Guest Post By Trudy Jones

THREE COUNTRIES IN EIGHT HOURS. Think about it: Driving from Garmisch, Germany, to Innsbruck, Austria, and on through the Brenner Pass to Vipiteno, Italy, and back to Germany in a typical eight hour work day. Breakfast in Germany, lunch in Austria, pastries in Italy and dinner in Garmisch. What a great day. Innsbruck is a beautiful town nestled in a valley between two mountains. It provided a shopping and sightseeing opportunity and a traditional Austrian lunch at Weinhaus Sapp im Herzen der Altstadt. The drive over the autobahn through Brenner Pass to Italy was a fast one. Anyone care to guess who was driving at 120 kilometers per hour in a 4 cylinder VW Polo (Golf in USA)? We blew by Audis, Mercedes, double semi trucks and even a few smart cars. For those of you not familiar with a smart car, it is a tiny two seater which Chrysler will export to the USA as soon as they figure out how to meet all safety standards. The funniest road sign among many strange varieties (to us) was the "watch out for frogs" one which had a picture of a panicked frog. We looked for them, but alas, no frogs out today although it is a rainy and foggy day with perfect conditions for them. Vipiteno is an old walled town with spectacular buildings, cobblestone streets, breathtaking architecture and children in boots jumping in every available puddle. Melissa was kindly asked by a five year old to move over as she was walking in the "puddle lane". We are constantly looking in every direction to see the colorful stucco buildings. There hasn't been a hard freeze so the balconies are colorful with blooming plants of every description. Around every corner is another beautiful carved wooden door hiding small passageways to secret places. Town clocks chime a reminder that we must hurry on to the next scenic vista. The countryside is heavily forested with every color imaginable and each green meadow is closely mown with sheep, cattle and horses grazing among the small huts that provide their winter shelter. Everyone has gathered their winter wood in precisely stacked bundles to see them through the six months of cold and snow that will surely come soon. We rejoice in the beauty of it all. Wish you all were here to share it with us. For now, Auf wiedersehen.