Germany Day 3

Monday dawned bright and absolutely beautiful. We had a full day ahead: luging and hiking. After breakfast we climbed back in the car and headed to our luge site, some 20 minutes away. Overnight, with the lifting of the cloud cover, mountains had been born, making our drive every more beautiful than the previous day. Isaiah fell asleep in the car, so when we arrived at the deserted luge course, Ben hopped out to get our tickets and discover luge protocol and left me to babysit and read “Gone with the Wind.” I watched intently for Ben and caught him waving to us from the ski lift that took him to the start of the 4,250 feet long, concrete course. I felt like I was watching “Cool Runnings” because luging is basically bobsledding on concrete, without a helmet or a steering wheel. Finally, I spotted the fuzzy white hat that was Ben (I made Ben wear my stocking cap so his ears wouldn’t freeze off) screaming down the course. Ben finished his second run and decided to give me the remaining three rides; what a gentleman! He also coached me on how to lean into the turns so I wouldn’t flip out of the sled. So, with Ben’s coaching in mind and practicing my lean right, lean left, BRAKE, I boarded the ski lift, waved to Ben and started convincing myself that I wouldn’t die while flying down the mountain on a sled with wheels. It turns out that I really needed the three turns (Ben, of course, knew that I would). My first time through the course, I rode the brake the entire way; Ben said later that he spotted me but I was going so slow that he didn’t think I was moving. The second time, I knew that I wasn’t going to get injured, so I was prepared to let ‘er rip, shall we say, but unfortunately, a first-timer golden oldie went down in front of me and she was crawling! So, I had to stop completely sometimes and let her get past the upcoming curve before I let loose. Finally, in my third attempt I was able to whizz through the course- it was amazing! Next time we’ll have to try skateboarding down the mountain.

After lunch and a nap for Isaiah we hit the slopes for the hiking. We ended up taking the panorama trail which wasn’t too difficult in the steep climbing category, which was good because I was carrying Isaiah in the pack. The trails were rather poorly marked, and we got lost a few times, but with wonderful results. The first accidental turn lead us through a horse pasture filled with beautiful caramel colored horses with white manes and tails. It was incredible; I thought, “Is this seriously happening? This kind of thing only happens in fairly tales!” Isaiah and I got to pet the horses for a while until we realized that we were in the wrong place. The second wrong turn led into a slightly less exciting cow pasture. It was still really neat because all the cows wore cow bells that clanked with each move. I wasn’t quite brave enough to pet the cows or even to walk through them to get onto the right trail, so at that point we turned back. The views we saw throughout our hike were absolutely magnificent! It was the most scenically beautiful day of my life thus far!

We ended the day by eating a giant ice cream Sunday and skipping dinner. German food is delicious, but very heavy, so our stomachs needed a break for one night.

View from our luge course.

The luge course

Weinersnitzel (sp?)

Start of our afternoon hike.

Stare down...don't worry, no one was injured

In horse pasture- AMAZING!

Our delightful ice cream sunday

Below: got lost in this cow pasture

Germany Day 2

Sunday morning we rose bright and early, ate an excellent breakfast at the hotel (typical German breakfast is amazing bread, cold cuts, chesses, yogurt, granola, eggs,) and headed to Austria. We drive along the Rhine River for the first part of our drive and passed several more castles, but decided against stopped to tour them because of Isaiah’s napping. The drive to Austria was a long stretch (4 hrs), but the drive was incredible! Once we hit the mountains, I was in awe- Ben had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It was a cloudy day, but that just added to the majesty of it all. Huge peaks, shrouded mysteriously in clouds moments before, would leap into our view as the sun broke through. Ben got pretty sick of the whoosh of air that happened every time I rolled down the window to take a picture. We arrived at our hotel in Ruette, Austria a little after 2pm, but our hotel was completely dark and locked. We waited around for a bit, but no one seemed to be coming, so we decided to continue with our activities and head back to the hotel later. So, off we went to find the Ehrenberg ruins. In Rick Steves words, “If Neuschwanstein was the medieval castle dream, Ehrenberg is the medieval castle reality” i.e. ruins. The cluster of 4 castles once made up the largest fort in Tirol (the part of Austria that we visited). They were built in the 13^th century to defend against the Bavarians and to serve as a toll way to the strategic Via Claudia trade route, which cut through the Alps connecting Italy and Germany. We visited two of the four parts- the fortified Klause toll booth on the valley floor and the oldest castle, Ehrenberg. As mentioned before, visiting any castle requires at least a 25-30 minute hike uphill, so we hoisted Isaiah into his traveling backpack and off we went…in the wrong direction…twice. When we finally found the path, which was as well marked as the tourist landmark signs in downtown Brussels, we stepped into the world of fairies, dragons, kings, queens, Gandalf and Frodo. We managed the climb through the woods in 25 minutes, 5 minutes short of the sign-posted arrival time and patted ourselves on the back for a job well done. The panorama from the castle was incredible, absolutely incredible; it was cloudy and dreary and it was still breath-taking. The majestic peaks met the green, lush valley floor, where a steeple and a smattering of red tile houses lay. I could have stayed up on that mountain top just taking in the view for hours; it was surreal. The picturs we took can’t really do the view justice- I guess you will all just have to visit Bavaria see for yourselves one day!

We headed back to our hotel, which has been run by the same family for ages, which explained why everything was locked up when we arrived…probably ran to the store for milk! Our room was HUGE- the only downside was the presence of a very scary photo of a person wearing a white carnival mask. Fortunately it wasn’t glued to the wall and I made Ben take it down every night before we went to bed.

Playing on the slide at our lunch break. Germany is great- rest stops with restaurants, play areas and super clean bathrooms every few kilometers...it almost felt like the US!

Views on our drive to Austria...amazing!!

Giving Merlin a High-Five

The toll house

Walking in the wrong direction.

Finally found the trail!

I didn't re-touch this picture at all, it was that green and awesome!

Beginning of the ruins

Almost there!

Crazy roots

Ben and Isaiah trying to pull our the sword in the stone.

Playing on the dragon

The castle ruins at the very top- we hiked up there!