HIKING!!

To Right: Top of Untersberg, Chris, Me, und Aubrey at cross

Left: Top of Untersberg (you can see the cross)

Group Photo: Esther, Aubrey, Becca, Chris, and Me on way up MT!

Hello, HALLO,

Today was spectacular!! I got to hike to the top of Untersberg! That is the name of the MOUNTAIN I hiked/climbed today with my host dad, roommated, and college friends. You will see the pictures of the mountain on my blog...that is the mountain I climbed! There is a cross on top that I got all the way up to.

So the day started at around 6:45 when I woke up. I got ready and we headed out on a 5 minute bus ride to the foot of the mountain at 7:30. And there we started up the mountain. It was my host dad, me, Esther (roommate), Aubrey, Chris, and Becca (college friends). It was a little slow going at first, but then we got a pace going!

At about 10:00, it was getting very hard! We had not reached the top yet! We finally reached a little resturant that is perched near the top and I had some HeiSe Schokolade (hot cocoa). It had gotten so cold being up so high. We had been IN the clouds for quite awhile and we still couldn't see much more than 50 ft in front of us.

We had our drinks and then headed up more. Becca and Esther stopped at the cable car place and decided to take that down rather than walking all the way back down the trail. The rest of us headed up to the very top to see the cross. You will see I was wearing quite a few clothes...it was cold! We even walked by some snow that was about 1 1/2 feet deep!! It was only a few spots, but it was still that cold and even windy. We made it to the top and it was so cool!

Then, it was time to make our way down. We started down around 1:00. It was pretty hard to go down as it is a mountain and rocky and a little steep. It was a great workout!

We made it down in 2 hours. It felt wonderful! "Ich habe den Untersberg bestiegen." (I had been to the top of Untersberg.) My legs were definitly shaking though!!

Well, it was such a sweet experience and I wanted to share it with you all!! When we got back, us Salzburg College students went and played some hard-core, muddy FuSball (soccer). It was loads of fun!

Tonight I am just taking it easy and filling everyone in on my great hiking experience. Tommorrow I head to Salzkammergut...very beautiful region with lots of lakes and salt mines! Salz in Salzburg is for SALT!! Just to let you all know!

Hope all is well!

Dana