Incredible Rocks

◊ After an early morning train ride that lasted 3 hours, we finally reached our destination, Adrspach. It is a veritable forest of rock formations that seem to defy gravity. All I have to say about this one is "Wow". It was seriously impressive. They don't call it a rock labyrinth for nothing. I heard that this was one of the places that 'The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe' was filmed. This is not very hard to believe.

◊ The Sugar Cone was probably the most indescribable sight I have come across in all of Europe. There is no stinking way that rock could possibly be standing upright. It seems especially incredible considering how long it has remained that way. My pictures do not do this thing justice at all. I tried my best to push it over to no avail. The park's information claimed that the sticks tourists put around it's base are the only thing that keeps it from falling over.

'The Jug' and 'The Sugar Cone'



'The Glove' with 'The Twins'


The original entrance to the park


'The Carpet'


Top of 'The Tooth' and 'Devil's Arch'


The streams running through this park were crystal clear. Even after it rained heavily later, it still was just as clear.


'The Cossack'

◊ Lots of famous historical figures have visited this place but Goethe was the only one with his on personal plaque and bust. Sometimes I feel like I have spent my entire trip following this guy around. He went everywhere and is most famous for going everywhere. Oh yeah, and writing Faust. Every town he ever visited makes sure you know that fact. I think when I go home I will begin writing on every wall I come to "Goethe Was Here", so that everybody can have a sense of what it is like to travel around Europe.

'Goethe Was Here'


'The Great Waterfall'


'The Lovers' and 'Some Random Cool Rocks That No One Has Bothered To Name Yet'


'The Mouse Hole'


You can see the vertical fissure in the second picture.


'Echo Point' and back to the lake.

◊ We had a lot of time left before our target train left so we decided to walk a few kilometers and go to the highest rocks in the area. On top of this formation someone had built a castle. However, it was in such an awesome place that some king had it pulled down rather than leave it undefended. It had been a beautiful day up until this point. Just as we were finishing climbing up the 650 meters from the surrounding terrain, the sky opened up. Logic said that standing on top of a massive rock spire in the middle of a thunderstorm was a recipe for lightning-quick disaster. However, after pushing myself so hard to get up there it seemed like a waste to just turn around and go back down. So we walked the ruins of the castle in the rain. No sooner had we started back down than the sun came out. The rain didn't stop for several more minutes, but for a while we had a full sunlight downpour. Very cool. Very very cool. Cold actually. I was soaked and freezing.

◊ The train ride back was terrible. On the way to Adrspach, we only had to transfer trains once. The ride back involved four different (very uncomfortable) trains and took well over 5 hours. It was still all worth it.