12-28-10 On our way to Edelweiss

Edelweiss, Edelweiss….. We finally arrived….all in one piece! I had some doubts along the way, what with the weather, the snowy and icy roads, and some madmen drivers! Fortunately, we only saw one accident along the way, about three cars in front of us, as Alan slammed on the brakes to avoid becoming a part of it! Seems the road may have had black ice on it, because we couldn’t figure out any other cause for the accident.
We started out at the Exchange, changing my dollars into euros, then buying lunch at the German Bakery. Mmmm. I had a roll with Camembert cheese and lettuce, and a cappuccino. (Hindsight told me I should’ve had a couple beers rather than a coffee, as the coffee got my heart racing and the driving had me almost having a heart attack! I sent up loads of prayers that God would put his angels around our car. To be exact, I asked Him to put GERMAN angels around our car because they’d be the only ones to be able to keep up with our car’s speed on the autobahn! We stopped along the way several times – for the WC, for a snack, for supper, for gas, for gas again, (“Let’s see, 15 km equals how many miles? I think we should stop and get some more gas.” “No, I know the ESSO is real close…..Hmmmm, it’s not there anymore.”) and another snack, finally reaching Edelweiss around 7:30. It seemed more like around 9:30 or 10:00 because the sun set around 5:15.
Checking in, I couldn’t help but notice that this resort reminded me of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. Emilee quickly reminded me that THIS resort was REAL, as opposed to Disney’s which was a copy. I started thinking, Disney copied the Matterhorn mountain to make a rollercoaster ride called The Matterhorn, Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein to make Cinderella’s Castle, and very possibly Edelweiss Lodge to make the Wilderness Lodge. He must’ve loved Germany!
I stepped outside to look at the view and saw a huge cloud of steam continuously billowing up from right down below. Emilee told me it was the hot tub. I could hear a lot of voices from below which told me that it was a popular place! Hmmm. Twenty five degrees Fahrenheit, snow covered mountains, and sitting in a tub of hot water. Sounded heavenly…except the part about getting into a bathing suit. Another time, perhaps. What were those little lights I was seeing straight ahead in the sky? Stars? Wait, one’s moving. That’s when I realized that there was a mountain right out my window and those were houses and cars waaaaaayyyy up there. I couldn’t see the snow, though. In the morning there’s going to be a totally different view out my window! But for now, I quickly took out my camera and proceeded to try to capture what I was seeing. It was difficult, however, because in my haste (and wasted time), I left my tripod at home. So, bracing the camera on the balcony railing and holding my breath, I TRIED to get a steady photo. Not much luck. Even a heartbeat moves a camera just a smidgen.
We unpacked and prepared to find a place to have dinner (eating AGAIN!). The Pullman Place Restaurant was filled to the brim, so we ventured off the grounds into town. Not going far, we stopped at a restaurant/gasthaus in town which Emilee heard recommended by their tour guide last time they visited. Emilee said, “Okay, who’s going in first?” Of course, I did. Entering, we saw a quaint little restaurant, not quite filled. But we weren’t sure of the procedures: Do we seat ourselves or wait? We decided it would be best to wait. We don’t want to be ‘ugly Americans’. (Turns out, there were ONLY Americans in there, we think!) The waitress nodded for us to take a seat at one of the empty tables, so we did. Soon she took our order: Emilee – “DARK beer,” Me – “Lowenbrau”, and Alan – Radler (part beer and part sprite), a “girly drink”, we kidded him. I personally wasn’t that hungry, as I had just eaten a McDonald’s kid’s meal on the road (ugh, yes I know, how disgusting). So I just ordered goulash. Emilee and Alan ordered meals that looked scrumptious. I’d forgotten, though, about the higher alcohol content in the beer, and after my one, I was downright silly. (Probably, also, because I hadn’t slept but about one hour the night before, AND I was so relieved that those German angels had delivered us to our destination!) A German meal wouldn’t be complete without a good apfel strudel, so we ordered one and split it three ways. It was served warm with vanilla ice cream and REAL whipped cream on the side. Even though I only had a couple tastes, I vowed to do much walking tomorrow!

P.S. Just got internet access and Alan is waiting for me to get ready to go on a 'road trip' while Emilee studies, so will add the photos later. The post was done in Word last night so I just copied and pasted.