Confessions of a grownup child.: Day 2: The drive across the austrian alps

The holidays I have taken so far kind of have a tone set i.e. I end up doing similar things or have similar experience. For e.g. if I visit national parks, its all about soaking in nature and if I visited cities its all about the diverse experience it has to offer. This journey however was markedly different from my previous ones, as it was combination of both.

Swiss alps have earned a kind of notoriety in India, thanks to all movies shot in those locales. Majority of the Indians visiting Europe makes it a point to visit the swiss alps. I guess I was in that mindset of 'When in Europe I am must visit the alps' when I was planning. However I chose an offbeat section of the Alps (its not even Switzerland) to visit or rather drive across.

It is 48 km of road across a section of the Austrian Alps called Grossglockner. Its open only 5 months of a year and I must say the drive was spectacular. The road had opened to traffic a week before my visit and I pretty much had the road to myself. I must say I loved the lack of crowds as I could stop when I pleased at turnouts and savor the beauty and majesty of the alps. There are 36 bends along the road and at certain turnouts you can view the these bends.

The view of the hairpin curves at one of the turnouts.

I had the road to myself :D I could fix a tripod in the middle of the road to snap pictures

When I started driving on the road, the weather was amazing- clear blue skies, amazing sunshine and the snow around me glittered like diamonds.

As I approached the highest point on this drive, I decided to take a break at one of the cafes and savor Austrian pancakes- A decision I came to regret. In a matter of 20 minutes, the clouds appeared out of nowhere and it started snowing! I have never driven in snow! I have lived all my life in the tropics. The 20 minutes drive from 8848 ft to 6000 ft, was the scariest in my life. Visibility was bad and the roads were slippery. I started chanting Hanuman Chalisa and was close to getting a heart attack. Eventually, the snowfall abated (they were around only on the top) and I could breathe easy. I thanked god and the rest of my drive was uneventful. There is a hike to a glacier along the drive. The path was closed due to inclement weather.I stopped at a beautiful hamlet called Heiligenblut which is at the end of the drive. I snapped more pictures and drove on to Salzburg.