Hiking in the Alps

We just returned from a four day hike in the Austrian Alps. We had great luck with the weather. The day before we left it was bone chillingly cold, and the day we returned the rain came with thunder and lightning.
Hiking is really simple here. Camping in the woods is not allowed, instead you have a network of huts, where you can sleep and buy food as well. There are also some ski lifts that operate even in the summer, so it was nice on the third day to take the lift up to the ridges, instead of climb the steep slopes (especially Victoria appreciated it). Also once you arrive at your destination, you can take a public bus back to your car. What was also weird were the many cows that roam the slopes. All of them have bells around their necks, so you can constantly hear them. Below you can see some pictures of the kids and Adrianne negotiating some tricky parts of our hike, and the smiles after we have been done with it. We are planning one more hike for the summer!

Kaltenberg Knight Tournament

In July we saw again a knight tournament. This time it was in Kaltenberg (between Munich and Stuttgart, about two hours drive from us). Many of the riders and knights are professional stuntmen, so they were really going for it. As it turned out all of them were from France, with the exception of a lone Austrian. The foot soldiers were Czech. Lances were broken on a regular basis, and they unseated each other as well. I thought that the bad guy, the "Black Knight" was the best. Both kids, but especially Mark was in heaven. After the tournament, the kids were doing various trials, and obstacles, after which both of them were knighted. There was also a nice medieval market, with lots of cool stuff. Please see below, some really cool jousting video, Victoria and Mark being knighted.

Midsummer Night Festivities

On Midsummer Eve we spent a pleasant evening with neighbors and kids. The festivities included a giant bonfire, folk dancing and torches for the kids. The adults had fun with some local bear and sausages.