Welcome to the second Alps & Lakes Tour 2014. We were a colorful mix of travelers this time with tour-members coming from USA, Mexico, Australia, and the Arabian Emirates. Including three German guides we pretty much had the globe encircled with this special melange of five countries. Check out the blog and share the fun!

If you like what you see... join us on the next "ALPS and LAKES."

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That was Riding Day 5: Kaprun to Erding! And to cap it off, a farewell to new friends. Yes... it's time to say goodby and start cherishing the memories -- but as Ursula would say "Guys, it was a great week. We hope to see you again on another Edelweiss tour."

There was so much diversity, so many laughs, so much exchange and opening of new plans and opportinities. Certainly there was something really special about the trip for everyone. Hang on to that, keep rollin' and ride safe.

Signing off... Paul Ursula and Ramon

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Riding Day 4: Großglockner, Staller Sattel, Kitzsteinhorn near Kaprun and some of the group, we're not sure exactly where they went to... but they all got back safe and chipper in the evening... full of smiles and hungry as bears.

Good ole Wade! First time in Europe and straight off he took the prise for the biggest cup of JO in the Alps. Here's the Aussi-Crew on their juant to Staller Sattel. Wade snuck in... and Bob too, to be honest. Looks like everyone wants to be an Australian.

To achieve this we always try and supply our guests with the best materials...!

And this was the Group that did "Groß Glockner" for breakfast and the Kitzsteinhorn for dinner.

A rainbow over the Valley

If you look real close you can see the rainbow that greeted us on the way down. Pretty nice considering we had a complete white-out as we got to the top. From the second middle-station to the top we were totally in the clowds with visibility about as far as you could flip a coin. But a patient wait at the warm café paid off. A beautiful vista revealed itself before our eyes.

Too busy shopping to notice there was a polar-bear on our tail...!

A candid moment of Hal calling home. If I'm not mistaken that's a pretty convincing smile on his face.

A view of Schloss-Kaprun from our window...

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Riding Day 3: We made it to Kaprun on Wednesday and celebrated the day with a tail-gate party at the door to the hotel. And it was just in Time, because in the background a brew of weather was building up. Main thing, we were home and cozy after an eventfull day of cruising the lake-region around Trauensee, after picnicking near Hallstatt, roller-coasing the Dachstein mountain rages and the so-called "Steinerndes Meer" which is home of the majestic peak named respectfully "Hochkönig". Steinerndes Meer means "ocean of stone" in English.

That was how we felt...!

And this is what we saw...

Ursula! Queen of the picnic. Nobody does it quite like her.

One of the "Bobs" in a special moment...

And here some more friends having the time of their life...

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Second Day's Ride: From Salzburg to Gmunden via "Eagle's Nest" (Hitler's famed secluded hide-away near Berchtesgaden high above the "Königssee". To cap the day a cruise down the Postalmstrasse - a secluded streatch of private logging road that vaguely reminds one of the out-backs of Idaho.

Our civil-engineer seems pretty pleased with his catch of helmets. Just put out a bait and wait...!

A sweet and Lovely finish to a perfect day.

Then a tranquil lake and soothing spirits of wine, whiskey and song.

Here we call that the "Alpine Glow" (or in German Alpenglühen)

This bird gave her name to the hotel we stayed at: "Hotel Schwan"

End of thrilling day... a relaxing evening in the lusurios settings of Gmunden. A town square with a court-house that was built in 1573. A mountain-fed lake in the background with swans parading their beauty. An elegand dinner with friends. Who could ask for anything more?!

The benchmark has now been set even higher.

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First Day's Ride: Route 1 took part of the Group to King Ludwigs palace on a romantic island in the Chiemsee -- Crazy King Ludwig's extravagant immitation of Versails. Then it was on to Salzburg where we all would meet for the night.

Route 2 ambled down a woodsy bavarian back-road to one of Germany's most beautiful alpine journeys leading right to Berchtesgaden. After a briliant day of riding, we broke the blistering heat of the afternoon with a cool break in the shade of a tranquil beer garden just at the foot of the infamous "WATZMANN"

To cap the day, we all gathered for dinner at the oldest Restaurant in Europe (first officially noted in journals from travelers in 803 a.d.) right at the foot of Salzuburgs famous fortress, in the middle of the city that was birthplace or home to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer Johan Michael Haydn (Joseph Haydn's brother), Christian Doppler (discoverer of the Doppler-Effect), noted writers Stefan Zweig and Thomas Bernhard, musician and conductor Herber von Karajan, base-jumper Felix Baumgarten und Maria von Trapp who's life was documented in the american classic "The Sound of Music".

A stunning mix of cultural highligts and rustig grandeur- all packed together with a good bit of fun! A day which set a mark that was going to be hard to beat.

After "cooking" on the bikes all day, a cooling chill-off in a well near St- Peters Stift in Salzburg brought relief. Outside temp: 35° centigrade. Water temp 12°

Resume of the day: TOP SCORE

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DAY ZERO: Erding Germany

Getting briefed and gearing up for the trip may look like serious business... but actually this was just a an accidental moment of spontaneous sobriety.