Zugspitze - Mountain Holidays

What a view out of our hotel room for 5 nights - Germanys highest mountain "Zugspitze" seen from the Austrian side - we enjoyed the area with plenty of Mountain Sports (Biking, Hiking, Swimming, Trail running, Roller Skiing, a bit of Boating and Golfing) in perfect weather- as well as delicious food and good traditional dresses ;-)

This elk somehow got lost in the meadow - he was as surprised as we were!!!

Switzerland weekend with the Detroit Gang

This year the summer reunion of our friends happened in Switzerland. The weather was a bit wet - but who cares! We had lots of fun hiking, discover Heidiland, celebrate soccer - thanks for organizing dear Ottenbachers - looking already forward to the next trip! (see more pics of the kids on Ronja's blog)

Switzerland - Walensee

Our opening to a wonderful weekend in Switzerland was a stop for sunbathing and some braveheart swimming in Lake Walensee (water temp. 13C/56F) - one of the most beautiful lakes in the alps!

May pole celebration in Austria

On our way back from Venice we stopped in Austria - we use to go skiing here and had the opportunity to join our friends there for the May 1st celebration - when the strong men from the village lift the May pole - it took 2h til the tree was up!

Venice Weekend - with and without tourists

We had a bit of everything in Venice - first you park your car and from then on everything by foot or boat (water taxi, water bus or gondola). With the gondolas there is even a 50cent option - to cross the river - or you join the Chinese tourists for 100 Euros and get stuck in a gondola traffic jam ;-)

By foot you better stay away from the main attractions - or you squeeze yourself through too narrow streets with too many tourists - or you jog in the very early morning and see Venice like the locals do - an amazing experience - including to get lost in that maze. This city really has a special flair - we will definitely come back one day!

Trip to Venice - Overnight stop in Trento

To make our trip to Venice more pleasant we drove to Trento (5h) on Friday night - and stayed in a old villa (500 years old!) in the vineyards - what an experience - the house vine was ok, but the grappa is delicious ;-)