"The Hills Are Alive" (June 13th)

Today was a day I was longing for since we had arrived in Reutte. From the moment we arrived I loved the region. I could get used to living here for a time hands down. To prep for the day, I sat outside on the deck, journaled, looked at the mountains, and ate a hearty European breakfast consisting of german bread, grapes, yogurt, muesli, and a banana. After a nice breakfast, we departed our apartment and drove to the cable car that would bring us up the mountain where we could go hiking.

I was extremely excited to be hiking in the alps. Never before had I done this. I have also not experienced these types of views before other than briefly in Colorado.  To say the least, I was smitten with Germany and Austria. 

view from cable car

another view from the cable car

Where we exited the cable car is where all of the trails begin. Naturally there were one or two restaurants with panoramic views. My dad, my sister, and myself decided to go hiking. We walked up a hill behind the cable car. My dad left us at that point and Martina and I continued on. The views were stupendous. Martina and I saw a little hut in the middle of this valley. That was going to be our destination. We had heard from Hartmut that there are huts along the hiking trails that have traditional meat and cheeses. The one thought that I had was how do they get the food to these places. There were no roads or anything, just steep hiking trails. The food could be brought up in the cable cars, but this hut was in the middle of nothing. My guess is that people have to carry it. If so, that would be some commute to work. 

The hut is the white thing in the middle of the valley

Martina and I hiked for a few hours. I constantly stopped to take pictures. Words and pictures fail to capture the beauty of the earth. Martina and I made it to the hut. They served beer and other food, not meat and cheese. By that point, Martina got a call from our parents saying that we need to come back. It was much easier getting to the hut because it was mostly downhill. Now it was most certainly up hill. Nonetheless, I relished in the challenge. It took us less time to get back that expected. Maybe it was because I did not need to take many pictures.

After we got down the mountain, we drove to Neuschwanstein Castle to purchase our tickets for the castle the following day. So this was a detour I wish that we did not have to make. According to my parents, Neuschwanstein has grown a lot since they were there 30 years ago. This is the castle that inspired the Disney Castle. Below the castle it is quite Disney-esque. It is super touristy. Not sure I like that. I like more pure, ruined castles.

When we got back to Reutte, my dad, my sister, and myself went up the mountain to Erenberg Castle. That is the lower to the two castles that sat on the mountain opposite of where we were staying. Castle Erenberg is a 12th-13th century castle. The hike up to the castle took about 40 minutes at a semi-steep incline. The hike up this small mountain was harder than it should have been. The reason being I was hiking in the alps for hours all morning.

The castle itself was made of a white stone. It was ruined and you could walk wherever you wanted. However one did not want to stray to far from the path as weeds covered every open space where the paths where not. In the weeds were poison ivy and itch weed. So falling into that could have been very unpleasant indeed. I enjoyed the position of the castle. The castle was only approachable from one side. The other three sides were situated on the cliffs of the mountain. I thoroughly enjoyed walking around in the castle ruins. It reminded me of the days I spent exploring castles in Scotland.

Imposing walls and gate

Stunning

Not much is left of the castle as you can probably see. But I much prefer this type of castle than the castle that I will be seeing tomorrow. Neuschwanstein is just too clean and pristine (because it was built in the 1800's). This is where I belong.