Munich Day Trip - hiking in Kufstein (Austria)

We've previously blogged about our winter sledding day-trip to Kufstein in Austria.  It's close to Munich, has beautiful mountain views, and of course hiking up and sledding down.  Perfect for a Saturday or Sunday.

I will be taking Frau A back this summer too, because it only gets better.  Snow is nice, but now we'll get the classic fir trees and meadow flowers in the Tirolean Alps.  Pictured below, I'm looking back north onto the mountains of the Wilder Kaiser which are actually located in Germany.  The trail has a lot of nice viewpoints like this, looking down into the valley and small village below.  Shorts are fine for hiking here when the weather is good; I take a fleece for when the sun hides or wind comes up at altitude, and water in the backpack until we reach the hut.

Further along the path you get a more extended view of the valley, again the Wilder Kaiser in the distance, and a small river running through the town now.  I think this water eventually connects with the Isar on it's way to Munich.  As the sun burns off the morning haze the peaks get a little sharper in the distance.  Nice view. 

 

This time, before reaching a hut, we go up to a peak called the Pendling Gipfelkreuz (gipfel = peak and kreuz = cross).  Not a really high destination relative to most in the Alps, but feels great to be on top.  The fleece is off at this point - worked up a sweat on the last incline.  Even changed baseball hats!

Not far from the summit is the Pendlinghaus (also known as Kufsteiner Haus, see the yellow sign above the door), another typical hut that offers food and drink to hikers.  The sign in the foreground says "wilkommen" -- welcome.  Now if you look closely at the antenna on the house, you'll see a glider behind it!  The pilot was circling around for over a half-hour and would zoom past the house, so I was able to snap the photo just as he passed my field of view.  On the right, you can see the same valley as the previous photogtraph.  That's the view when you have lunch here.  And you can rent a room for overnight too!  But I didn't eat here, because I wanted to get back to the hut from our winter hike, the Kala Alm.

So I headed back toward the Kala Alm, where we rented the sleds in winter.  It was in the Spring, and some peaks still had their snowcap.  In this direction we are seeing the Tirolean Alps vs. the Wilder Kaiser range in the previous photos.  They are a little larger and more dramatic.

When you arrive at the Kala Alm, it looks basically the same this time, just no snow.  People outside having food and drink, enjoying the weather... but then you notice something.  They can't rent sleds without snow, but they can rent Mountaincarts!  There's a whole row of them on the right below.  (Actually, you can still see some residual snow too, the last remnants of winter up here.)

A mountain cart is like a Big Wheel for grown-ups.  German (Austrian?) engineered, they are not powered (gravity is all you need, and more) but the do have two hand brakes like on a bicycle.  The right brake works the right rear wheel, the left brake the left rear wheel.  Therefore, they're not just for reducing speed, but to help navigate the winding corners of the path down.  When you slightly brake a wheel, it rotates more slowly than the other wheel does, therefore your cart will turn in that direction.  Brake a little with the right, you will will get a little help turning right.  The best riders use this to literally "skid" through the corners.  It is so much fun.

The two photos above are taken from (and link to) a site with more Mountaincart information.  I was too busy having fun to take photos of my own.  However, Frau A and I will be back and try to take some video too! 

Vienna - Schoenbrunn and schoenes Essen

Not long ago, Frau A and I took a weekend trip to Vienna.  This time, instead of driving (like to Stuttgart), we decided to take the train.  The ride itself is about 4 hours and 20 minutes.  At this distance, the door-to-door time is just about equal with flying (but still a little cheaper, when you factor in the ride to the airport).  We could have driven in slightly less time, but the train was more relaxing and no traffic jams.

We all learned about the Austro-Hungarian Empire in school, but still it is easy to forget just how close Vienna is to Hungary and the Czech Republic (probably because you think of Austira as part of the modern German language block.  In fact, there is a boat that travels along the Danube to Bratislava, Slovakia in just over an hour.  (next time...)

One of the most popular tourist destinations in Vienna is Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens.  It was very cold that day in February, so we spent an abbreviated time snapping photos of the palace and grounds.  In comparison with sites in Munich like the Nymphenburg Palace, Schoenbrunn has a much more regal and powerful feel -- it was the home of the Habsburgs and center of power in its time.

Here I caught Frau A taking photos of the front gate.  It was a blustery day, so I used the Olympus "dramatic tone" filter to increase contrast and give the picture more punch.

We took a short tour of the palace (of course, a very vary small part -- it's enormous... wonder what the other thousands of square meters are used for?).  For a moment, the sun was hitting the back of the palace nicely, and the colors came out beautifully.  That's Frau A again on the right, snapping her own pics.  Again, perhaps not as ornate as other palaces, but has a really large presense.  Impressive.

You see the balcony in the above photo?  This is the back of the palace, facing the gardens.  From here, you get a nice view of the grounds -- massive scene.  This was the end of winter, so things were a bit gray and muted, but you might imagine what it could be in the spring a summer.  I also particularly like the structure on the hill at the far end.  It looks like a mystical site in a fantasy movie.

  

Again, since it was mostly an overcast day (except the few minutes for the photo of the back of the palace above, where skies magically cleared) I took the opportunity to use the "dramatic tone" art filter again and caught sun streaming through the clouds.  Nice otherworldly effect.

After hours on your feet walking around the palace and gardens, you need some good food (schoenes essen) and we definitely found that.  No, we did not go the Hotel Sacher and get the famous sachertorte.  However we did have Wiener Schnitzel and Zwiebelrostbraten at the "12 Apostles Cellar".  The building has been around since 1339 and it's known for traditional Austrian cuisine.  We also had the local "double malt" beer to go with the dishes.  As expected, it was a bit sweeter than a typical Munich helles, but the malt was roasted more darkly and it had a nice, complex flavor.

Later in the weekend, we enjoyed some goulash -- no, not the soup but yes, this is a Hungarian dish leftover from the empire.  It's hung around because it's good.  The meat is falling-apart tender, and the paprika-rich sauce is fantastic.  And we washed it down with more local beer.  Notice that these glasses are different than the Munich maß. They're more squat - shorter and wider - but still give you a half-liter.  The most common Viennese beer is the märzen, like the beer server at Oktoberfest.  A little darker and sweeter than the standard Munich helles.  Excellent.

        

Yes, those are two shots of local schnapps in front of the beer.  Cultural research, you know.

Despite skipping the sachertorte, we did indulge in two other Vienna classics:  apfelstrudel and chocolate truffel torte.  Sooooo good.  There are so many nice cafes in Vienna, and they all have a selection of sweets like these.

         

We have more photos, and more thoughts to post about Vienna... but we really can't wait to return.  A great weekend getaway from home base in Munich.

Munich Day Trip - Pertisau / Achensee (Austria)

At my prior company, we had an annual weekend retreat in Pertisau, Austria.  It's really a classic destination for Germans and Austrians:  in the gorgeous Alps, lots of "Sporthotels" to stay in (focus on healthy/organic food, have a good spa, mountain bikes to rent, etc.), petting zoos and park playgrounds for the kids... colleagues brought their families along each year and it was a real highlight.

Pertisau is a bit more than 90 minutes from Munich, with good traffic.  (That's another future post - parts of the autobahn have no speed limit, but good luck taking adantage with the crowds.)  Like many trips near Munich, Pertisau is located in the Tirol section of Austria.  Tirol has 2 primary mountain ranges:  the Karwendel and the Rofan (also called the Brandenbergs).  They're the quintessential peaks for hiking in summer and skiing in winter.  In the area around Achensee (Lake Achen) they have over 200km of cross country skiing trails and over 500km of well-marked hiking trails!  Plus, they maintain 12 live webcams to try and temp you into a day trip or holiday.

Here is Pertisau on Google Maps:

Below is the hotel where my old company put us up for the weekend.   Nice, right?  Green Alpine meadow, gray limestone cliffs, and blue skies.  The rooms (no photo) are typically utilitarian, with modest size, hard beds, a tiny television (they expect you're not there to watch the tube), and usually a small balcony.  Most guests get up early for vacationers - tables are pretty full for breakfast by 6:30!  If the sun is up, they want to be outside.

Obviously my visits there were in the Summer, which means hiking.  The path we took climbs from about 1100m to 1400m and takes 1.5 hours one way.  It's graded as "easy" so you see a lot of families with children.  Along the way, we saw a group a cows that looked like they came right from a tourist brochure.  My colleague went over to say hello.  Notice also the tiny flowers.  It is such a stereotype, but the Alpine meadows are picturesque.

As you get higher and round the corner to see the lake again, the view gets good.  The Achensee water is especially colorful (it's mainly glacial runoff), and the peaks in the back are very close.  The hotel is sitting the tiny valley below.  Many folks prefer to hit the beaches along the lake or even sail, but over a week you could do something different every day.



One thing I did not (and never have) done is paragliding, but I saw a lot of paragliders here and caught this guy on camera.  You also notice a small lookout over the lake with people resting, watching the paragliders.  This is definitely on my shortlist -- they say the updrafts here are strong enough but not too unpredictable or violent.

The destination, as usual, was a hut (and a little higher for a nice view).  The "menu" is typically Austrian:  cold cuts and bread, goulash soup, wurst and potato salad, and of course water/beer/juices.  There are a lot of huts on the trails, but we stopped at the Dalfaz Alm (see photo below).

For kids, one of the highlights is pigs that the hut keeps.  Here is my co-worker again, this time interacting with the pigs - who are eagerly sharing his banana.

Speaking of animals, the other things I love to see is people hiking with their dogs.  A couple brought along their pair of Huskies.  The summer heat can be tough on them, but at altitude (even only 1500m) it's more pleasant for these guys.

Well, that's a brief view of the opportunities that Pertisau / Achensee provides.  Check it out, or look at other options for an Austrian getaway in any season.

Munich Day Trip - hiking the Plumsjoch (Austria)

One of the "funnest" books I've found in Munich is called "Bergtouren für Langschläfer".  Translated, it means "Hiking Tours for those that sleep in"!  Müncheners take advantage of the near-by Alps year round - for hiking and skiing especially.  Since the mountains are so close, somebody wrote a book that tells people how to get good hikes in without having to wake up early on the weekend.  There is a similar book for skiing.

 
In this case, the hike is to the Plumsjoch.  The drive is about 1 hour and 45 minutes, so you reach the Tyrolean Alps but can get there, have fun, and get back in the same day.  Here is Plumsjoch in relation to Munich, courtesy Google Maps.  Almost directly south, just across the border into Austria.

A typical day-hike will take 1.5-3 hours to get to the destination, there will be at least one hut where you can get food and drink (proabaly stay an hour), and then last 1-2 hours back down.  That's a total of 3-6 hours.  Sometimes the hut is the destination, other times you go to the top of a small peak and visit the hut on the way up or down.  Add in a 1.5 hours each way, and you have a nice, full day (and will sleep well that evening!)

The Plumsjoch path starts at about 1000m of elevation.  Here's a photo about 20 minutes from the trailhead.  Starts out nice and green --  lots of groundwater available and below the timberline.

Now we're getting closer to the peaks.  You can seel the trail behind me - we've already covered much of the 600+ meter ascent to the hut.  The linear distance is probably 8 kilometeres, for a round trip of 16km or more.  It takes between 1.5 and 2 hours to get there, depending on the number and duration of stops along the way.  There is one stretch where thigs get a little steep, but it is mostly a nice, consistent slope.

Now we really get a view.  After rounding a corner of the trail we can see down into the valley below.  It's chilly, even in the summer at above 1800m, so I usually hike in a t-shirt and bring a fleece for when I stop moving.  Apfelschorle (apple juice mixed with sparkling water) and food at the hut is soooo close...

The trails in Austria are well marked - usually with a spray-painted Austrian flag!  They have a government service (as does Germany) that marks the trails, preserves/maintains them, and of course rescues people when needed!  At this point, I put a long sleeve shirt over the t-shirt.  Without the right combination of no-wind and sun, I wanted the extra layer.  It came off quickly again when the sun got brighter and I got moving.  The photo is not that great, but you can see some wildflowers popping out.  It's what makes the Alps so nice.

Finally, here we are.  The Plumsjochhütte.  It doesn't look like much, but it's pretty hard to build and keep a hut at 1630 meters!  Sun, snacks, and drinks, then ready to head back down.  (Or... you can stay overnight if you book ahead!  It is part of a longer hut-to-hut hiking trail that you can take for over a week.)  Notice that some people rode mountain bikes up.  Not all Alpine paths are bike accessible, but the Plumsjoch is wide and not-rocky enough to work well.  Very popular with that crowd.  Overall, it's a great hike for families, adventurous but not hard-core walkers, and of course late sleepers.

Munich Day Trip - sledding in Kufstein (Austria)

We've posted already about example skiing day trips from Munich, but sledding is an option too -- particularly if there are non-skiiers in your group, or perhaps a few knees recovering from the latest ski wipe out, or maybe you just want to try something different.

One of my favorite destinations for sledding is Kufstein in Austria.  Here it is on Google Maps.  It's just across the border from Germany -- and just a little more than an hour in the car.  There is a small lake call Thiersee nearby, not visible at this map level, that is available for winter/summer sports too.

 

There are some destinations where you can take a ski lift up, and then sled down, but that's not very German/Austrian.  Half the fun is the hike up, plus it's good for you and makes the ride down all the more rewarding.  Frau A took this photo of me on the hiking trail, on the way to the Kala Alm (an Alpine hut).  This was about 10 in the morning, with fresh snow and strong sunshine already.  The path alternates between woods like this and open fields.

Here is Frau A in one of the open spaces, the benefit obviously is getting a great panorama of the surrounding peaks.  In total, the snow is probably 2 feet deep, with the top fresh layer being so soft that she steps in almost up to her boot top.  We've been ascending for a good 40 minutes at this point, and she's opened the jacket to cool down!

The ascent takes about 1-1.5 hours total, rising over 400 meters and covering more than 6km.  You can continue past the hut to higher elevations and great views, but this was our goal on that day.  It was so sunny at this point that many people took their jackets off!  We're at the end of the second table, enjoying a snack and some apfelschorle or local beer.

When you're ready, the hut will rent you a sled - three euros if I remember correctly.  The sledding path is actually a road that is not used in winter, so it's just for sledders & hikers.  The great thing is:  now that you've ascended so high, the ride down is almost 10 minutes long!  You can really get going too, and risk takers will wipe out!

    

We didn't take any video (next time!) but here is a YouTube movie from the same sledding path.  Notice how you have to steer around people hiking back up!

It was a great day trip for everyone, and thanks to 30+ friends from Toytown Germany for joining us!

Photoblog - Vienna (City Tour)

Frau A and I went to Vienna in February.  It's just far enough to feel like you've escaped, but the trip is not too taxing.  Around 4 hours by car, a little more by train... you could fly from Munich (less than an hour in the air) but the trips to the airport are almost not worth it.

During our weekend in Vienna, Frau A and I took the city "circle" tour on a bus.  It's cliched, but actually a great way to quickly get oriented in a new city, and to see some of the interesting sites (and then decide which ones to see in detail the following day).

We boarded a train from the stop near the hotel, and headed towards the inner city.  Some trams look more modern than the ones in Munich, and almost have the curves of, dare I say it, a ski gondola.  It is Austria after all.

We arrived near the Opera Haus, from where the buses depart.  This is one of the largest Opera Houses in Europe, completed in 1869 and then rebuilt from the original neo-renaissance plans after the World War II.

It wasn't originally very popular with the Viennese -- the initial reception was so bad that one of the two architects comitted suicide, and the other suffered a fatal heart attack (Wikipedia always has the good news for me).  Nevertheless, they did decide to restore it like the original (with just a little modernization), and it's an accepted part of the city today. 

Unfortunately, because it was winter, the fountain on the side of the Opera Haus was boarded up.  (All the ones in Munich are, too.)  But it still is a common place for people to gather, and for the companies to sell tour and concert tickets to tourists.  We didn't capture them on film, but guys in traditional outfits roam this sidewalk accosting tourists, trying to sell event tickets.

One of the downsides to a bus tour is that it's not a great environment for photography.  The bus windows are pretty clean, but there is always a little grime on them.  Plus there are glare & reflections to deal with.  (Murphy's law:  when there's something interesting to film, the bus is moving and you're getting jolted around....when you're stopped at a red light, it's in front of McDonald's.)

We did get a few photos that are share-worthy...  The one below is the St. Francis of Assisi Church, also known as the Jubilee church (celebrating the reign of Emperor Franz Josef).  Unusually, it is located outside of the old city and close to the modern quarter.

We were then driven by the Austrian Parlaiment building, and decided to come back later on foot.  The streetcar/tram lines obstruct the view a bit, but you can definitely see the greek-style columns -- it was designed this way to reinforce the idea of democracy (completed in 1883).  The two houses sit here, and it's quite practical:  the Austrians include meeting lobbies, a gym, and of course multiple bars for their representatives.

Still on foot now, we're heading towards the Rathaus from the Parliament.  You'll see a lot of horse and buggy tours in Vienna, and it's easy to understand the romantic appeal.  The fence here surrounds the grounds to the Hofburg Palace, which we did not get a nice photo of... the bus didn't work for us and we didn't have a chance to walk by again later.  Ugh!  Check the link to Wikipedia or Google images, it's really quite impressive.

 

Finally we arrive at the Rathaus.  The building is so large that we tried my new wide-angle lens and had to keep it at the widest setting:  18mm!  Completed in 1833 in gothic style, the Rathaus seats the Burgermeister (mayor) and city council.  It has a pretty nice restaurant too, serving traditional Viennese food.  The park in front has events year round, and hosted the Vienna Ice Dream when we were there -- a blog post unto itself!

Overall, we definitely recommend taking the bus tour around the city, then pick your spots to come back to.  You'll need more than a weekend for Vienna, but it's a start.

Ski Trips - St. Jakob in Defereggental (the Funpark!)

In a previous post, we showed briefly the skiing in St. Jakob in Defereggental (Austria).  A little further than most skiiers in Munich will drive, but wide open slopes and short lines make it a relaxing alternative to the crowded mountains closer to big cities.

Another especially interesting dimension of Defereggental is the "Funpark".  This is basically a long, broad slope that has ramps, jumps, and other possibilities for trick skiing.  Think of your local skateboard halfpipe area at the park - this is the skiing version.  You have to go to a specific lift for it -- the arrow on the map shows you where it's located on the slopes.

This is a pair of good sized snow jumps.  I would see a bunch of snowboarders and skiiers (see the double tracks?) try them, although conservatively.  I tried a jump like this at a different Funpark and fell back on my butt - you have to lean forward more than you'd think. I would see a lot of snowboarders resting uphill from the jumps with their buddies, perhaps getting up the nerve to kick off and tackle the jumps.

Expecially for the snowboarders, St. Jakob has installed skateboard-like handrails to jump up and slide down.  Here you can approach from the right or the left.  I actually saw a skiier do this one!  He was one of those Austrian teenagers that has probably been skiing since he was three years old.  I saw him all day, and he would ski down the easy slopes going backwards, so this guy had chops. 

This one was almost exclusively used by snowboarders.  Maybe because of the curve?  It would theoretically be possible to do this with skiis, right?  You can see a lot of snowboard tracks to the left of the ramp, where people changed their minds at the last minute and changed course to go right of the ramp. 

I didn't see anyone try this particular prop while I was taking the lifts.  But I think it's cool that they installed an entire stairway in the slopes, and am guessing that when the hard-core snowboarders are out there that this is used quite a bit.  I want to see three guys board down this at the same time, one on each section!  It's funny that you can see footprints on the left - did someone wipe out and head back up for another go?

 

Finally, there was this monster jump.  HUGE.  I thought about taking this veeeeery slowly, but chickened out.  Look at the right side of the ramp and you'll see ski marks about halfway up - that come diagonally down from right to left.  These people, like me, started approaching this towering pile of snow and changed their minds, swerving to the left and cutting across the side of the ramp rather than over it!  I did see some people do this, and a professional photographer taking photos.  I'll look for them on the next brochure.  Cool. dude.