Day 13 - Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria - more hiking: 2019-07-10

Today is the BIG day up the Kitzbuehl!  In a bit of a sad turn of events, Maya has been struggling with a serious migraine, and even with sunglasses it hurts a *lot*.  Since my ankle has only recently turned a little more problematic, Maya and I stayed back while the rest of the gang headed into the clouds.  It was sad, but so am I when Maya is sick  :(  After a full day of more rest and darkness, it started to help, and the next day she was a bit better.

Maya and I don't really have any photos from our time in the house (I wrote more, did some dishes, caught up on the world's events - I'm pretty out of the loop here, which is nice in a way).  But I did get some good pics from Amy and will do my best at narrating in third-person.

Look at these views!  They remind me of the views we had 6 years ago when we started on the *other* side of the Kitzbuehl in Skt. Johann.

I remember this cross/monument from 6 years ago - it means you made it!

Maya and I were in brief contact with them on their way home, so we left to meet them at the bus station.  The goals then were: 1). get good food, 2). minimize walking to get aforementioned food, 3). rest and sleep.

We ended up striking out on a couple of restaurants that looked good, but weren't open...  In the end, we went to a pretty traditional German restaurant that we had been to on our first day. 

She's either a movie star or had a migraine (why not both?!?)

This creepy smirking bastard is seemingly everywhere

As a slight counter-point to my assertion (and hope!) that the worldwide population of clowns is decreasing (attrition due to aging demographics, etc., because who the hell under the age of 70 would have EVER thought a clown was not terrifying?).  This Frankello chap looks like a real winner.  "I do it because I like to make children happy!"  "Yeah, happy when they get to LEAVE!"

Almost back to the place!

Some of the advertising is so avant-garde, some of it is adorably naive.

Ahh, well.  After dinner, we grabbed some ice cream and headed back for sleep - we're all hoping that Maya is feeling better in the morning.  But we're also quick (always!) to remind ourselves that even a bad day in the Alps beats most other good days, so we'll be fine.

TMI - Mozart's Revenge

I've never had Montezuma's Revenge, but if it's anything like Mozart's Revenge, I want NO part of it.  It seems the ghost of Wolfie tired of me mocking the fact that he had stores selling bags of his delicious chocolate balls. 

Don't know what it was that we ate, but I can tell you I was several times mere *SECONDS* from, um, solo-ing my first Simphonie di Hosen Scheisse in C(rap) Major Fortissimo, IYKWIM.

But that got me thinking, what is this guy's *real* name?  Turns out it's not pretentious at all, weighing in at fiveseparate names and sixteen syllables, "Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart" 🙄

From Wikipedia: At its root, Amadeus comes from the third of his long line of middle names, Theophilus: a Greek name meaning 'lover of God' or 'loved by God'. In its German form, it translates as 'Gottlieb' while in Latin, it becomes 'Amadeus'.

My other favorite story about Mozart, although it may not be entirely true is when a prodigious student asked for his advice on how to compose a symphony.  Mozart told him that he should start with some easier piano pieces, then string, then quartet, etc., before trying to tackle such a complex form.  The student balked and said "But Herr Mozart, you were composing symphonies when you were 10!", to which Mozart replied "Yes, but I never had to ask anyone how to do it"

Day 12 - Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria - more hiking: 2019-07-09

The forecast for today is supposed to be a little more rainy, so the plan is to stick closer to home - the views are still amazing, so no need to head all the way to Kitzbuehl!  We are excited to have the big group all together for some long hills :)

You see things like this everywhere.  Seems pretty usual, but then when you look more closely other details show up.  Notice how the center figures are detailed, but the side angels look like they were drawn by someone who was rushing to finish their assignment! 

The more I thought about this, the more it reminded me of the horribly botched "restoration" of Ecce Homo ("behold the man") in Spain, Exhibit A, below.  This is why you don't let amateurs near your paintings!  I still wonder why the 80-year-old woman was so confident in her abilities?  Was she blind and this is what it looked like to her?  Or was it just the Dunning-Kruger effect / unconscious incompetence at play? 

Also, it's fun when you don't actually speak the language and have to use context, icons, and pictures for meaning.  Look at that sign for the mountain bike, it looks like it would read "only rad mountain bikers doing wheelies to the right". 

Pay attention to the little details and stay easily entertained, the Universe has a lot to show you.

Exhibit A: I have made a horrible mistake!

This hike is filled with even more than our usual set of combinations of family pics - I don't think we hit every possible one, but came close.

There was quite a bit of small wildlife on the hike, hundreds (thousands?) of these tiny frogs that we passed.  At first they were hard to see, but once you notice them, you realize they are everywhere and step a bit more carefully.  Don't get me wrong - I'm no Jain, but those poor little guys must have thought the giants were in town.  We also saw a couple of small moles and mice.  They're really cute when they're outside and not in your basement :)

Die kleine froesch

While on part of the trail, we encountered another family that had a young boy, maybe 13 years old?  He had terrible rashes and inflammation on his arms.  After talking with them for a bit, we found out that there was a gang of rogue cows up higher on the trail that were very aggressive, and actually chased him so badly he had to jump off the trail and down into the ditch to escape.  Only problem was that the ditch was filled with lots of prickly plants and stinging nettle...  We had some bandaids and tried to help him wash off some of his arm in the cold mountain water - I'm sure it felt better, but I'll bet he had a bad time for a few days after that from the rashes.  Better than being trampled by angry steaks though!

This encounter put a bunch of the group a little on edge, and so when we encountered the bells 15 minutes later, it was a bit scary.  Some of us went up to get a closer look, and it turns out the cows really WERE pretty aggressive. 

We decided that if any of us would be injured on the trip, it wasn't going to be from those angsty cows, so we turned back down the mountain. 

Thought this was pretty - people have lots of firewood stacked, and it always reminds me of the fun/hard time I had chopping wood as a kid.

We continued to make fun of German words, some of them are just asking for it!  Look at this, it's "loser rice", some jokes never stop being funny.

Bitch spray!  I'm sure depending on the context, you could use it both defensively AND offensively.  D: "Gawd Karen, don't make me get out the bitch spray!"  O: << for when you're feeling a little sassy >> (you could spray a little on like perfume to embrace it).

Other than the sour ending with the cows, it was a great day and we're looking forward to more tomorrow!

Day 11 - Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria - hiking up the Kitzbuehl: 2019-07-08

Today, we will take a short bus ride to the actual town of Kitzbuehl, and start up the incline - the plan is not to get to the top (!), but near the tops of one of the gondolas, which conveniently has a Hutte next to it...

Even though it's a little chilly and forecasted to rain, a jacket and a good attitude goes a long way :)

Maya couldn't resist one of the little trinket vending machines (we were hoping for a "Stretch Monkey", one of those sticky things you can thwap the wall from a distance).  Instead, she got a little spring metal bracelet.  The excitement was real, but unfortunately the bracelet would only last about 42.7 seconds before being mortally wounded ("actually, I think I'm getting better").  🤣

Ella, being sweet

These helpful signs are everywhere!  One thing we've noticed is that even though we consider ourselves "fairly fit", assume it will take you _at least_ that long, rare is the situation where we come in much under the time.

Thought these gates on the start of the incline (still on the road in town) were pretty rad.

It was a very damp day, although thankfully the rain held off until later in our hike on the way down.  But on the way up, we got to go through this amazing temperate rainforest - thick moss everywhere, just gorgeous!

Pictures never fully capture the incline, but there were some sections that were hella-steep.

Now we are really in the clouds!

We were all pretty convinced this place was haunted with the Ghost of Schnitzel Past.  

Just a little tea-time at the hutte!  And out of the frame, Jeremy's initiation into the "Dudler-gang"!

Besides having drinks and food, this place had some bitchin' 80's music (and some German pop, which for a non-speaker is way more incredible than you can imagine). 

Also!  We have noticed that the 80's song "Don't You Want Me?" by Human League is still pretty popular - this might be #3 or 4 of hearing it "in the wild" since arriving here.

GOATS!  These little guys were hilarious and cute - they knew how to work the crowd.  Jeremy, Ella, and Maya fed them some grass.

On the way down the mountain, Amy noticed this on the trail, I don't know what it is, it's pretty crude metalsmithing (I am an expert, you know!)  Is it a small pick-axe?  Some sort of a miniature plow for mice-farmers (mice that farm, not people that grow mice, obviously!)  Can't really hammer with it... 

One thing that most of us agreed on is that it could be haunted, since we found it near the abandoned hut off the trail that was also "probably haunted"...  No one wanted me to bring it back, but I thought maybe I'd take it down with us and see if anything bad happened.  

Sometimes I like to dare The Fates, you know how it is.  #YOLO

See!  This is the sort of immersive green we've had most of the day!  Wood-Elves lurk.

OOOOHH!  Turns out that the boiled leachate of my roasted compatriots is DELICIOUS!  End the stigma against coffeebalism.

Kitzbuehl is a beautiful mountain town, and there is *money* here.  My bet is that the winter scene here is crazy with all the downhillers.

Cobblestones gonna cobble

Hey Maya, does it feel like you're being watched?  This seemed an odd placement for dinner.  I realize we've been so desensitized to the crazy that we barely notice a gruesome execution right over the dinner table.  

Unfortunately, I have been struggling with the result of an undiagnosed (and therefore untreated) broken ankle from 8 (?) years ago.  I don't really know when/how it happened originally, just that my doctor was a little surprised that I never came in for it (and then upon more consideration of my past habits was LESS surprised)  :)  Anyway, I'm hoping that it will be better for our big hike tomorrow!

I stayed back while they all picked them up.  Even though it was a day late, it was so nice to make this set of memories with the whole gang present.

Looking forward to more hiking tomorrow!

Day 10 - Salzburg, Austria to Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria: 2019-07-07

Today we leave our fair city - Salzburg is fantastic!  But we're excited to head to Kirchberg in Tirol, which is on the other side of the Kitzbuehl from where we stayed a few years ago in St. Johann.  Although we had a ton (!) of walking in Salzburg, it will be nice to have a smaller town and more focus on hiking in the mountains.  Plus, this afternoon we get to reunite with Ella and Jeremy!  From what we've seen/heard from them, they're having an epic trip together!  Probably most excited to see them is Maya :)

This is the parting shot of our swanky apartment in Salzburg - Amy found another winner!

Part of travel days is just about sitting in train stations lookin' cute.

Like this!

And this... :)

Maya zoning out while still taking in the scenery.  Trains are awesome.

When we reached the station in Kirchberg a couple hours later, Maya was barely containable!  When they went down to their car and snuck in (Ella and Jeremy didn't yet realize we were there) Amy was lucky to capture some of the most genuine expressions on their faces.  Now one of my favorite pictures ever.

I love this picture so much - captures the love and emotion of their relationship.  We love you girls!

I was happy to see them too!  *sniff*

Walking to our place (maybe about a mile away?) we were sharing stories and just hanging out!  We missed them both, and then magically in the middle of Europe, here we are all together!

This is a sweet bike we passed by on the walk up to the place.  Cannondale has come a long way from the 1.0 days in the early 1980's when I rode them. 

"Hello everyone, my name is Rick. I have chronic bike lust.  I believe the perfect number of bikes is 'n + 1'"  

Just what in the hell is this?!?

When we got to the place we'd be staying for a few days, we met the owner (Walter) and got some excellent tips on hikes and bus routes.  Also cool downhill ski race Hahnenkamm, supposedly the fastest and most dangerous ski race in Europe.  Walter says that in the summer they hear the helicopters every week or two because the mountain bikers try to descend it as fast as the alpine skiers (nearly 100 miles per hour) and then, uh, need some help getting to the hospital...

[fermented] grape juice in a Disney Babies cup in Tirol, perfect!

Ella and Jeremy made dinner for all of us (noodles with their special pesto sauce, grilled chicken, salad, everything was super-nummy).  After that, we went on a quick walk along the stream in town to check out the area.  Still all riding a high that we're in the same place at the same time.

Unfortunately there were some travel complications for Jeremy's parents, Almee and Rommel (they were due to arrive at 7.00p, but we found out they had a late connection that caused them to miss another train, so they stayed overnight in Chamonix France and would be joining us later the next day)

We just missed the "Burning Lederhose" festival!

This is the canal that runs through town - very cool, and the sound of flowing water is wonderful from the house.

What a great day - and we're excited to explore a bit more together and just see what comes next.