austria: a layover in vienna

I've been to Vienna before, this wasn't an intended trip, nor was it very long.

When I booked my flights to and from Sarajevo, the cheapest option gave me a long layover in Vienna. I basically had the entire day to explore the city. I wasn't as organized as I could've been, but oh well. Maybe next time?

My flight from Moscow landed in Vienna early in the morning, almost on time. Passport control went rather quickly, yay. I sat around for a little while, then asked the information desk how to get into the city by public transport. I also stepped into the grocery store in the arrivals hall, I'm a sucker for grocery stores.

It turned out to be very easy, and relatively cheap to get into the city center of Vienna. There is more than one S-bahn that goes from the airport into the city.

While back in Moscow I'd made sure to download offline maps to use, as I knew I'd get lost without this. My S-bahn took me into the city centre, into one of the main transport hubs. Just figuring how to get up to street level was 'fun,' as was figuring out which street I was on and in which direction I wanted to walk. I have a terrible sense of direction.

I walked through a couple parks, one of which had statues of various composers. I liked Mozart, and the way the flowers had been landscaped into the shape of a G clef. Needless to say, I was among many who wanted to take photos there.

When Bo and I were in Vienna a few years ago we visited a church with a great ceiling, I wanted to see it again. It took a bit of searching the map, then more walking, but I finally got there. When Bo and I had first seen the church it was early April, and still quite chilly inside the church. This visit was at the beginning of July, so temperatures were very different. I was hot, and the church didn't feel nearly as peaceful.

Throughout the day I kept stepping into bakeries, because I love them. I especially like Viennese bakeries, because they have heaps and heaps of pastries, not just bread. It's probably a good thing I don't have regular access to these kinds of bakeries. Even though I stepped into all these bakeries, I didn't get something to eat from most of them because of the heat. When it's hot I eat far less.

I realize this post is quite short, but that's pretty much all I did during this visit. Like I said, I wasn't nearly as organized as I should've been. It was easy enough to get the train back to the airport and continue my trip.

I'm totally okay with going back to Vienna sometime in the future, though it isn't on my must see list at the moment.

austria: saalbach-hinterglemm

It didn't take long for us to get from Zell am See, Austria to the town where Bo is currently living, Saalbach-Hinterglemm. The drive was only 15 kilometers or so, basically driving along the bottom of a valley.

The twin towns of Saalbach and Hinterglemm are joined officially I think, but there is a slight distance between the two. I looked online, and the population of the two of them together is only about 3000, so we're definitely talking small towns.
They're mostly ski towns, but in summer people come for hiking and biking. 

We arrived right around the time Bo would be eating dinner if he had to work that night. He normally eats the staff dinner, and the hotel makes it so that guests of employees can eat staff dinner for a small fee. Bo checked what the food was that night and decided for me that it wouldn't be very good.

Instead of eating straightaway we went for a walk. He lives more in Hinterglemm, at the end of the valley. There are a few roads in town, but not many. There are a few walking paths as well, and hiking trails going every which way all over the mountains. The scenery every which way I looked was amazing.

Eventually I got hungry enough to pick a place to eat. The food was okay, and we went home. I slept 9 hours straight without moving, so I guess I was pretty tired. (From what, I don't know.)

Before arriving, I figured I would be eating the employee meal with Bo most of the time. What I didn't know is that he didn't like that idea much, and wanted me to have the same good food the guests have. Somehow he made a deal with his boss that I could eat like a guest. Lets just say that I felt like a princess when he told me.

Breakfast was a buffet, so of course I ate way too much. Hard boiled eggs, and rolls, and yogurt with meusli, and fruit, and cheese slices, and bacon. Tea and juice as well.

Since Bo had to work most of that day, I went for a hike. I picked the top of a mountain, and generally aimed in that direction. Every time the path split I randomly chose a direction and it usually went where I wanted it to go: up. A few times I had to double back and go the other way.

I found a man made pond with a sign that specifically said no swimming. I found heaps of fields of wildflowers. I got to look across at plenty of other mountain tops. I figured out really fast that there are plenty more trails I want to hike in this area. Is there ever enough time to hike all the beautiful trails? 

After a few hours I made it to the top of the Zweiferkogel, at 1984 meters. I took my photo with the cross on top to show I'd been there, of course. There is a bahn up there, but it wasn't running, so I had to hike back down, though I'm pretty sure I would've done so anywho. I felt great, and wanted to be as active as possible in the good weather.

I got back to the hotel after Bo had already started his evening work shift. I hopped in the shower and put on nice clothes to go to dinner.

And what a dinner it was. Five courses, all plated beautifully, and served in perfect time.

I could explain all of them, but what they were wasn't as important to me as the feeling of the whole thing in general. Amazing. I know I said princess earlier, but I really did feel that way. Each course was beautifully plated, and everything tasted good. The waiter paid attention so I never had to look around for a plate to be taken away or the next to arrive. What a way to end a day!

The next morning Bo had to work in the morning, and go figure, it was raining. The clouds were hanging really low, so low you couldn't even tell there were mountains. I took my time eating breakfast, then lounged around.

By the time it had stopped raining Bo had finished his work shift, so it was perfect. I borrowed a bike from the hotel, and he grabbed his bike. We pedalled into town, then onto a path that goes next to the river running through the area.

As we rode along we realized there were little exercise areas every so often, so we stopped at several of them. They all looked easy, but most of them weren't as easy as they looked. I have no balance, so any of them involving balance had me tipping every which way. It was fun even so.

After not too long we went across the main road and into Saalbach. The first thing Bo showed me was an entire hotel complex named after me!! There was a place to put your skis, a bar, an alm, a hotel, and a spa. Yahoo!!

We parked the bikes and walked around Saalbach. Like Hinterglemm, it isn't big, and the walking didn't take long. It consists mostly of hotels, apartments, cafes, and shops. Everything geared toward tourists coming for sport activities.
One of the towns had a church, the size of which surprised me quite a bit. It was sortof hidden behind several buildings, it wasn't an immediately obvious place to see. 

We had a snack at a bakery (I was surprised it was still open that late – 1600 – and on a Sunday no less,) and walked a bit more. Then I realized I needed real food. We found a place that listed decent food, and I was happy. I appreciate pretty food, but don't need it. 

From there we rode back to Hinterglemm, which wasn't so easy for me. Riding a bicycle is something you don't forget how to do, but it had been a while since I'd ridden, so even this short ride was tough. Or maybe it was tough because there was some up and down in the path. I was thrilled we'd done it, but I was also very happy to get off the bike back at the hotel.

The next morning I had the buffet breakfast again, and got lucky with the weather. I hiked up the other side of the valley, though I can't for the life of me remember what the peak was called. Rotter something or another.

This trail was a lot steeper, and slightly shorter, and did't follow a road much at all. I went through fields and trees quite a bit. I saw wildflowers, and I saw another man made pond. I stared at the natural beauty all around and reminded myself how lucky I am to have seen it.

The views at the top were even better than what I'd seen the day before. The mountains off in the distance were higher and steeper, and still had some snow on the peaks.

To get down, I went down the back of this peak a bit, then circled around to the front and went down a different path from the one I'd used to come up. Since the trail was steeper my legs were pretty well wrecked by the time I got back to the hotel, but it was totally worth it. I'd also managed to get a pretty good sunburn in the two days of hiking. Ooops.

I took a shower and packed up my bag, since I had to leave just after dinner. Dinner was another fabulous event, though 'only' four courses this time. Even so, I still loved the experience. Maybe there is something to staying in 4/5 star hotels, hee hee.

After I finished eating I said goodbye to Bo, grabbed my bag, and walked down the street to the bus stop. The bus came a few minutes late, but got me to Zell am See in plenty of time to catch the train I needed to another small town.

As long as Bo is there, I would be more than happy to come back to Saalbach-Hinterglemm. It's gorgeous and I want to hike all the trails.

austria: zell am see

Most of the time when Bo and I travel together we meet up somewhere. This time I wanted to visit him where he was living at the moment.
I took my first train from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which left at 0630. (Again leaving me questioning my sanity in choosing such an early departure time.) I had plenty of time to make my on time connection in Innsbruck, that was easy.
I don't know how, but this train arrived 15 minutes late at my next destination. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but this was an Austrian train, and I always expect those to be on time.
No matter though, Bo was waiting for me at the train station in Zell am See, Austria. It's a small town, in a skiing area of the country. This wasn't where Bo lives, but it was the closest train stop.

I could've done this part of the trip entirely by bus, but it would've taken heaps longer, and sometimes there is value in paying more to be faster.
Bo had the day off, and we were already there, so we decided to explore Zell am See for a while. As I said earlier, it is a small town, so we knew exploring wouldn't last long. I dropped my bags in his car, we found a proper place to park, and off we walked.
First we walked through the city center. It's super small and cute. There was a tiny market in a platz near the church, as well as multiple cafes with chairs outside. All the buildings were kept up well, everything was pretty.
We stepped into the church, which was bigger inside and more decorated than I'd expected. In my head I tend to equate a small town with a small church. This wasn't big, but it definitely wasn't small.

It sounds crazy, but at this point we felt as if we'd seen most of the town. People who come here in winter come for skiing, not the town itself. In summer, they come generally for the outdoors as well. 
We decided to grab food from the supermarket, and have a picnic next to the lake. After eating we decided to walk along the lake front as far as the path would take us.
The walk was quite pretty, and really peaceful. Judging by the number of boats (rowboats and canoes and such,) tied up to mini docks, boating is a big thing here.
The lake next to which the town is located is really pretty, and on a calm day the mountains surrounding it reflect beautifully in the water. The day we were there it was not calm, it was actually really windy. 

During our walk we found a sign telling us about a visit by an Empress Elisabeth (sometimes known as Sisi,) of Austria, and how the hotel where she stayed still exists. Apparently she was quite the walker/hiker/trekker.
After walking for a while we turned back and decided we were ready to move on. We hopped in the car, and drove to where Bo lives, 15 kilometers down the road.
I'm not sure I would return to Zell am See specifically, but I would definitely come back to the region.

austria: vienna

Vienna was only part of my original plan for this 5 day trip. Originally I wanted to go to Vienna and Paris, but that didn't happen. I was able to find cheap flights to and from each city, but I wasn't able to find a cheap way to one city, transit to the other, then a cheap way home. No matter which way I looked, one of those bits was much more than I wanted to pay. Argh. As I searched around, it occured to me to use Flixbus, and that it would take me to Brno, a city not far from Vienna that seemed worth exploring a bit.

I think I've already posted about getting to Vienna, lets just say I was completely jet lagged, and very tired of airplanes and airports. I was completely confused about when to eat, and when to sleep.

The first morning I woke up super early, and rationally knew I hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep. I dozed on and off for a few hours before getting dressed and race walking to the train station. Bo's train arrived a few minutes late, much to my surprise. This is Austria after all, where trains and such usually run on time, to the minute. Fortunately, it didn't take long for us to find each other and we immediately started walking back toward the hotel. On the way back we stopped in a mini market to get drinks, as it was much warmer than either of us had expected.

We dropped Bo's bags in the hotel, and started to figure out where we wanted to go for the day. I'd been to Vienna once before, but it was so long ago that I didn't remember anything useful for this trip. We picked out a couple sights and figured we'd take it from there.

Vienna is a grand city. It used to be one of the capital cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and still feels like a capital city, if that makes sense. It's full of big, grand buildings, statues, parks, etc... It felt like every other building was worth a photo, but I quickly realized I couldn't take every single photo I wanted.

Our first stop was a church. (This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.) Votivkirche isn't high on tourist lists, but I loved it. As we walked in, we could hear and see a philharmonic orchestra practicing in the middle for what I presume was an upcoming concert. The accoustics were fantastic, it was fun to listen. This church has a lot of stained glass, and while we were in there the light from outside was pouring in, through the windows, creating visible light, if that makes sense. Absolutely beautiful.

The ceiling itself was very 'arch-y' and very tall. I think we might've stayed inside longer, but since it was a stone church, it was rather chilly.

The front of the church outside was covered with a large banner, which I presume was covering up renovation work. I think I'd rather have seen the renovations, as the banner was an advert. Argh.

Across the street from the church was a park, but it was nothing to get excited about, so we didn't take any time to wander around it, we just walked through.

From there we walked our way through the pedestrian area of the city center. I'm not exactly sure of everything we saw, as I got completely turned around while we walked. I loved watching all the other people out walking, and taking in the general atmosphere. We saw more grand buildings, and when we saw apartment buildings I kept wondering how much it would cost to live in those places. (Definitely not a number I can afford.)

One of the grand buildings we passed had a fountain in front, it seemed a gathering point for people. This building was grand in terms of architecture and size.

We walked around the corner and I realized we were looking at another section of the same building. Somewhere in this area I saw a poster with a photo of an old library, and after reading the poster I realized it was something we could see!

It was a picture of the State Hall in the Austrian National Library. We figured out the door we'd need to get to this place, and at the ticket office I asked Bo to ask the lady if we would be allowed to take photos inside the library. (The previous two libraries I've seen like this did not allow photos, much to my disappointment.)

The lady said yes, I was really happy to hear her answer. I immediately told Bo we would be coming back the next morning to visit. At that point both of us were starting to get hungry and tired, so visiting right then wasn't going to happen.

We continued walking along more pedestrian streets. I finally broke down and stepped into one of the many chocolate shops we passed while walking. While everything looked really good, I ended up buying just two pieces of chocolate. Tasty, but it was hot and I just didn't crave chocolate.

We continued walking on another pedestrian street, a main street for tourists. This one was lined with international brand stores, there was nothing to distinguish this street from any other street in any other city in the world.

We ended up in front of St Stephen's basilica, which is on the top of the tourist lists. The tiles on the roof of the church are colourful, and beautiful. The way the buildings around the church were built, there was no way to back up enough to get a photo of the full church. Argh.

We stepped inside, and were very underwhelmed. Due to the late afternoon hour, the light wasn't super strong anymore, so parts of the interior had been lit with spotlights. Howeva, instead of the lighting being consistent across the entire church, it was spotty, and only hit certain areas. Neither one of us liked the look this created. The main aisle of the sanctuary was blocked off, so we couldn't get close to very much. Plus there was a sheet or curtain hung in the front, blocking the view of the normal altar area. We decided to come back the next day, earlier in the day and hope it looked better inside.

Walking back to our hotel was supposed to take us through the Botanical Gardens, but by that point they were closed. We had to walk around the long way. Thankfully, that didn't add that much time to our walk, as both of us were getting hangry.

We picked a restaurant in our neighborhood, but passed several others along the way. When we got to the restaurant we'd chosen, we decided the menu didn't look all that great. Instead, we walked back to one of the others we'd seen. It was heaps cheaper, and the food was more than decent.

After dinner we walked a bit along another major street, just to walk off some of what we'd eaten. I like walking at night when I have someone with me. When I'm by myself, I'm not a fan of being outside after dark.

The next morning our first sight was a church across the street from our hotel. This church wasn't a stand alone building, it was smushed between the other buidings on the street. As it turned out, the front door was open, but the inner door wasn't. In other words, we were able to look into the sanctuary area, but not actually go in that area. Argh.

From there we walked to the train station and stowed Bo's second pack in a storage locker. We knew we'd be back to Vienna, and Bo didn't want to carry everything he had around on his back. (He had more than I did because he was going on an extended trip after Vienna and Brno.)

We walked until we got to Mozartplatz, which was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. A statue and a small fountain, with benches around for people to hang out.

We didn't hang out, we kept walking. We walked past a building which I only noticed because it had a GIANT gold crab climbing up the side.

We walked past the world renowned opera house on our way to the national library. It looks like an opera house, as if it knows it's own importance. Maybe, if I come back to Vienna, I'll take a tour of the place. Opera houses like this one are majestic.

When we got back to the library we paid for our tickets and walked up a flight of stairs. The stairs were pretty grand themselves, which made me even more excited about what I was going to see inside.

The library was take your breath away beautiful. The walls were covered in shelves and books, and numerous really big globes. The shelves were wood, and everything was gorgeous. In the middle was a statue, it was pretty big. The ceilings were painted, there were wooden arches in the ceiling, etc... The only downside was that visitors couldn't touch anything. There were cases displaying various books, we weren't really supposed to touch those either. There were a couple security folks walking around, keeping an eye on people to make sure we all followed the rules. It was amazing in there.

I'd like to go back and see it again, even though I wouldn't be seeing anything new.

After leaving the library we walked through interior gates, which led us to other areas of the building. Remember how I mentioned how this building was really really big yesterday? I loved the decoration of these gates. Eventually we ended up in a big platz, with a huge memorial in the middle. There were several statues on this memorial, it was big enough for bunches of people to sit on it and hang out. The photo I took of young folks hanging out on the statues seemed perfect to me, though I don't know why.

We made our way back to St Stephen's basilica, and it was much better this time around. Since we were there in the middle of the day there was no extra lighting in the church, everything looked a lot better. The organ in the back was pretty too.

At that point we decided to walk to the bus station. We didn't know how long it would take us to get there, and we weren't sure exactly where it was, and (obviously,) we didn't want to miss our bus.

We found the station and the exact bus stop. We had time to go inside the nearby mall to grab food, which turned out to be not so good. Our bus left on time, and 2 hours later we arrived in Brno, Czech Republic.

We arrived back in Vienna nearly 48 hours later. We arrived two hours later than we wanted, but at least we'd arrived. We never figured out why the delay happened. While on the bus we made a list of the places we wanted to walk to on the way to our accomodation. 

First up was a place called Hundertwasserhaus. In English that name is 100 Water House. It's a block of apartments, decorated in a very modern fashion. I've never seen anything like it. The building has been painted a variety of colours, without straight lines. There are mosaic tiles in various places too. It's such a unique building that tourist infrastructure has developed all around. Souvenir shops, cafes, etc...

From there we walked all the way back to the train station to pick up Bo's bag from the storage locker.

Then we walked to the place Bo had booked for the end of this trip. While we were in the train station we picked up dinner food, and carried it with us to the hotel. The walk ended up being longer than we expected, and both of us were rather hangry at the end. It felt sooooo good to take off our backpacks and eat.

After eating we went for a 20 minute walk, which felt like flying since we weren't carrying backpacks at that point!

The next morning we had a continental breakfast buffet at the hotel, which was nice.

When we walked outside we realized it was even warmer than it had been in the days previously, which was both good and bad. It felt good, but neither one of us were ready for the heat and sun. Oh well.

We walked all the way to Schloss Belvedere, which is actually two palaces, not one. The entry gate is near the ticket office, in which we paid our entry fees of 20 euros each. That's a pretty expensive entrance fee, especially for people traveling on a backpacker budget. When I asked, the ticket lady said we could take photos in places that weren't full of art.

The first palace we visited was the so-called Upper Palace, which is the bigger and fancier of the two. The entry room had art, which didn't really interest either one of us much. The next set of rooms had more art, which also didn't interest us much.

I wanted to see the rooms where we were allowed to take photos, which were amazing. One had frescoes everywhere, including a beautiful ceiling. Another had a fantastic ceiling, and beautiful mirrors. The windows in both rooms both looked out over the grounds in between the two palaces which were very landscaped.

After walking through all the open rooms in the upper palace, we walked down the hill, through the gardens, to the lower palace. This one was a lot smaller, with only a few rooms open to visitors. I'm not sure if the same photo restrictions applied in this palace, but I had no interest in taking photos of the art on display. There were two stunning rooms here, I felt underdressed by their fanciness.

Back out on the street we started searching for a supermarket, as the sun had dehydrated both of us.

Unfortunately, it was Sunday, which meant nearly everything was closed. Argh. The place we finally found was packed with tourists, all of whom were in the same situation we were: hungry and thirsty. It's amazing how much worse hunger and thirst feel when you keep walking by closed markets. You can see the food and drink but not have it. 

From that supermarket we walked back to our hotel, where I finished packing up my bag. After a few minutes, we walked again, this time to another train station.

I bought bakery goods to take with me, as I love Austrian baked goods, and I didn't know when I'd have the chance to have them again. With my baked goods I boarded the train to the airport, it was on time and fast.

My flights back to Kyiv were easy and on time. I'd love to explore more of Austria, and I hope I get the chance!

garmisch, DE; kaprun, AT; corvara, IT

Back in february I traveled to europe…it was the first time I had gone back since I left germany, back in march of 2004…I was super excited to go back, for what was supposed to be a ski trip…I traveled with my friend josh (who, since he is no longer speaking/communicating to me, is no longer my friend) and said that if we're going all the way there, we HAVE to start with a couple days in garmisch, germany…I really wanted to show someone new how awesome that town is, how great the people are, how much i loved my life there…
our trip started with a flight from seoul to hong kong…then hong kong to london…(a really expensive airport, by the way)…then london to munich…when we got to munich, we found out that josh's ski bag didn't make the entire trip with us…after giving an address for the airline to deliver the bag, we took off for the hauptbahnhof (main train station in munich) and from there to garmisch…I'm sure I had the biggest grin on my face as we stepped off the train in garmisch…it's a beautiful town, in a valley in the alps…for those of you who haven't been there, I highly recommend going anywhere to see the alps…gorgeous mountains…go figure, this was one of the worst winters in years, at least for people who are into snow sports…it hardly snowed…we checked into haus lilly, which should sound familiar to all of you gappers…her prices have gone up over the years, but in general, she's still got a good place…
the first night in garmisch, we went to one of the best places in town…(at least, most afrc'ers would say it is)…zirbel…we met up with the girl I'll be traveling with next year, she and I got caught up on all the gossip…I'm sure josh was rather confused most of the time…it was great to see her, and I can't wait for our upcoming trip…josh and I had intended to watch the superbowl at a local bar, but with the time difference/jet lag, ended up crashing at 2200…(which I guess is a perfect time to go to sleep if you are trying to adjust to local time that is 8 hours different from where you started)…the next morning I dragged josh to the px…for most people, going to a regular grocery store isn't an exciting experience…but if you've been living in korea, with no access to many american products, it's quite exciting…do you know how long it's been since I've been in a commissary? ages and ages…and a sports store with clothes that fit me? even longer…we ran into quite a few people I remembered from my time in garmisch, it was great to see them all again…I didn't think I knew that many people still, but I had forgotten that garmisch has a way of sucking people in, and they stick around for far longer than they originally intended…next up was a tour of edelweiss…it was only half built when I left garmisch, so I'd only seen pictures of the completed hotel…we walked over, and walked in…saw more people I hadn't seen in years…I surprised mike beard by running across the lobby to him…of course he proceeded to give me a lecture on informing friends when I plan to come visit…hee hee…anywho, he gave us a tour of the new hotel (I guess it's not that new anymore,) both front of the house and back of the house…it's quite impressive…though I will always refuse to stay there, just out of principal…(anyone who has ever worked for that company will understand)…we set up plans for the evening, and went back to take a nap…we (i) had intended to eat dinner at my favorite place in town, bei marcus, but it was closed…it wasn't the ruhetag, I never did figure out why it was closed…oh well…after dinner (at la baita) we headed up to the cure, and met up with chaffin and beard…soooo good to see the two of them again…lots of stories to rehash, lots of gossip to catch up on…I hadn't seen them for three years, but the conversation never stopped…graham even remembered me, which was shocking…it had been years since he had seen me, and he didn't even know i was in town until i walked in the door and he greeted me by name!!...(a good bartender always remembers his customers, I suppose)…after a few drinks at the cure, we went down to the heisman…(now called the underground, as christof owns it, but I still think of it as the heisman)…more people I was super happy to see…smitty, bobo, jen price, tripp…smitty is awesome, as anyone who has ever known him will agree…he knows how to live life…josh and I were tired, and hadn't intended to stay long, but we left as christop closed the bar at 0100…
the next morning we got a call from the hotel that josh's ski bag had finally been delivered, which made him happy…we walked up to the kaserne to rent a car, and happily discovered that jake worked there part time…as we took care of all the paperwork, he and I caught up on life…drove back to haus lilly to check out and grab our stuff, then over the edelweiss to get josh's skis, then over to the hausberg to rent skis for me…I got to talk to lynne (one of my former bosses) and looked for shred, but he wasn't there…(go figure)…
anywho, after collecting everything, we hopped back in the car, on our way to kaprun, austria…we drove through the fernpass, which is absolutely beautiful…josh must be a halfway decent driver, cause I didn't end up carsick, despite all the windy roads…at some point I fell asleep, and while I was asleep josh missed the turnoff…whoops…so basically we went a wee bit farther than we wanted, but oh well, it's a beautiful area, we didn't mind too much…we finally made it where we wanted to go, and after quite a bit of searching found a hotel…too expensive, but we decided we'd suck it up for a night, then find somewhere else the next morning…josh spent the evening waxing his skis…the next morning we put all our stuff in the car, checked into a different hotel, then put on all our ski gear, hopped onto the ski bus (free)…it'd been ages since I had worn ski boots, so I was definitely feeling it and my balance was awful…(not that that is anything out of the ordinary)…josh had never skied a glacier before, so that was where we went the first day…kitzsteinhorn glacier…I'm not experienced enough to notice, but josh noticed a difference in the quality of the snow between korea and austria…hee hee…josh is a much more experienced/qualified skier than I am, so I was surprised when he stayed with me most of the day…I wiped out numerous times, but that was expected, and I didn't get hurt, so it didn't matter…a totally excellent first day on the slopes in three years…I was dead tired, but had that high you get at the end of a great day…the hotel we had checked into included half board, so we didn't have to go anywhere for dinner…great food…the first night was fondue, and there was a bayerisch band playing traditional music…our room was split into two areas, a living room and bedroom, and the bathroom had heated floors…and a bathtub!!! I know that for most of you that doesn't sound exciting, but most apartments/houses in korea don't have bathtubs, and you don't realize how much you like them until you don't have them…
the second day of skiing was the most adventurous day…we went to a different lift area, in a town just outside kaprun, called zell am see…our ski pass covered this area as well, it was an area with runs all the way down to the valley…(though with the crappy winter, the bottoms of the runs were crap)…it was the first time I had skied two days in a row in I don't know how long…I realized how out of shape I was when I had trouble making easy turns right from the start…but I kept going…we took a few pictures, and then halfway down the fourth run, I fell…at first I thought it was just like any of my other falls, and started checking my body as I slid to a stop…my face was okay, as were my arms and legs…or so I thought…I realized that my left wrist wasn't feeling quite right, and that closing my left hand didn't feel so good…then the pain hit…I lost both of my skis in the fall (don't ask how I fell, because I have no memory of the fall itself, other than i know i was by myself, no one else was involved) so those had to be found and brought to me…fortunately, josh wasn't too far ahead of me when I fell, and he happened to look back up for me not too long after I fell…he told me later he realized that something really bad had happened when he saw me sitting there with my gloves off…(I hadn't taken anything off in my previous falls)…then he saw my wrist which was at a bit of a funny angle, with a large bump in a place bumps aren't supposed to be…a ski instructor got to me before josh, and balled up some snow to put on the wrist…josh got there and helped me get all my stuff, then we pizza wedged all the way down to the lift…all I had to do was show the lifties my wrist (I was crying too hard to be very coherent) and they knew I needed to go to the hospital, so they called an ambulance to meet us at the bottom…the ambulance ride was only 25€!!! waayyyy cheaper than in the states!! I arrived at the hospital, then the waiting began…quickly enough they ushered me into an exam room, and there I sat for what seemed like foreva…I really don't know how long it was, as I didn't have a watch…and since my wrist was in constant pain, time seemed interminable…they took x-rays, which (surprise surprise) said that I had a broken wrist, as well as a dislocation…fun fun fun…after the x-rays, there was more waiting…a whole lot of it…yet again, my ability to tell time wasn't so good at that point…they moved me into another room, put my arm into some sort of contraption, shot me up with a very nice painkiller (it didn't just kill the pain, I felt absolutely NOTHING, I couldn't even tell I had a wrist) and proceeded to pull until the dislocation popped back into place…then they set the broken bone, and put me into an open cast…gave me a prescription for painkillers (which didn't do anything, as I unhappily found out later that evening,) had me sit around some more just for good measure, then finally let me go…paying for all of this wasn't so fun, but I'm too much of a goody two shoes to skip out on such things…while I was going through all of this, josh had taken a cab back to the hotel, gotten shoes for me (we were both in ski boots) and driven back to the hospital…I felt bad for him, as it was basically a lost day of skiing…drove back to the hotel, and I started whining…(at that point, I was a big baby, and felt I was entirely justified in whining about anything)…I was mad that my wrist was broken, in a lot of pain, and mad that I wasn't going to be able to do much of anything for the rest of the trip…zipping my coat ended up being a huge challenge, there was no way skiing was going to happen again…dinner that night introduced me to the fact that being one armed SUCKS…I couldn't hold my plate and put food on it at the same time…I couldn't cut my food…getting dressed before dinner was awful…tying my shoes, putting on my pants, brushing my hair, putting on a shirt, you get the idea…try doing all of this w/out using one arm, and you'll know how I felt…I don't like being helpless…josh had to do everything for me…and to his eternal credit, he was a total gentleman about all of it…(he teased me, but it was funny, not mean)…for the rest of the trip, wheneva we ate in a restaurant, people around us would ask what happened, and I would tell them I fell while skiing, and they'd feel sorry for me, while laughing and applauding josh for cutting my food…
the next day josh went skiing, I stayed in the hotel room (what else was I going to do??) watching tv and reading and trying to keep my mind off the pain…(it didn't work well, I'm glad I was alone, as I was a complete baby)…fortunately, the world ski championships were going on in are, Sweden at the time, so there was something for me to watch on eurosport…the welsh open for snooker was also taking place…lets just say I watched a whole lot of both of those for the rest of the trip…josh had fun skiing, I did a lot of reading…after josh's day on the slopes w/out me, we decided to drive back to garmisch and drop off my equipment, since I obviously wasn't about to be using it again…saw more people, they all said "don't you know you aren't supposed to fall?"…hee hee…we had dinner that night with helmut and Jamie, two more fabulous people…the following morning at breakfast, someone asked us in the breakfast room where we were planning to go…we didn't really know where we should go, so we asked him what he thought…(turned out he was a guy who was a volunteer each weekend in garmisch)…he suggested corvara, italy, so off we went…first to an internet café to get directions…guess what, there are four towns named corvara in italy…and go figure, we printed off directions to the smallest (and wrong) one…after going over the windiest mountain pass ever, we arrived in corvara (the wrong one) only to realize our mistake…apparently this mistake has been made before, b/c a lady in a guesthouse knew where we really wanted to go, and quickly gave us directions…after more driving through some beautiful vineyards and such, we finally arrived in corvara (the right one)…walked into information about 5 minutes before it closed, and were able to get info on where we could find a room…corvara is a ski town…nothing but guesthouses, restaurants, and a few sport shops…nothing else…we found a guesthouse, got dinner somewhere, and settled in for the night…the next three days, josh went skiing during the day, while I watched tv…(snooker and skiing anyone??)…at some point during each day I made my way through town, checking the daily menus for many of the restaurants, and deciding where we'd eat each night…corvara is in northern italy, german is still used as much as Italian and ladin, so I had no problem being understood…it was great for me to discover throughout the trip that I remembered more german than I thought I would, and was actually able to communicate w/out much English…corvara was cute, josh had fun skiing for 3 days…
on josh's last day on the slopes, I went to the doctor in town to have my wrist x-rayed to make sure everything was okay…(the doctors at the hospital told me I needed to do this)…go figure, everything was NOT okay…according to the x-rays, my wrist hadn't been set properly…the doctor told me that I'd have to have it reset if I wanted to be sure to have my full range of motion when it healed…definitely NOT what I wanted to hear…howeva, he said that I would be flying very soon, he didn't think it would be a good idea for me to have it done that day…or at all before I flew back to korea…ugh…so he wrote a note saying that I was okay to travel (apparently some airports don't want you getting on a plane with a hard cast) and put it in all the paperwork I was collecting…
the next day we drove out of town, all the way up to Frankfurt germany, from which we were flying home…flew out a day and a half later…a couple layovers, and there we were, back in the land of the "not quite right"…
okay, that's the end of the trip…despite the broken wrist, I loved it…I loved being back in Europe, I loved speaking german again, I loved seeing some of my old friends again…I like my life in korea, but I loved it in Europe…
we arrived back in korea during the lunar new year, which means that just about everything is closed…only the emergency rooms of hospitals would be open…so I had to wait two days to get to a doctor…I went to an international clinic, and they took x-rays again…told me that yes, it should be reset, but they were afraid it might have already started to fuse again…I said I'd have them attempt the reset anywho…they gave me a painkiller, but it did nothing…as soon as they started working on the wrist (two doctors) I started kicking…IT HURT…the volunteer translator guy held down my legs while the nurse held my head and other hand…I have never screamed that loudly…it was the worst four minutes of my life…horrible horrible horrible…I yelled/screamed/cried the entire time, and it was another two solid hours of crying before the pain subsided enough to be tolerable…I'm pretty sure I've never been that miserable…
to make a long story only a wee bit shorter, the cast came off two months later, and I'm totally fine now…I want to go skiing again, but I'm still a wee bit scared, ya know?