After a year of restrictions limiting travel from the United States to Germany were lifted, my parents were finally able to make the trip across the pond to visit my sister and me. We settled on a secluded valley in the heart of the Tyrolean Alps as the perfect place to get away from it all and enjoy some rest and relaxation — and roughly 40 kilometers of alpine hiking to “boot.” We all enjoyed amazing weather, way too much food, and plenty of family time. And we only had to endure a few Zoom calls inside when we weren’t having fun.
Check out my collection of photos from four days in the alps below!
After finishing up our daily work three of us — Lena, my mom, and me — bundled up in case of continuing rain and went out in search of something more interesting than what we'd seen on our computer screens. We found cows and wildflowers in droves during our brief walk and were even more excited about the weekend hikes to come.
On Saturday we set out early for a view of the Kaisergebirge (Emperor Mountain’s) in the distance. On our way back down we stopped for a hefty plate of Käsespätzle, but there’s no photo evidence of that because it disappeared in an instant with a glass of fresh milk to wash it all down. Before walking back to the apartment we stopped by the ice-cold foot baths to “open up the capillaries in our feet,” or something. Some of us handled the ice-bath better than others…
On our final day we took the chairlift up to a plateau below Gaisberg and hiked around the peak to Gampenkogel where we gorged ourselves on Austrian food (Schweinebraten, Wienerschnitzel, Gulasch, etc.). Again, there is no photo evidence of this meal.
Susie and I rolled out of the restaurant early to make a push for the summit of Gaisberg for an unobstructed view of the Kaisergebirge in the distance. We then scrambled down the shale to meet with the others before the last chair down the mountain at 4:30 p.m.
