The Alps

Picture this...vibrant green hillsides, sweet smelling flowers in every color imaginable, and endless snow-covered peaks as far as the eye can see. Add in sparkling blue lakes and quiet villages filled with happy cows and you have the Swiss Alps. Our visit to this region far exceeded every romantic notion we had envisioned.

Hiking the Lauterbrunnen Valley:

The beautiful Swiss town of Lungern:

Hiking in the Alps was unlike any other hiking experience in the US. Almost all hikes here take you into small villages where you will be served a proper meal...no need for trail mix, powerbars, or dried fruit. Here you will receive the staples: beer, sausage, dumplings, bratwursts, roast pork covered in gravy and much more. You can even purchase fresh cheese, milk, and bread from the farmer on your way down the mountain. This is truly a trekker's delight.

Enjoying a great meal and cold beer at Tegernseer Hut, near the summit of Buchstein Peak.

After reluctantly leaving Switzerland (we will return soon) we worked our way through Liechtenstein, Austria, and back into Germany. While we were trekking in Nepal we met a couple (Peter & Rosi) from Krueth, Germany who invited us to stay with them. Curious to explore the German Alps and get a taste of true Bavarian culture, we gladly took them up on the offer. We spent the past few days in southern Germany at their house, hiking the local trails, exploring the nearby Neuschwanstein Castle and even taking in a local festival.

Doing what we do best - immersing ourselves in the local culture:

We have discovered hiking in the Bavarian, Swiss, and Austrian Alps all offer the same exceptional experience. Hiking in the U.S is more of a solitary endeavor, while in Europe it is a social outing. We do love the US-version of backcountry hiking where you can hike for days and not see another person but having a homecooked meal awaiting your arrival at the summit is pure genius.

Anyway, we just dropped Connie and Hannah off at the airport in Munich and we're headed back to Switzerland (we didn't get enough of it the first time) to visit another couple we met while hiking in Nepal: Phil and Amelia. They were at the end of a yearlong trip when we met them so we're very curious to see how they transitioned back to the "real world".

Surfing Germany

It’s a little after the fact, but this is something we definitely had to write about…While waiting for Dustin’s mom and sister to arrive, we spent a few days visiting our friends Julia and Andi in Munich (Julia was our first ever couchsurfer while we were on our boat back in CA). While we were chatting over excellent German beers at their apartment they mentioned a river in Munich with a standing wave that can be surfed. Since we’re on a “surfari” our ears perked up…surf in Germany?

We hadn’t been in the water for a surf since leaving Bali a good two months ago. Add in the fact that we’ve only heard of a few places around the world where you can surf standing river waves and we had to check it out.

So...the first stop during our exploration of Munich was the Eisbach River in downtown Munich. We scoped out the river and found what looked like a fun, if not scary (it was easy to see why an occasional tourist would drown in the river every year), 4 foot wave where the river went over a series of boulders. The locals were making it look easy, but we knew better. Rachel decided she didn’t want to have anything to do with the cold water and rapids, but Dustin couldn’t resist the challenge. We came back the following day and Dustin gave it his best shot. It was a valiant effort but he spent much more time getting washed down the rapids than he did riding the wave.


Searching for surf in downtown Munich:



Proof: Surfing Germany


The result of most attempts:

Paris

Our first stop after Connie and Hannah joined us was Paris. None of us had been to France before, so we figured Paris would be the perfect starting point even though we are not “city people”. As you can probably tell from everything we’ve done on this trip so far, we would rather spend our time surfing, hiking, fishing, etc than walking around a large city visiting the museums and other sights with all the tourists.

Even though we’re not big city fans, Paris did not disappoint. We spent 2 ½ days visiting some of the main sights…taking in Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower among others. In between, we explored some of the quieter areas and enjoyed the great food. (Escargot or foie gras anyone?) The city was amazing, with beautiful, historic buildings everywhere and something to see around every corner.

At the Eiffel Tower (in case you couldn't tell):

In front of the Venus de Milo statue at the Louvre Museum:

One of the highlights of Paris didn’t even involve anything French…On our last night in the city we decided to pick up some food and have an evening picnic at the Eiffel Tower. Since we didn’t have a corkscrew for our wine we found the nearest group with a few open wine bottles and figured they had to have one. Instead of letting us borrow theirs, they insisted we join them. They seemed friendly enough…plus they had an endless supply of cheese, prosciutto, bread, fruit and wine, so we couldn’t say no. Turns out they were a United flight crew (one of the pilots and five of the attendants) based in Washington, DC, but in Paris on a one-day layover. Seven hours later we had a stack of empty wine bottles almost as high as the Eiffel Tower. We’ll just leave the story at that.

The picnic that turned into a party with the United flight crew:

We’re currently in Switzerland soaking in the fresh mountain air and back to exploring the great outdoors.

Navigating Europe

Since we’ve spent most of the last week driving we don’t have a lot to write about besides some semi-humorous attempts at navigating European roads and Rachel attempting to speak German. Here are a few things we wanted to write about in earlier posts, but either forgot to or didn’t have the time….

Kilimanjaro:
We know it’s after the fact, but in our rush to get a blog written before we left Africa we forgot to write about one of the biggest parts of our Kilimanjaro climb…in the days leading up to our summit attempt we were both a little worried/anxious for the summit day. Less than 50% of those who try to climb Kilimanjaro actually make it to the top and every year there are a few people who die from altitude sickness while on the mountain. Over the four days we spent hiking to basecamp we both spent plenty of time praying for our safety, as well as the safety of those we were with. Both of us, without the other knowing, were praying for God to just carry us up the mountain if we struggled and were unable to make it ourselves.

As we wrote before, come summit day we somehow managed to “fly” up the mountain without issue, arriving at the summit a good 45+ minutes before the next groups. There really is no explanation for our strong performance…we spent the previous 2+ months at sea level in Asia. We did spend plenty of time walking while in Asia, but most of the walking was from food stall to food stall. So anyway, our climbing Kili wasn’t as much about us completing a remarkable feat as it was about us being “carried” up the mountain by a higher power.

On a related note (from Dustin)…those of you who put money on me gaining weight might want to hedge those bets. I'm currently down over 15 pounds. We’ve found that if you climb a big mountain once every 3-4 months and spend the rest of the time exploring on foot then you can pretty much eat anything and everything you want (which I have).

Rachel's German Attempts:
Rachel took German in 9th and 10th grade...11 years ago. When we arrived into Germany she figured it would come right back to her. One of her first attempts at speaking the language was at a bakery we stopped at for breakfast. She was feeling good about her language skills as we were enjoying the coffee and quiche she successfully ordered...until that third coffee arrived. She had switched the German words for "two" and "three"...so instead of a cup of coffee each, we got three for the two of us.

Half-Way:
Another thing we forgot to write about earlier…at the beginning of August we finally passed the half-way point of our journey: seven months down, seven to go. It is going by way too fast, but at the same time we keep thinking of everything we've already seen and all we have left to see.

Current Update:
Since leaving England we made a beeline to Munich where we picked up Connie & Hannah (Dustin's mom & sister). They will be joining us for two weeks while we explore France, Switzerland, and Germany. On the way to Munich we made a quick stop in Luxembourg, which was surprisingly delightful, before getting to Germany and soaking in the full Bavarian atmosphere (lots of bratwurst and beer).

Upcoming Plans:
Over the next four months we plan on traveling from central Europe, through the Balkans, and into Turkey. After Turkey, we’ll see Greece and Italy. By mid-November we plan on being in Morocco to catch those early-winter, north-Atlantic storm waves peeling perfectly into the right points along the coast. If we can pull ourselves away from the waves, we’ll spend our last few weeks in Europe exploring Scotland and northern England.

Favre?!?!?!

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm out of the country and won't be able to watch a single second of Brett Favre wearing the Purple and Gold. In fact, I'm not sure I'll even come back to the US until Favre is no longer a Viking....

Dustin (Rachel is rather indifferent)