Frohnleiten

Today I was a bad dog. The faculty was invited to hear and judge the contestants in the "Meistersinger" competition this weekend. Being selected for this is a high honor in the AIMS universe, it seems. Unfortunately, the process -- preliminaries, semi-finals and final round -- would take up many hours of both Saturday and Sunday. I had a long week of teaching and, to be frank, the last thing I wanted to hear was more singing. The forecast for today, Saturday, was for warm and sunny weather. After a week of rain I just couldn't resist an outing and skipped out on the competition. There are, after all, about 30 other people who will be listening to this.
Where to go? All of the Steiermark and beyond awaited me. I opted for a short trip to the town of Frohnleiten. It's an old town of medieval origins that had strategic importance guarding the only bridge north of Graz over the river Mur, the same river that flows through Graz. I made my way to the Hauptbanhof (main railway station) and took the half-hour train trip north. The Graz railway station is an ugly modern affair, not one of those grand old stations one finds in some other cities. When the bombs fell in WW II the train networks were prime targets, of course. There are mountains around Graz, but not high ones. Just north and west of the city they get bigger. Frohnleiten is a delightful, picturesque little burg nestled in the mountains, perched on a rise above the river. It consists mainly of a large main square adorned with lovely old buildings, some from the 16th century. The modern city fathers went a little too far in their modernizing of the square, in my opinion; it looks like a cross between a mall and a play area, something like Disneyland on the Mur. But it is still very pretty. It doesn't take long to see the town and the one Baroque church. There was a tourist info place and the nice young man there suggested some easier hikes in the area. I headed north to the next village of Rothleiten, then turned into a lovely side valley towards Gamsgraben (the map he gave me was very helpful). The first few kilometers paralleled the autobahn. Despite the impressive scenery, the rush of auto traffic was a downer. But once in the side valley it became truly pastoral. I could see where new houses were being built in the villages -- weekend homes? people commuting to Graz? Living in a side valley whose road is a dead end, with mountains and forests on all sides and a cheerful brook running through the middle of it would be a fine location for a house. Sign me up.