Our second Euromeet outing

Alpine splendours

Scenery from the bus

Although still painful, my ankle was better enough for me to join today's outing. We took the bus first to the Breitachklamm, travelling through some wonderful Alpine scenery.

Scenery from the bus

Breitachklamm

The Breitachklamm is a narrow gorge carved by the waters of the river Breitach. It has its origins in the melting of the glacier of the same name. It is certainly a natural wonder, although our first impressions, arriving in a busy car park full of visitors (it was a holiday weekend) made it seem rather less than natural, despite the scenic surroundings.

Christian, our Euromeet host, organised the payment for our tickets (entrance costs 4€) and arranged for us to skip the lengthy queue. I was concerned that once through the gate we would continue to be among crowds, but people seemed quite quickly to thin out as each walked at a different pace.

Despite my ankle problems I was able to walk just a short distance into the gorge to see the river, but I decided not to push on to the narrowest part of the gorge. Instead I spent a little time photographing the beautiful wild flowers.

There were also some placid cows near the parking area, wearing the cow bells so distinctive of this region.

I then retired to the terrace of the nearby café for an Eiskaffee and to chat with friends also unwinding there. The beauty of a Virtual Tourist meet is that there is no pressure to do anything in particular – some members like to take in all the sights, while for others the social aspects of catching up with old friends and making new ones are more important. And of course most of us like to do a little bit of both! This means that there is always someone to chat to if you don’t feel like exploring – and always someone to explore with if you do

Oberstdorf

We made a stop at the ski flying arena near Oberstdorf where we took the obligatory group photo and again saw some great mountain views.

Group photo

Christian pointed out that this is not just ski jumping but something more impressive again, with the participants achieving much greater distances. I didn’t walk all the way to the arena as it seemed to me that without snow and without jumpers (sorry, flyers!) I wouldn’t get a strong impression, and the mountain scenery around us spoke to me more strongly.

After a short time here the bus dropped us in Oberstdorf, Germany’s southernmost village, where we had free time. A few people took the cable car up the mountain but most of us had a relaxing time in the town. I had some lunch at a café with Yvonne and Irina, from where we enjoyed views of the hang gliders swooping above us.

We also had fun feeding a particularly bold sparrow - or rather, Yvonne fed while I took photos!

I then strolled around town for a while. The street was lined with shops selling outdoor gear and souvenirs, and I was briefly tempted by some jewellery but didn’t find anything quite to my taste. So I focused (literally!) on taking photos, mainly of the interesting small details to be found on many of its wooden buildings, before stopping at another café for coffee.

Our last evening in Kempten

We got back to Kempten with about an hour to spare before dinner, so after freshening up I took a taxi with some of the others to the venue for the final dinner of the meet, the Brauereigasthaus Zum Stift (where we had already eaten on the first evening). This time we had tables outside, which was much pleasanter, and I enjoyed sitting under the chestnuts and chatting to Ali and Co, Isa, Penelope, Lori and Hansi, who shared my table, and to many other friends.

My Wienerschnitzel with potato salad (here in Bavaria called “Erdäpfelsalat” – earth apple salad) was tasty and huge, enough for two people really, although somehow I managed to eat it all! But certainly this evening there was no question of a dessert. A few of the local Allgäuer Dunkelbiers went down well however.

After eating there was much circulating among the tables, and Jon performed some of his intriguing magic tricks - an appropriate way to end another magical VT Euromeet.