Chapter 130: Climbed Every Mountain

nerd blog post #145

It has been awhile, dear readers, and I apologize. But now, settled in berlinpad.com, the nerd blogging should be back on track! Steve and I arrived here two days ago after a great time in both Austria and Germany, and are now very happy in our little pad. But more about that latron.....

After Vienner, we headed to Innsbruck, and stayed with the daughter of Tante Gerthe. Lore is a lovely lady who teaches high school English and was pleased to be able to speak English to native speakers for the visit. Her husband, Lothar, has pretty good English, but is a French teacher at the same school, so I was happy to talk to him in French whenever we were alone. They have two teen kids, who were fun and outgoing and confident in practicing their English. We stayed with them for four nights, and it was a little sad saying goodbye in the end - they are a wonderful family.

We arrived on a Saturday, and had a delicious dindins with great wine and chatted into the night. The next day, Lore took the kids and Steve and I to a World Cup downhill skiing match in Soeldon. As an Ontarian, I haven't seen big mountains since Lesotho days, and the alps were breathtaking. So huge and so beautiful. We drove through them, winding up and up until we had to take a bus the rest of the way. At the top, we were amongst hundreds of ski hooligans, all pumped for the races. The kids went snowboarding and Lore, Steve and I set off to climb the mountain the length of the ski run. It was hard, but after awhile I started enjoying myself. It's no secret that I hate Winter and snow and all sports associated with. So I was a ski day skeptic, and when the others wanted to scale the snowy mountain, I almost stayed behind with the German morning-drinkers. But once at the top, I had no regrets. For one thing, Lore had chocolate. But for another, it was beautiful. We had a great view of the race (which was cool to see) and the scenery was unlike anything I can remember. The way down was too steep to walk, so I sat on my bum and slid down, which was super fun.

The next day, Lore and Lothar took us into Innsbruck and showed us the downtown core a little bit. It's a cute little city, set in the middle of the alps. So anywhere you look is pretty. We then took a tram half way up the mountain and went for a hike. Austrians love hiking in the mountains, but they also love beer, so there are all sorts of little beer gardens and restaurants (called alms) that you can stop at and have a beer. We did that, keeping with tradition, of course. It was a nice day.

Steve and I went into Innsbruck alone the next day, and went up the same tram in the mountains. Deciding we wanted to search out an alm kind of high up, we started hiking. Steve is a biiiit sportier than I, and I was panting like an animal as we climbed higher and higher. It was a death march, and in the end, we couldn't find the alm as the signage was not so good. But instead, we found some beautiful spots - waterfalls and avalanche clearings and beautiful views of the city below. It turned out to be one of my favourite days.

The evenings in Innsbruck were really fun, and maybe my favourite part of the visit. Lore loves games, and is great at rallying the troupes to play. She is also fiercely competitive, which is great. So we played the train game (which my fam has in TO), poker, and taught them Euchre. It was always a fun way to end the evenings.

On Wednesday, Steve and I left Innsbruck and took a train to Heidelberg, in Germany, for the last four nights of visiting, before coming to Berlin. But that's for another day...

Hope this finds you all well!

Much love,
Hincks.