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.