Smelly Treasure

I love the short cut to the city! Well, on the way there. It is a very steep slope and bypasses so much of what I walked last time. The way back, up the slope, the very steep slope, involved much huffing, puffing, and break-taking… only to find out my calf muscles still look the same. The little city was alive and teeming with people. Last time I went during Saturday afternoon when all the stores were closing, so this time it was a lot more exciting. I love Sunthofen! It really is small, and options limited but it is a great town with wonderful people.  Everyone knew each other and the store keepers were chatting with the customers.

We girls walked around exploring the tiny city center and bought some more everyday supplies like jackets, lotion, and hair dye(no fushia yet.. just some strong red to hold me over till then). We were running out of power and the prospect of non-cafeteria food lead us to a little cheese shop. The store owner spoke really great English gave us a few samples of locally produced cheeses.  We limited ourselves to only three and sat comfortably in the corner to enjoy our little feast. She had added a little bit of a fig, mustard and honey spread, gorgeously golden butter, and “sour creamy” onion spread she made herself. This incredible feast was only 11 euro… in America it probably would have been around $30-35 if not more.

The owner probably laughed at the enthusiasm as we tasted our way around the platter. Every bite made my taste buds cheer for joy. We had a perfectly crusty loaf and a perfectly salted pretzel to rest our slices of perfectly delightful cheeses. The fig, mustard, and honey mixture!!!!! Oh do I want to eat this every day. It was sweet, spicy and tangy and when paired with each cheese, brought a new level of flavor to each morsel. The tender center and hearty crunch of the bread beautifully mellowed our strength of our edible treasures. As you inhaled the potency of each cheese’s aging process it mixed with the smoothness of its texture and the bread prepared your pallet for the next bite. It was a combination of everything good: involving all the senses, and bringing non-stop smiles to our faces

A little more exploring, and a little more internet searching, and it was time to come back to Sonnenalp. We looked for a taxi to help us with our plastic load but gave up and turned to face the hill of steepness. The sun was beginning to set and the lighting was almost too perfect to be real. The pictures do not do this place justice. As we reach the top we could see the end of our trip in sight. More pictures, more awe of this place’s splendor, wafts of our precious left over cheese, and a choir of sheep which greeted us with a lovely chorus of “baa.” One actually sounded like it was belching… but back to the beautifulness of the moment: It was truly worth every steep step… It was almost a shame to go back inside my room, but I had some hair dying to do, and it sure feels good to be a redhead again.