Bad gastein: skiing and drinking beer

  Bad gastein is the ski holiday town for the Scandinavians I soon learn. Everyone seems to be Swedish, Finnish or Norwegian. The hostel is 100m from the chairlifts for the slopes. But there are many more ski parks surrounding the town and one pass gets you to all of them.  Day 1 on the slopes I'm by myself. It is so big and there are so many surrounding mountains. The weather is not the best it's quite foggy up top and it snows a bit. But the runs are great and there are many many many and I warm up quickly. I get back to the hostel and find 2 Norwegians who are about to head out for food and drink which I am in dying need for so I hop along. They've been here for a week already so they know where to go and give me all the hot tips. We go to the silver bullet- the biggest apre ski in the town. And each buy a round of half litre Weiss beer- my new fav. Apparently the thing to do is go to the apre ski straight from the slopes while a live band plays for a few hours and then go home, shower, change and then come back for when the band starts again. Which is exactly what we do of course...  Day 2 I have friends from the hostel- a group of Swedish/french/danish girls- to ski with. It looks like its going to be a shit day but the sun comes out eventually. We do some black runs that leave the legs burning and the longest run in the province which is 10km. Then to the silver bullet. But this afternoon is especially important because a very popular swedish band is playing and the girls are super excited. And of course because the town is full of sweeds at the moment the place is nuts. We head out to dinner and order the specialty dish of a mixed grill- a plate of meat just like the one I had with Elisa and joe- all kinds of meat on a bed of wedges!  Day 3 I go to a different mountain called sportsgastein with new friends- a frenchy an a finny. It is such gorgeous weather and sportsgastein is so so beautiful. We get so hot we lie in the snow on top of the world (it's the highest level). And at lunchtime we sit in our singlets drinking beer whilst others are sunbathing in the snow topless. That afternoon the apre ski party is at the bottom of the slopes because there is a battle of the djs party. So we all head over and the scene is great. There are 5 different stages with 5 different djs and the crowd moves clockwise as each dj plays. There are people sitting and dancing on the scaffolding in jumpsuits, others busting their moves on the snow d floor and the crazy gasteiners chanting the town's theme song "uh ah bad gastein uh ah bad gastein" and clapping and sipping on beer of course. Sipping makes that sound a little too delicate for what it was actually- I should say chugging.  Later on after a  traditional Austrian cheesy pasta dish, cream cheese strudel with vanilla sauce and hot wine with a shot of jager... the party continued at the silver bullet. The funniest thing was the old guy. He was at least 65 but he was an incredible dancer. He had such energy and enthusiasm, he just wouldn't stop and everyone wanted to dance with him- not just all the girls either! He was having the time of his life and I think that is the element that attracted everyone.  Day 4: Alex and I decide to go cross country skiing for something different. After I drag her away from the cute guys at the rental store, Alex teaches me the technique and soon I'm gliding along. It is absolutely gorgeous weather, we are in singlets and sweating after the first track so it's lemonade time at the most gorgeous hidden home cooked cafe (we go back for lunch!). Then we head to sports gastein- another mountain where the track is a little more challenging and the view a lot more glorious! And now I'm flying along. It's hard work you have to move your arms and legs the entire time and your on these narrow skis where your heals aren't held in so you can push up the hills but it's brilliant. By the afternoon we're spent. We return the skis and head to the bottom of the mountain for a drink. Afterwards I decide to check out the town because I've been here all week and all I've seen is the slopes and the bar. The town is cute. There's this waterfall that gushes down in the centre of the town and that's really the only thing moving - apart from the bar which is why most of our time was spent there I suppose... That night I catch the train to Munich with the swedes, fell asleep and got to the hostel. 

The week with the del fabios

 The boys woke up before me and went downstairs and said, "who is in our bedroom?" for I share a room with the 2 of them for the week and I mysteriously arrived over night.  Breakfast over the week is choc milk and biscuits- good start to the day... Today there is a carnivale celebration in the next town so Tommaso dresses up in a clown outfit and we head to the parade. (poor Matteo stays home with a fever). The parade is great. All the different clubs of the town put on a different show, for eg the basketball club all dress up as smurfs. There is a lot of effort put into each- there are cars and trucks and music and dancing and terrific costumes. Kids throw streamers and confetti and dance around. Tommy's clown makeup doesn't come off for a few days at least.  The kids have the next three days off school for carnivale too. Monday we shop and eat gelato and meet joe for lunch.  Tuesday we head to thermal spas in Austria. This is cool: you're in a hot natural spring outside with snow all around and skiers just meters away. There's an indoor part with fun things too like fountains and whirlpools. And there's a separate part for the saunas which I don't particularly like but it's so relaxing up there because there are deck chairs in front of big glass windows facing the snowy mountains. The only thing is you have to be nude in the saunas. Elisa and joe couldn't understand why I didn't want to go in the sauna.  After the spas we go for Austrian dinner at Elisa and joe's fav restaurant. Goulash soup and a giant plate of different kinds of meat- sausage, pork and other delicious things - that is meant to be for 2 people- it feeds the whole family, leaves us full and there is still more on the plate!  Wednesday is Matteo's birthday party. Lots of little 6 and 7 year old boys running around playing games I don't understand but which involve swords and masks and shouting. Lasagna, pizza, sausage rolls, biscotti, a giant cake and a coffee with baileys for the adults. I love espresso with baileys.  I take Tommaso for a walk while Matteo plays with his friends. We don't speak but I sing a bit to fill the silence and it's cute. Thursday I am introduced briefly to... The outlet. I return to it on Friday. Thursday I also go for a run around aiello ( the first in three months!). It is beautiful running through Italy's countryside and it is such a warm sunny day. I run through a sweet very small town called joannis uannis and around the back of aiello. It is really nice but afterwards I am completely spent. And the next day ooh I feel it in every muscle in my body. It's the first and last for a while. In the afternoon we pick up the boys from school and stroll and then we go and watch Tommy's basketball match. He hasn't played for a few weeks because he's been sick and so he is very unimpressed with his performance and blames it on the fact that he was playing against a tall big older boy. It's fun and very cute to watch and daniella and Sylvi (Joe's mum) come to watch too.  Friday morning I outlet shop big time- too big. I ride the bike there and it is a lovely sunny day I get sweaty quickly. The backdrop of patchy snowy mountains is a delightful bonus. In the afternoon elisa, tommy and i visit a town that was destroyed by an earthquake. It is not far from aiello. We stop by the church and it is very interesting because they rebuilt it keeping the original remaining parts as the foundations. You can see on the inside the walls of the original change half way up where the new building begins. Next to the church is a small museum of three naturally mummified people. The were found naturally preserved and were now on display. They were gross.  The town is also famous for it's lavender and we pop into a very purple perfumed store to see all things that could possibly be made from lavender.  Saturday we rise early and hit the slopes. The mountain is called zonkolan. Matteo and tommy have ski school there every Saturday from jan- march. It has been so warm the past week that a lot of the snow had melted and so it was a little difficult to ski smoothly and elisa said usually the entire mountain and surrounding hills are all white but today there was hardly any snow surrounding. But I loved the fact that it was so so warm. At lunchtime we could sit out in the sun at the top of the mountain in our t shirts drinking beer.  The morning was good - all 5 of us skied together. When it got a bit tricky for matty- joe guided him from behind. But they were all very good. Tommy liked to go off pist (off the slope) all the time and try jumps and tricks and matty liked to follow. I fell over about three times which meant i had to shout three drinks (which ended up being 1 drink and lunch otherwise we wouldn't have skied straight). After lunch the kids went to ski school and we tried some black runs. I got better as the day went on. I don't mind if I fall over but Elisa kept saying - slow down. It wasn't my fault some times I just couldn't slow down! The view from the top was gorgeous though... Of course.  Afterwards we went to an 'apre ski' or after ski bar where you buy a drink and they put out plates of food on the table. We franks apple spritzers- quite a few as I owed a fair amount from my stacks throughout the day and then drove home at first very merry and then very sleepy. I was in the back seat in the middle with tommy and Matty asleep on each of my shoulders.  Sunday we slept in and in the afternoon we took a trip to Trieste. It was a sunny day but windy and Trieste gets a famous wind called the boen wind. We had gelato and then visited the castle on the waters edge. It had beautiful gardens and got some great happy snaps.  When I wasn't busy with outings and such, time was filled in by playing wii for or foozball with the boys or babysitting Ricky (one of my favorite things), watching movies and massaging Elisa in the evenings or of course eating. Let's see every lunch and dinner had a pasta entree, a meat/fish dish with veggies, bread, cheese and prosciutto, fruit and then coffee and something sweet! It was such a hoorah- each meal took well over an hour to consume and I don't know how they're not all obese! And it was all delicious so you couldn't say no to anything!  Monday it was time for me to say goodbye. I hugged the boys before they went off to school (against their will) but they didn't believe I was going. Elisa took me to the train station with her sunglasses on- I didn't have any so my tears were quite visible. But I'd had a fantastic week and would go back to visit in a heartbeat. 

Day 71: more cool stuff and bloody trains

We did a canyon swing this morning. Check out the video it's cool. I sort of maybe accidentally force maddy to do it by booking it when she was in the bathroom but she loved it in the end. Basically you trek up a mountain,  get harnessed up and jump into a narrow canyon. I don't know how long the free fall lasts but you're waiting for the rope to catch and actually start swinging for a bit. The scariest thing is you just jump off a cliff- who does that? I screamed as I jumped but after a second my voice got stuck and I was completely silent until I felt I could finish the scream which is when I actually started to swing. After the free fall you swing back and forth through true canyon and it's beautiful. It would be relaxing if you didn't have litres of adrenaline pumping through your body. When you get off the swing your legs are like jelly and you can't believe what you've just done but you sure as hell want to do it again and again. I jump on a train to head to aiello to stay with the fam. I leave at 1pm. I get there at 11.30pm. Fricky dicky my luck with trains sucks. There were 4 different trains all up. The second one was late so I missed the third basically and got in 2 hours later. Poor giordano had to come and get me- lucky it was a Saturday night. 

Day 70: cool stuff

Today we head up to one of the mountains. Oh what a stunner. I love the snow that sits pertly on top of the little houses. It reminds me of a gingerbread house and the story of Handel and Gretel. We walk around and watch enviously at the skiers because it is an absolutely perfect warm day. We chose not to ski here it was way expense. We hiked back down the mountain along a trail for half the way and sort of lost the trail for a bit (and had to trudge through knee deep snow for just a short time). The view of the city in the valley below was truly lovely. Then we went back to the chocolate shop because we got a voucher yesterday but couldn't even think about any more choc at the time. So we went and had some cake and truffles before getting ready to go night sledding! We were picked up and taken up the mountain in the dark- no lights apart from a flashlight on our back so people behind know there is someone there. Then we sledded down the mountain in the dark. It was hard work keeping to the track and not smashing into people. You have to put out 1 leg when you want to turn and lean to the side. I definitely was responsible for a few crashes... The run was 15 km long and lasted about an hour. That's not to say we were going 15 km/hr. There were definitely times where I was speeding along and felt uncontrolled and we stopped a few times to admire a frozen waterfall and to take some happy snaps. At the end we had a traditional Swiss dinner followed by cheese fondue and beer at a cute restaurant at the bottom of the mountain. Then it was back to the hostel for party times at the bar for it was Friday night and an entire crew of American exchange students had arrived for the weekend...

Day 69: interlaken

  The snow is lovely and everywhere. Interlaken is a small town near some of Switzerland's ski fields. It is between two lakes hence the name. We hike to one of the lakes and it is stunning. The town itself has some shops and cute things to offer but is pretty quiet. Later we do a chocolate tour at a chocolatier. It is fantastic. The guy showed us how they make their chocolate and all the while there is a tray of all sorts of truffles for us I sample as we please- dangerous! Yes I end up having probably more than 20 truffles in the hour... And feel quite ill afterwards but it does not turn me off chocolate no way. That night we lounge in the outdoor spa and our new besty/ roommate cooks us curry because he is a chef from new Zealand. It was pretty difficult to find curry ingredients in interlaken but he did his best and it tasted good. We drink wine and head to the hostel bar for a bit then to bed. 

Day 68: eat pray love or eat eat eat

Bologna is famous for its food- eat pray love says so. We roam the town. It's mainly a university town and the university is the oldest or the largest in Italy (I can't remember which). We search for the best pizzas and find a place where we each have an enormous pizza. Then we search for the best gelato and find a pretty good one near the station. Its then time to catch our trains to Switzerland. For me the main highlight of the day was catching up with maddy- we had heaps to talk about so the nice little city of bologna was sort of a pretty background entertainment. We arrive in interlaken at about 11 pm and find our hostel then head to bed. 

Day 66 and 67: Milano

Milano is the shopping capital so we spend some of the day doing that but it's  not super exciting. A snow filled garden, some good fountains, the largest gothic cathedral in europe, a giant pizza for lunch and our tour was complete. Our dinner is our last one together so we do it well: entree no. 1: pizza and a plate of buffalo cheese. Entree number 2: big plate of pasta and bread ( I defs could have stopped there but had already ordered the main). Main: grilled steak and a side of a gigantic salad. There was no way we could do desert so a Chinese tea instead to aid digestion.  We parted ways at the train station. Me to bologna to meet my friend and them to Rome to fly home.  My train was delayed an hour and I got on the regional instead of the express by accident so it took 3 hours instead of 1. I of course had a little difficulty finding the place and it was only by chance that I saw maddy as she was heading out for a bite to eat after waiting for me for 3 hours. I told her I'd be there by 7.30, it was now 10.30pm. The poor darling had been coming down the stairs every 20 mins because reception was shut and stressing that something bad had happened to me. She even posted it on Facebook which mum found the next day and sent me a fretting msg... But for now we were both safe and sound and found so we went out for pasta and caught up on all the goss.

Day 65: the Egyptian museum and Turin by night

Today Gianni takes us around turin to see the main city highlights. The snow covered town is lovely. We stop for espresso at one of the top pasticerias in town and it's pretty tops- I know my espressos by now. Then lunch at another family's house which is fantastic of course- highlight is the freshly made donuts!  After lunch we head to the Egyptian museum. Turin is sort of famous for it because it is number two in the world second to the one in Egypt so naturally it's a pretty epic Egyptian museum. There are tombs and mummies still intact and on display. There is even pieces of food still preserved from however long ago it was. The tombs were filled with not only the mummy but also belongings, food, figurines of the dead person and good luck ornaments.  After the museum we went for dinner to a Brazilian bar. We had good seafood again and delish tiramisu and lots of cocktails whilst we listened to a live Brazilian band. There was also a couple delivering Brazilian entertainment. They changed costumes and performed different dances and at the end pulled people up to teach the samba- me unfortunately included... Actually that wasn't so bad but then Giovanni's old friend wanted to dance with me so I had to be turned about and about again and again and get really dizzy for few songs whilst the others watched on in great amusement. And that was our Turin by night tour.

64: meeting Gianni

The journey to Turin is an interesting one. We catch three trains. The first is pretty empty with a French conductor who befriends us and shares his taste in music by playing tunes on his iPad. He occasionally gets distracted whilst chatting to us and forgets to do his job which is to blow the whistle at each stop and that's about it. We get off to change trains at the French - Italian border and there is snow everywhere for the first time on our winter euro trip. It is soft and white and abundant so naturally we snow ball fight, take pictures and make movies.  But then the connecting train arrives and the fun stops for this train is 2 small carriages long and it is already full to the brim. There are faces against the window before we even get on with our packs! I end up squished against the opposite window with both of the other girls' extra carry-on luggage bags because they are in the middle. They end up scoring s seat in the luggage room but I can't move an inch. Then the doors open at the next stop but they decided they would change sides that the doors open do I end up almost toppling out of the train with my pack still on along with 2 huge and heavy bags. Why is no one getting off and more people try to squeeze on? I'm sardined with crush plus the other enemy bags for the whole trip which lasts an hour and by the end my back is ruined.  Hannah didn't know what to expect of Gianni- her dad's cousin so we weren't sure how long we would stay but when we got there he was so hospitable and cute. He took us out to dinner to the best seafood restaurant where we had about 4 entrees including delicious muscles and a seafood platter. Main was fantastic grilled fish of some sort and then though there was no room I had amazing profiteroles- they were filled with cream and coated in chocolate mousse! When we were leaving Gianni ordered the deserts we had to take away so we could have them again tomorrow!  Gianni's house is an old style apartment on the top floor of a building in the city. All three of us sleep in his bed while he settles on the couch. Three in the bed and the little one said... Uh oh I may have farted

Day 63: nice one

Nice is nice. We do the free walking tour which is a short one- just an hour around the old town. There is a heavy italian influence and hence many pizza shops. The beach is lovely, the view from the top even better and the crepes for lunch maybe even better again. That night is another three course French feast of course then cards and tea at the hostel. 

Day 62: not as windy

I get up early and surprisingly find it is not so windy today. So I walk to st Andrea's which is a castle on top of a hill. It is early so not many people are about but I exchange a few 'bonjours' here and there. The castle is very big and gives a brilliant view of course of the canal and the mountains and the city. Later we catch the train to Nice.  After a delicious duck and a variety of desert and some cocktails, we head to the most popular bar in town- Wayne's bar. It's small but very packed and for the first half an hour or so has a live band who aren't too bad. When the dj starts though, the crowd starts getting up and dancing on the tables! It's a norm at this bar apparently but it's hilarious and fun. 

Day 61: the windy city

  We wander around the shops a little. It's too too cold to do much sightseeing today so we then sit down for a long extended lunch of tart, duck, foi gra, delicious desert, espresso, vino... It takes a good few hours and the waiter is a good egg. He educates us on the tipping policy which we had not yet figured out and which is not expected- good to know.  We were lushed up at the lush beauty store, perused some more shops and got dinner supplies which we feasted on later with Patrick and his stories and a bottle of sangria.