Hotel Pichlmayrgut 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 ...

... parts out (head and leg bones). They wash and bleach them, then paint the skulls as a way to show respect and stack them all together in this building. The building is basically full and the last one was added in 1984 I think. It is a very important place to the community and it was a huge honor to get buried in there. As my dad would say, "People are dying to get in there"!

After that we went on a long hike up to a lookout and the salt mine. Really nice ...

... 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’t make it too warm inside.

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’t be so bad if I was travelling with someone else, but being on my own it gets hard to tolerate.

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 ...

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

... were all in the water in a matter of seconds, jumping off the stone wall’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.

It rained heavily all night (quite unusual for Hallstatt, I'm told.) Our plan for today: visit the Ice Caves at Dachstein and head for Hungary for our visit with Attila's family.

To reach the Ice Caves, we took a gondola (our third in as many days) to the top of the mountain. For there we hiked 20 minutes up the mountain to the caves. On our way up the gondola, Attila made friends with a ...

... Once I made it out to the Autobahn though, the driving became significantly less complicated. That little Audi can move, I only wish I could drive at those speeds back in Canada. The highway portion of the 300kms drive went smoothly. Lots of tunnels and scenic mountain views. My first problem occurred when I reached a town called Schladming. It just seemed like I had been driving for too long since my last turn and the map told me ...

Salzburg is beautiful. It evokes strong emotions, most of which involve wanting to break out into song while strolling through its charming cobbled streets. Paul couldn't help but to sing a few bars of Edelweiss while Mel twirled along behind him. The hills are alive with the sound of music (the famous movie was filmed here). The hills are also alive with tourists ...