Oh, the Alps!

Today was our "rest day" after driving all over and sightseeing for the last 3 days. I think we needed it... we slept in till 9:30am and had a leisurely morning of cooking breakfast and making plans for the day. We finally decided where to go for a hike but it took a ridiculous amount of time! We kept staring our the window at the rain and it didn't motivate us to move very fast!

In a break in the rain, we took off less than 5 miles down the road to the town of Mutters to hike up to Muttereralm. Basically, it is a hut at the top of a cable car which is also one of the many ski areas around here. There was a small amount of residual snow in the shady areas. The cable car, unfortunately does not start running until June so nothing was open up there... it was just us and the fog.

On our way up, we did get some beautiful view of the Inn River Valley. This is a view of Innsbruck... you can see the river running through the town nestled at the very bottom of the valley.

Self-portrait on our hike up the hill! The clouds kept rolling by at about the height we were hiking so, even when it wasn't raining, it was a very damp hike. It was also a fairly challenging hike. After some calculations, we figured it was about a 2100 foot elevation gain (700 meters). The hike took us just under 2 hours.

A picture of our trail winding through the trees. It was nicely marked with yellow sign posts as well as these red and white markers (they are the Austrian flag!). Some of the trail was also on gravel roads but this was the prettiest area. One thing we wondered was... why did we go to an area with similar weather to home? This hike totally could have taken place in the Cascades about this time of year! Chet says it is because it is more of a challenge to order food here... oh and the whole different culture thing!

This was the hut/restaurant up at the top... at Muttereralm. Of course, it wasn't open due to being in between seasons but we enjoyed a snack and a little shelter under the eve of the building. It looks like it would have a spectacular view on a clear day and the restaurant looked very cute inside! Maybe we'll have to come back some day.

This was from the area where we parked our car for the hike. It was just above the town Mutters. Amazingly, despite being rainy and foggy for our entire hike, when we got back down to the bottom of the trail, the sun was shining and we could see across Mutters to Innsbruck in the distance. The small towns like Mutters and the one we are staying in, Axams, are all up on a plateau above the bottom of the valley... so they are actually above the town of Innsbruck. It gives a somewhat layered sense of towns and a great view from higher up of the scattered villages throughout the valley!

Finally we post a picture of our car! It seemed like a good time since we continue to get it dirty with our adventures. Our little Mercedes-Benz with an equally little motor. It has been wonderful getting us from place to place. The only down side is that gas is expensive here... about 1.20 euros per liter (calculated about $6 a gallon). Makes me not want to complain about gas prices back at home!

The building to the right of the picture with the flowering cherry tree out front is our "home" for the week... Hotel Schloesslhof. It has been a great place to have as a base camp. And, as you can see, the mountains are within view. We are on the other side of the building but still a nice view of the hills.

This may have been one of our most exciting surprises of the day! We were searching online for a restaurant near our hotel and came across one that was half way up the hill to Axam Lizum (probably about 3-5 miles away up a windy mountain road). It said Gastof Andelhof was a family-run country inn-type place with typical Tirolean type food. Tirol is the region in which we are currently staying. So, with clearer skies than we have had all week, we took off up the hill to this restaurant and also had some great views. The picture is actually of a chapel next to the restaurant with a view of the mountains of Axam Lizum in the background. Axam Lizum was used for Olympic events when the winter Olympics where in Innsbruck in the 60s and 70s.

Oh... as for the food... we must say that is was amazing! The place was so comfortably decorated, we were nearly the only ones in there, and the flavors were exceptional. We definitely would go there again!

As the sun was setting, we drove the rest of the way up to Axam Lizum to get a better view of the mountains... but the ones behind us from the valley were the most exceptional looking. It was a good end to a good day.

Here are the mountains looking down into the valley. What I love is that you can see the place where we ate dinner... in this picture it is on the green hill on the right of the foreground. Talk about a place with an exceptional view to go with good food.

Now we are just relaxing as we prepare to wake up early for another day of driving tomorrow. I can't believe that it has almost been a week since we left home!

Much love, Brianne