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Mickey- So after yet another train mistake (we'll hopefully start to learn after this one), we ended up in Zell am see rather than Kitzbuhel. We were
distracted by our shiny and addicting phones (actually fishing for virtual fish...) and forgot to get off at our stop, but it worked out fine, today was my favorite day of the whole trip! But first some more boring details about yesterday... after a hunt for a place to stay (a bed and breakfast) we found one using this super kewl machine in the information center that had information on a bunch of hotels, pensions, apartments, etc. and you could press a button and a blinking light would show on the giant map on the wall where the place was located! woah. However, on the way to the place we picked, we got lost. By this time we had completely forgotten what the place was called and all we knew about the street name was that it was something with a "dr." This didn't prove very helpful in asking passing people where to go... so eventually (after walking uphill with our huge backpacks for about 2 hours) we turned back and found a taxi to take us back to the information center to get the name of the place.
Mini story: our taxi driver started talking to us about Greece and when he mentioned the Greek economy Joseph and I both laughed a little (normal conversation thing... laughing at something ridiculous!) the man got serious and told us "This is no laughing matter! The european community has abandoned Greece and left them to only get worse and worse! Why is it that America has such a bad economy yet it's people aren't suffering as the Greeks are? Its horrible what Europe is doing to Greece..." And after his long, passionate speech we were silent for the rest of the ride...
So with all this walking we've done (getting lost in almost every city and hiking the alps for 7 hours today) we better come back with awesome legs. Speaking of, Joseph thinks all Austrians have huge calves and small dogs... and from what we've seen it's been true! ha :) With our stay at this b&b we got a card that gives us free access to all the ski lifts that take you up into the mountains (and other stuff too... like free boat rides and buses). So we took a lift into the mountains and started exploring (with no plan, map, or direction, of course... how else would we do it?) and found some truly amazing places! The only downside to Austria so far has been the weather, we've been freezing. Neither of us packed for texas-winter weather, so I ended up wearing 5 layers (tank top, tshirt, button up, sweatshirt, and wind-breaker) and then sweatpants with jeans over them on my bottom half. But of course, I was still cold so I bought myself a hat and gloves and finally I was toasty warm! :) On our adventure today in the Alps, we found a beautiful mini lake high up in woods where we took lots of pictures (uploaded them already!). We just happened upon it while we were following random trails... always taking the "road less taken" as we were inspired by Robert Frost's poem (literally, every time we saw a smaller trail we'd take it). :) Walking around these woods on the little trails and finding random little meadows and cows and lakes was such an amazing experience. Spontaneity with our path and nature everywhere definitely fulfilled this hike to perfection for me! We also saw this cute dog run out of the woods randomly, but then all the cows nearby started following him down the hill and we figured out he was a herder, cool! I also got to play with an injured butterfly and I picked myself a nice bouquet of wildflowers... so I was very happy out there in the woods! Joseph and I can definitely both say that Austria is the most beautiful and awesome place we've been. But a lot more happened today and Joseph gets to talk about this fun part! Oh, keep in mind that all the pictures we're uploading are the ones I take with my
phone, the good pictures (and a lot more of them!) are on our cameras and will be uploading when we get back! Oh, I forgot to say that we got so caught up in our adventures that we forgot the lifts closed at 5 and we had to hike down the entire mountain... it took us 3 hours! Now I know I will come home with great legs!
One more little story before I pass to Joseph...
Dad, prepare the shotgun! ;) When we were sitting outside eating lunch, Joseph said "isn't it weird that your dad might have been sitting here looking at this same thing 50 years ago?" That would make you like 70 :) muahahhahaa, tisk on that boy!
Joseph- Fun facts of Austria: all men have huge calves, all men own small dogs, all females are actually males with longer hair (if someone is austrian I ask for forgiveness, I just haven't seen a girl here smaller than me :) ), they like to put freaking awesome obstacle courses in the middle of a forest in the mountains, and they can't stop mexicans. VIVA LA RAZA! So while getting a bite to eat on a café in the mountain (Austrians like to put cafès where they don't belong), I discovered our waitress had married a Mexican man and had a little mixed baby. We mexicans shall rule the world, and give Greece to the swedes (since they seem to love it so much). After a light snack, we ventured into the mountainside with nothing but our new clothes on our back (I got a cool jacket for 22 euros). What we discovered was nothing we could have dreamed of, an epic epic of epicness. This epic, epic was none other than the activity trail for kids and playful backpackers. We soon learned why all Austrians have giant calves. So my theory is that Austrians send there kids, at young ages, to "fun camps" where they make them do "fun" obstacles which proved to be more challenging than hiking that entire mountain. Along with this obstacle course being incredibly difficult, it was found in the middle of the forest in that mountain. So the kids (or the Austrian military), have to hike at least an hour before reaching "fun" land. As we hiked the mountain we found our first obstacle, which was a zipline that was about 20 m long, with no harness or anything (Americans would be flipping cow dung if they saw it). So naturally Mickey makes me Check if it's safe, so I climb on it and swing across. Let's just say we did that like 10 times each. After prying Mickey off of it, we walked down the path a little longer to find yet another obstacle. This obstacle was a walkable maze, which taught young Austrians (or the Austrian military) how to navigate through war fields. I am proud to say I found the box in the middle first :) Then we discovered the water pump obstacle, this obstacle had you pump for water until you filled a small tree trunk (we also filled up our water bottles and washed our hands). Mickey did most the pumping, I did most the drinking (Tom Sawyer tactics are awesome and effective). That obstacle taught the kids (or the Austrian military) how to get water from the ground. Then we got to my favorite part, the giant slide. This long yellow slide was placed down a hill and allowed you to reach high speeds. Again, Mickey made me test the safeness of this slide. The slide was hardly safe. The momentum you gain from the slide was near impossible to stop one you reached the bottom, and at the bottom was a cliff after a small patch of flat ground. I'm guessing this is where the kids (or Austrian military) learn to deal with gravity and reacting quickly. And again, I nearly had to carry Mickey away before we could move on. Then Mickey found her favorite; the pole climbing thingy. This obstacle has around 10 poles high in the air, which the kids (or austrian military) had to step across. Sound easy right? We thought so too until We discovered the poles move and the area to step on hardly allowed your toes to be on it. Mickey was some how phenomenal navigating and moving across it, and was flying across it like she was walking on the ground. Air ninja. There are more but my eyes Hurt, we have been hiking all day and it like 1 over here. Check out the photos for the other obstacles, and if you guys have questions just comment!
- comments
Birgitta Please! Don´t get lost anymore. The alps are endless. Get your self a map so you can find all hiking paths. It is so fun to read about all your adventures. I look forward to the next blog. I like your new clothes. Just what You need a summer in Europe. The photos are awesome.
birgitta/herbert your blog is the highlight of the day here at Nordkoster! Last time Birgitta was up until 1am just to wait for your blog. And she normally hit the hay around 10.30! By the way Joseph, did you see that the cow you were sitting in front of actually was a bull and you a red raincoat? On the net today's weather looked good and I really hope the forecast was correct.......
Genie and Joe Oh boy, what a glowing blog. Just think, you went all that way so you could visit a playground. It all sounded challenging and fun, as the pictures show as well. About getting lost---well that's true even in Plano, eh J? (just kidding---not) Somehow we had hoped that M had that covered for this trip----but sunce all your best adventures are results of getting lost, that must be the best way after all. By the way, we are amused by your sophisticated solutions for the world's problems, triggered by the taxi driver's take on the Greek crisis and the Europeans' tough response. Yes, maybe the Swedes SHOULD take over economies and let the Mexicans plan the parties.
birgitta/herbert Hi Genie and Joe, NO - we are definitely NOT interested in taking over GREECE ( just kidding.... no)! And about getting lost in Plano we heard quite similar stories about that subject....... right Mickey? And M&J: We joke with love, you know that.. You are a great couple!