Today we drove through southern Germany and ended up just over the border into the Austrian Alps. On the way, we stopped at Breitachklamm, a beautiful river gorge in southern Germany. (The river is named Breitach, and the German name for gorge is klamm.) Even though it rained, the scenery was splendid.

We stopped for hot chocolate in the first Austrian village we came to, Riezlern. I was fascinated with seeing a shop and a street name, Kessler, which may be the original spelling of my maternal ancestral surname. The Pennsylvania Kistlers came from the Alps region west of here.

We came into the small town of Baad, which literally dead ends into the northern side of the Austrian Alps. From there, we parked our car, and the son of the Alpinewald Gasthof (guest house we are staying in for four nights) came to pick up our luggage. We then had to walk up a mountain path for almost a half hour to the lodge. It was still raining, so the Zurich umbrella purchases continue to be appreciated. Even though it is cloudy and cool this evening, we can tell that our views the next few days will be spectacular.

After a hot meal of chicken, baked potato, and spinach, we played a German board game called “International Cafe” before retiring for the night. We understand that we will be awakened tomorrow morning by many cows coming down the mountainside from their summer pasture to winter meadows.