Where the seasons meet

Yesterday I drove to the forest and got surprised! :)

It is cold in Munich these days, as cold as -10 degrees at night! It has also snowed a bit, but last weekend it was dry and grey, and sort of yellow-brownish-old-greenish on the ground and on some trees. Not a single drop of white.

Driving 30 minutes down to the South of Munich changed the landscape completely, showing one field in green, and the next field next to it in white! this is amazing, and this is how the seasons meet - autumn and winter!

This shot below shows it at its best! no photoshop, no filters. Still green grass, and yellow leaves of the tree, that was somehow missed by snow cloud. And then these fur-trees covered in white! This is something that makes you say "Wow"

Further down to the forest, it became whiter and whiter. This is where I really get excited as a child waiting for Christmas presents :) I love snow. I love the fresh frosty air. And I love the sight of the fur-trees branches covered with snow! This is like a fairy-tale for me. 

 I think it comes from my childhood, when the winters were really cold with a lot of snow, and snowdrifts when the feet were drowning in white stuff, when we were making snowmen, sledding down the hill, and ice-skating on the frozen lake

I hope that this winter will bring us one big surprise. A lot of snow! 

There is this Abbey - Kloster Reutberg - in this area. As many abbeys here in Bavaria, they make their own beer, and have a restaurant. Thats where we ended up at the end of the fairy walk. My backside was totally frozen, as it had not expected such cold weather, and the walk happened to be longer than planned, as we almost got lost (as the paths are not recognizable in the snow). Anyways, dinner in this abbey restaurant was like a cherry on the pie! the room had an old stove, and heated benches going on around the room. This is like a heaven on the cold day! heaven for my backside anyways :) and the food and locally brewered beer were also pretty good. 

Here is the picture showing the cozy atmosphere and the views of snow through the window..

The best hike of 2016

I think one of the best hikes this year was the ascend to the Schafberg mountain at Wolfgangsee.

Wolfgansee is located about 25km from Austrian Salzburg. 

On a sunny day, the area looks like movie decorations, so perfect it is - the turquoise colour lake with the perfectly shaped mountains around it, and wonderful pretty towns with half-wooden houses framed with blooming gardens. Alpine Idyll - they call it. And you know what - actually it is!

Only after visiting the place I have found out that there was this musical comedy called  Im weißen Rößl (The White Horse Inn). The movie is a love story involving the head waiter of the White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang who is desperately in love with the owner of the inn (the inn is actually there, although the façade is strangely of red colour :). In the movie all the caracters look so perfect, smiley and sing beautifully ;) , that it feels waaay too much. But, to be honest, as I had spent 3 days in the area I felt like in that movie) So many people are so smiley and perfect looking, wearing national costumes, I even met a group of people singing in café on top of the mountain, imagine that like this perfect family with perfect looking kids singing all together. This is something where you say “really?:)” yes, really. Perfect location (on a sunny day, and even when it is not sunny the rain and clouds are also quite special here), perfectly looking locals with blond hair, blue eyes and white perfect smiles, flowers everywhere. Feels like you are in this advertisement for Milka chocolate. 

Back to the topic of my perfect hike ;), what I did with a friend was a 14km hike (about 1300m vertical) to the Schafberg summit starting in St. Wolfgang not far from the old train station, going up through the forest to the beautiful and icy cold mountain lake Mönichsee, there were several quite steep partially rope-secured sections which were marked black, with breathtaking panoramic views of the Austrian Alps and the lakes of the area. It was a warm and dry day, so it was not dangerous, just really exhausting, but the beer in the café on top (seen on the photo) was the best beer of this year! J I must say, I wouldn’t have done this hike if it was wet, I could see how it could be really slippery in some areas.

I can also recommend quite a nice hike/walk from St. Wolfgan towards St. Gilgen, thorugh Wolkensteinkirche, it leads you partially through forest, and then along the lake with really beautiful views. See below J You can come back from St. Gilgen by boat.

And one more – the easy but with reeeeaaaaly picturesque views of the lake - 2 hour walk is Bürglstein Rundwanderweg.

Hi there!

Hi there! I guess this was a matter of time before I started writing about the Alps ;) I spend so much of my free time in the mountains, and I enjoy it so much, so it does make sense to share the experience with those who also love nature, who love the changing landscape of the Alps and its changing colours throughout seasons, who enjoy hiking up and getting rewarded with the breathtaking views from the peak, and those who worship the sparkling white snow in winter.

Since I moved to Bavaria, Germany 4,5 year ago, I have accumulated so many amazing mountains pictures, and I have visited so many beautiful locations, that it is really a shame I have not started sharing them earlier. But anyways here I am, just on the doorstep of the winter season, one of my favourite times of the year (since I learned downhill skiing)), so I think it is not a bad time at all to finally start this blog :)