Flechlhof 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 ...

... a church and through some trails in the woods. We spent a lot of time along the river - beautiful, totally clear water coming straight from the mountains. We enjoyed a couple of beers in the park and tried to go see this afternoon concert that kept being advertising. It was supposed to be free but it was inside a really fancy restaurant and I'm sure you had to buy something - I mean 5 Euros for a bite of chocolate! So we passed on that and spent more time on our awesome balcony.

... at a place I had seen with a great lakeside view. I got a "grilled sausage", but it tasted like a hot dog to me. When I was finished I had just enough time to catch the boat across the lake to the train station. It was definitely the smallest train station I&#8217;ve seen. It was just one little building and one track going by.<br><br>On the train ride I just looked at the scenery again while we were still in the mountains. But after I ...

... The train to Vienna had just arrived and I didn&#8217;t think there was time for my train to arrive at the same platform. So I went back to check the departure board, and it did indeed show a track number change for my train. <br><br>I remember reading in Rick Steves guidebook about watching out for track number changes, and just watching if people all of a sudden ran to another platform. But I was pretty much able to figure it out on my own, so I was very ...

... black striped socks up to my knees<br>to protect me...oh and my handbag! Yes, I know I'm so cool..... It was<br>a nice walk tho and we even got to build some cairns (rock<br>formations)... with 100s ofothers in the river. We spent the afternoon<br>sunbaking - again. And ate Pasta for dinner, again.... at this rate im<br>going to get fat.

... were all in the water in a matter of seconds, jumping off the stone wall&#8217;s diving board (literally, a board, no spring at all) into the lake. First experience with others dressing and undressing in the middle of the park (going "full Euro," as we call it). The water is glorious. Walked to town for dinner, then did the after dinner tour. Saw an oompah band in the square, had the mandatory eis, and called it a day with the stroll back to the camping.

... mining. First up - the Catholic Church and Bone Chapel - boring. There are lots of strange bugs buzzing around town - I think they're flies, but their appearance mimics bees. I walked around town and came across a stall selling baked goods and candies. I tried some almond meringue candy and accidentally ingested some of the styrofoam wrap that it was made on. Mmmm ... I also had a cookie that seemed to be half shortbread/half cake ...

... beginning to get me down, so I booked a train for Hallstatt, home of the world's oldest salt mine, and my own mother's old stomping grounds. The town simply can't be described in non-superlative terms. It only adds to the mysticism that from the train station, you have to take a boat across the lake to get there. On the train there I met a woman who had gone to my high school (holy small world, Batman!) and I toured the famous salt ...