Hotel Schladmingerhof

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 ...

Our original Austrian itinerary included a day in Graz, but we are really running out of precious time so we decided to skip it so we could see the salt mine in Hallstatt. And having missed Graz only gives me a very good excuse to come back!<br><br>We spent a lot of time on the road today trying to get to Graz. The GPS got confused once we were off the main highway. The steep and winding roads ...

... 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 ...

... the most castle-like castle I&#8217;ve seen so far.<br><br>For dinner I ate some Topfen-strudel I&#8217;d bought at a grocery store in Hallstatt. It&#8217;s a strudel made with a really sweet cheese and it is really good. It was recommended by Rick Steves, of course, and I first tried some in Vienna. <br><br>I spent the evening finishing my book, and then watching more downloaded TV shows on my computer. There was some kind of rock ...

... like doing anything. So I just checked into my first private room since Orvieto about two weeks ago. I actually passed some beautiful buildings on the way there, but I didn&#8217;t even care. I just thought, &#8220;Oh that looks cool. Maybe I&#8217;ll come back here later.&#8221;<br><br>It was nice to actually have some privacy. Most hostels really aren&#8217;t bad to stay in; I&#8217;ve quite enjoyed a few of them. But you don&#8217;t really have any privacy ...

... 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.

... open in the summer... I gave up on Obertraun and went next door to an old village called Halstadt which looks so spectacular it has been made a UNESCO world heritage site. At this point the lighting was too dim to get any good pictures though. The place was dead and everything was closed. With no options to stay anywhere I figured I would at least drive around the mountain and stay near the resort so I can get on the slopes early ...

... languages in South Africa are, that race is still an issue. I have enjoyed Africa music from Jabu's and my CDs, but also from the swinging radio station Kaya FM 95.9, listen online http://www.kayafm.co.za. I also have enjoyed reading the Star newspaper everyday and the weekly The Mail and Guardian. I have enjoyed my little cottage and the discussions I have had with the owners Linda and Rey van Heerden (yes, Dutch descent). This is probably my ...