Klettersteig

Originally built for military purposes in WWI, klettersteig, or as they are known in English, via ferrata routes have been built all over the alps. Below are some pictures for the Drachenwand (Dragon Wall) near Salzburg. By the time I was finished, it was, as can be expected, pouring rain.

Some pics of the route up Zugspitz in Germany.

 The glaciers in Europe are in full retreat. If there is any doubt that the climate is changing go take a walk in the Alps.

Summit of the highest peak in Germany.

Summer Time Weather

Something not much advertised about travel in Austria and Germany is that in the summer time it rains a metric-shitload. Yes, they use the metric system there. You have to get used to that as well. (see fig 1 below)

Average Rainfall in Salzburg 

It rains more in the summer than it does in the winter. Tell me why that relevant little fact is not splattered all over their fancy tourist websites. Not only does it rain a ton in the summer but it also snows! (see fig 2). Not a whole lot of fun riding your bike in that kind of weather. The weather during our trip varied between freezing to almost 40 degrees. Not ideal. Actually, it totally sucks if you are planning on doing any outdoor activities. You can count on every second day being rainy.

Once Jennifer, Jasmine and Cedar returned home to school and work, I headed for the mountains. There are lots of really, really awesome roads to ride and some great hills to climb. Coming back from South Tirol, Italy into Austria I took the Grossglockner High Alpine Road which crosses a pass at 2500 meters. In the morning I left Heiligenblut (translates to something like Holy Blood. At the grave yard at the church there is book with the names of all the climbers that died trying to get up Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria at 3800 m. Because I did not want to see my name in that book I decided to skip trying to get up there. When my dad was about 20 he climbed it.) By the time I got half way up the pass the weather had gotten quite bad. By the time I reached the pass it was 4 degrees and raining.

A little bit about the costs ...

The cost of things a tourist might need were very reasonable. We travelled in four countries (Germany, France, Austria and Italy) so can not speak to the cost of travelling in Scandinavia or Switzerland (whose currency is strong at the moment).

A few examples: A room at a super nice hotel in the center of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, (one of the most spectacular towns I have ever seen and site of the first ever Olympic Alpine Skiing event in 1936) costs about $70. The hotel is beautiful, has a pool and serves a delicious breakfast. (Nb. For the purposes of full disclosure I must say that this is my cousin's hotel.) 

When I was on my own, I stayed at the equivalent of B&Bs for about $40 to $50 per night. A B&B in Squamish costs about $150 per night.

Rote Hahn Hotel in Garmisch Partenkirchen

Every good tourist needs to eat a little ice cream. I only ate 3 of the 4 bars.

The four bars of ice cream pictured above cost $2.80. A scoop of gelato costs about $1.50. At home it's about $4 a scoop. In general, most food in the grocery stores cost less than half of what it would in BC. One exception were bananas from Ecador, which were a little more expensive. Keep in mind that I was not shopping in Costco-like stores. These were small grocery stores in the middle of some of the most touristic towns in the Europe.

In case you wondered if Canadians are paying too much for fuel, see the pictures below.

The cost of Diesel (1.34 Euro) is about $1.83 CAD. Cost of a Diesel in Vancouver is between $1.40 and $1.50. Yes it is slightly more expensive in Austria but Austria has no oil reserves of its own, no refineries of its own and must import every drop of fuel. 

The coffee was sometimes a little more expensive than in Canada, but then one might be accused of  comparing apples with oranges. The cup pictured above cost $3. Somehow the experience was slightly different than getting your coffee at Tim Hortons in a paper cup with a plastic lid. In Italy I had heard that you pay a different price for coffee depending on were in the restaurant you sat, so I had to try it out. At the bar I paid 1.50 and then when I sat on the patio I paid 2.30 for the same cup. 

After being in Italy I understand why Italians like wine so much: their beer is so bad it is almost undrinkable. I could not wait to get back to Austria.

Salzburg

 A picture of us with Tante Gerti in her garden in Salzburg.

In front of the "Famíly Von Trapp house" from the Sound of Music.

The Stiegl Bräu Stubl.

View of Salzburg from Mönchberg.

 The Dopplersteig trail up the Untersberg.

 A post card from 1910 of the house where Martin`s father, Sebastian Fichtl, lived until the age of 16. The house was built in the 1600s.  The picture above is the  house as it looks today. It is no longer lived in.

A post card of the so-called Fichtl curve taken in 1910.

Swimming in the Alterbach. The creek was diverted to provide water for the Fichtl saw mill.

Weinsberg, Germany

We spent our first days in Germany near Stuttgart, visiting some old friends.  Since we last saw them they have had two new additions to their family: Leonard, who is 4 and Antonia, just two weeks old!  We ate some great food and spent many hours visiting in their gorgeous back yard.  Poor Antonia did not spend much time sleeping in her bassinet!  

Cedar, Jasmine, Annalenna, Sophia and Leonard eating lunch.

View from their backyard of vineyards in terraced fields, topped with a fortress.

Cedar and Antonia.

Antonia spent most of her time here, in Jasmine's arms.

While we were in Weinsberg, Martin joined us (finally) with our bikes from home so we loaded up our panniers and hopped on a train to Ansbach, the first stop on our bike trip.

Strasbourg

Strasbourg was a great place to spend our last days in France as it provided us a great transition between France and Germany.  Strasbourg has gone back and forth between France and Germany so many times that although it is now part of France, it maintains a strong connection to Germany.  

Jasmine taking advantage of a photo op.

Headquarters for the European Council.

Enjoying a river cruise.

Strasbourg's cathedral.

Picnic supper 

Walking to the train station and heading to Germany!