The second of the two castles visible from our balcony was lit tonight for the first time. There were fireworks, which sounded like guns being fired as they echoed through the valley. We had dinner at the Hotel Maximilian, run by a dynamic woman named Gabi with perfect English. A group of Americans (probably a church group) got together in the next room and sang after they had dinner. An older man and a hunky young blond man with rosy cheeks arrived near the beginning of our meal, both wearing traditional loden jackets and green wool hats.

After dinner we went for a couple of drinks to the Braue Keller, a cool place in the center of Reutte. It's basically a stone cellar that is now surrounded by a modern wooden building. The crowd was attractive people of college/graduate school age, some gay, some not. The 3 bartenders were fabulous women in their 20s and 30s that would not be out of place in a cool East Village bar. One of them was dressed in early 17th century attire as she ran about filling drinks, talking with patrons, etc. She had a friend sitting at one end of the bar who was dressed like Marie Antoinette, drinking Sekt and smoking cigarettes.

The high altitude and relatively dry air here are kicking my ass. I'm getting a sore throat, but I think it's just dryness. It's not as if I'm going to stop having coffee and alcohol to compensate.