After our insanely crazy adventure to Zireiner See that morning, I wanted nothing more than to relax with a cold brew and listen to some funky Tirolean music. My wish was answered as we made our way to Alpbach for the Dorffest. Alpbach itself is an amazing sight to see. Because of its Tirolean architecture and incredible flower arrangements on every structure, it gets voted time and again as "Austria's Most Beautiful Village." When we were there in February, we skied the Wiedersbergerhorn, but didn't realize there was this charming little village just up the road that we failed to explore. Here are a couple of pictures to illustrate the beauty of this little Tirolean village.
So, being in this pretty village for Dorffest (Village Fest) was really cool - the whole village turns into a fairground. All the locals dress appropriately in the traditional clothing for this annual celebration. There was music everywhere...
...they had games for the little kids...
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| The kid who could climb the largest stack won 50 EUR! |
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| Little r waiting patiently to get his face painted |
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| Who knew he would love this?! He wanted to be a puppy, but tiger it is! |
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| Awesome, right? Pure awesome. Rooooaaar! |
...and games for the big kids...
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| Leg wrestling, not kidding you - the whole point is to flip the other guy upright... |
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| like this... |
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| And no Dorffest is complete without a wood sawing competition! |
...and there were games for little kids that wanted to be big kids...
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| little r gearing up for some rock climbing and repelling. there is nothing this kid won't do... |
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| look at him go! this kid amazes me! |
I loved how all the locals dressed up for the occasion. What I loved most was how so many of the woman were dressed traditionally in a yet untraditional way.
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| So many men were wearing traditional dress |
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| These women were selling schnapps from a barrel around their shoulders |
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| This was my favorite - traditionally, untraditional attire - LOVE IT! |
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| Tirolean men enjoying a laugh and a good beer at the beer stand |
And it goes without saying that the food was fantastic!
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| True Austrian schnitzel sandwich - HEAVEN! |
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| a little tiger enjoying his ice cream |
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| Big R was eating, too, I swear - just a little more shy about being photographed! |
A fun time was had by all. The bus brought us home, and after we tucked little r into bed we sauntered out to our porch to enjoy a little bergkase, chocolate, and local wine. We sat out on the porch for hours and talked about life, politics, religion, Rani... we laughed, cried, and bonded in a way, well, frankly, in a way we do almost every time we sit on a porch and eat cheese, chocolate, and drink wine - haha. Something was extra special about that evening though...
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| My love... |
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| Our views from the porch... |
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| ...more views... |
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| little r thought he was missing out, so he joined us for a little bit |
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| Pure bliss... |
The next morning we were sad to go. Luckily we live in a pretty amazing place, which makes leaving wonderful vacations a little easier. But, we weren't in any hurry, so we took our time heading back and drove through the Zillertal region stopping in Zill im Zillertal and walked along the river, took a ride on the coaster at the Zillertal Arena, and let little r climb around like a monkey.
And we spent our final hours in Austria exploring Ratenberg for one last time. It was a lovely finish to a beautiful week in Tirol.
I think it's safe to say this was a pretty incredible vacation. Not sure that it was relaxing in every possible way, but our real vacations are only spectacular when they include a lot of adventure. Big R went right from Austrian love to courtroom drama. After spending far too long in the car because of construction between Munich and Nuremberg (next time we are taking the train!), he had to waltz back to the office to prepare for court the next day. I didn't see him again until late Tuesday night, but he got his client an acquittal, so not all was lost. Ah, the adventures we see...
Next weekend my love is taking me to Scandinavia to experience Copenhagen and to spend some time with family in Gothenberg, Sweden. It promises to be another incredible journey!
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