Hotel Zum Kaiserweg 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.<br><br>Here's some pics before the camera broke....<br><br>

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 ...

... soon as we arrived that this is no backpacker town and nothing is cheap. She must have called 10 places for us. Most were full or too expensive. So again, we ended up at a little old woman's house - but it was really nice. It was a big, traditional Austrian mountain home. We had quite a hike there but once there we could finally relax on our balcony overlooking the mountains. Very stressful day. It was another case of not being able to communicate with our hosts. The ...

... cool hostel. It was up on top of a hill, beside the old part of the city. I actually had to take an elevator up to the top of the hill. And then I had to walk on a path through the woods until I got there. It was actually a restaurant downstairs, with the rooms upstairs. And the view of Salzburg was amazing. I could see the Salzburg castle, towering above town on top of a neighboring hill. And it was a very impressive-looking castle indeed ...

... it was just as Rick Steves described it. It&#8217;s a little town on the side of a large lake, surrounded on all sides by towering mountains. It was cloudy and very cool, but the lake was very calm and black. It was quite beautiful. The train station for Hallstatt was actually on the other side of the lake from the town. I had to take a boat over to the city itself. <br><br>When I got to Hallstatt (about 1 pm), I was feeling very exhausted and didn&#8217;t ...

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

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

... they do it! Sunday morning we were up to watch the cross country - women first (4 laps of pain), then the men (8 laps of pure torture). We were very surprised to find not one Aussie in either field! - but we cheered anyway. These people are machines - they were riding up inclines we were having trouble walking up. And I'm sure the damp ground didn't help much either, although it was lucky enough to stay dry for both races. After the race we headed towards Innsbruck ...

... town (well, one of us did), climbed up a very steep hill to the castle (the funicular was too expensive), didn't go in to the castle (surprise, surprise, NOT, it was too expensive ... and we were a little castle'd out after Germany) and went for a long (free) walk down the other side into an area where next to no tourists visit. It was just a residential area but it was nice to see that not all of Salzburg has been ruined by the masses of tourists! On to Vienna next ...