A first.

Today, I did something I've never done in July before: I walked across some snow. It felt pretty damn momentous, and slippery.

Needless to say, this was up a mountain. The severe weather warnings have gone away at last, so up I finally went. According to the tourist-information posters at the cable-car station, platoons of playful marmots gambol through the Alpine meadows mere minutes away. Do they bollocks. I think I may, just may, have seen the entrance of a marmot-burrow on a far hillside. But it might have just been a meaningless patch of mud. I feel robbed.

The view was actually rather impressive, though, so the ascent wasn't a total waste of my oh-so-precious time.

Bavarian deserts are profoundly wonderful; I am attempting to eat all of them. My stomach may exceed my baggage allowance on the return trip. That would be awkward.