Hiking the Austrian Alps

Austrian Alps were beautiful. Surprise.
Innsbruck was our base for a few day hikes, we stayed at the Hilton courtesy of my hard earned hotel points from all the work travel over the past year. Finally Matt gets some benefit!

The first day, we decided to play lazy (we were still a bit jet lagged) and we took the cable car up to the top of the mountains right behind Innsbruck. The cable cars in Europe are expensive but they do save a lot of work. All the trails across Europe (at least the 5 countries we saw) were conveniently well signed with nice yellow signposts, pointing the way to various villages and giving hike times. We did a nice loop along a ridge, and then back down to one of the lower cable car stations. The alps are BIG. In your face. Pretty epic.

self timer. excited to be in the alps

from the cable car

Innsbruck

gliders taking off

They next day we took a little drive to the Zeller Valley. Our hike started at an amazing clear blue lake, past gazillions of waterfalls, a giant glaciated mountain and....over into Italy for lunch. Oh Europe....where you just walk over to Italy for lunch.  We loved this hike.

Bavaria. adorable.

Schlegeisstausee 

Citroen C4 Picasso...European minivan

idyllic

Austria - Salzberg & Innsbruck

Oh hey.
I'm only a month behind.

So, Europe. We had a great time. We ate lots of good food, every town was incredibly adorable, the mountains were fantastic, and we had fun meeting up with our friends again.

After a day in the United lounge in Chicago, we caught 4th of July fireworks taking off from the city and then enjoyed our Lufthansa flight to Munich. First stop was Salzburg, Austria - just a quick 2 hours away.

It was pouring when we arrived, but quickly dried out and we enjoyed an afternoon and evening just wandering the city - ate an awesome meal, climbed up a hill to a sweet castle for sunset, wandered the Sound of Music gardens, and just generally took in how adorable it was.

The next day we were off to Innsbruck, Austria, in the Tyrol Alps. We did some day hiking there, which I'll post separately. But here's a few snaps from Insbruck itself. Did I mention it was adorable too?

More Alps Backpacking

Had a great 4 days in the mountains. Zurich tomorrow and then we're headed home. 

Eiger North Face

View from last nights camp spot. Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau all lined up. Incredible. 

Swiss Alps

Having a great time. Two more days of backpacking left.

Liechtenstein & Lucerne

Morning in Liechtenstein and afternoon in Lucerne, Switzerland yesterday.

Both gorgeous. Off to meet our German friends and enjoy 4 days of backpacking around Eiger. May or may not have Internet. 

Innsbruck Alps

Lovely two days hiking in the Austrian Alps here above Innsbruck and in the Zillertal Valley. Unexpected visit to Italy today when our hike took us across the border for lunch. Off to Switzerland tomorrow for the rest of the week. 

Italy 

Salzburg arrival

Beautiful afternoon and evening in Salzburg, Austria. We're off to Innsbruck tomorrow for a few days or hiking in the Tyrol. Time for some much needed sleep.