Konig Saalbach

... hand at an ariel assault course....he came back a shell of his former self after 3 hours in the trees hanging from bits of wire and trying to keep up with 9 year old girls who were more agile than him..for my penance I had to play pitch and putt with Lauren using carved putters and wooden balls..no danger i'll be joining a golf tour anytime soon. 

Definitely worth a visit in winter for you keen boarders out there.

... loop but takes you to another peak and it is all on the top edge of the mountain. We went on part of it, but it was pretty dangerous. We stayed up there as long as we could and the clouds parted a few times but still not much for the views. It was really great to see this though, its amazing how they built this, the elevator, and the access road (which is famous on its own) in only 13 months! Hitler only went to the top of the ...

... shop at Eagle's Nest were Italian-made. Bleh! This is getting discouraging.) We walked down to the bus platform; then headed back to the tour office, switching buses again at the bunkers.

Another long, late day, not back at hotel for supper until 8. But we did manage to get the desired picture of the billboard we had seen in the other direction for Rumpfinger. Almost better than Barf-Buffet!

... down by the ankles to two vertical poles, then sawn in half down the middle. Right down the cleft. Thinking of all the roadside shrines and crosses I had seen in the Tirol, my mind strayed to wonder how the religious imagery of Christian Europe might be rather different had the Romans favoured this method of execution instead of crucifixion!

Behind the tower is a ...

... legs began to whimper and ask whether it wasn't time to gently ride back to base for a nice, cold beer. However, they quickly came to their senses and marshalled themselves for the coming onslaught: a long, hard fire road climb up 9 long switchbacks. Bigger than anything in South East England, for sure. The reward was worth it: a long singletrack descent with lots to offer in ...

Now for the heavy stuff! After our customary farm-fresh, home-made breakfast, a 45-minute drive took us to Leogang. €25 bought a day's lift pass and I donned my arm and leg pads.

The beginner-freeride level trail is called Hangman II and runs from the midway lift station. It's a fairly wide trail with fine-gravel surfaces and big corners, with berms that weren't as high as I was ...

... the hotel wouldn't be able to give us a lift into town. Okay, we thought, but would we be able to book the glacier trip? I resolved there and then to find our own way into town. How hard could it be?

Anyway, they taxied us out to our hotel after dropping the Kitzbuehel contingent as our hotel was out by the lake. First impressions - very beautiful setting and they gave us a room with an enormous balcony - even though we hadn't paid extra for ...

... was manicured and there was obvious care being taken. But the German headstones were not. The German headstones were off to the side, illegible due to weathering and years of neglect, and nearly invisible among the tall grasses and bushes enveloping these relics. On Monday, August 13th, Meinhardt and I went to Mettersdorf to see the village of my ancestors. Meinhardt's daughter-in-law, Ana, drove us to the village and left us to wander at our leisure ...

August 26-Monday
We left Kitzbuhel at 8:30. There was a brief stop in Berchtesgarden, in Germany, at 10:00. Up on the side of the mountain, we could see Hitler's Eagle’s Nest. It was rather chilling to see that part of history. The bunker is now a restaurant. Our rest stop overlooked a valley filled with wonderful homes. What a view! Back on the bus and on to Salzburg. Time 10:35.

... looked only big enough to hold four or five people…really! But it was at the very edge of the mountain, and I didn’t think my faith was strong enough to get that close to the edge! There were a couple of young kids (goats, that is) who had taken a liking to Paul’s camera case, which he had left with me. I had to keep shooing them away, but they were so friendly…and inquisitive.)

In the evening, the town band was scheduled ...