Down into the mist
Cable cars descending into the clouds, The Penkenbahn, Mayrhofen Austria 2019
Skiing was the order of the day with new snow on the mountain and reasonably good conditions. We headed up after breakfast and found that everyone in Mayrhofen had the same idea as it was very crowded. Lots of people on tight mountain trails make it rather nerve racking for Laurie. We skied hard for about half a day and decided to head off the mountain and away from the crowds.
It is the weekend before Christmas, and the locals tell us the rentals here run mostly from Saturday to Saturday, which means today (Sunday) is the first day of their vacation. They all decided to ski it seems. Based on this, we decided to wander a bit and do photography the rest of the afternoon. 
All the dots up on the hill are people. It was crowded!
I had left my real camera gear at the guest house as the weather was so foul, so we changed out of our ski gear and into more comfortable clothes. We took the lift back up the mountain and brought our good photo gear with us. We were concentrating on photos and not skiing this trip up. Photo gear is a lot lighter too.
The ski area is above the cloud line. While it is cloudy and raining in town, the ski area is clear, but a little gray. It definitely wasn’t sunny. But the view was phenomenal and we did take great photos. We have a bunch of photos tonight, of all matter of things we’re doing and seeing. 
The cable cars that carry you to the top. These are new and hold around 20 people.
We check out the store at the top of the lift. They have things well planned here for visitors. There is a rental store with heated lockers with boot dryers at the top of the lift. You can rent skis there and leave them overnight in the heated lockers, or you can rent a locker for your own skis. They have the same facility at the bottom of the lift as well. You just show up wearing your ski clothes and regular shoes and all your stuff is waiting on you.
We come off the mountain the second time just before 4 p.m. The cable car drops down off the mountain and the cars seem to vanish in front of you as they drop into the clouds. Laurie said it’s like a Steven King novel and there is probably a monster down there eating the cable cars. She sometimes has a vivid imagination. 
Coming out of the fog and back into town ( no monster)
After getting back to town and not getting eaten by a monster, we walk a bit and decide to eat. We skipped lunch today so we’re hungry and don’t want to wait for the normal local supper time of 7:30 or so. Laurie has local food consisting of pork cutlets, sauerkraut, and a dumpling. The dumpling is sort of a boiled dough ball about the size of a tennis ball, and it is the bread/starch with the dinner. Laurie liked everything but the dough ball. I personally thought it was good!
I had a pizza. I’ve found that if you get a pizza from a take away stand (we call that carry out in the states) it is cut and you eat the slices. If you get a pizza in a sit down restaurant, the pizza is whole, and you cut it with a knife and eat it with a fork. The pizza comes on a large plate so it is easy to cut. My pizza was good as well. 
Pizza with a knife and fork, and Laurie's pork cutlets, kraut, and dumpling
We decided to have a dessert for each of us since we skipped lunch. I decided for the tried and true apfelstrudel mit vanilla (apple strudel with vanilla sauce) which was very tasty. The menu was in German so we did the best we could to translate. Laurie thought she was getting some sort of milkshake made with vanilla ice cream and coffee in lieu of milk. And that’s exactly what she received and she loved it.
We leave our dinner and take a few scattered photos through town, but the rain is beginning to fall. We decided to head back to the guest house and call it an early day. We move tomorrow and have to do laundry as well, so we have a few things to do tonight. 
The spotlight on a lift tower cutting the fog at night, as the last cable cars descend. Laurie took this with her phone.
We have all day to get to the Munich airport (Munchen Flughaven) for our 9 p.m. flight. We plan our laundry duty in the morning with an afternoon of trains to the airport. If all goes well, we should have plenty of time. Thanks for following along and we hope everyone is having a good holiday season! Be sure to check out all the photos in the gallery below. Goodnight everyone!
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