Today we went to Puchberg am Schneeberg, about two hours away by train. We all agree saying "puchberg" and "schneeberg" gives almost instant credibility as there are few words more awesomely Germanic sounding.
This place also has a history with Amy and her family as back in 1984 they also hiked it. But they got just a *little* bit lost and ended up doing a LOT more miles than we did. By the time they got to a place that served food on the mountain, they all ordered a liter of water each - the waiter was confused, and kept saying, "so let me get this right, you want FOUR LITERS of water, right?" Good times.
We took the Salamander cog tooth railcar up the beginning of the hike - beautiful scenery, and quite an incline!
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| Ella and Maya at the beginning of the climb. |
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| Amy and me before the climb |
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| Panorama from the beginning of the hike. |
The temperature was excellent, maybe 70F? It got colder and windier as we got closer to the top, which was also welcome :)
There was a section of pasture with about 50 cows grazing, all of them with their bells clanging - such a cool sound. Picasa isn't digging my videos yet, but I'll post some when I can.
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| SNOW IN JULY! Where are my skis?!? |
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| Hey Betsy! Want more cowbell? |
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| That speck on the top is the first of two goals for today - about 50 m lower altitude than the second goal, the tippy top! |
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| Ella, channeling her inner Maria Rainer. |
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| Another panorama - yes, it really is this beautiful. |
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| Maya > mountains |
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| The view to the OTHER side of the mountain range. |
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| On the way down - the beginning was REALLY steep, hard on the legs/knees! |
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| A pic from the top |
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| This is not photoshopped - we *actually* made it :) |
There was a second peak about 1/4 mile from the first, slightly higher elevation and the official top of the mountain. Very windy at this point, so it was nice to cool off. I know it will shock all of you, but I was a tad sweaty by this point :)
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| I would love to know what this says. |
After we got done with the hike, the girls found a park that had a "zip line" that was unfortunately out of zip. But the girls had fun on it anyway.
On the way down, we got back in the Salamander for the steep descent, and despite the girls getting on the train first and staking out an area with 4 seats, they were brushed aside by a super-rude man with his ashamed wife. They were all alone (2 of them) in a 4-seater because that was the most scenic side for the descent. The girls even said "no, we have 4 people", but by the time Amy and I got on the train he had pushed them out. WHAT A DICK. I wish I could let things like that roll off of me more, and it was a little awkward since I wasn't totally there when it went down. But seriously - even his wife looked resigned to a life with him, so I figured best to leave misery alone. Still, what a dick, pushing aside a couple of girls like that. Who does that? It had just a teensy bit of deja vu with our experience at the Tour de France in 2009 when the 50-year-old Frenchman tackled 10-year-old Ella to take away her souvenir during the caravan...
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| Pretty flowers are pretty. |
It was a bit challenging to find food in the town of Puchberg am Schneeberg, as I think it was a tad early for most of the restaurants. We did find one though!
By the time we started heading home, I was nearly comatose. I guess on the train ride home they all took turns laughing at me, because I would snore, wake myself up, and then pretend to be involved/conscious saying things like "oooh, it's so beautiful here..." and then nod back off to sleep.
We all slept well that night!
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