Ruhpolding, Germany

Ruhpolding was fun!

Kimberly Archer, her son Noah, and I drove through the small village on the way to the

cable car to take us to the mountaintop above.

 Noah waited patiently in line with us.  The car was very small and a lot of people were waiting to go.  As we watched the cars travel up and down the mountain, they looked like little Easter Eggs hanging from strings! I started getting a little nervous (the mountain looked very high) but I just tried not to think about it.

 Whew! The cable car station started to look pretty small about this time.

 The views were spectacular and it was a real payoff for dangling in the middle of the air with a thin metal sheet under your feet.

 Can you see the lake in the background of the picture on the left? That is the Chiemsee which is sometimes called the Bavarian Sea. On a larger island in that lake, there is a castle built (but never finished) by Ludwig II of Bavaria. It is the Herrinchiemsee and was patterned after the Palace of Versailles in France. There is also boating, hiking, and swimming available at the Chiemsee...its very beautiful with lots to see and do.

 The area is known for sports of all kinds and in all seasons. There is a biathlon track here that has hosted world championships. Mountain biking, hiking and fishing are very popular

...that's all besides the skiing possibilities.

As we came through the town, we passed a cross country skiing school as well as a downhill skiing school where many people were taking advantage of lessons. There seem to be mostly kids on the small slope and adults on the cross country track.

 There were many hiking & snowshoeing trails available at the top, but we didn't think Noah would be up for that for another year or two!

It was all good until I realized that I was going to have to get back down. But I just set my mind to enjoy it and not think about cables snapping or anything.  It was fine, as you might guess.

When we got back to the car and headed home, the navigation system in the car stopped working! Eeek.  We are so dependant on the navi here in our temporary home area.  The roads we travel on seem like a spider web of local connections and its all very different from the US. Thankfully, I had my iPad and a mapp application. We were able to use it plus the road signs to make it back home. Kimberly did a great job as pilot and I was squeeking by as the navigator/copilot.