Austria

We have friends, an American family, from the girls' school in Abu Dhabi that have lived all over the Middle East. Despite all of their moves, for the last seven years they have consistently returned to ski at the same place in Austria. Each year they invite friends to join them. This year a dozen families, totaling about 50 people, participated. Our friends have the trip completely worked out, including flights, charter busses, and lodging. All the rest of us had to do was sign up and enjoy the ride.

We started with a late night flight from Abu Dhabi to Munich. Most people slept on the charter bus that took us over the border into Austria, but Hannah took a nice series of landscape photos.

A few hours down the scenic roads we arrived at the Alphof, our hotel in Kirchdorf in Tirol. We could walk out of the back door of the hotel, step into our skis, and get on a chairlift right there.

We ended up skiing for four days at Kirchdorf, St. Johan in Tirol, and Steinplatte. For the ski buffs out there, Kirchdorf is good for beginners and first day on the slope, St. Johan in Tirol is more difficult and slightly icy on the day we were there. Steinplatte was our favorite, with a vast range of slopes.

Views from our room, night and day. The temperature hovered right around freezing which made it fairly comfortable for those of use to eighty and sunny every day. It was nice to see real snow.

 My brother Steve and his wife Renata flew in from California to ski with us. The hotel has a dining room with a huge buffet for both breakfast and dinner. We all ate lots of good food and gained lots of weight. But you need that extra energy for the ski slopes, right?

After our first day of skiing, the ski instructors took us to the local tavern.

New Years Eve included a party on the slopes. Lots of countries were represented, although I don't think they had a flag for the UAE. Then the local ski team showed off their skills with candle light. And fires.

Later in the evening there was a candle light festival in the town square. I have never been so close to fireworks in my life.

A few nights later we went on a horse drawn sled ride. The air was crisp, but the blankets were cozy.

On our last full day we stepped out of our skis and into a tour bus that took us to Salzburg.

More landscape photos from Hannah:

I have an image of a formidable edifice seared into my brain from a multiple country tour I went on with family friends when I was about 12 years old, except I had forgotten where I was or even if my image really existed.  It was nice to confirm, many years later, that my image really does exist and is in fact the Salzburg Fortress .

A statue honoring Mozart in his home town and inside the Salzburg Cathedral:

We had a very Austrian lunch at a nice restaurant near Mozart's birthplace. Lots of locals brought their dogs right in with them. The pets were all well behaved and mostly just slept under the tables. Definitely not the States, or Abu Dhabi, for that matter.

More pedestrian friendly street shots.

Views along the Salzach River.

One of the more unique features of the town is a pedestrian bridge where people leave locks of love, complete with hearts and names. In a similar fashion, memories of Austria will be forever locked in my heart.