Dachstein, Austria July, 10

Today was fabulous! We have had threatening rain for several days but it seems we never get caught in it. Today was forecasted rain for most of the day but we didn't see any. Denise, our host here in Dachstein, did tell us she turned the heat on because it was much colder today ( very unseasonably cold) but it didn't really feel that cold to us.

We decided to take a lift to the top of a local mountain and hike around. I was thrilled it was a gondola and not a chair lift! I'm ok with those! We had gorgeous views once again. It was nice because we took one lift half way up the mountain, hiked, then took a second all the way to the top. We hiked and enjoyed the views and great crisp air..so fresh!

We decided to stop for a small bite at a mountain restaurant. We sat next to a group of women who were eating and drinking, in their 70's, who would break out in songs occasionally. I think the songs were about friendship. It was so interesting to watch them and see how different things are here. The songs came so natural, and we heard about 3 while we were there for about 30 minutes.

Paige and Monte decided they wanted to paraglide but it closed before we could do it, so we went off to find our zip line. This isn't a normal zip line...it is high on a mountain in the Austrian alps!. We took a bus up, and up and up. Paige expected it to be similar to one we went to in calavaras county. That one was 90 feet high and I think went for 2000 feet, or something like that. No, no! This one was over 500 feet high from the ground to the zip line!  We flew at between 70-80 miles an hour and went over 1 1/2 mile long! OMG! It was scary!! But we did it!

Here we are standing on the platform before we took off.

This is the hight of our zip!

And.....more great food and drink...

And dessert!

We are not finding any Americans anywhere and most people are German speakers, a few Brits, but most we think are locals. Amazing how everyone hikes, young and old, cool weather, rain, no difference! Even children are out with parents at young ages hiking the alps.

We also have noticed on our whole trip that waitresses seem to work whole rooms all by themselves. I believe they make a living wage, but work really, really hard. Here in Germany/ Austria, the waitress carries money and you pay her on the spot when you get your bill.