Darmstädter Hütte

After a late night at the mountain film festival, we weren't in a rush to get out the door Friday morning. At 11 Andreas (Herr Birkl) came home from work, picked up Christoph and I, and pointed the car up the Moosthal towards Darmstädter Hütte.

The sun breaking through

Komstanzer Hütte Hike

I have heard about the amazing hiking in the alps, but want really prepared for the past two days. Based from the Birkl's house in St Anton am Arlberg, we have hiked both days to the south side of the valley for some wunderschön views.

Buckley the Wandering Bison visits the Alps

Into the Alps

I'm currently camped out at Gästehaus Kolp in the Dorf (village) of St Jakob, at the edge of the ski town St Anton. My friend Christoph from Graz invited me to come stay, and it is his parents who have the house. I woke up in my own apartment with rugged mountain peaks scraping the tips of the window frames.
Despite wet weather yesterday, I couldn't wait to go out hiking. The closest trail was literally out the front door and so well signed I didn't even need a map.

Coming out of the forest and onto the Alm

Getting Lost, Tomatoes, andTwirling Ladies in Dirndl

*I think I fixed the problem with commenting, so go ahead and give it a try! Thanks to Cait for pointing it out to me!*

I arranged to go to a crossfit gym Sunday evening and get my first workout in since Göteborg, but for the second time I found myself of the edge of the map and unable to find my desired destination. I was off the U-bahn with 20 minutes to get to class and two missed lefts and an hour later I was on a bus back to the Ostbahnhof (train station), defeated.

And then I noticed the festivities happening across the street. 

All Things Technical

Knowing that Sundays are rather quiet in the German speaking world, I planned ahead to spend today in the Deutsches museum. It was amazing. Airplane and engines and boats and U-1 and mines and metal and printing, glass, instruments, ceramics... It took me nearly 5 hours to do a quick walkthrough. Here are just a few pictures...

The approach: crossing the Isar to the museum island

zu Fuss (pt 2)

After my great show success in the morning, I decided to do something I should have done the day before and go on a guided walking tour of the city. I have a pretty good map in my head by now for orienting myself geographically, but a tour is a way to orient oneself historically.

zu Fuss (pt 1)

I destroyed my Reebok Nanos in the washing machine yesterday (the internet said machine washing them was a good idea!), which meant one of my first priorities this morning was shoes. I've had my eye on some Merrell Bare Access Arc 3s for weeks, but amazon delivered them a few hours too late before I left Seattle, then Sweden only had them up to size 40 (I'm a 41... how do those tall girls have such small feet?).
Desperate for shoes, I was ready to but the bright yellow shoes at Karstadt Sport when I walked past Schuster and decided to give them a look. It's a Bavarian REI! and they had my shoes, in multiple colors, in my size. Boom.
I tried on all variations on the Merrell shelf, from the ones I looked to the trail model (Gore Tex!), and did a little ruin through the bottom level of the store in each. All the while stumbling through a conversation with the store's show guy in broken German.
I finally picked out my pair and went to the Kassa to pay. The guy who helped me was laughing telling his coworkers about the girl who insisted on jogging in all the shoes.
That's me, the crazy girl. At least my feet are happy!

Wieder in Deutschland

It felt a little word getting off the plane in München. I was sad to leave Sweden and unsure whether I'd feel at home in Germany after being away for 3 years. There was culture and language, reflexes that I don't use in the states.
I walked from the train station to my hostel at Göteplatz and checked in for the night. My roommates were two pairs of Australian girls on extended travel. I got organized and wandered to eis and Theresienwiesen, which I will revisit with a few million other people in a few weeks.

They're getting ready for us, Anne, John, and Erin!

west coast, best coast

One of the things I like best about traveling is seeing where and how my friends live. Over the past several days I have had the privilege of staying with Maria in Göteborg, Sweden's second city. It's home to Volvo and Ericsson, a center for trade and industry in a 18th century wrapper. The city itself is beautiful and I would recommend a visit to anyone to enjoy art, hiking, sailing, history, manufacturing... Just about anyone can find something to do here! But what had made the city come alive to me is the people.

Post-swim, the wind blown look. It was actually warmer than the sea at home!

Stockholm

Stockholm, my first experience of Scandinavia. I don't know what it is exactly, but there is something wonderful about this country. There seems to be a sort of warmth and kindness in every person I've met here.  Maybe it started when I went to the airport to get into town. The bespectacled man behind the information desk confirmed that I was "youth" (25-), suggested that I save a few SEK and take the bus with a youth fare, and directed me to the bus stop.

I woke up on a 747.

Leaving Amsterdam after such a short visit was a little strange, but I don't think the city took it personally.

I knew I'd be getting in late to ARN (Stockholm airport), so I booked the closest hostel I could find ahead of time. Just a quick jump on the free shuttle bus and i was there. It also happened to be the most unique hostel I've ever stayed in.

Rijksmuseum

I was going to call this "Amsterdam blitz," but have to be honest. Really I went into town to see the museum that was being renovated last time I was here. Dutch masters +history + a boats and arm collections, I was sold. 

This beautiful building was completely covered in scaffolding last time!

Hiking in the Gorge

This last weekend I got a course in "Back Country Backpacking 101" from my sister, who's been on 4 "Walkabouts" as part of her student life training at George Fox. It was storming in Sisters (our original target), so we headed up the Columbia River Gorge to Eagle Creek instead.

http://www.oregon.com/recreation/hike-eagle-creek

Olympic Weekend, Day 2

We woke up on Sunday morning to a world entirely different from the one we fell asleep in. Our sunny beach was gone, socked in completely with fog. We cooked sausage over the Coleman grill, then packed up and turned our wheels back to Highway 112, turning onto 113 to take 101 back to Port Angeles. Our one stop on the way was at Lake Crescent. We decided that we're coming back some day to hike in this area!

Surveying Lake Crescent