Alpenhotel Neuwirt Schladming

After 2 days of biking mayhem, hiking down the Planai mountain watching practice and qualifying, it was finals day. Unfortunately we broke our camera trying to take a timed picture on top of the mountain. We rested it on a rail, i pressed the button and ran to where Clare was standing only to find when turning round the camera was not there anymore.... It had fell off and broke ...

Early start had us at Verona station for 8.30am and we were soon on the train heading for Innsbruck, Austria. After Clare scoffing a chocolate custard doughnut in record time we boarded our connecting train in Innsbruck to Scladming, finally arriving at 6pm. Clare was sweating at the thought of a similar room to Verona, so it was an anxious walk up the stairs to ...

... soon as we arrived that this is no backpacker town and nothing is cheap. She must have called 10 places for us. Most were full or too expensive. So again, we ended up at a little old woman's house - but it was really nice. It was a big, traditional Austrian mountain home. We had quite a hike there but once there we could finally relax on our balcony overlooking the mountains. Very stressful day. It was another case of not being able to communicate with our hosts. The ...

... br>So tomorrow morning Derek arrives at the Salzburg airport about 9:30 am, and we’re meeting by the Mozart statue in Mozartplatz (the main square of Salzburg). We’ll have two days in Salzburg before heading up to Germany. We’ll have three days in Munich, one day in Nuremburg, and one day in Rothenburg. Then Derek will return home from Nuremburg, and I will continue my travels up the Rhine Valley in Germany.

Auf Wiedersehen!

... I normally would have done. But I just didn’t feel like it, so I stayed in my room and ate leftover munchies.

I almost didn’t want to go to bed, because I didn’t want to have to leave my room in the morning. But eventually I got really tired and couldn’t concentrate on my book anymore, so I went to sleep.

Tomorrow I’ll leave Hallstatt and go to Salzburg, where my brother Derek will join me on Sunday!

Auf Wiedersehen!

... as when
the sunset it got instantly cold....hmm this wasnt in the emma and
kathleen brochure! Tuesday morning we got up and went for a walk - well
mini hike really. I looked totally out of place... everyone had their
hiking boots and poles etc... then here I come, shorts and cardi,
converse sneakers and long pink ...

... and then hit the road for areas less populated. Destination: Hallstatt in the salzkammergut area of Austria.

An hour and a half out of Salzburg, the little village of Hallstatt sits perched on the edge of a lake. It is built on a hill, has really only one street suitable for cars, and is in a gorgeous mountainous setting. The camping is half a kilometer out of town, and across the road from the main city park with swimming area in the lake. Wahoo ...

... took us into a cave lined with ice. The ice is formed each Spring as the winter thaw seeps into the ceiling of the caves which maintain a constant subthermal temperature. The result is stalagtites and stalagmites formed in ice, as well as ice rivers and waterfalls. It was quite beautiful and very chilly!

We said "Vislat" to our new Hungarian friends and hopped in the car heading for Hungary.

... the church, we strolled through the rest of the town and did some window-shopping. After our lunch, we walked down to the park. There was a young man sitting on the lakeside playing a strange instrument: it sounded like a fiddle but he held it like a guitar and the neck was much wider than a fiddle. He wasn't a busker, just playing for his own pleasure. We sat on the shore, watched the ducks and the boats, and listened to his music ...

Salzburg was probably the best place we visited in Austria but it was just too expensive and touristy to really love! After opting not to sell Ken's flat in order to pay for a Sound of Music tour (which we didn't really want to do anyway) we checked out the city for ourselves and had a fun enough time doing it that way! We (or I should say I) upset the staff in our hostel a little (or perhaps a lot) by requesting to watch the Sound of Music video for the second time ...