Familienhotel Marcati Seefeld

Again it was snowing when we woke up but again it wasn't sticking although it was still on the trees at the Alpine Zoo which we went to in the morning. This was Tara’s choice as usual. Greg's favourite was the brown bear which was lying with its head on its paws on a log, probably contemplating whether it was time to hibernate. My favourite was the lynx which was high up in a tree. By the ...

... amazing to see how close the Golden Roof came to being bombed during World War II by the Nazis. The Austrians had bricked it in to save it and some of these bricks were actually destroyed while the Roof and building were saved.

We then walked up the City Tower which was built in 1440 and had an incredible view over the city and the surrounding mountains. It had stopped snowing by this time and you could see a clear line above ...

Walked to the train station and did an expedition to the supermarket to spend our last Swiss Francs as we are back to Euros in Austria. Had a stopover in Zurich for a while and then caught the train to Innsbruck. Again this was a scenic trip over the mountains and it started snowing and was very deep as we got higher- just beautiful scenery. Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains, all of which had snow on them.

We checked into our hotel where we ...

... been cleared and there was a wrapped set of cutlery that they left behind when clearing the table, and he got stuck with this one. The waitress refused to give him a new set. It was a bit strange as it would cost her nothing but 5 seconds to get him a new one and make him so much more comfortable eating his meal. He took the risk and hoped that the cutlery hadn't been played with by the previous occupants of our table.

It was time to move on so we piled into the car and ...

A museum mom and I had been anxious to visit while in Austria, Swarovski Crystal Worlds was our next stop on route. Visitors enter the "museum" under a curtain of water spewing forth from a giant's head. Once inside, there are a series of rooms with low lighting and unique displays, all involving crystals of course. The first room has a beautiful (fake) horse dressed in crystal studded tack ...

This was a lovely little place we stopped at on the bus tour to the castles. Unfortunately, being Sunday, most everything was shut (except for the souvenir shops that is). They have a woodcarving school there that I plan to stop at for a weeklong course on the next trip. But of course it was shut that ...

... we have decided that they really need to make GPS for Eastern Europe! After squeezing Misty through some very small streets we found a parking spot and went to see the sights... of which was most impressive was the massive St Barbera's Cathedral which is a massive Gothic monument on the hill side and dates from the 14th century. We had a great lunch at a restaurant overlooking the town and then headed back to see a few more sights. Did we mention that beer here is cheaper than soft ...

... racing over two days; pretty spectacular stuff. The schnifest combines snow sculptures, food stalls, bars, shots, big bubbling cauldrons of gluvine, beer, jagermiester, scnapps, music, dancing and fireworks...only catch was that we arrived in Seefeld on friday night of the busiest weekend of the year with no accomodation booked.... the lady at the tourist office was extremely efficient (a recurring theme in Austria) and we were sorted with a great little apartment in a nieghbouring ...

Another work conference for my parents brought us to Oberammergau for a week. We stayed in the cutest little wooden cottage - like the whole thing ceiling to floor and including flowering window boxes was made out of wood! Totally picturesque like you've read about in Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Aromatic town bakery. Absolutely enchanting.

Sadly, I dont remember much about Austria. Too bad because I have read so much about it lately as the music and art centre of Europe in the 1700s, I'd love to check that out.
I asked my dad recently if we had been there before. He said, 'oh yes, many times, we loved it'. Hmm, what a pity. I suppose it still counts because the images of scenery must be in my mind somewhere... curse this short memory of mine!