Old Friends and Blue Teeth

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We are in Kitzbuhel, Austria - today we see some old friends who have moved here 2 years ago from San Diego. We found our way to Kitzbuhel through the green mountains, perfect little villages and the big mountain called Kaiser. Our friends Izzy and Andrea have a cute little apartment in the middle of town. They look very fit and happy. They climb, bike or hike something big everyday. Andrea took Andrew for a mountain bike ride up the Hahnankamm. Andrews version was that Andrea easily glided up the mountain like the Virgin ascending to heaven. I hiked it with Izzy and was proud to make it alive and without the need of oxygen at the top. We stoped at a place called Seidel Alm, at the top of the mountain which means "hut as the side of the mountain where the animals live - cows in this case.

Once you get to the top of the mountain, your mouth drops and you feel like belting out
The Sound of Music. The hut is a cute little restaurant where we had fresh cow buttermilk and cheeses for lunch. The cheese was so flavorful. For desert we had a "Schmarrn or Mieasl," a thick pancake smothered in butter and topped with 1,000 wild blueberries and powdered sugar. It was so incredible. I am going to make it for some lucky sole when I get back. The only problem is that the blueberries are so fresh, they stain your teeth and tongue blue.

Andrew and Andrea where impressed with "mountain girl" who's parents owned the hut. She had buns of steel. Mountain life is beautiful and good. You work so hard hiking up that the carbs just don't matter. In fact, Europeans are very fit and carbs are all they eat. Cake and coffee every afternoon is the norm. I like the norm!

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