Adventure 34: Salzburg with Mom

October 14-15, 2011

Salzburg, Austria

There are no Kangaroos in Austria. This was on all sorts of things - T-shirts, Coffee mugs, magnets, etc.

Salzburg was fabulous. We definitely didn't get to see everything we wanted to. So what did we see:

- The church where Mozart was baptized.

- Salzburg was also where The Sound of Music was also filmed there. Below is the famous gate where singing occurred.

- A big castle on top of the hill with a great view

- A church with creepy tombs

- A fabulous desert and Mozart chocolates

 - Some pickles and a hotdog

 - And a funny floating guy 

Adventure 33.0: Hamburg

October 5-7, 2011

Hamburg, Germany.
 - Model Train Wonderland - Awesome - The largest in the world!

The USA - Above: Area 51 with Aliens and maybe Rosewell

Below: Viva Las Vegas

Below: Naked people swimming

and a hippie town. I see me down there.

 - Reeperbahn - This is a terrible place. I didn't like it.

  - The Rathaus, The little habor man (they were everywhere)

  

 - Harbor Tour on a boat - very cool

 - A Hamburger in Hamburg

Adventure 32.0: Trains for Dad - Hiking Preda nach Bergun

October 2, 2011

As usual, this hike did not go as planned. I didn't find the path right away and spent an hour wandering around trying to find the trail head in Bergun. Instead I drove to Preda and began there. This hike boasts a ridiculous number of stone bridges that the trains cross. The problem with this hike is that the trains only run once an hour. So getting to see a train cross over one of these famous bridges is not easy. It requires more waiting than I have patience for. The hike was quick; it was less than 3 hours down the mountain. Then I took the train back up the mountain and rode across all the bridges. Let take a look at the pictures.

This cow tried to stop me from crossing the bridge.

Adventure 31.0: Hiking Santis

September 24, 2011

Santis is the biggest mountain close to me at 2500 meters (8200 feet). I've have been waiting all year to hike it. Some people from my softball team were going, so I thought it was a good idea to go as a group. Turns out it was an excellent idea; I would have never made it by myself. Why? Because apparently I have developed a little fear of heights.

The beginning wasn't so bad. I did realize however, that I am so out of shape for hiking. I really haven't done much hiking since May. Therefore, I was pulling up the rear. About 1/3 of the way up I started to get nervous. This only increased my breathing and made my legs shake. This is not good when you are standing on a 1 foot wide trail with a rock wall at your right and a straight drop for 100's of feet to your left. I was clinging to anything I could grab. I was also glad to be in the back where my friends couldn't see me freaking out. I took my time and thankfulyl my pitcher was nice enough to hang back with me while I creeped my

way up the mountain.

I got to the first summit; a little house and restaurant. We stopped and had a drink. I had some hot chocolate. This point is about 2/3 up to the top. The next part was easy going. And then came another steep narrow ledge part. This time my coach was behind me. As we zig zagged up the mountain, we hear "Achtung!" aka "Watch out". Rocks were tumbling down at my head. I slammed myself tight against the side of the mountain as rocks, some bigger than softballs, tumble past my head. One hit the backpack of my coach. A rock falling from 50 ft could probably do some damage. So after this I was really nervous.

Then comes the worst part of all. A rock face at a very very slight slope. For this there were metal plates stuck in the rocks and a cable on each side. The steps were on average 2 feet apart. Now for anyone who knows me, 2 feet is about the length of my ENTIRE LEG. So these steps were a bit of a challange. I looked at my feet the entire time and did not look up or down. The final scare came when I guy, in a hurry to get down, slipped in from of me. Thankfully he caught himself before hitting me. I screamed some nasty words at him. He apologized and I'm sure realized that I was a basket case.

So I did make it to the top, obviously. And this was my reaction:

Yes this is me hugging the ground. I thought people were being funny when they did this in the movies. No this was real. I could not have been happier to be on solid WIDE ground with no chance of falling rocks.

Adventure 30.0: Velo Fahren in Deutschland - Konstanz nach Meerburg

September 24, 2011

We started our bike tour in Konstanz on the Bodensee and ended in Meersburg with a nice big juicy steak. I would never buy a steak in Switzerland; it costs to much. But in Germany, the price is not too bad. We saw massive apple farms and its picking season.

Total distance: 56kilometers

Total time: 8 hours with eating

The way home: By Ferry

  

Bird houses on the side of the moutain