Bavarian Grass Products

This is me holding real live Bavarian cow dung. Thanks to my extensive Odom farm training, I took a whiff and exclaimed (with a mock French accent) "Bessie, circa September 24, with a hint of clover". 

Expect Company

When you're the only house at the top of the mountain, you'd better be expecting company. 

First Baptist, Hilltop Austria

This is a church on top of the hill. The crowds are much smaller here than they are at sea level churches. They are also way more devout. They sing short songs because they are out of breath and they don't mind long sermons, because they are glad to sit down for a while. They also don't have dinner on the grounds, since everyone would have eaten their deviled eggs long before they got there. 

After all that walking....

After all that walking, we ended up somewhere more remote than where we started. That guy in the background was saying to his girlfriend, "We walked all the way up here for this!?". But it was very nice. I was nicer to Lisa than he was to his girlfriend, mostly because I had no energy left to fight. 

Friendly Meadow

Hills are a lot friendlier when you're not chasing cows over them. 

Nice View

This is a nice view of how high up we were. The air was thin because I was out of breath from walking up here. That, or I am a little out of shape.

A perilous ride

So I was tired of hanging around in Innsbruck so Lisa says "hey, Rick Steves recommends a corkscrew drive up a mountain and a 30 minute alpine hike to a remote dairy farm". I said "cool". So we headed up the mountain. The road, while paved, was about as wide as locks creek at it's narrowest. For those of you unfamiliar with locks creek road, it is the road i grew up on, and at it's narrowest, you're losing a mirror. So this road was very narrow, straight up, no guardrails, hairpin turns and you had to pull over (perilously) to allow people to pass. I wasn't so bad since it is about like driving to the short mountain fire tower but Lisa was a little white knuckled. It was a very nice drive and I recommend it in pristine conditions.

Lisa at the rest stop

We were driving and I was a little jealous that I couldn't sit in the passenger's seat and joyride like Lisa. So we stopped at a parking area and hiked a little in the woods and came across a nice mountain stream.

The Plansee

 

Me and the "King's Sack"

 

Lisa and a Fountain

 

Lisa in the "Tunnel of Allergy"

 
 

A great view of Linderhof

This is a great view of the Linderof. This is King Ludwig's hunting lodge. We had been to this area many times but had never been out here. It was really nice and if anyone is ever in the area (south of Munich) with us, prod us to go here, even if we fight you on it like we were going to take you to graceland or something.

A tree.

This a picture of a tree. Well, not much more I can say about that. So I guess I'll tell a joke. Why didn't the man get the job as the human cannonball? He was the wrong caliber! Ha!

Me at the Mini-Mosque

The King was a great fan of Middle Eastern architecture. He saw this, bought it, and had it brought here to the Alps. He did this alot apparently which fueled comments like "I think our king is a little nutso."

The King's (not Elvis) hunting shed

This is mad king Ludwig's hunting shack. Lisa and I had been to the area many times but had never been out here. It was very nice. I don't know about you, but this is a pretty elaborate deer stand.
 

Even the King's house needs maintenance

These are apparently the King's shorty jacks.
 

You can take the girl out of Covington.....

This is Lisa eating a Charm's Blow Pop on the banks of the Rhine River. For those of you unfamiliar with a Charm's Blow Pop, it is a sucker (lollipopus suckus) with chewing gum (bubblus gumus) inside. The only place they naturally occur is in a factory in Covington, TN.

Castles Galore

There are many castles that line the Rhine.  

If this Grand Ole Opry thing doesn't work out....

Mini Perle was apparently branching out. There were little price tags hanging off of all the sandwiches they sold here.
 

If you lived here....

If you lived in this town, I would chuckle every time I sent you a letter. 

Boat City

At the "turning around" point in our Rhine river cruise, a bunch of boats stopped and anchored and we watched fireworks. It was pretty cool.
 

It is kind of cold.....

Here we are on our Rhine river cruise. This was a pretty neat cruise where you get on a boat (oddly enough) and head up (or down) the Rhine river and drink coffee, eat ice cream, listen to "Take me home, country roads" in German and look at castles. There were fireworks at the halfway(climax) of the cruise.
 

Just Horsin' Around

Here is a picture from a Jousting festival that we went to. I wasn't terribly excited about going since I am a more "futurey" kind of guy. It would have been okay if we didn't only have 20 Euro between us to spend the day and it wasn't pouring down rain. We only had enough money to eat, which was okay, because you have to dry clean chain mail anyway. 

New Mode of Transportation

Here is Karsten on his new Tricycle. Just when you learn how to crawl, they teach you how to walk. When you learn how to walk, they teach you how to ride. Wait till you turn 16. 

But can you do the slap dance?

My little nephew Karsten's 2nd birthday was in September. He turned 2 which is what you do on your second birtday I'm told. Anyway, here he is in his German/Austrian Lederhosen (leather pants) that his uncle Zac and Aunt Lisa sent him. We figured he needed some leather riding clothes for his tricycle.