Cruisin' the Alps
As the title would imply, we spent part of our day today on a long and directionless ramble through the Austrian Alps. There's almost nothing I like more than to hit the road with a full tank of gas and no specific destination in mind. Add in a beautiful sunny day, a Coke and a CD changer full of good tunes and I'm set.
Oh, and my new requirement: having the GPS along so that when I do get tired of rambling, I can ask Dora to take me back to my starting point. I have reached the point where I can't see myself ever having a vehicle without navigation. I didn't fire her up until I was lost in some random Tyrolean town and decided it was time to head back, so technically I didn't break the rules of the ramble.
I wish that I could describe the views today, but words fail and pictures are merely pictures. I did stop and take a few. One nice thing about German and Austrian roads is that they provide lots and lots of areas to pull over and take a break. What a road we found today, curves galore and almost no traffic so that I didn't feel pressured to hurry.
And I just thought of another reason to feel grateful: despite all the curviness, Annika kept her scrambled eggs down.
Anyway, it's hard to describe the beauty of these mountains unless you're right here in the middle of them. The villages that we passed through were just so beautiful. Every single house, hotel and cow barn has window boxes bursting and spilling over with beautiful flowers. I cannot get over how absolutely every home, big or small, extravagant or simple, is extraordinarily well-kept.
We stopped and had our snack in a tiny little town. I ordered a Coke at the little pizzeria. Kann ich habe eins Coca-Cola bitte? The lady was like, Sure that will be 2,20. Ugh. I sincerely try to use my German if I can and it sort of annoys me that they won't speak it back to me. Or not annoys, but just confounds me. Whatever. I don't think it's that obvious that I'm not German. After all, I really am about as German as can be, if you want to get technical. I don't stick out like I did in Japan!
Anyway, we took the Coke and our snacks to their little square and sat on the bench to eat. The town's church was there in the square too. The kids ran around and around the cobblestones of the fountain, occassionally stopping to dip a finger or a toe into the water. For a moment, I experienced true bliss: Alps, sunshine and green grass, beautiful buildings, flowers, splashing water, happy children and Coke in a bottle. Ahhhh.
Then Josiah stubbed his toe while running around the fountain and shrieked so loudly that he probably started an avalanche....
Well, bliss is nice, if even for a moment!
Oh, and my new requirement: having the GPS along so that when I do get tired of rambling, I can ask Dora to take me back to my starting point. I have reached the point where I can't see myself ever having a vehicle without navigation. I didn't fire her up until I was lost in some random Tyrolean town and decided it was time to head back, so technically I didn't break the rules of the ramble.
I wish that I could describe the views today, but words fail and pictures are merely pictures. I did stop and take a few. One nice thing about German and Austrian roads is that they provide lots and lots of areas to pull over and take a break. What a road we found today, curves galore and almost no traffic so that I didn't feel pressured to hurry.
And I just thought of another reason to feel grateful: despite all the curviness, Annika kept her scrambled eggs down.
Anyway, it's hard to describe the beauty of these mountains unless you're right here in the middle of them. The villages that we passed through were just so beautiful. Every single house, hotel and cow barn has window boxes bursting and spilling over with beautiful flowers. I cannot get over how absolutely every home, big or small, extravagant or simple, is extraordinarily well-kept.
We stopped and had our snack in a tiny little town. I ordered a Coke at the little pizzeria. Kann ich habe eins Coca-Cola bitte? The lady was like, Sure that will be 2,20. Ugh. I sincerely try to use my German if I can and it sort of annoys me that they won't speak it back to me. Or not annoys, but just confounds me. Whatever. I don't think it's that obvious that I'm not German. After all, I really am about as German as can be, if you want to get technical. I don't stick out like I did in Japan!
Anyway, we took the Coke and our snacks to their little square and sat on the bench to eat. The town's church was there in the square too. The kids ran around and around the cobblestones of the fountain, occassionally stopping to dip a finger or a toe into the water. For a moment, I experienced true bliss: Alps, sunshine and green grass, beautiful buildings, flowers, splashing water, happy children and Coke in a bottle. Ahhhh.
Then Josiah stubbed his toe while running around the fountain and shrieked so loudly that he probably started an avalanche....
Well, bliss is nice, if even for a moment!
Comments
I found this out from my Saudi cousins, of all people, ho told me that their Arabic has picked up a Minnesota accent, and that my friend who is currnetly studying Arabic in Tunisia is going to have a "terrible French accent" to his Arabic. So, most likely, the native Germans just twig to the fact that you Are Not A Native German and speak English out of misguided courtesy.
Do you truly have Saudi cousins?
"Mama, go left!"
:)
We would wear dirndls, nerd. Lederhosen are for boys.