Lost in the Woods

I thought I should start with the end, and go from there. This is where I finally came out of the woods. It made the entire ordeal completely worth it, and then some. My worry was never that I wouldn't find my way out. I knew which direction I had to go, generally, and I knew I would run into something resembling civilization eventually, even if I had to follow the water downstream. My worry was more of when I would return.

Saturday was spent almost entirely in my room in Kreuth, the beautiful town above, and Sunday I came to realize that I was headed down that road once more. I decided to change directions. Realizing that I had never traveled through Kreuth on foot, I thought I should try it. Five minutes later, I had seen all that downtown had to offer, but I had found a hiking trail. "Perfect," I thought, "I like to go up." And up I went. And up, and up, and up. And before this becomes a Doctor Suess book, I'll dig a little deeper into my vocabulary. The forest was magnificent, especially since the fall color-change is in full swing here. From within, a glimpse beyond the tress was rare, but the trees were enough to look at most of the time, anyway. I also found a stream which returned to my path several times, and some mountain bikers who were really enjoying themselves (and then five minutes later their friends, who were not enjoying themselves quite as much.)

The problem came when I realized that my goal was not a peak, but a town on the other side, which are often named for nearby mountains. This meant that I had to turn around. For those of you who know me well, you know that I could not very well simply take the same path back (despite the trail i tried to take returning me to my old path) and I promptly found myself not quite sure where the path had gone. Nevertheless, I continued skipping down the side of the mountain. (Some of you may not know that skipping is the most efficient way to move quickly down a steep embankment.) Eventually, I came out of this:
and onto the world you saw at the beginning of this post. Even in person, the town looked deceptionally close once I came out of the woods. It was still another twenty minutes before I came strolling out of the cow pastures and into the backyard once more. Once I felt I knew where I was well enough, I took a look around and tried to figure out where I had been. I've decided that I crossed over and sort of behind the landform on the left. I'm very happy with my little hike. It revitalized me beyond what I would have expected. I had no idea I needed such things. Well, now I know. I'll leave you with the image the forest left me with as I departed it.

Traffic

Ok, this was the weekend of transit and traffic. Winnie and I missed our first train down to Kreuth, but luckily the one sitting right next to it was also going there. So much for German efficiency. The train didn't take long, and was comfortable, so all was well. Now, I must not be sleeping enough during the week, because when we got there, I put my bag down in my room, and basically fell into bed, asleep. Mind you, this was five o'clock in the evening. I woke up around eleven and got something to eat (from the strangest fondue machine I've ever seen) and went back to sleep. I then slept another ten hours. I need to go to sleep earlier during the week, and that's that.

Saturday, we went on a family bike ride. Nothing that we've done together has gone so well. I could say that if it weren't for the traffic we ran into. No, not cars; cars aren't allowed on the path we were taking. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on. I thought we were approaching a church, but we never got to it. It was a church on wheels. Almost. This church had hooves. We came around the corner upon about fifty cows, each with a cowbell at least the size of my head. There was no way around them so, for about half an hour, we moved at about the slowest pace at which a bicycle can move, dodging land mines left and right. I found it hilariously absurd, but I seemed to be the only one. By the time the cows were turned off of the path and into a pasture, about thirty-five bikes had gathered in a gaggle (I've done a little research, for those whom such things interest, and that is the correct term) had gathered behind them and now sped off at various speeds. I can only apologize that my camera sat in my backpack the entire time, at the house, and say that I've done my best to portray it in words. I also drove a car for the first time in a foreign country. Huzzah!

Today, Sunday, not only did I drive the car, I drove fast. We (Winnie and I) spent about an hour sitting in almost stopped traffic. Then, we got on the Autobahn, and things started moving a little better. Actually, things started moving a lot better. Some of you might not know this, though you really should (it's the one thing everyone knows about Germany), but there is no speed limit, so to speak, on the Autobahn. I started out not going so fast, but as I got more comfortable, I noticed that the speedometer had moved up a bit, and I realized that I was ok with going faster. For the mothers (and other worriers) out there, fear not. I was very careful. I never passed anyone at such high speeds, and I had my mind on nothing but the road the entire time I was on the Autobahn. However, I did travel at 190 km/hr. I won't translate that to a less logical system, only so that those of you who do not want to know musn't, and those of you who do can let it hit you slowly. Thinking about it, it isn't that fast, but it's certainly much faster than I ever could have found myself comfortable driving in the US.

I'll leave you with that. More happened this weekend but, honestly, nothing so interesting.