August 12th

Trip to the Alps

There are few times in someone’s life when they can say that they hiked along the Austrian Alps. It was absolutely beautiful and there were times when I couldn’t help but stop and just take in the sheer beauty of my surroundings. It was a beautiful sunny day, and considering the day before was just a torrential downpour it was awesome to be able to hike around for the majority of the day, not having to worry about the weather. Misha and myself met up with a small group at the ottohaus and then continued on the blue trail to the second chalet. It is amazing when you feel like you are only walking for 10 min and look back and see how much ground you actually covered. We had took pictures with a huge crucifix on top of a hill past the ottohaus and within minutes it was way off in the distance. We managed to get to the 2^nd chalet where we stopped in to have some beer and some gulashsuppe mit brot. I went to order the gulash in German and sure enough, the man behind the counter responds to me in English. I’ve always thought that Germans are the best at picking up accents. But I tried to be respectful and order in German rather than just go blabbing on in English. The soup was delicious though and after hiking for a good part of the day, was much needed. We headed back to our lodge by utilizing the red trail to return. It was nice because we got to see much different scenery than we previously had hiking along the blue trail. The landscape was much more dotted with trees and various forms of flora. We stopped to have a water break and these two Austrian men walked by and overheard Misha, Marielle, Amanda, Mariza, and myself conversing. They laughed and remarked how we were the only English-speaking people on the entire mountain. We replied that there was much more of us and they laughed and encouraged us to enjoy the rest of our hike. There were many people climbing along the Alps yesterday though. It ranged from elderly couples to entire families with their dogs. It really makes me wonder though if the Austrians actually appreciate the surroundings of the Alps even after they hike through the various trails. It really made me realize the unique perspective that I as a tourist have when visiting a place for the first time. Everything is just so beautiful and unique but to the people that frequent the Alps for example, it must be beautiful but since they have seen it so many times, they are not as awe struck as I was when I hiked through the beautiful majesty of the Austrian Alps.