Hotel Vitaler Landauerhof Schladming

... the women then the men to follow. Got to the bottom of the track just in time for the final few riders. Sam Hill won for Australia by 3 seconds with Fairclough of Great Britain in 5th. Great day. The riders partied through the night so we put our ear plugs in and got some sleep ready to move on to Salzburg the next day.

Here's some pics before the camera broke....

... room.... but it got the thumbs up as it was clean, tidy and modern. The view from the room was amazing, perfect view of the Planai mountain slope, so good we could have sat there and watched the biking from our room!! Dropped our bags and went for our first meal out since leaving home, chilli fahitas and chicken burgers went down a treat, god bless Papa Joes!!!!

... etc. First time ever someone has cleaned our room, besides being in a hotel. Actually, I don't think that's normal in a B&B either.

That day we went to Hallstatt. A famously beautiful town on the water. We went to the Beinhaus - Bone House. It was a little building behind the main church. There is a small graveyard, and because of the size they have been digging up bodies since 1600. They let the body stay in the ground for about 20 years, then get the ...

... the most castle-like castle I’ve seen so far.

For dinner I ate some Topfen-strudel I’d bought at a grocery store in Hallstatt. It’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.

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’t even care. I just thought, “Oh that looks cool. Maybe I’ll come back here later.”

It was nice to actually have some privacy. Most hostels really aren’t bad to stay in; I’ve quite enjoyed a few of them. But you don’t really have any privacy ...

... as when
the sunset it got instantly cold....hmm this wasnt in the emma and
kathleen brochure! Tuesday morning we got up and went for a walk - well
mini hike really. I looked totally out of place... everyone had their
hiking boots and poles etc... then here I come, shorts and cardi,
converse sneakers and long pink ...

... and then hit the road for areas less populated. Destination: Hallstatt in the salzkammergut area of Austria.

An hour and a half out of Salzburg, the little village of Hallstatt sits perched on the edge of a lake. It is built on a hill, has really only one street suitable for cars, and is in a gorgeous mountainous setting. The camping is half a kilometer out of town, and across the road from the main city park with swimming area in the lake. Wahoo ...

... took us into a cave lined with ice. The ice is formed each Spring as the winter thaw seeps into the ceiling of the caves which maintain a constant subthermal temperature. The result is stalagtites and stalagmites formed in ice, as well as ice rivers and waterfalls. It was quite beautiful and very chilly!

We said "Vislat" to our new Hungarian friends and hopped in the car heading for Hungary.

... turned out to be an Audi A3 hatchback. I wasn't sure it this would work, but the car only looks small. It ate up my luggage like an afternoon snack and I still had tons of room to make myself comfortable. Vienna was built in a time when new transportation developments consisted of better horseshoes. Needless to say, adapting the city to cars was not a simple project. Getting out consisted of driving around crazy one way roads and ...

... on all the above done with Kerry and Jabu. More personally, I have also got to know quite a number of interesting people, who I'll miss. I have seen many beautiful villages and interviewed many strong, beautiful and characteristic women and men in the regions around Mafikeng (North West), Polekwane (Limpopo), Durban and Pietersburg (KwaZulu Natal), Kokstad, Umtata, East London (in the vast Eastern Cape). I have learned how different the ...