Bryan's Further Adventures in Europe

Day 12-13: Austia Tyrol

Ah Austria!  Where the hills are alive with the sound of music... well maybe not as (aside from the ol' Ipod) I haven't heard so much as a peep.  But its a nice image nevertheless.  The scenery is absolutely gorgeous - the most spectacular thus far.  In case you haven't noticed, I just adore mountainous terrain!  Here also is where we went white water rafting and tandem paragliding (and biking, but that's not nearly as interesting is it? ;).

Ok, so white water rafting: we went down grade 3 rapids (can't remember the river at the moment) which were fun, but I would've liked something a bit more rougher (you know me and waves).  That being said, I did over-extend during one of my strokes as a wave hit and ended up in the water.  The worst part is that my partner didn't even notice and it took the guide yelling "Man in the water!" for him to pull me out.  No damage done though (actually it was the best part of the trip lol).  We als had a guy who got motion sickness and of course he sat behind me... luckily he managed to lean over-board.

Paragliding was cool - we had our guide strapped to the back of our seat who controlled our decent (and performed a few ariel acrobatics).  To start, we had to sprint down the side of the mountain until we built up enough speed for the wind to catch our parachute and pull us up.  It was a good thing we were able to go too - the good weather had deserted us and we didn't find out if it was on or not until 1:15pm that afternoon.

On another positive not, those persistent flu-like symptoms seem to have disappeared :).

Day 14: Austria to Munich

Today we had a drive through the German countryside to Munich.  It was nice enough I suppose but it just couldn't compare to the Austrian landscape.  One of the "problems"  of a whirlwind trip like this is that you see so much so quickly that you can become a bit jaded.  For example, in Munich I walked through two Lutheran churches, Peterplaz and Frauenplaz.  In the beginning they would have rated their own entry, while now they are simply a footnote.  Thy were beautiful to be sure, but I've just seen so many beautiful churches that they don't seem special.

During the drive we stopped at the Dauchu concentration camp.  Like the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam, it was moving in its starkness.  One moment really stood out for me though - I was walking through the gas chambers when I passed a girl (no more than 2 years old) walking with her father, happily gurgling in that cute, toddler way.  The contrast between "then" and "now" just kinda made me think:  75 years ago this was a place of great suffering and dispair while now it is a place for little children to walk with their familes.  How things change...

In Munich of course we went to a beer hall where we feasted on pork knuckle, saukraut and dumplings while being entertained by dancing bar wenches playing bells.  Life was good...  and it was some cracking crackling ;)