Blue sky today, all day.

Elevenses at 1630 m.

Look at that blue.

There are plenty of places to sit and have a rest, even if Austrians seem to be a bit taller than average.

Did I really order all that? (Tanzbodenalm)

Nice start to the day.

We accidentally got on the wrong lift today and went right up to the peak of the mountain Hochsöll. It was pretty cold, so we had to wrap up warm for the walk down.

Someone put a nice little church right on the top.

Someone else scattered reservoirs over the mountain.

At the end of the walk the serious business of eating some delicious apricot crumble cake begins.

You know that feeling that the way back is much faster than the way out. This time it was really true.

Atmospheric start to the day from our balcony.

Just like England.

If you go down to the woods today…

Lost in the mist?

No way! On top of the cloud we can see the sun.

A short while later.

Time for a glass of Almdudler.

Today the GPS route tried to send us up a nearly vertical rabbit hole so we turned it off and took another free cablecar ride up to Jenesien.

In the forest on route 32A we bumped into this war memorial.

No, not that one, but the “French” battle of 1797 and remembering the death of 7 soldiers and their captain in 1809.

This is Gerhild’s latest great idea – a shadow selfie! We take them around with us most of the time this week, so it’s only right that they get into the picture too.

Well she says it’s this way but SHE says its the other way.

Gerhild said she needed a sit-down!

Now that’s what I call a sit-down.

Schoolchildren in green T-shirts with rucksacks filled up the lift on the way down. A school trip, walking through the mountains with one pupil presenting a “mountain” book on its literary merits each evening. I can’t remember doing that in my schooldays… might have been quite a lark.

Today we drove for about an hour up into the mountains to the Karer pass at about 1900 m. These mountains have been in sight on all of our walks so far.

Our walk is to the “labyrinth”.

It must be up there somewhere.

Have to take a rest occasionally and this tree had nice seat-shaped roots.

OK, so labyrinth means is hard to get around.

Especially for some people, although this was actually an easy bit.

The rabbits are really tough around here.

Every now and then you have to take a break to enjoy the view…

…while taking care not to break your neck.

Today we are doing a walk dedicated to Sigmund Freud.

First we had to take the lift up to Oberbozen. Amazing view, amazing price which is zero, due to the Bozen Card that you get when you book accommodation, which lets you do most touristy things for free and encourages you not to drive absolutely everywhere.

At regular intervals we found these skewy benches with an illustration from Freud’s life & work.

Inspired, Gerhild then had a go at Plato’s allegory of the cave. Are those two shadows on the floor really us, or is there more to see if we turn around?

Can’t complain about the view.

Rather nice porcini mushroom risotto at Babsi’s even if the waiter forgot to order half of the food. Then we took the ride back down to Bozen.

Long drive up to over 2509 m on the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstraße, with a 2 hour wait in Austria for two different accidents to be cleared.

“Der Steg”

Well it is the world’s highest motorcycle museum.

“Der Schmuggler”

Camping Steiner

ArchiCabins – New after 60 camping-years

60 Jahre Camping-Park Steiner: Innovation trifft Tradition
Neues ArchiCabin-Ensemble

Wir eröffnen die Saison 2018 mit einer Überraschung: Anlässlich des 60. Jubiläums freuen wir uns Ihnen das neue Cabin-Ensemble zu präsentieren!
Aus bautechnischen Gründen müssen wir uns schweren Herzens von unseren Bungalows verabschieden. Die beliebten Holzhäuschen haben jahrzehntelang ihren Dienst erwiesen und unseren Gästen viele schöne und unvergessliche Momente beschert. Im Wissen um die Eigenart unseres Hauses haben wir im Architekturbüro und Künstlerkollektiv columbosnext aus Innsbruck den idealen Partner gefunden um unsere Ideen zu verwirklichen.

Der erste Teil dieses größeren Sanierungsprojektes umfasst den Bau eines neuen Cabin-Ensembles das unter den alten Lindenbäumen der landschaftlichen Eigenart des Camping-Park Steiner angepasst ist. Die Anzahl der Häuschen ist auf sieben reduziert worden um dadurch mehr (Lebens)Raum und (Lebens)Qualität zu schaffen. Egal ob nach einer Bergtour in den Dolomiten, einem Schwimmnachmittag am Kalterer See, einer Radtour ins Südtiroler Unterland oder einem Einkaufsbummel in Bozen. Die Cabins bieten außer Ihrem architektonisch-kreativem Charakter auch das 1-Raum-Gefühl, welches durch die verschiedenen Ebenen doch eine gewisse Privatsphäre erlaubt.

Die komplette Holz-Einrichtung soll im „Urlaubs-Häuschen“ ein wohliges Ambiente schaffen und aus dem Standard ausbrechen ohne auf Nachhaltigkeit zu verzichten. Eines der ArchiCabins verfügt auch über Bad/WC. Grundsätzlich wollten wir aber im Sinne der Einfachheit – Camping eben! – auch durch das Weglassen desselben an das Campingflair der letzten 60 Jahre anknüpfen, um nicht wie eine Ferienanlage zu wirken, welche es bereits zu Hauf gibt. Diese Einfachheit war auch in den letzten Jahrzehnten unser Begleiter und gehört zu unserer Philosophie.

Top: Wir freuen uns mit unseren Gästen seit Juli 2017 über die neue Bozen-Card die kostenlose Mobilität in ganz Südtirol (inkl. Zug bis Innsbruck und Trient) beinhaltet. Auch die Museen (Ötzi Museum, Reinholds Messner Mountain Museum,….) und einige Seilbahnen sind kostenfrei für alle CampingPark Steiner Gäste.

Today we walked from the camp site to Café Schlössle and back. About 18 km. We tried to take a bus, but the bus driver sold us a ticket, drove off and then turned around to say that he doesn’t go to Trailfingen, having just sold us 2 tickets to go there. Bizarre!

The goats were keen to follow us

The Trailfinger Schlucht

Music to the farmer’s ears

Café Schlössle – so what do they keep in the pond?

Hippopotamuses!

Without the manual, how do you sit on these?

For Swabian children who haven’t yet got the knack of walking.