Skifahren, Skilaufen, Essen und Wandern im Urlaub in Österreich

2023-02-22

View of the Gastein valley from near the top of the Graukogel ski area.

Looking down into the valley in the midst of clouds from the peak of Stubnerkogel.

Das Wetter und der Schnee waren sehr schön. Es hat den ganzen ersten Tag geschneit. Wir haben es geliebt.

We're back. Three days later than planned because of flights cancelled multiple times due to IT issues and a strike. We were up for 24 yours straight yesterday with all the flights and the time change. Still trying to catch up on sleep. We had a really good time and it was nice having time together with my wife but we really missed our kids by the end of it. They missed us a lot too but they did really well with their grandparents while we were gone. There's nothing quite like the genuine heartfelt hugs and exclamations from your kids when you're reunited after being away from them for a while.

The trip was great though. We did a lot of exploring, hiking, skiing, yoga. Ate a lot of good Austrian food, drank good Austrian beer and met some very nice Austrian people as well as many nice people from other European countries. The Austrian alps are breathtaking and the towns are very charming. We spent the majority of out time in Salzburg and Bad Gastein. I give them a walkability score of 9/10 and public transit score of 10/10. It's so nice to visit somewhere and have the freedom to explore and move around without having the expense and stress of driving a car in an unfamiliar place. We walked most everywhere and then took the train or bus when we traveled between cities. I'm super jealous of the rail service in Austria and Europe in general. Traveling on the train is SO much more pleasant than flying or driving and quite inexpensive really.

I was able to make some use of the German I've been practicing the last few months and that was fun. While we could have gotten by with just English there were a number of instances where the modest amount of German I know came in useful and that felt nice. The small family-run hotel we stayed at in Bad Gastein had a van to take you to the ski lift and a few other places in town and one of the drivers didn't speak an English. On a couple of occasions I was successfully able to communicate with him about where we need to go and chit chat about the weather. There were a few other times that I was able to accomplish what we needed without needing English. Traveling was also a little less stressful and I felt a little more confident since I was able to understand most of the signs and announcements being made. On the last day we stopped and had some drinks on the patio of a little restaurant and I interacted with our waitress only in German while we there there. Then right before we left I asked where the bathroom was and she responded to my question in English X-). I guess she heard us talking to each other in English and figured it would be easier. Even if it wasn't entirely necessary I've always felt like it shows some good will to at least try to speak a little bit of the native language when I travel.

On multiple occasions while chatting with locals and skiers from various parts of Austria I was told that we were very lucky to have come when we did because the snow and weather conditions were the best they have been all year. The skiing was great. There was good snow, it was not too frigid and most of the days I skied were either sunny or only partly cloudy. Though I don't mind skiing while it snows personally. It took me a few days to get comfortable on the skis again because it has been quite a while since I last skied. But by the fourth and fifth day I was feeling really good and ended up skiing all the black runs in the whole ski area by time we left. I almost did a guided off-piste ski tour but it was on the second day of skiing and I didn't think I was ready for that yet. I think I was right, that I wasn't ready yet, but I kind of wish I had been able to because it would have been really cool. If it had been towards the end of our trip I proably would have done it. No (significant) injuries which is good X-). Just have a big and tender bruise on the back of my thigh/butt from an awkward tip over when I hit an unexpectedly icy patch at low speed. Luckily it didn't effect skiing, just makes it hurt to lean to that side when sitting down.

My wife doesn't really enjoy downhill skiing but she tried cross-country skiing and enjoyed that. Hopefully it won't be so many years between trips to the mountains for the next time. We'll most likely go somewhere in the US next time and take the kids. Teaching the kids to ski while they're young enough to pick it up easily would be nice. A question we got a lot while in Austria. "Why did you come all the way over here to ski? Don't you have a lot of nice places to ski in the US?" X-) Yes we do! We wanted to see the alps and just like to go places we haven't been before and experience other cultures.

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