Change in plans

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 – We signed up for another hike and hitched a ride with the same couple from Stuttgart. This time we went to a small town south of Oberstaufen and took a ski lift car to the top. From there, you are able to hike many miles of trails across the mountain range, but we ended up doing a 10 km loop. Of course, mid-way we stopped for a beer and cheesecake (or whatever one cared to order). It was a nice hike; green mountains of grass and pine trees. The hills were marked with the cow paths acting like latitude lines. Some higher snow capped peaks appeared out in the distance. I kept thinking how great it would be to mountain bike on the trails.

Once we got to the bottom, we made a meal with eggs, meat, and cheese. Our goal was to use up some of the food because we decided to end our stay at Oberstaufen and venture on to Italy. We stopped at the travel buro in town and booked an overnight train to Venice…returning just in time to catch my flight back to the U.S.

I would have liked to have seen the mountain ranges along the way; instead I only saw giant shadows lingering over the occasional twinkling lights of village homes scattered on the hillside. I attempted to get some sleep, but I am not one for sleeping while lying across the narrow train seats. No worries though, a nice Italian espresso awaits me!