Alpine Club Schladming

... focusing lens :-( We took it to a shop later and they said it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one. Oh well that camera has been through a lot and was due for retirement, and what better excuse to buy a new one!!<br><br>Anyway.... The finals were brilliant. We got the gondola to the top of the mountain and walked down the track watching the riders come down. First up ...

... room.... but it got the thumbs up as it was clean, tidy and modern. The view from the room was amazing, perfect view of the Planai mountain slope, so good we could have sat there and watched the biking from our room!! Dropped our bags and went for our first meal out since leaving home, chilli fahitas and chicken burgers went down a treat, god bless Papa Joes!!!!

... buses at the top of the mountain when we finally got there.<br><br>Mom was already freaked out from the hairpin turns alongside steep drop off cliffs, so she decided to skip the mines. Instead she got to relax in the beautiful sunshine beside the glistening water of the large lake. We, on the other hand, managed to get on the funicular to the mines just in time to catch the last tour.<br><br ...

... and her husband couldn't speak English - which is fine, they were pretty laid back. <br><br>They served us breakfast everyday which was nice. It was basically bread and spreads. Where's the omelets and bacon? Oh we miss that! Nice breakfast though and the table looked like it was set for a king. When we sat down, she left and we could hear footsteps upstairs (in our room). We kept wondering what she was doing. Turns out she was remaking the bed and hanging towels ...

... br>So tomorrow morning Derek arrives at the Salzburg airport about 9:30 am, and we&#8217;re meeting by the Mozart statue in Mozartplatz (the main square of Salzburg). We&#8217;ll have two days in Salzburg before heading up to Germany. We&#8217;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.<br><br>Auf Wiedersehen!

... I normally would have done. But I just didn&#8217;t feel like it, so I stayed in my room and ate leftover munchies.<br><br>I almost didn&#8217;t want to go to bed, because I didn&#8217;t want to have to leave my room in the morning. But eventually I got really tired and couldn&#8217;t concentrate on my book anymore, so I went to sleep.<br><br>Tomorrow I&#8217;ll leave Hallstatt and go to Salzburg, where my brother Derek will join me on Sunday!<br><br>Auf Wiedersehen!

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

... and then hit the road for areas less populated. Destination: Hallstatt in the salzkammergut area of Austria.<br><br>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!<br><br>We said "Vislat" to our new Hungarian friends and hopped in the car heading for Hungary.<br>

... the tasty brew until they kicked us out...darn monks and there early bed times! So we walked to the downtown area and stopped for a sausage roll (kielbasa) and ran into the craziest and drunkest man in Salzburg, who then decided to hang with us for a few minutes and yell out random things like "CIA!" and then spit on the ground, "pahtooie!". He guzzled a brew and threw down some sausage and screamed out random Austrian and even ...