Wandern in Österreich

Wandern (v): to hike or ramble about

On Sunday I went with Stephan and Lara for a hike. We drove for about 2 hours south into Austria (Österreich) to hike in the Alps. It was a great day, a nice hike, and it didn't rain on us. Although it was pretty cloudy.
http://www.tannheimer-bergbahnen.at/site.php

On our way to the top. So excited!! Lara was excited too, really she was.




Dark, dark clouds over the mountains.





Lara and I felt a little like Heidi up here. I even saw two little girls hiking around in matching red and white Dirndl's with their hair in braids. Not joking. Pretty cute. And you could hear the cattle bells on the hill sides.

Looking up to the very top!


And looking down.

Lots and lots of paragliders leaving from the top here.


So sweet!!




Taking a break.





At the end we drove out to the lake. It was too much to do the hike out here with Lara. Although she was great the whole way. It was a great day hiking with her! I know she was very tired by the end and her feet were hurting, but she was fantastic, and singing the whole way down the mountain :)


K.

Heat Wave

So, after I decided to stop taking my German classes I sort of struggled with what to do with myself all day. I'll admit that I miss not having work or some kind of organized activity but luckily I'm pretty good at entertaining myself and somehow I fell into a kind of routine, including things to do here at the house, as well as getting out and enjoying Stuttgart and the weather.
Well, somewhere I've lost all of that!

Today I woke up at eleven thirty and yesterday I didn't even leave the house!! Now granted I was awake from three until five thirty last night and I don't usually sleep until noon, but it made me realize that I need my schedule back. I can't live, and sleep, like I'm always on holiday!

The fact is that lately the heat here is an issue, even if I can't continue to use that as my excuse. I am someone who loves summer, I love the sun, I love getting my tan on! But this heat seriously has me running for the shade and more often than not, cowering inside. In Seattle we don't have this kind of heat, not for this long. And I am definitely not used to being in this kind of heat and not being able to escape to the water. Not to mention that not having a car here means that the minute you leave the house to go anywhere, you are at the mercy of the sun. In the news just the other day, the air conditioning in one of the trains broke and people went to the hospital after the temperature in the train rose to 50!!! (that's like 120 degrees!)

Somehow I've got to find my routine again. Somehow I've got to get back to a normal sleeping pattern, and get myself out of the house during the day. And somehow, I've got to survive this heat!!

I think I'm already formulating a plan.....

Where's the Kaija?

Tonight as I put Lili to bed we read "Wo ist Mami?" A story in which a little monkey searches for his Mamma with the help of a not very helpful butterfly. They end up finding all the other kinds of animals in the jungle until finally they find the Papa.....and then of course, Mami. At the end I said something to Lili about how now the Papa, Mami and baby were all together. "Aber, wo ist die Kaija?" she asked.