(native wolf)
(some kind of adorable native baby goat)
(towards the top of a mountain in the Alps!)
(part of our hike)
(our end destination...so happy to see this sign!)
I spent a good portion of today hiking in the Alps, no big deal. I am extremely exhausted.
My day began with what Dr. Mac described as the best hotel breakfast on the whole trip. He was right, it was delicious. I know I write about food a lot, but it really was good- real eggs, chocolate muffins, etc.
After breakfast, a big group of us went down to the Innsbruck Information booth to purchase an Innsbruck Pass, which allowed us entry or access to a variety of different activities around the city.
First, we took a tram part of the way up a mountain to the Alpenzoo. The Aplenzoo is a different kind of zoo because it is home to many of the animals that are actually native to this area. I don’t really like to see animals caged up, so the zoo made me a little sad, but it was fun to see some of the strange animals up close and personal. We saw native birds, beavers, goats, wildcats, bison, and elk, just to name a few, and there were several animals that I had never heard of before.
After the zoo (which was kind of small and didn’t take very long to see), we began what would become a very interesting and comical exploration of the Alps. We started by taking a gondola-type car up as far as we could go on the mountain. At the top is a restaurant that I think is a ski warming hut during the winter, and a beautiful view of the entire city of Innsbruck. After taking a plethora of pictures, we began our “easy,” supposedly foolproof hike down the mountain.
Everything started off great-super cold because of the altitude, but great. Then our trail got steeper. Then my knee started to hurt. Then it started raining. Then we walked for a really long time. Then we took a wrong turn and saw some cows with real cowbells and a playground. Then we ran into some other explorers who had gotten their car (it was a Mercedes, no big deal, apparently those are like Hondas over here) stuck trying to drive it down the mountain who told (in German, but we played Charades and figured it out) us which trail to take to get to where we needed to be. We were incredibly excited to see the sign telling us that we had made it back down to the first lift that we took up the mountain several hours earlier. All in all, we made it off the mountain in about two and a half hours (the guy at Innsbruck Information said it was a one and a half hour hike) and walked an estimated eight miles. The best part, though, is we all had a blast during this entire hiking ordeal.
Disclaimer for mom and dad: We were not lost. People knew where we were. We had a map, twelve people (two boys), and I wore good hiking shoes.
After taking the gondola and tram back to the city, we ate dinner at an Austrian restaurant nearby our hotel that had been highly recommended by the former students of this trip. I have to say, most Austrian food does not sound very appealing to me (lots of schnitzel, sausage, and wieners), but the turkey steak I ordered was quite good.
To top off the day and completely cancel out all the calories I burned this afternoon, I had an M&M McFlurry from McDonalds. My entire lower half is very sore now. I’m just hoping I can get out of bed tomorrow morning.
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