All in all, we had a really great time, got really cold, ate too much, had fun conversation with each other and random locals, from an old guy we saw on our first hike, the lady in the gift shop in Landeck, to the ice climbing guys.
I realized this was the first "real" travelling I've done for more than a couple days. All my other trips have been either long weekends, visiting friends, camping, or climbing affairs, or with family or big groups. So this was the first time I had to set up multiple nights of accommodations, plan train connections, and figure out what to do in multiple cities.
I learned a lot! I learned that I can only do museums and cultural things for only so long, I need to play outside in between, even if it is just a walk in a park or something like that. It's hard to say outside for more than an hour or so when it is 25 degrees or so, especially if you stop a lot and take pictures. This means you have to spend more money because most cafes aren't so stoked on people who come in an don't buy anything. The cold also makes picnic lunches a bit difficult. We had to sit on the train station floor or make sure we ate while we were in a train or our room. It's hard to find places to stay over New Years, even if you aren't' near ski areas. And you can't camp in the winter which makes things a lot cheaper. One advantage of winter travel is using your window sile as a fridge or freezer depending on the weather (ours was usually a freezer).
I also did a lot of thinking about the purpose of travel and it's value. Why do people travel? What kind of effect does it have on the local people and places. It is disturbing how many tourists we saw almost everywhere we went. I think one of the reasons people travel is to see the locals and their culture but it seemed like all we saw, at least in the cities was other tourists or people in shops who were so used to seeing tourists, they would automatically speak to us in English because the locals don't hang out in these places.
In the last few months I have really started to realize how much I enjoy small places and now big cities. Landeck, at about 8,000 people, is by far the smallest town I have lived in (Bellingham is 2nd at 60,000, if you don't count the cabin in AK). I don't really mind it, but am glad that Innsbruck is only 45 min away.
I also have been wondering about the validity of travel in the Christian life. Even if I give 10% for the month, what does it mean that I spend $400 or so on a two week trip? Which for me is a lot of money, almost half my monthly income. When I think that about half the world is living on about $2 a day, $400 is a freaking fortune and I am spending it on a place to stay even though I already have one of those, kitchy postcards, and eating lots of food. "I sat on the toilet...thinking of what an odd thing tourism is. You fly off to a strange land, eagerly abandoning all the comforts of home, and then expect vast quantities of time an money in a largely futile effort to recapture the comforts that you wouldn't have lost if you hadn't left home in the first place." -Bill Bryson. Does that negate the value of travel? Lets look at some of the reasons people travel: to learn, to experience another culture, to relax, to have fun, to be challenged, to visit friends and family, to appreciate home, to be inspired to action, to understand the world better....
"Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that i am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied than your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God...You may say to yourself, "my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth..." Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17-18
I know that isn't about travel, but it is about what happens when we become prosperous. The more money we have the less we feel the need to get our security from God. Our money and things make us feel secure, no wonder the most prosperous nations tend to move away from religion as they make more money. On a slightly different note, when I travel, and there is always stuff to do, getting places early before the crowds, etc, it is very easy for me to forget to take the time to pray or read my Bible.
Allie and I talked to two of the refugees I had met a few weeks before. They are both from Nigeria. They aren't allowed to get jobs here legally, they are far away from their family, friends, work, everything. They get just barely enough money to get by and want to be back home (and one of them wants to visit the US) and I am in Austria for the fun of it, sitting there in my expensive rain coat, getting ready to wander around central Europe for the fun of it. It sort of puts things in perspective. I think it is frequently easy to live our lives forgetting about the millions of people around the world who are barely getting by, have war, drought, poverty, and I am trying to decide where I want to take my next trip or what new DVD I want to buy. Has my life improved because I have seen a concert of Mozart music or the castle in Munich? Could the price of my cultural enrichment be spent better else where?
The funny thing is though, that people who follow God faithfully often go to far off places and see new cultures and they get to do it for God. As one author puts it, "the adventures of Paul" from the New Testament, travelled all over the middle east, Rome, Athens and more. Abram (later Abraham) who God "led him to a foreign region inhabited by an entire spectrum of tribes...among so many ethnic groups, Abram was more than likely to develop the kind of all-peoples perspective that would surely be required in one destined to be a 'blessing to all peoples.'" That is from Eternity in their Hearts by Don Richardson which I just started reading today. Another book that I just finished a couple days ago that is about travel, is Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson that is about his travels in Europe.
I know all these thoughts are super random and not well put together. That's because that is ow they are moving through my mind and I am energized by the new thoughts and ideas running through my head but at a loss for what it all should mean or what action I might take because of it. I do know that it is shaping my view of travel, how I live my life, and what my purpose is on this earth.
A couple closing thoughts before the picture show:
"But I paid for my comfort with a twice-daily dose of guilt. Each time I dined in the Sheraton, I was glumly aware that I was eating better than nine million Bulgarians...to a Bulgarian it would seem to offer a life of richness and comfort almost beyond conception: a posh bar where you could get cocktails with ice cubes, restaurants serving foods that haven't been seen elsewhere in the country for years, a shop selling chocolates, brandy and cigarettes and other luxuries so unattainable that the average Bulgarian would be foolish even to dream of them. It amazed me that didn't get beaten up every time I emerged from the hotel - I'd want to beat me up and I know what a sweet guy I am - but no one showed me anything but kindness and friendship." -Bill Bryson from Neither Here Nor There, 1991
"I wanted to come visit you while you were in Austria and when I got here I met a man from Nigeria who doesn't like how cold it is in Austria and who really wants to live in the U.S. We'd all rather be where we're normally not." -Allie
"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." -Ephesians 5:15-16
"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." -Colossians 3:17
Cheese cutting boy at the Christmas market.
Me dancing for the locals at the Festung, the fortress.
The puppet museum, inside the Festung.
Does it look cold? It was really cold. That day we snuck our lunch in the slighly warmer than frigid room showing a silent film about the Festung. We actually didn't want to watch it at all but it was the only not so freezing place where we could sit down.
The perfect sized door for midgets. Yay!
Salzburg from above.
The 15 minute hike uphill to the Festung warmed us up.
Old guys playing chess. Funny.
Aren't her hands freezing?!
The river through Slazburg.
They are trying to high five but they have opposing magnets pushing them apart. Or are they trying ot toast?
I think the castle gardens miht be a bit better in he spring or summer. Perhaps.
The simple pleasure of trying to break hard material with other hard material. 
Is it a bird, or a plane? No, it is an ornately decorated vaulted ceiling.
A successful high five.
The fancy room where we saw the Mozart concert. Really cool, but we were both tired so we helped eachother not nod off. Shold have gotten that coffee before hand.
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