Sunday 10 July 2011

AUSTRIA 2011

Well, we have been here a week already and it has taken me that long to remember my password and get signed on!

My lovely big Sister Dot is looking after the house and Willow for us this time and it was lovely spending a couple of days with her before we went on holiday.  She was a great help with the packing, and the ironing and once that was all done on the Friday night we went out for something to eat.  At about 10pm John noticed the message light was flashing on the telephone, and it was from the Airline telling us that our flights for the next morning had been cancelled!  They gave us a couple of alternatives and said to ring them before 8.30pm when they closed for the night!!  We then had to find an alternative number, which ended up being in Germany and had to wait for 30 minutes before someone answered.  By this time there was only one option left so come Saturday we headed off to Ringway to get out first flight to Frankfurt, we then had to get a flight to Vienna and from there to Klagenfurt.  Now it's funny that going through security at Manchester and also Vienna was no problem at all and we both got through without any beeps.  Not so Frankfurt, where we had the least time to catch our next flight.  I got through okay, but when John went through it beeped so he was then taken into a cubicle where they used the hand wand, it beeped again so he removed his belt, then it was beeping on his jeans, then his hiking boots which he had to take off so they could x-ray them, he was still beeping when they passed the wand over his chest and they then asked him if he had a pace maker, but it turned out to be his glasses in his chest pocket!  He was literally one beep away from a full cavity search.  Anyway by the time we got to Klagenfurt it was about 6pm and we had set off at 8am.

This time we have come to the Carinthia region which is in Southern Austria and there is a definate difference to the Salzgammergut, where we have been several times in the past.  In fact it took us at least two days to settle in, part of the reason being the house we are staying at.  Looked great in the photos but in fact is in a 60's timewarp.  It is set in a clearing in the woods really, so no gorgeous views, just trees.

The temperature has been pretty steady all last week, in the 90's, so by the afternoon I am like a limp lettuce.  The good thing is that everything is new and we have been to some really lovely places and up in two different cable cars, the first one was so high it was really chilly at the top and I did feel a bit silly with a think blouse on when lots of other people had coats on, needless to say we didn't hang about too long, although the views were amazing.

I will post photos when I get a chance to download them.