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From Abroad

Several weeks ago I was blessed with yet another tremendous opportunity to see and absorb the mountains of Austria. A friend of Doris, Helmut, invited me to stay with his parents and sister in the far western Austrian province of Vorarlberg on the border with Switzerland and Lichtenstein. So, without having met anyone in the family except Helmut, I boarded a train and rode for 7 hours into what we become pure bliss…

When I arrived I was greeted by some of the nicest, down-to-earth people I have ever met. They took me into their home, and I felt like I belonged! I have nothing but the nicest things to say about their hospitality! We had huge, delicious Austrian breakfasts, nice bag lunches for the hikes and a surprise for dinner each evening! The Moosbruggers- Marika, Helmut (remained in Vienna for exams), Stefan, Barbara and Peter really treated me well. They live in Gotzis, which is a few minutes outside of Feldkirch. I stayed for a total of 4 days, and pretty much each day we took hikes to all the best areas Vorarlberg had to offer. So naturally, I took as many Kodaks as humanly possible. I attempted to arrange them more or less in chronological order. Enjoy!

The first day we hiked to a peak (the name escapes me). Looking at the summit lodge, to the right and down is Switzerland!

Stereotypical photo of Switzerland, note the red and white gondola

On this day, there were more paragliders than I have ever seen!

A nice summit photo of myself Peter and Marika (-: This area is unique because three countries meet at the same place. Behind us is Feldkirch in Austria, towards the left of the photo is Lichtenstein and behind us is Switzerland.

On the way down, this was the view looking down to a beautiful valley in Switzerland

Sunset over the Bodensee (-:

The next hiking opportunity was at the Bregenzerwald, the area where Peter has grown up (-:

Cool Bregenzerwald galerie, structure to protect the road surface from natural hazards

Ah, that is nice to see!

I have a lot of respect for the farmers that work this land, it is steeper than it looks!

Always a real pleasure to hike through the snow, in the summertime (-;

Enzian in abundance!

Another summit to add to the list (-:

Taking the “breidl jausen” in magnificent surroundings (-:

Lucious flowers

Absolutely gorgeous (-:

And this is where I will live when I take my holidays from now on (-:

The next series of photos are from the last day of hiking, at the Montafon. This magnificent area is where Ernest Hemingway once spent a few years skiing (-: Check the photos, and you’ll why he was inspired to write whilst living here!

Me and the man himself- Peter, standing on goats peak (-: Look at that wall behind us, just absolutely begging to be climbed and conquered!

Wow-wee! If thats not a postcard Kodak, I don’t know what is!

Myself, the Germknodel and a cold beer, life is so good I can taste it!

Looking back to say farewell to the what IS the Montafon, you will be forever missed! (-:

I would also like to extend a special, whole-hearted thanks to the Moosbruggers who really made a dream trip come true! (-: