is apparently meant to invoke the many eyes of the building’s namesake, a giant from Greek mythology. Well, I suppose even a world-renowned architect can’t knock it out of the park every time. Granted, the building looks suitably weird, but honestly, it just seems a bit meh. The new building of the National Theatre in Prague looks far more interesting than Argos, despite being more than forty years older.

The Kunsthaus looks a "bit" more conventional from the ground.

It's still a weird one though, but I like it.

Argos. For a Zaha Hadid building, this is spectacularly unremarkable!

The Murinsel, a floating island in the river Mur.

After this, I make my way down to the Kunsthaus and the Murinsel, an artificial floating island in the river Mur, on whose banks Graz is built. Both of these buildings, as well as the glass elevator running through the middle of the Schlossberg, were built in the early 2000s as Graz was chosen as European Capital of Culture. However, given the continuing great weather, I decide against checking out the gallery and, after checking out the Murinsel, decided to head back up to the Schlossberg for lunch, as it’s already past noon. It’s a last-minute decision, but damn, it was worth it. The schnitzel is perfect, the Almdudler is cold, and the views are just spectacular. 

The Schlossberg funicular in action, with both cars.

Back at the clock tower.

Talk about a lunch with a view!

This is the view I was talking about.

It feels weird to think of all the connections I used to have with the city...

These trams were already old when I was a kid...

Nighttime on Hauptplatz.

Graz's city hall looking resplendent at night.

Jakominiplatz, Graz's main public transit interchange.

With that out of the way, I slowly make my way to the Uhrturm, the historic clock tower on the Schlossberg that is visible from pretty much everywhere in the city, to get back down to street level via the aforementioned Schlossberg lift. Much of the rest of the day is spent just wandering the streets of the city, as well as doing the aforementioned shopping. One thing that really caught my eye was just how many of the trams operating on the Graz network are of an older model that was already in operation back in the 1980s, when I first started visiting Graz with my parents. Talk about a real blast from the past. After dropping off my purchases in my room, and with the sunlight outside quickly fading, I head out for one final dinner in Graz before finishing off with a cocktail in the hotel lounge.

For the final part in this series, click here!