Heise Liebe und Kinder Schnapps

I can now officially say I have hiked in the Alps.



For the last part of our mini vacation, we went to Dorfgastein. Oh Dorfgastein- an itsy bitsy town with absolutely nothing to do. Except for pricey tourist adventures. Don't get me wrong, if I were a high roller, Dorfgastein is the place to be. Parasailing, river rafting, horseback riding. I guess it was a bit like Sun Valley, though smaller and with more of a Heidi feel to it. If you're into hiking, there's plenty of it to be found in Dorfgastein. And this is not ordinary hiking. As I walked around town, every hiker I saw had those ski poles/walking sticks/ whatever the serious hikers call them. I laughed a little to myself and thought they were lazies until I had to hike the mountain. Then my world crumbled down and I found myself a bit out of shape. To be fair, this was no ordinary hike. It was a trek straight up the side of the mountain. A few minutes passed and I began wishing I'd stolen that pair of ski poles from the poor sap at the bottom. There were no "switch backs" as they say in hiker lingo. I had to suck it up and say, Alps, bring on the burn. All for the sake of cheese making. The most amusing and strangest part of the hike was the cow fascination. Never before have cows been greeted with such enthusiasm and joyous cries. A simple cow bell can do wonders for a cow. I didn't take any pictures, I thought I'd seen plenty of cows before but I admit, the lack of cow photos made me stick out like a sore thumb.

We hiked to two different Alms (one per day thank goodness. I could barely handle one hike a day as it was) and watched as German ladies made bread and cheese.





We went to several little restaurants because we couldn't cook anywhere. And this is where the Heise Liebe comes in. Hot Love. Just the title gets me. Naturlich, we had a many a good laugh over it. Hot Love is the title of one of their magnificent ice cream dishes. Creamy vanilla ice cream smothered in raspberry sauce. And don't forget, rich, hot raspberries to pour over the top. Now that's love. To top off our meal, the waitress brought out tiny glasses of a suspicious dark red liquid. In response to our confused/alarmed expressions, she said, "Kinder Schnapps." After breathing a sigh of relief, we drank up. I wasn't about to let free kinder schnapps go to waste. It was like drinking straight Robitussin. Most unpleasant. I think the best part of the story was, another group went to the same restaurant the next day and were given real alcoholic Schnapps. I promise I've matured. I can't imagine what possessed her to give us Kinder Schnapps. Must've been the Heise Liebe jokes.

This is how we felt about it. Looks appetizing, ja?