I don’t teach on Mondays so I decided to go on a hike today.
The trouble was, the two maps I have of trails surrounding Purkersdorf are
horrible, and no matter how hard I tried to follow them, I kept losing my
place. So I ended up using a combination of posted signs pointing out
landmarks, a red and white trail marking painted on trees (no idea what trail
it refers to, but I was following it), intuition with regards to direction, and
an open-minded-lets-explore-even-if-we-get-lost attitude to make my way through
the woods. The strategy worked surprisingly well, and I ended up stumbling upon
some incredible views. Pictures to follow:
The best part of the hike was my decision to follow signs to the "Aussichtwarte" which I assumed would be a nice view point clearing kind of thing. What I found, however, was a HUGE tower (see below) that went up 126 steps to a platform with an unreal 360 degree view of the whole valley below. SO GREAT.
A few lessons I learned today:
- When you hike through the woods the day after a full day of non-stop rain, there will be a lot of mud, and you will slip in it. Repeatedly.
- When a path diverges, the correct direction to go is always up. More often than not, you will be rewarded with a beautiful view.
- Do not let yourself get a One Direction song stuck in your head before hiking. It will drive you crazy by kilometer 2.
Back to the classroom tomorrow! I have to talk about violence on Wednesday...need to think about planning that one...
BONUS: A video of my view from the top of the tower!
I love hearing your beautiful voice :) So glad everything is going well!!!
ReplyDeleteWow!!! So beautiful!! What is that swimming pool in the first photo? Did you know what the word "aussicht" meant when you saw the sign? I really can't wait until we come to see it all!
ReplyDeleteThe pool is the Wienerwald Freibad, which I like because it almost rhymes. I haven't been there though. And yes, I knew Aussicht which is why I thought it would be a great Zielpunkt!
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