The city that stole my heart...

After Austria we were to head to my favourite place in Europe so far, Prague. Whilst Mark and I had visited in August, I was so excited to show off my little slice of Heaven to our little travelling party. I am not sure what it is about this city, but it definitely has a hold over my heart. Sitting here writing about it and knowing that Mark will be visiting in 2 days it gut wrenching.

Before I give you a step by step account of our time in the city, I must explain our journey from Salzburg to Pargue. They are not exactly in close proximity and a train was going to take quite a long time. Shelley did some investigating and found that there was a service that could drive us to Prague, for the same price as a train, in half the time. Sweet! So we hopped in and had a very nice young driver who seemed friendly enough. As it started to get dark, I dozed off as a highway in the dark does not make for stimulating scenery. I happened to open my eyes and I immediately felt my heart pounding inside my chest. No longer were we on the highway, but down some country road in the middle of nowhere. I immediately, started to curse my love of Criminal Minds because at this stage, I believed that we were being driven to an out of the way torture chamber and we were all going to die a horrible and gruesome death! I was plotting where I was going to run to, and who I was going to sacrifice.. Even the scenario of them coming back and finding me after I escaped was running through my mind.

Apparently we were heading to his bosses house to change drivers. OH COME ON!!! This is a freaking horror movie writers dream! Just as we were close to the house, our lovely young driver proceeded to point out a castle and mentioned that it was the location for the movie Hostel!!! By this stage, I was sure I was going to pass out. I honestly do not think that I have ever been so scared in my life. Needless to say we weren't locked in a chamber and tortured, there was a driver swap (who was nowhere near as nice) and we made it to Prague in one piece. I still shiver just thinking about that ride.

So Prague! My baby, my beauty. Like I said, I can't explain my love for this city, but it is there.

Anybody who looks at my Facebook page, will see my love for the John Lennon Wall. This wall was started as a shrine to Lennon after his assassination by young Czechs who were speaking out against the Soviet Regime that occupied the country. They would graffiti the wall with symbols of peace and Beatles lyrics. The wall was painted over a number of times, however it never lasted long.Today the wall stands to represent peace and love.

I love walking over the Charles Bridge from the Prague Castle to the Old Town Square. The Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square is a site to behold and we decided to climb up the top to see the city from above. What a dumb idea! I don't know if it was because I had been sitting on chair lifts for the last two weeks or because I went on a bobsled, but I completely forgot about my paralysing fear of heights. Well that came flooding back as soon as I took one step onto that balcony. Why I didn't stay inside I do not know? I had a great view behind glass. But no, I made my way around the entire thing, albeit very shaky and I did not look at all. As soon as I walked in and saw Shelley I cried (again). Yep - I'm still afraid of heights!

The other great thing about this city, is how cheap everything is. Good food and drink costs next to nothing! Needless to say, we made the most of that! And no trip to Prague is complete without a trip to our favourite nightclub - Double Trouble. It was a little quieter than last time, and there was no dancing on the bar or clothes swapping.... But there may have been someone who engaged in a little pole dancing......

I could seriously go on and on about Prague, and if anyone wants to know more please ask!!!

It was at the end of our stay in Prague that we parted ways with our little travelling buddies. Mark and I were heading back to London to travel to Edunburgh for New Years, and Tim, Shelley, Loz and Johnny were to head to Berlin... after a sad little goodbye (we were going to see them in 4 days) we headed off to the airport for our next adventure!!

A White Christmas!

After a week of rediculous fun in Hopfgarten, it was time to leave my new found friends and head to Salzburg where I was meeting Mark, Tim, Shelley and their friends Loz and Johnny... I was so excited to see them! There was just a small issue... I travelled with my big backpack... and I had a bung shoulder. Let me tell you, it was not what I would call comfortable!! It seemed the entire tour headed to Munich, whilst it was only myself and Todd that caught the train to Salzburg. By the time I arrived and said goodbye to Todd, I was wrecked. I was told the walk to the hostel was 10 minutes... with the directions I was given, it was more like 30! By the time I arrived, it was 6:00pm and I was ready for bed. A quick bite of dirty macca's and I was snuggled into my reasonably comfortable hostel bed.

PLEASE: If you are thinking of staying in a hostel and sharing a room with strangers, please take note and do not do the following:

• Blow dry your hair next to the head of a sleeping person, especially when there are hair dryers in the bathroom
• Turn on the light that is right next to the person who is sleeping and then leave the room
• Giggle and talk in your loudest voices whilst someone is OBVIOUSLY sleeping - regardless of the time
• Then get up at 4:30am the next morning (after only being in the room for one night) and spend TWO HOURS clearing out and re-packing your suitcases using plastic bags for everything
• Giggle and talk in your loudest voices whilst people are sleeping at 4:30am

Needless to say I was at the train station super early (after finding the 10 minute route) to wait for Mark and co. When Shelley saw me and started running, that was it.. the water works started... That's when I realised how tired I actually was. After a quick introduction to Loz and Johnny, I got my long awaited cuddle from Mark and got on the train for our 2 hour ride to Zel Em See.

Our accommodation was a cute little apartment that we found on airbnb, and it was situated about 100m from the ski lift. Tim was up that mountain pretty much as soon as he arrived, whilst Mark, Shelley and I engaged in our first snowball fight and explored the town. It was such a cute little town... where Mark participated in another snowball fight with some random little kids. We strolled through the little Christmas markets and enjoyed mulled wine and hot chocolate..mmmm.....

Christmas Eve was spent up the mountain. I was pretty exhausted still from the previous week's boarding, and my shoulder was hindering my progress, so I just cruised down the mountain heel-side . It wasn't ideal, but it was fun enough... to start with.... We stuck to the blue (easy) run, which unfortunately led to a gross goat track that I felt with my butt more than my feet. After a few tears, I finally caught up with Mark and headed home. Mark meanwhile excelled when he went off with Tim... damn it! He just picked it right up!

Christmas morning was spent skyping family and a big breaky! It still didn't feel like Christmas... But we made the most of it. We decided that we would have a big Christmas dinner instead of lunch, and we headed off for the mountain. We started the day boarding/skiing with our respective partners... And Christmas 2012 will always be remembered as the Christmas I through a tantrum that would rival any my nieces and nephews have every thrown. To cut a long story short, I was tired, sore and very grumpy. I didn't want to strap my board on when I went on the chair lift... there was a fair amount of foot stomping and huffing and puffing.. then tears... To Mark's credit, he was so good with me... he didn't get mad, he kind of just let me have the tanty, then laughed after I had finished. It was pretty obvious that I needed to get the board off, and hang it up.... for a year or so....

Christmas dinner was amazing, with everyone chipping in and helping out. If we couldn't spend Christmas with our families... Tim, Shelley, Loz and Johnny were fantastic substitutes! 

Whilst the boys spent the last day on the slopes, us girls headed off to Salzburg to the Sound of Music Tour. I couldn't help but think of my Nanna and Poppa whilst on this tour. I'm pretty sure every time we stayed at their house, The Sound of Music would be on numerous times a day!! It was great to see all the locations it was filmed at.. and Salzburg is a beautiful city.

Once again, the photo's do not do the scenery justice. I can't find the words to describe the feeling of being on top of the mountain. To say that the views were breathtaking would be an understatement. When I took a moment to stand back and really look at where we were, a moment of peace seemed to come over me. Yes, even after my tantrum! The view from the top of that mountain was honestly the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. 

Christmas of 2012 will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life and will not only be known as the Christmas of my tantrum, but the Christmas that we got to spend with amazing company and in an equally as amazing country. 

 

A little too old to attempt a new extreme sport....

A year or so ago, sitting as I am in the lounge alone would have made me happy. I would not think twice about having a weekend by myself, sitting back and listening to a bit of Jack Johnson. But whilst Mark is over in Europe and Tim and Shelley are in Paris, I am overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness and boredom. Sure there is plenty that I can do here…. But I can’t help but be a little envious of their current adventures (without me) ..

So I guess now is a better time than never to mention the holiday that I took by MYSELF before Christmas. I was lucky enough to guess the half time score of the 2012 AFL Grand Final that was being shown at the notorious London Aussie Pub, “The Walkabout”. Much to the disgust of the thousand or so male patrons may I add! My prize that afternoon was a 1 week ski trip to Austria with Contiki. We have seriously had the most amazing luck on this trip… I honestly could not believe it!

So the time came for me to make my way to the Contiki basement… by myself… where I was to sit on a bus for anywhere up to 20 hours and drive to Austria. Sound like fun to you?? After a belly churning ride on the ferry from Dover to France, the drive wasn’t actually too bad. Being the first trip of the season, the bus was only half full and we all had two seats to ourselves. I pretty much slept the entire way!

We finally arrived at Hopfgarten and got kitted up with our boards and shoes and headed to the Contiki Lodge. It still didn’t quite really feel real… There was just over 60 people on this tour, and I knew I was going to struggle to remember each and every one. I don’t know how those that were on the later tours were going to cope… there would have been over 100 of them! I went to bed a little apprehensive about boarding the next day… but excited as heck!

When I found that I couldn’t walk down the stairs properly in my snowboard boots, I should have realised that I was not going to find the whole “snowboarding” thing easy! The whole time I was walking to the practice slope, I had Mark’s voice in my head telling me, “You are going to find this SO hard… I don’t think you can do it.” So, of course I was going to prove him wrong”!!! But at the end of the day, when I still hadn’t conquered the practice slope, I was becoming so frustrated and it took all my might to get back on the belt that took us up the top to start again. But Mel and Todd, who I had only met the day before, were SO patient with me. With their “encouragement” I managed to kinda get it by the end of the day. Needless to say, I didn’t actually make it up the (proper) mountain until the 3^rd day….

One thing I need to mention... the pain.... the agonizing, muscle tearing pain!!! I used muscles that I seriously never realised I had. On the second night, I woke myself up every time I moved in my sleep. 

When I finally made it up the mountain with the rest of my (beginner) group, we all improved a great deal. I even started to turn... well I attempted it on many occasions. After a few awesome runs, I made the mistake of going up for "one last run" even though my body was screaming for a rest. And it all turned to poo! As soon as I took off I hit the deck... and then twice more. Then I hit a patch of ice and pulled back my shoulder and heard a 'crack'... I thought the pain in my muscles were bad.. this was excruciating! I eventually made my way down the mountain.... and listened to my instructor lecture me about 'falling properly'... Bit late now Mitch! He advised hospital, but it was a clear day and we were having lunch at the top of the mountain... priorities right? Luckily half the tour were Physio's or trainee doctors :) Thank you to Sim for making me a makeshift sling, and the view on top of the mountain was definitely worth the pain. It even stopped hurting as much... well that was until I fell flat on my ass walking out of the restaurant... Then it was  a short drive to the hospital and told to stay off the board for a bit! Thank god it was the end of the tour.

Besides snowboarding, the week was jam-packed! One of my most memorable moments was riding in a bobsled on the Olympic Track in Innsbruck! It was the best 40 odd seconds of my life haha! I was petrified, and the only thing that made me do it was knowing how excited my Dad was about it! But I'm so glad I did. 

      Hopfgarten: The pictures don't do it justice!

 Schnappy hour... this picture says it all!

If anyone wants to go boarding, I would definitely say go Contiki. The staff were amazing, and the cooks adapted to my allergies SO well.. I was so impressed, and they didn't even come close to killing me! I met some amazing people that are continuing to bring laughter and fun into my life. It was an amazing week of good people, food, drink, experiences and a little pain. I would absolutely jump at the chance to do it again!!!