I last left you contemplating the fact that we were about to scale the mountains between Germany and Austria with the aid of a cable car (it was too nice a day for serious exercise). We started in the local town and soon collected a poor starving waif called Florian who decided to join us in our assault upon the sky. We pottered off in the little hire car through the houses and up through the forested slopes until we arrived at the cable car station (with attached hotel, play park and other things designed to separate you from your money as quickly and as painlessly as possible). Suffice to say, we parted with money and waited for the cable car. The cables stretched off up towards the mountain and disappeared into the clouds a long long long way up. There's something about cable cars that makes me uneasy and I think it's all the Bond films I've seen where the car gets stuck and they end up fighting on top of it before someone falls to a horribly messy death. But this was a modern car with big strapping cables (oo-er missus) so I ceased to worry about Jaws biting through them.
We boarded and set off. The cable car was huge and there weren't many of us so we had loads of room to move about and take photos. Guess what? I did! We had a space at the back so I was going to be able to take lots of pics of the valley and the mountains as we climbed ever upwards. It started off calm enough but pretty soon the ground was a loooooonnnnnggggg way down. Gulp!
Luckily the view was more than enough to keep me occupied. I must say that the most un-nerving part is when the car gets to a tower junction, everything judders and the car sways for a while. I'm not sure I'd like to ride one in a stiff wind where it sways back and forth like a swing! We went up and up and up until we started to see snow on the mountain and clouds beneath us! Now that's a weird sight, to be travelling above the clouds in something that isn't a plane! There was a huge lake to one side (no idea what is was called)
and on the other was the remains of the original cable car run. There were huge concrete blocks set deep into the mountain side and, eventually we saw the original cable car station - made of wood!! It looked really really dodgy, clinging to the side of the mountain and looking like it was going to slide off at any moment
. I was damn glad we weren't in a cable car that was as old as the station! There was also snow! My first real snow of the year, up close and personal. We drifted into the clouds and arrived at the station. Today, or rather, when we arrived, a cloud had decided to take up residence and enjoy the view across two countries. Nice for the cloud, rubbish for us. It was also cold. Bloody cold. We're closer to the sun, shouldn't it be warmer? We wandered about and I did what I normally do - took more photo's. The complex sits between the Bayern region and the Tyrol and there are nice signs to tell you so.
. What we could see was very pretty. You can come up the Austrian side and then ski down the German side. Fantastic or what? We, well, I, bought postcards and sent them from the postbox on top of the mountain so that people would be jealous of where I was. They wouldn't be jealous of the temperature so we had soup and hot chocolates as we gazed at the white clouds that surrounded us. The cloud did clear briefly and I managed to get a pic or two of the view back down the valley before we set off again for the ground and the afternoons planned adventure - slides! I'll finish this entry with more pics of Austria from the sky. Tune in tomorrow to see people in action on the coolest slide I've ever been upon.
We boarded and set off. The cable car was huge and there weren't many of us so we had loads of room to move about and take photos. Guess what? I did! We had a space at the back so I was going to be able to take lots of pics of the valley and the mountains as we climbed ever upwards. It started off calm enough but pretty soon the ground was a loooooonnnnnggggg way down. Gulp! 
Luckily the view was more than enough to keep me occupied. I must say that the most un-nerving part is when the car gets to a tower junction, everything judders and the car sways for a while. I'm not sure I'd like to ride one in a stiff wind where it sways back and forth like a swing! We went up and up and up until we started to see snow on the mountain and clouds beneath us! Now that's a weird sight, to be travelling above the clouds in something that isn't a plane! There was a huge lake to one side (no idea what is was called) 
and on the other was the remains of the original cable car run. There were huge concrete blocks set deep into the mountain side and, eventually we saw the original cable car station - made of wood!! It looked really really dodgy, clinging to the side of the mountain and looking like it was going to slide off at any moment 
. I was damn glad we weren't in a cable car that was as old as the station! There was also snow! My first real snow of the year, up close and personal. We drifted into the clouds and arrived at the station. Today, or rather, when we arrived, a cloud had decided to take up residence and enjoy the view across two countries. Nice for the cloud, rubbish for us. It was also cold. Bloody cold. We're closer to the sun, shouldn't it be warmer? We wandered about and I did what I normally do - took more photo's. The complex sits between the Bayern region and the Tyrol and there are nice signs to tell you so. 
. What we could see was very pretty. You can come up the Austrian side and then ski down the German side. Fantastic or what? We, well, I, bought postcards and sent them from the postbox on top of the mountain so that people would be jealous of where I was. They wouldn't be jealous of the temperature so we had soup and hot chocolates as we gazed at the white clouds that surrounded us. The cloud did clear briefly and I managed to get a pic or two of the view back down the valley before we set off again for the ground and the afternoons planned adventure - slides! I'll finish this entry with more pics of Austria from the sky. Tune in tomorrow to see people in action on the coolest slide I've ever been upon.
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