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 ...

... the top of the mountain are also a bit on the narrow side. A large section was also a bit scary because there was construction work being done that closed one lane so there was only one skinny shared lane remaining, and at times I wondered how a car any bigger than ours could squeeze along. We figured there must be another way to the top that our GPS failed to use because there were some large ...

... 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 ...

... going on in the old town and I could hear it pretty well while I had my window open. It was loud enough that it was distracting me while I was reading. So I had to close the window. It was actually fairly cold outside, though, so it didn&#8217;t make it too warm inside.<br><br>For some reason the power went out in my room about 8 pm. So before I went to bed, I had to use my watch light to find my way to the bathroom at the end of the hall ...

... 8217;re always around people, who are strangers, whether it be in your room, at breakfast, or just hanging out in a common room. Maybe it wouldn&#8217;t be so bad if I was travelling with someone else, but being on my own it gets hard to tolerate.<br><br>So I ended up not leaving my room for the rest of the night. I read my book some more, actually took a nap, and then read a lot more (it was a really good book). I thought about going out to dinner, which is ...

We arrived in Hallstatt in the Austrian Alps on Monday. Its so<br>beautiful! Reminded me a lot of NZ in one way but also very different<br>at the same time. Its one of the top UNESCO world sites. We got there<br>in time for a sunbake and swim but by god the water was FREEZING!!!!!<br>Took your breath away! You could tell we were in the ...

8/19 Austria, Salzburg. This morning we drove to town and parked in a parking lot next to a Chrysler minivan of all things, who was driven by a guy from Utah and his large family. He is civil service of some sort, and wanted to know all about our most excellent luge experience, as that is high on his family's list as well. We walked the old town, toured the Hohensalzburg Fortress, marveled at the primitive decadence those in medieval power seemed to enjoy ...

... family (his favorite activity when travelling in Europe). He told them he was (originally) from Tata... they said they were also from Tata; he said he was from Szomod (a subdivision of Tata)... they said they were also from Szomod! They asked his family name... they said they not only knew his family, but they bought his grandfather's house!!!! Now what are the odds of that?!<br><br>The Ice Cave ...

... s also famous as being the setting for The Sound of Music movie/musical. What else is there to tell: beautiful gardens, pumping nightlife, giant fortress from 1077, and Mozart madness everywhere! One night we went out with some Aussies and a cute littel Canadian girl (who ended up going with us to Vienna for a bit) to the Augustiner Braustubl (brewhouse) where the local monks brew there own beer. It's superb and we had giant steins ...