Trains and Mountains

I can’t believe it’s June already! We are halfway through our trip…woke up really missing my family, friends, and dogs.

We slept in Munich last night, and left about 8:30 this morning for Innsbruck, Austria. Our classmates went back to Munich, but Mark and I are continuing on our own from here, so we packed our bags this morning and brought them to Innsbruck with us. We put them in a locker at the Innsbruck train station so we wouldn’t have to carry them around all day.

Innsbruck is known for being a winter sports town. Its nickname is the Capital of the Alps. The Winter Olympics have been held here twice. As you can imagine, it is very beautiful.

Since we were leaving early, we didn’t have much time- we basically popped in and out. We took the bus to a cable car lift and rode the car up the mountain. We thought the cable cars might hold four or so people, but it is more like thirty. We took the cable car to the midway point and briefly looked around- we were more rushed than the class since our train left early.

As we were looking around, I noticed Mark wasn’t wearing the bag he had been this morning- the bag he left in Salzburg on Friday that still had our passports in it...so I asked him where it was. His eyes got really big and he quickly turned on his heel and took off in a sprint. Hahaha! Luckily they took it off the cable car and the guard had it, so it was no problem. I'm happy to say that the passports are now in my bag.


We went as high as the cable cars would take us, and then took a very short hike to the summit. As we rounded a corner on our hike, we came across some wild sheep/goat/llama things! Haha, I don’t know what they actually were, but it was magical to come across these animals. WE CAME ACROSS WILD ANIMALS IN THE ALPS!!!!! How often does that happen?? It was almost unreal. They were tagged so they must be tracked somehow, but I have to think they’re wild- who would farm animals at the top of the Alps? One was very friendly and came right up to me, but he was the only one who liked me. It was an awesome moment; one of my favorite on the trip so far.

From there we continued on, mostly just taking in the views. It was so beautiful. I wish I had a panoramic camera to capture it better. The summit we hiked had a cross at the very top. I have no idea why it was there or what it was from, but it was very cool. And appropriate- I can’t help but praise God at moments like this. I can feel His power and majesty and feel how very very small I am. Here’s a picture of the cross from the top and from a few hundred feet down.

And some pictures of the beautiful Alps, including my signature handstand pic:

Throughout our trip, we have often relied on friendly strangers to help us out. We have been impressed by how eager to help most people have been, sometimes without us even asking. We know very little German- we can say ‘Can you speak English?’,’ We don’t speak German’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, etc. Something funny happened today. We were taking the bus from the mountain to the train station. We knew we had a connection but weren’t sure where it was, and the driver spoke very little English. Another passenger was going the same place we were, but he also spoke very little English. He managed to lead us there using a few common words and lots of gestures. We were very thankful for his help, so as we were departing I gave him a big wave and heartfelt “Bitte!!!”, thinking I was telling him thank you….as he walked away I realized I just told him Please!!, or You’re Welcome!!! (they use the same word for both)....pretty embarrassing.

Now we are on a train on our way to Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s a 6 hour train ride with 3 changes- not so fun. We’re trying to make the best of it- we bought snacks and drinks at the last station. We have first class tickets…long story, but I thought we were required to buy them and now I’m not so sure….but the first class cars are nice so I’m not complaining. We have a private room with a door, the seats lay down, we can control the temperature, and we have outlets- none of these are available in the normal cars we’ve been using up to now. Here’s Mark:

And me, writing this very post!

It’s currently 5:40 Germany time, 10:40 Kansas City time. I won’t be able to post this for several hours…we don’t get to Interlaken until close to midnight Germany time, 5:00 KC time. We are staying in a hostel for the first time and I am excited/nervous about that. We will be there for two nights. Interlaken is one of the stops I am most looking forward to…it’s known for extreme sports! More about that tomorrow….

Update: It’s now 5:45 KC time, 12:45 Germany time. We’ve checked into our hostel. It’s interesting…it’s pretty much just a bar downstairs, and then you walk upstairs to your room. I think it has 15 rooms total. Hostels often have shared rooms, with anywhere from 4-16 to a room, but we have a private room. We have a sink in our room but not a bathroom. The bathrooms are private- each one has a toilet, sink, and shower- but they are shared by everyone on the floor. Anyway, tomorrow should be a fun day….no idea what we will do, but I’m trying to talk Mark into jumping off a cliff. I’ll let you know.