2014: January - a week in Austria

January 16

The first part of the month was spent recovering from Christmas and NYE ... which I suppose is suitable tribute for the amount of fun we had over the holiday!  We hosted a NYE party at our home with four of Michelle's closest friends ... and their dogs (yah, for having a big house with a yard!).

By the time the Christmas tree was out of the house, it was time to pack for Austria.  Michelle's good friend, Allison Lindberg, arrived in Munich on the 16th, and then we were off to Salzburg, Hallstatt and Grundlsee (where we had a condo reserved for a week of skiing).

Alli and Michelle

Salzburg is the perfect size. Big enough for lots of walking by neat stores on cute streets with great cafes ...

and castles!

And yet, the town is small enough that you can walk everywhere and remember where you've been!

After an overnight in Salzburg, it was a short 2-hr. drive to Hallstatt, a place Michelle learned about courtesy of Rick Steves.  Thank you Rick!  This was a story-book town, situated on a huge lake.  Most people arrive by train and take a ferry across to the town.  By car, you park outside of town and either catch a shuttle van or walk to your hotel.

it was amazing to see what they could carve out of the side of a mtn.

View from our room!

Michelle always found amazing accommodations.

One night in a beautiful restored hotel.

Molly ... the most well-traveled dog that I know!

and the sun came out for a few pictures before we headed out of town.

Final stop:  Grundlsee, Austria where we have a timeshare condo for the week (January 18-25).  We had plans for relaxing, reading and skiing.  We were prepared for everything but NO SNOW!  Who could guess that snow would be a problem in Austria, in January.  At least the condo was situated in a uber-beautiful location.

View from our balcony! No zoom lens needed!

The town of Bad Aussie was an easy 5km walk along a flowing river.

No snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing, but great hiking.

I think my biggest disappointment when returning to the USA will be the cute towns.

Bad Aussie ...

But we came to ski, so find the snow we must! There were two choices - one was only 20 minutes away so we picked it b/c it was closest - die Tauplitz . We rented our equipment there which was a good deal b/c we could keep it for the rest of the week no matter where we skied. Otherwise, we were pretty much disappointed the whole day at die Tauplitz.  It was a small hill, catering to cross-country, alpine skiers.  No gondola, scattered chair lifts with rope-tows and t-bars connecting small runs. Boo hiss boo.  Good thing there was Gluhwein and good food at the cafe!

So, the next day we decided to up our game and drive the 60 minutes to Schladming-Planai.  

Wow ...what a great idea that was!  The entire ski resort was superbly engineered.  The ramp into town leads to the underground parking ... with an escalator that takes you to the ticket office which is at the base of the gondola. Yes, now we're talking Austrian alps! And the sun was shining!

We had a great day skiing, and it will probably be our last as a big snowstorm is coming our way. 

Yes, indeed, the weatherman got this one right.  We woke up Friday morning to a big snow which continued for the next week!  Yes, indeed, winter snow was back in Austria.  Unfortunately for us, we had to leave on Saturday with the storm in Day #2.

One last stop in Bad Aussie at our favorite bakery.

 It may be snowing outside, but it's adorable in here!

 Off in the car for the 6-hr drive back home. 

It was a lot more fun coming down those mountains than driving up them in a snowstorm to leave!  It was a snowy drive through the mountains, which Michelle handled bravely for us!

Saturday, January 25, back in Freihung, Germany.  Time to do laundry and say goodbye to Allison who will head back to Munich and then Minnesota (where we hear it's reallllllly cold ...)

And time for us to prepare for our trip to Spain.  We leave for Malaga on Feb 1st where we'll spend 2 weeks with two of our best friends, Dan and Renee Devereaux, then off to Seville on Feb 15th and Barcelona on Feb 20th.  The plan is to avoid the final grey, long, cold, dreary month of winter in Germany and hopefully find some Spanish sun along the costa del sol!