The hills are alive...Amazing Austria!

Early on Wednesday morning, Josh and I started off on our journey to Mallnitz, Austria.  We left our flat at 3:45 am for our 7:50 am flight from London.  We landed in Salzburg to a cloudy, rainy day.  We had a couple hours to kill before our train to Mallnitz, so Josh and I did some shopping, had lunch and drank some delicious beer.  I have to say, I love German/Austrian beer so much more than British beer.  British beer tends to be quite bitter, I much prefer the smooth wheat-y flavor of the beer we have had in Germany/Austria.  If only it was easier to find in Britain!

Hooray for Beer!

Josh enjoying his Weissbier.

Our train left Salzburg and threaded through valleys, over streams and through mountains.  The scenery along the way was beautiful, I couldn't wait to be in Mallnitz!  We were expecting to see some snow along the way, but the rain continued instead.  When we arrived in Mallnitz it was pouring and thankfully our host from the hotel came to pick us up.  The drive to our hotel only took a few minutes and after 12 hours of travelling, it was nice to finally be settled.  The hotel we chose in Mallnitz was Hotel Hubertus.  Except for a bit of a language barrier, it was perfect, the room was clean and comfortable and our stay was all inclusive.  We had three meals a day, plus afternoon tea and as much beer and wine as we wanted!

Hotel Hubertus in Mallnitz

The town of Mallnitz, Austria

The town of Mallnitz was almost too perfect to be true.  The streets, homes and businesses were clean, manicured and well cared for.  Almost every building had beautiful flower boxes just dripping with gorgeous flowers.  We were hard pressed to walk past anyone else in town, most of the time, but when we did we were always greet with a "guten morgen" or "hallo".  Josh and I spent our first night in Mallnitz planning our next two days of hiking and then turned in early.

The next morning, Josh and I expected to see snow on the ground in Mallnitz, but instead found just more rain.  The higher elevations did receive about 12 inches of snow, so our plans to check out a few of the cable cars and a glacier had to be cancelled.  Instead we headed off to the Seebachtal mountain for our first hike.

Josh at the beginning of our hike.

Me on our way up the mountain.

Josh was excited to find a tree stand!

Heavy snow towards the top of the mountain.

Josh and I, cold and wet on our hike!

A rainy/snowy view of the mountain range and the town of Mallnitz.  

Snow in the mountains!  This is about were we had to head back due to the heavy snow.  

Our hike up was impeded by the heavy snow.  Once we found it too difficult to view the trail markers and determine exactly what we were stepping on, we decided to head back down.  Despite the rain and snow, Josh and I had a great time taking in the views and getting "back in touch" with nature.  We didn't see one other person on our hike, just some cows and a few wild animals.  Coming from London, where there are people everywhere, it was amazing to be the only two people around for miles!

The next morning, Josh and I woke up to a perfect sunny day.  It was still cold, but the sky was blue and clear.  Our hike for the day was up Hindenburghohe.

Starting off on our day 2 hike in Mallnitz.

Beautiful Mallnitz!

Josh and I at the beginning of the trail.

Josh part way up the mountain.  

Me during our lunch break, halfway up!

Once we made it past the tree line, Josh and I thought we were "almost" to the top.  But it still took quite a while to finally reach the summit.  And boy, all the hard work was worth the view!

View from the top!

Josh and I at the summit

The valley and town of Mallnitz 

Enjoying the sun and a snack at the summit.

Headed back down.  

Josh at the summit.

After spending about an hour enjoying the view, resting our legs and refueling, Josh and I headed back down the mountain.  We were exhausted, but happy!  We left the next morning to head back to Salzburg for our flight later in the day.  In Salzburg we visited Mirabella Gardens, the Salzburg Cathedral and the Salzburg Fortress.  It was another rainy day, but we still enjoyed our time in the city.

Salzburg Cathedral

Josh and his GIANT chocolate covered pretzel :)

Mirabella Gardens

View of Salzburg from the fortress.

Josh and I had a fantastic time in Austria.  I would absolutely love to go back and do more hiking... preferably when it is a little warmer!

Our next few weeks are extremely busy!  Sam and Amanda finally arrive next weekend, I am so excited to see them!  After that, Josh has a trip to the States for business, then my parents arrive for two weeks!  Then the day after they leave, we are headed to Cornwall and Wales for a road trip with our Australian friends.  It is never dull around here!

Rachel x

Carnival & the Paralympics

The end of August was pretty quiet for Josh and I.  We just enjoyed the beautiful weather and relaxed at home when we had the chance.  For Josh's birthday, all he wanted to do was stay at home and do "nothing".  I honored his request and we puttered around the flat all day.  I spent most of that day in the kitchen cooking up his favorite foods.  The menu was bratwurst, homemade baked beans, creamed corn and peanut butter chocolate brownies.  Not healthy at all, but you only turn 32 once!  The day after Josh's birthday I declared our self imposed sequestering over so we rented some Barclay bikes and headed off on a trip across London to Notting Hill for the Carnival.

The Carnival was...not my cup of tea.  Josh and I really didn't know much about it going in, just that it was a street party celebrating Caribbean community and they had jerk chicken food stalls...mmmm....I love jerk chicken!  My first impression upon arriving at the Carnival was "holy cow there are a ton of people here".  Literally, there were people everywhere.  Just a huge mass for block after block after block.  Where there wasn't people, there were food stalls and where there wasn't food stalls there was trash.  Huge piles of trash, in fact, I didn't see one trash can the entire time we walked around.  I'm assuming this is to prevent terrorism, but it just grossed me out and made me rethink buying that jerk chicken I really wanted.

Huge pile of trash at the Notting Hill Carnival

I was expecting more entertainment but there were only a few bands playing.  Mostly it looked like people were just out to drink, eat and smoke (not just cigarettes!)  And this was "Family Day"!!!  After about an hour of wandering the many streets Josh and I headed out, thankfully, back to our nice quiet flat.

The weekend after Josh's birthday we had tickets to the Paralympics.  I was really excited to finally get into Olympic park and watch more sporting events.  Our tickets were for the athletics events at the main stadium.    The Paralympics have been very well attended here in London, over 2.5 million tickets have been sold for the events!

Olympic Park in Stratford

Josh and I in Olympic Park

The Orbit thing...still think it is ugly!  

For Dad :)  The huge McDonald's!

Josh having a cookie :)

Josh and I brought sandwiches and snacks with us to the park and found a nice spot to enjoy our dinner before the athletic session started.

Olympic Stadium

Inside Olympic Stadium, waiting for the games to start.

The Olympic Flame!

I was really excited to see the Olympic flame, we were pretty close to it!  The atmosphere at the stadium was great.  There were a lot of Union Jack's being waved around and the stadium was close to full.

Josh the Olympic Stadium

Shotput.  Each athlete has their own special seat to throw from.

That little car is run by remote and takes the discus back and forth.

One of the cycling races.

One of the medal ceremonies, a lady from Great Britain won gold!

Runners with Cerebral Palsy 

The orbit again...looks much cooler lit up!

  At our athletic session we saw a large range of people with different disabilities compete.  There were people who were missing limbs, people paralyzed from the waist down, people with cerebral palsy and people who have dwarfism.  They are all incredible athletes and I was truly impressed by their dedication and strength.  Josh and I really enjoyed our night out at the Paralympics!  

Rachel x