Schmuck Uhren

What if you saw a sign that said "Schmuck Uhren Souvenirs"?  Well, you would probably be like, "Umm....okay, well we're not going there!"  But if you know that "Schmuck" means jewelry and "Uhren" means clocks (or watches), you might actually go inside!  We actually went inside and I bought an "armbanduhr" which is a watch!

 

 

This is another weird sign we saw in Austria.  Apparently they roast dogs here (if they poop on the lawn.)

 

So....we went up to the top of the Zugspitze, which is the tallest mountain in Germany.  It's actually on the border of Germany and Austria, so while the Zugspitze is the highest point in Germany, it's not the highest point in Austria.  As you can see it was so high, it was in the clouds, and there was still snow in July!

 

Here is a statue of a mountain goat (and my mom - she's not a statue.)

 

This sign tells you that the mountain is 2950 meters (9678 feet) high.

 

This is me standing in Germany AND Austria at the same time.  In the next two  pictures, I do not move.  I'm standing in the same place.  You can see behind me here, the sign for Bavaria (the state in Germany).

 

And behind me on the  other side, is the sign for Tirol, the state in Austria. Tada!

 

When the clouds cleared for a while we could see the valley below.  Here are the cable car wires for the huge 100-passenger tram that took us up the mountain.

 

Here we are on top of the snow now that the clouds have cleared.

 

Later that afternoon we went to a schwimmbad (swimming pool) that had a cool waterslide.

 

This is the view from our hotel balcony.  (This is the Zugspitze mountain, all covered with clouds.)

 

On the day we left Austria, we spent the morning climbing a mountain. 

 

But we cheated a little bit and took a gondola part-way up.

 

Then we had to do some intense climbing.

 

Intense like we were on the total side of a cliff.  Sometimes we had to use our hands to climb up.

 

We stopped and had a snack near the top when Kieran got a little afraid of the height.

 

Sometimes the clouds came around us and we couldn't see the valley.  But it cleared up every now and then.

 

And then we made it to the very top, highest point on the mountain.  There was a cross to show that "this was the top."

 

Random other people who reached the top as we were leaving...

 

Climbing back down...

 

A view of the peak we had left.

 

We were so high up that there were even guys parasailing from below where we were.

 

It was cool to watch them take off.

 

Another view of the Zugspitze, again, covered in clouds.

 

Here is a view of the mountain we climbed from the base.

 

Here is a map showing where we climbed.  The mountain is called the Grubigstein, and it is 2255 meters (7398 feet) high.

 

We also went to a little lake.

 

The water was so clear, you could see to the bottom.

 

 

We also went to a different lake and took a boat ride.

 

Here's the boat.

 

Then we hiked back around the lake to get back to our car.

 

My dad taught me how to skip rocks.

 

Tune in next time for more intensity...

Enten

"Enten" means "ducks" in German!

 

For the Fourth of July we went to the Zugspitze Arena in Lermoos, Austria.  (It's in the Austrian Alps just on the other side of Germany.)

 

 

There are lots of ski lifts for people to go skiing in the winter, but in the summer, you can ride them up to the top and do other things, too.

 

We hiked through the wildflowers.

 

So up we went!

 

And down we came on a Rodelbahn (which in English, we call an Alpine Slide.)

 

 

 

Here is a giant beaver.  (We were in a town called Biberwier, which means something like Beaver-ville.)

 

 

 

We were completely surrounded by mountains on all sides.

 

There were also a lot of lakes.

 

Here are the ruins of an old castle next to a not-so-old castle, next to a....what is that?  A barn?  Building?

 

We went to one lake and all the ducks on the lake were following us around.

 

It wasn't that hard to get a picture of them, because they would just swim toward the camera.

 

This is the river flowing into the lake.  It came from waterfalls high in the mountains.

 

Here is the mist on the lake...with...some ducks.

 

Here are some swans next to some swan boats.  The swans were equally as camera-happy as the ducks.

 

The ducks seemed to have a particular liking for Kieran.  Here they have him cornered on a bench.  RUN, Kieran! RUN!!!

 

We finally escaped the ducks...

 

It's getting dark! Time to head back to our hotel!

 

Here is our little Tyrolean hotel.  Kieran and my bedroom is the tiny window on the very top on the right.  My parent's window is where the balcony is next to it.

 

Here we are on the balcony!

 

That's my bed, with the window!

 

 

And here's Kieran's bed on the other side of the room.

 

It would have been a great view for some fireworks, except for one small thing...They don't celebrate the 4th of July in Austria.

 

So, we made our own fireworks with a glowstick!

 

Next time you are in Austria, beware the ducks!!!