1 May, Austria

1 May 2011

This morning we had a wonderful breakfast at the B&B and then went to pay and had a big surprise, the price quoted had been per person and not for the room!!  So landed up costing us double, oh well a very nice B&B!  The morning was clear and cool but not cold and we had some layers on but not all of them.  Twice, on trying to get out of the town and onto the main roads we were met with traffic detours, they seem to close the roads down very easily to allow a church service or a bicycle race with no warning until you get to the intersection.  The roads sometimes narrow down to a single lane and traffic will have to stop one way to allow oncoming traffic to pass.  The traffic moves relatively slowly and is wonderful to have rules back in place.  Larry and I just have to get used to the tiny little robots hidden away and the round abouts that all operate the wrong way!!

The trip to Pitztal was breath taking again, wonderful mountain passes and once we got into Austria the roads were very quiet, one of the small passes seemed to be completely deserted and got smaller and smaller as we wound our way up the side of the mountain.  We started doubting the GPS but as always it was correct.  We rode right to the end of the road at Pitztal and found the place to be just about deserted, the ski season is just about ending and this is one of the few resorts that is still open.  We had no idea where our accommodation was or even the name, luckily we had been corresponding with the booking agent on my Blackberry and we managed to find a name, Haus Hollrigl, and when we asked we were told it was 15km back, we turned round feeling very despondent and once we had found the right village we found the apartment fairly easily.  What a pleasant surprise, a very nice well furnished apartment with everything that you could need and very clean and comfortable.  We were then told that the ski lift is definitely still open until 8 May and there is a train that takes you half way up the mountain and then the lifts starts and that was why we couldn’t see anything!!  

So, we have settled in here for the next 4 nights, for a few days of cold air and snow.  We have a kitchen, and will try to buy food tom, to feed ourselves – all closed today – Sunday.

We have internet, but no blackberry, and will keep working on trying to find a suitable way to get home from Europe.