2008.08.31. - Hiking in Tirol

We reached our next destination - Serfaus in South Tyrol.
Serfaus has supposedly been awarded the title 'Family Dorf Tirol' for its excellent variety of offerings for children and families both in winter and summer.


There are numerous "theme hiking trails" where we could hardly keep pace with the kids who ran kilometers all day long searching for the next clue of another "mystery". They explored the case of a crashed airplane, followed the trail of two little wizards, kept to the footprints of forest explorers, just to mention a few.

No matter how much we hiked, the kids managed to impress us with their never ending energy. Even in the breaks along the trails they never passed a playground without "testing" it (and there is at least one literally on every mountain) and they never passed any activity offered without "getting on with it" at least once.

They "took a break" at the water playground, flied with the "Fisser-Flieger" (a kite-like aircraft), rode the "Fisser-Flitzer" (summer sled) all the way down the mountain, tried the huge SkySwing and fed the animals on the hills or caught little frogs at lakes.


When Annie got tired along the more difficult trails, she used the services of her private "Austrian Sherpa", her Daddy's.


I could only count on my crutches.
A week earlier I asked a sport specialist if there was anything he could do to allow me to hike with the others. Out of question with half-torn ligaments. Still I could absolutely not resist the fantastic weather and the breath-taking mountains. So I hopped along at my pace, mostly alone on easier tracks, taking long breaks at huts with my book, Stephen Hawking: A Briefer History of Time.

It was one of the most relaxing holidays I have ever had. Julia, Daniel and Annie hiked with Norbert, together with two other families - Ramsays and Dawsons, both having four children of their own - that made eleven kids altogether ! And I got to enjoy all the stories of the day at the dinner table.