Eva Hotel Village Saalbach

... hand at an ariel assault course....he came back a shell of his former self after 3 hours in the trees hanging from bits of wire and trying to keep up with 9 year old girls who were more agile than him..for my penance I had to play pitch and putt with Lauren using carved putters and wooden balls..no danger i'll be joining a golf tour anytime soon. 

Definitely worth a visit in winter for you keen boarders out there.

... loop but takes you to another peak and it is all on the top edge of the mountain. We went on part of it, but it was pretty dangerous. We stayed up there as long as we could and the clouds parted a few times but still not much for the views. It was really great to see this though, its amazing how they built this, the elevator, and the access road (which is famous on its own) in only 13 months! Hitler only went to the top of the ...

... shop at Eagle's Nest were Italian-made. Bleh! This is getting discouraging.) We walked down to the bus platform; then headed back to the tour office, switching buses again at the bunkers.

Another long, late day, not back at hotel for supper until 8. But we did manage to get the desired picture of the billboard we had seen in the other direction for Rumpfinger. Almost better than Barf-Buffet!

... down by the ankles to two vertical poles, then sawn in half down the middle. Right down the cleft. Thinking of all the roadside shrines and crosses I had seen in the Tirol, my mind strayed to wonder how the religious imagery of Christian Europe might be rather different had the Romans favoured this method of execution instead of crucifixion!

Behind the tower is a ...

... legs began to whimper and ask whether it wasn't time to gently ride back to base for a nice, cold beer. However, they quickly came to their senses and marshalled themselves for the coming onslaught: a long, hard fire road climb up 9 long switchbacks. Bigger than anything in South East England, for sure. The reward was worth it: a long singletrack descent with lots to offer in ...

... a little drop into a berm and I managed to confuse myself into doing something stupid and taking a brief trailside lie down. This is a trail with big, steep, fast, bermed sections and is fun to ride in sections and a bit scary in others, particularly on a 4" lightweight XC racing bike. Down at the bottom it goes a bit 4x and you can walk back up and practice this section, which is good, fast ...

... the hotel wouldn't be able to give us a lift into town. Okay, we thought, but would we be able to book the glacier trip? I resolved there and then to find our own way into town. How hard could it be?

Anyway, they taxied us out to our hotel after dropping the Kitzbuehel contingent as our hotel was out by the lake. First impressions - very beautiful setting and they gave us a room with an enormous balcony - even though we hadn't paid extra for ...

... answered the door, and led me inside. Meinhardt greeted me and led me to the living room where I drank coffee and chatted with him about who I was and why I came to Romania. After the coffee, I went straight to bed, and despite the caffeine, fell directly asleep, exhausted from the journey. When I woke up in the morning, Meinhardt and I had breakfast. He then went about telling me his life story, which I found fascinating. Johann Meinhardt also lived ...

August 26-Monday
We left Kitzbuhel at 8:30. There was a brief stop in Berchtesgarden, in Germany, at 10:00. Up on the side of the mountain, we could see Hitler's Eagle’s Nest. It was rather chilling to see that part of history. The bunker is now a restaurant. Our rest stop overlooked a valley filled with wonderful homes. What a view! Back on the bus and on to Salzburg. Time 10:35.

August 24, Saturday
We arrived in Kitzbuhel, at 1:30 pm. We were advised not to take a nap because it would delay our adjustment to the time difference. We are staying at the Hotel Jagerwirt, a very quaint hotel. There is a small balcony off our room and the view is spectacular! We are sitting in a valley surrounded by the Alps…awesome! To help stay awake, we took a walk, the first of many, into town. It all seemed like a dream. I couldn't believe ...