26 February 2008

Hiking Madness



Hello everybody!

Sorry I haven't been updating the blog as regularly as before. I was preparing to move into the temporary flat before, but now I'm here and settled. Now I'm waiting on my language school materials to show up so I can start learning German again in earnest. I'm really looking forward to that. When I get good enough, I can start doing odd jobs to support myself and fund my travels. Not to mention the fact that I can maybe meet some people then. I do pretty good on my own, but I won't lie: it would be nice to sit and have a beer with someone, or to have someone to hang out with from time to time. Especially if they're into music.

My friend Vinnie asked me what a typical day is for me here. Well, I get up between 7-9, have a few cups of coffee and watch "Malcolm In The Middle", "Scrubs" and "Quiz Taxi". Then I usually go to the internet cafe to sort out some bullshit debacle with my bank or whatnot. By the time I have that sorted out, and check my emails, the power is usually drained on my laptop so I go back to the flat to drop it off.
Then, I either go to the market, have lunch or go on a hike or bike ride. There is no shortage of trails and bike paths here, that's for sure.
Then I chill at the flat, watch "Die Simpsons", have some dinner and either go for a walk, call people back home, or watch TV I can't understand until bedtime, which is between 10-12 lately.

It's pretty hard to fill up the days sometimes. That's why I'm really looking forward to starting language courses and getting on the internet. Still working on my visa. I need my proof of insurance and a letter from the school and I'm done! Then I will be official and I can start setting up services.

Anyway, Sunday I went on a super long hike. I meant to go up to Schwarzenburg but I couldn't find the path so I took the path to the castles. It was fun because it was a pretty high trail so I could see a lot of the surrounding landscape and the multiple lakes. I threw a rock down at one point and it took a solid 5 seconds for it to reach the bottom.
By the time I got to the castles, I'd been walking/hiking for 3 hours straight. Then I had to walk back, but not before having a beer and a sandwich. I was exhausted. It was one of the more difficult hikes I've taken since I've been here. A lot of rocky terrain and twisty trails.


*break*

Just took a walk to Austria. Heh heh, ain't that a trip? And it only took me 30 minutes.



Along the way I walked past this farm and there were a couple of goats in the front yard. I was a little worried as I walked past them. I kept remembering episodes of "America's Funniest Home Videos" in which they'd be ramming people or dragging little kids across the yard. Then I pictured myself on the show "Uppps!" (which is suprise, suprise, the German version of AFHV) But they left me alone.



Here are some more photos from a walk last week. I found these little strange ice formations in a stream on the way to the Alatsee:




And here's the Alatsee. Unfortunately, it was frozen. Oh, and again, there were strange noises coming from the ice! And that's what it is: I'm sure now. There are large cracks, and the water shift, causing the huge slabs to rub up against one another. But the sound is really scary! I would NOT want to be next to that lake at night. I would probably freak out. It sounded like a giant moaning in pain.



Then a few days after that I rode to Bannwaldsee, which wasn't much to see, but was a nice ride. Very nice and peaceful, full of rolling plains next to little streams and over tiny bridges, in clear sight of Neuschwanstein for a big part of the ride.




And these are from yet another walk I took up the path that goes behind the house I'm at. Apparently they practice for ski-jumping here:



These are from the beginning of Sunday's long, exhausting hike:










And finally, I made comments available now. (I was wondering why nobody ever said anything...) I was very pleased to hear that a few of you keep up with the blog. I should be updating it more regularly now that things are getting more settled. Little by little, that is.

(Dammit, it still isn't showing comments. Shit!)