Kitzbuehel, etc.

On Wednesday, we were a little worn out from Oktoberfest and it was a rainy day, to boot.  We opted to sleep in a bit and Kristin and Adriane did a little bit of laundry since we had all but exhausted our wardrobes.  A little before lunch time we decided to go for a drive that Kristin’s parents had recommended we do one day.  Our drive took us through Zell am See and onto Kitzbuehel, a picturesque little town.  We got out a walked around a bit and did some shopping.  Afterwards, we went on towards Erpfendorf, which is a small town where Kristin used to go with her parents when she was little, as they once lived in Stuttgart when her father was stationed in Germany, and they would travel around.  Erpfendorf is a very quaint village where they used to dine at the Alpenrosen restaurant and they would also ski at the nearby ski resort, where Kristin learned to ski when she was little.  The guys had some goulash soup with fresh hard rolls, Kristin had cream of broccoli because that was the only thing she could know exactly what it was and Adriane had Apple strudel with ice cream.  The owner served us and she didn’t speak any English so Jason had to translate as much as possible.  The food was very fresh and good and the lady was very friendly.  It is always interesting to see the locals just hanging out in the back room smoking cigarettes and drinking beer no matter what time of day. Usually in every restaurant there is a table that the locals sit at, I think this is mostly an Austrian thing because I don’t remember it from being in Germany. We stopped at a gas station and they were even standing in the back room there watching tv, drinking beer and smoking, it was comical because it was such a small place and there were about 5 guys standing in this little room. 

 

The drive back was hair-raising in that we took a very windy mountain pass in the dark and fog.  Austrian drivers are very daring and between the narrow roads, fog and curves, we were just glad to get back to the hotel where we gladly went to the spa and soaked in the hot tubs for a while.

 

A simple entry for a simply day – a down day that we very much needed on this very active vacation!

 

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