(Recommended by Deenise)

Hotel Rustika
Rigobert Hofherr
Oberdorf 16
6631 Lermoos
Tel - 5673/2724 ~ Fax - 5673/3613
Email - info@hotel-rustika.at
6 Singles - 20 Doubles - 20 Triples - 2 Apartments
Sauna, Tanning bed, Massage, Solarium, Whirlpool
Horse carriage, Hotel bar, TV lounge, Hotel safe
Elevator, Garage and Parking area, Restaurant, Internet use

(Comments by Deenise) ...The weather is great today, sunny and very warm. We plan a route through the smaller towns, we are heading towards Lermoos, Austria. It is Wednesday and wish it was a Friday, there are several signs for floh markts, but they are on the weekend. Drats!!!

This drive is new for me, I have always driven on the German side, very nice scenery. We make a few stops for those panorama shots. After a few detours we come to Reutte, it is close to lunch and decide to try a cafeteria style restaurant. Great food and inexpensive too! Of course with the schilling at 16 to the dollar, everything is a bargain. We finish up our biers and stroll back to the car. I am anxious to reach Lermoos. We planned the last two days of our trip in this quiet little town, this is our pamper time.

We arrive in Lermoos at approximately 2pm, finding the Hotel Rustika is easy, just a few doors up from the last place we stayed. There is quite a bit more construction going on this time, several hotels doing some renovations. We find the front desk and check into our rooms, as soon as we dump our luggage Susie and I head down to the bar for a cold bier. After quenching our thirst we head to the desk and make reservations for the reflexology foot massage. We all need this after all the walking we have done earlier this week. The masseuse will be at the hotel at 10am the following day. We each have a 45 minute massage reserved. The rooms are fabulous, a door in the room takes you out to the wrap around deck. We asked the manager if we can use the sauna, she says she will turn it on and to give it a few minutes to warm up. They have a steam and a dry sauna, and they do feel wonderful. After about 45 minutes of this we are zapped. We crawl back to our rooms and perch in the chairs on the deck, kick back and enjoy the scenery. This is heaven....

We decide to eat dinner at the hotel this evening, we are all tired and need some down time. The dining room is lined with windows looking out over the valley and the back side of the Zugspitze. The sun setting on this spectacular mountain is incredible. Mom now understands why all of us could retire in here.

Time to retire, we are all relaxed, the biers at dinner helped that along, we all need some sleep....

Thursday - June 21, We wake early, at 7am the farmer takes his cows from the dairy barn in the middle of town out to the pasture. He has a herd of about 15 cows, they all have their bells. The sound is so charming, another sight not to be missed.

We are blessed with clear skies again, I must say, in all my travels to this area I have never seen the top of the Zugspitze. We see just one lonely cloud in the sky. Stacie gets out the video camera and zooms in on the top of the Zugspitze, she finds the restaurant near the top. She can zoom in and see the cable cars heading up to the top. She also wants to ride one of those things, no way Jose, a bunch of chickens in this group.

Everyone is showered and ready to get some breakfast. We head down to the restaurant and find very few people are staying at the hotel at this time of year. The breakfast buffet is wonderful, lots to pick from, again we have a wonderful view over the valley. We finish and have just a short amount of time to shop before the first scheduled massage. It sure is easy to walk down the hill the few blocks to town, but, hell to walk back up to the hotel. Those poor feet are now ready for the massage. This is a first time for me, the massage I mean. And soon to find out, will not be my last, what a way to treat yourself. 45 minutes of sheer heaven, I felt so relaxed. This was a good choice to stay here at the end of our trip. Everyone finishes up and look like we are floating on cloud nine.

The temperature is near 80 today and the kids want to check out the outdoor pool. Susie opts to take them to the pool while the rest of us head over to Garmisch, approximately 20 minute drive from Lermoos. The four of us spend the afternoon shopping for last minute souvenirs. We stop at an outdoor cafe for some lunch then head back to Lermoos. We find Susie sunburnt and the kids asleep. A nap sounds good, so a few of us partake.

After a short rest, we decide to find a place for dinner, Italian food sounds good and remember there is a nice place on the main street. Drats, they are closed tonight, so we drive over the Erwald, the next town over. Seems all the Italian places are closed today so we find a place with a varied menu and decide this will suit all of us.

I am frustrated trying to decipher everything on the menu for everyone else, so Mom seeing my frustration, picks something out without asking what she it is. Bless her heart, she tells the waiter what she would like and I start guzzling my bier. Soon the waiter returns with the large chef salad that Stacie ordered and places a small white bowl in front of mom. It has this cheese looking stuff over the top, so we all think, hmmm french onion soup. Mom picks up this little fork the waiter left after he gathered her silverware, she looks puzzled and sticks it in the bowl and pulls out this little black thing. OH NO! It's escargot... snails... She turns white and says "I can't eat this." This is where my daughter speaks up and says, " Grandma I'll eat them, here you can have my salad." Mom was very relieved and still is grateful that her granddaughter saved the day. Stacie ate all the snails, bless her heart. I would've never even dreamt of eating a snail when I was 15. Yuck.... So remember, 'Weiner Schnecken' are snails!!! We finish off our meal and all of us are stuffed. Stacie wants to top off her meal with some ice cream, she deserves a reward for her saving Grandma's dinner, so we stop across the street at a small ice cream shop.

Back in Lermoos, they are having an open air concert. We walk down to the park and find a place to sit. Everyone is dressed in their finest Tyrolean attire. Two young women are walking up and down the rows with a huge barrel and passing a cup around. We find out it is schnapps. We enjoy the music and head back to the hotel. We had planned on enjoying the "Berg im Flammen", this is June 21st, the summer solstice, and this being a pagan area they celebrate this day. We had stumbled upon this the last time we were in Lermoos, quite by accident. But to our dismay, they have scheduled the festivities for Saturday. Drats! This is a site to see if you are in any area of Tyrol near the summer solstice, check out when they have these festivities planned. They build fires on the mountain sides and tops. Small fires are built in the shapes of crowns, stag head, crosses, it is really beautiful.

We enjoy the sunset again on our final night in Lermoos. Tomorrow morning we head back to Munich to spend the night at the Marriott in Freising. Another wonderful time in Lermoos, what a way to wind down our trip. We are relaxed and content. This trip has been wonderful, another great bonding time for all of us....