Skiing with Rosie & Brendan

We all went to Kühtai today to ski. Great weather! They call it "Kaiser Weather" here - only the best for the Austrian Kaiser. Rosie and Brendan really liked Kühtai. Jim and Brendan had fun skiing off-piste. Rosie and I hung up our skis early and had coffee on the sun terrace.

Zugspitze

We went up to the top of the Zugspitze today. It is the highest mountain in Germany and not far from Innsbruck. Brendan was excited to go into another European country. It was a beautiful day - more Kaiserwetter! We dressed warmly, as we were up at almost 3000 meters at the top. We took the cable car up to the top from the Eibsee (see photo), just outside of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany. We saw a paraglider take off from near the peak, you can see it here.

After hanging out on the top, where there is Germany's highest BierGarten, we took another cable car down one station to the ski area of Sugspitze Platte, the plateau. There we had lunch at the Sonnenalpin restaurant, outdoors. Then we hiked up past a pretty chapel to the Igloo. The Igloo was really amazing! Inside was a bar, many rooms including hotel rooms and a hot tub where you can actually spend the night.

On the way down, we took the cog railway. It was electric, modern and quiet. Also very slow.

Afterwards, we drove into Garmisch-Partenkirchen and walked around the beautiful pedestrian streets. We poked into shops and Rosie and Brendan bought some souveniers.

Rosie and Brendan arrive

Rosie and Brendan arrived yesterday morning in Innsbruck. Veronika and Steffen went along to the airport on their way back to Gera to say hi to them. Rosie had never met them before and she was really touched that they came to the airport to meet her. Rosie and Brendan had a good flight and they were thrilled to be here. Tired, too, of course, because they had not been able to sleep on the flight. They took naps, and then Rosie, Jim and I took a walk around Oberperfuss while Brendan slept some more. We went out to eat in a nice restaurant, from Meinrad and Regina's book, called Meilerhof, in Reith bei Seefeld. It was very very nice. Brendan was happy because he got a steak and baked potato. Weather is supposed to be nice all week. That is good because we have a "Volles Programm" planned.

Zillertal

We had a nice excursion into the Zillertal today. On the way, we met a long-haired pig and a cute cat. The pig let me take his picture, and the cat came over to us and let Jim and Veronika pick her up. She was young and friendly and very cute. We drove all the way down the beautiful Zill Valley to the town of Mayrhofen, where we had lunch in a 440-year old restaurant called "Zum Greina." I had what has become my favorite Tyrolean dish, Blunzengröstl, i.e., blood sausage with potatoes - this time it had sauerkraut mixed in. Very yummy.


Then we drove into a side valley, the Gerlostal. It was also very scenic, as you can see from the photos of both valleys. The broad valley is the Zillertal. In the Gerlostal, we drove through the pretty little ski town of Gerlos. We headed toward the waterfalls of Krimml. But as we got close, it turned out that the waterfalls were farther away than we thought, and frozen. Also it would have been in the shade, icy and cold to walk there. So we went back to Gerlos and instead hiked up to a mountain restaurant called the Almstüberl where we had coffee and then hiked down. By that time, the sun was setting. You can see some of the twilight photos.

Michael und Ann-Kristin

Steffen and Veronika's son Michael and his girlfriend Ann came by last night for a short visit. Michael works in Munich for BMW. Ann is studying law. We met at our house and then all went to Innsbruck to have dinner at Restaurant Dengg, where Jim has been wanting to go for a while. It was very hip and we all had a really nice time there. We had met Michael and Ann before, in Gera and it was really nice to get them to know them better. They are both interested in working on their English. Michael will have the opportunity soon; he is coming with his parents to visit Kirstin at Claremont and then they are coming to Boston and NH to see us. Too bad that Ann will not be able to come this time because she has final exams. Maybe next year? I am really curious to know what they will think of the US. It will be their first time in the U.S. They are asking me all kinds of questions abpout what to expect. I don't know what to tell them. Michael wanted to know about our traffic signs. I told him about the Yield sign but am not sure what else to tell him - maybe "Moose Crossing?" He will find out. I showed them a photo of a moose today. Maybe they will see one!

The Funny Cemetery

The weather was gray and foggy, besides we were all sore from skiing, so we didn't do anything terribly sportly today. Instead we drove into Innsbruck, where went first to the Markthalle and then walked around the Altstadt.















Afterwards, we drove to the town of Kramsach where Steffen and Veronika knew of an interesting old "funny cemetery." (Lustiger Friedhof) It had old grave signs with funny sayings on them, often describing how the people died, in poetry. The first photo talks about the death of his wife, who often fought with him, and says "Dear Wanderer, please hurry away, otherwise she will get up and fight with you!" The second one, outlined in gold, tells in a poem of a man crushed to death by his cow.

Veronika und Steffen

Yesterday, my cousin Veronika and her husband Steffen from Gera, Germany arrived here to visit us for a few days. Veronika is my second cousin, and I got to know her through my genealogical research. Her grandmother and my grandfather Springer were brother and sister. My grandfather grew up in Gera, in Thüringen. I found my father's cousin, my Uncle Kurt, still living there and got in touch with him. That is how I met him and later his two daughters Veronika and Jana, my second cousins. Some of you may have met Veronika and Steffen's daughter, Kirstin, who stayed with us in New Hampshire for three weeks a couple of years ago.

Today we took them to Kühtai for some skiing because the weather was again (would you believe it?) so gorgeous. We had a nice lunch outdoors in the sun, as you can see from the photo, at the Alpenrose Hotel. Now we are home and making ourselves gemütlich with Glühwein and cheese and crackers. This last batch of seeded crackers turned out very well; I thinbk I've got it down now.