Meeting in Kleinwalsertal

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Joint graduate school meeting in Kleinwalsertal

Having looked here at trabelblog.org for an entry for this wonderful place and not finding one was quite surprising! Because this place really deserves to be seen. Therefore the intetion was to describe some of the highlights of the trip.

Getting there
The trip from Muenster by train has been a really lengthy one. Strarting at around 7:30 in the morning we arrived at Oberstdorf train station at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon! And this was still not it. We had to take a bus.

Wandering around with camera
It has started snowing the day before and went on the whole night. But the next day the sun came out and the whole landscape became amazingly crisp and clear. So the goal was to find a skiing lift and to get up the mountain to see all the beauty. For some reason we decided to look for the lift not further down in the valley but up. This has obviously been a mistake with respect to search results. But it was surely worth it! I'm easily impressed with things I don't see so often and there were so many things to point the camera at! I enjoed my time greatly until I saw skiers. That's when I was certain that I simply have to do that.

Skiing

Next day I has handed the camera over to my girlfriend and went skiing! Well, this has only been the third time in my life and the other two were about 7 years ago. Boy, was I nervous! The first slope looked really intimidating. Every slight elevation was used for slowing down. Eventually this habit has played a nasty trick: after one of such elevation a drop with really deep snow followed! It has taken me some time and effort to get out of there. But the few skills acquired long time ago actually returned! So the second attempt on the same slope was much better. After becoming totally confident I have tried something more challenging. That was just pure fun, but all the energy was completely gone. So the next slope was quite an adventure. The top of it was icy so I went to the side where the snow was deeper and not so painful. Eventually I had to return to the main track and this appeared to be a problem - the track was about 1 meter lower than the surrounding fields of snow. And this drop was quite abrupt and I realised that way too late. So at one moment I found myself flying over this edge onto the track! Fortunatelly, landing was safe.
Having reached the bottom of the mountain I was completely wiped out! Could not feel any strength in my legs whatsoever. But the bar and a glass of mulled wine returned me back to life. Not completely though. The last twenty or so meters to the renting shop in skiing boots were extremely long but my shoes felt so comfortable afterwards!

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Photos

A church in the valley
This church really looked like it has grown together with the fur trees surrounding it

Spring, actually
Little things like that were telling that the whole beauty won't las for too long

and more skiing
This is what the place is all about - beatiful mountains and lots of fun!

guesthouse
Cosy gueasthouses are scattered around the valley