A better, indoor, alternative, was a visit to the Riedel glass factory, conveniently located across the street from our hotel.
Riedel is an Austrian company that makes very high quality wine glasses, and other glassware (but the wine glasses are the staple product, IMO). It is a family company now owned by the 11th generation of the same family (over 250 years of making glass gets you a lot of generations!).
There is a shop, an outlet shop (where glassware with minor flaws is sold at a discount) and also the factory tour, which can be purchased for a very reasonable 5 Euro (1,30 of which you get back if you buy anything from the store).
I arrived at about 11:30, shortly after a large tour bus. Buying my tour ticket (which was good for any time all day) I was told it was best to hurry and join in on the tour that had just started (with the busload of people) as otherwise there would be a lunch break and I would have to wait until 2:30 for the next one.
So, I missed the entry talk, that was held in this show room full of various fancy designs, with molds, etc.
I don't think I missed any terribly important information--but who knows? The tail end of the talk, which I did catch, explained that we were about to be taken over to the factory. There would be explanations of what was happening below us written along the handrails (in several languages, including English, by the way!) and we could stay as long as we liked. At the far end of the room we would find a door to small, glass enclosed office. There, groups of no more than 15, could go in (a new group every 5 minutes or so) and have a question and answer period and then go through the "Adventure for the Senses Symphony" before leaving. We were also told that this smaller room and symphony were cooler, so if the heat from the furnaces was too much for someone, to go on into that section sooner rather than later.
I really liked being able to watch the workers for as long as I liked, rather than keeping up with a tour guide. It was a good set up. Also, it was toasty warm, but not uncomfortable up on the raised overlook (once I took off my sweatshirt, anyway).
Here is one of the many large furnaces for heating glass that were in the room. This particular factory (one of 6, I believe) is where all of the mouth blown products are made. It is not automated.
If you have ever seen glass blowers at work, perhaps at a living history museum, or local art shop, this was pretty much the same thing, only there were about 40-50 people working all at once, and they managed to produce lovely things VERY quickly.
For several of the larger pieces, employees worked together in teams of two to get things just right before the glass cooled.
Some workers had already left on their breaks by the time I snapped this, and it only shows half the room (the furnaces go down the middle of it). Lots of people! It was like a dance, watching them work around each other. In the Q&A portion of the tour, I learned that it takes 3-4 years of training to be considered a full worker and not an apprentice, and another 10 years of working (minimum) to become a "master" who can then train others.
That ribbon of white is all very fine lines of glass that drip off as they are moving away from the furnace.
Nearly everyone was wearing birkenstock style sandals with socks! This struck me as awfully dangerous when working with molten glass. I learned in the Q&A period that this is actually the SAFEST footwear. Molten glass is hotter than lava--NO show can insulate against that heat. The glass will not bond with natural fiber socks, so the safest is to wear cotton or wool socks and a show that you can get your foot out of very quickly (like sandals or crocs, which a few were wearing). If glass were to fall on their foot, they would slide their foot out of the shoe, the glass would stay on the show and the sock would prevent any glass from sticking to the skin. I would have never guesses this.
I have no photos of the "symphony" as it was really not something you could use a camera in without disturbing it for others. It was pretty cheesy though, and I would skip it if I ever go back. Essentially, your group goes from room to room (when doors open on a timer), mostly in semi or full darkness, and there are little homages to each sense. The point is that we rely too much on sight and need to use other senses. There is a giant wooden nose in one room, while the recorded voice drones on (in German) about how important scent is, how it affects taste, etc. In another room, it is completely dark, then some hands are suddenly illuminated (which looks downright creepy--floating glowing hands!). They are the edges iof handrails (get it?) that you are supposed to touch as you walk on--the rails have various textures on them to experience the sense of touch, etc.
A word of caution--there is no way out, other than to continue through the rooms, and no employee stays with the group. If you or someone in your group is claustrophobic, or gets panicky in dark spaces, or by flashing lights, it is best to skip this section. You can still go to the Q&A and then just ask to go back out directly to the factory area instead of into the symphony.
I also want to show you some photos from our tour of Kufstein Fortress that evening. We had a guided tour, which I strongly recommend; it would be hard to really figure out what everything was without it. I felt the tour added a lot to our enjoyment.
Overall, our visit to Kufstein was very nice. I can't wait to go back in nicer weather (though those clouds made for some lovely dramatic photos, didn't they?).
--Hadley
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