The more I see of this country the more I love it. Vienna has a sweeping imperial grace about it, with its architecture and traditions that makes you sometimes seem to float through it even as you go about doing everyday things. The smaller cities and villages have their own unique charms to them, often with mindbogglingly old buildings and beautifully curved cobblestone streets. But these mountains. They are literally breathtaking, to the point that it is occasionally difficult to focus on skiing because of the majestic panorama in front of you.
So of course, when some friends started talking about a ski trip for a long weekend on our semester break, I was definitely in. The entire 4 days were like living in the most beautiful postcards, plus we had an awesome time just being on vacation. We went to Kaprun, which is in Salzburg, about 4 and a half hours from Vienna by car.
The view from our terrace. We were up almost to the top of the hill so we had a great view and only about a 10 minute walk into town.
We found this lovely cozy area in a hotel downtown, complete with couches and a fireplace and hot chocolate.
There are 3 mountain areas that make up this larger Zell am See/Kaprun area, and one lift ticket is good for all of them, so we decided to start by going up to Kitzsteinhorn which is actually the top of a glacier. You take several gondolas to get up to the actual skiing area (you can't ski all the way to the bottom).
A bit cloudy to start...
clouds slowly moving off
insanely beautiful mountain views
We took the gondola all the way up to the very very top where they have a little museum and viewing platform and everything.
skiing our way back down
The next day we decided to go try Schmittenhöhe, which is slightly lower, but has a bigger skiing area...again waiting and hoping the clouds clear a bit.
Looking down into Zell am See
Very yummy slope-side lunch places serving traditional Austrian food, which is definitely also perfect ski food
mmmm...kaiserschmarrn and glühwein...and a wood burning stove
Looking down towards Kaprun
It wouldn't be a proper Austrian ski vacation without some good après-ski...complete with singing and dancing.
our group!
our view waking up the morning we were leaving...a bit sad not to be skiing on a day with weather like this...so we decided to take the more scenic route home through Salzkammergut
Just a random fortress by the highway...
Our first stop, Bad Ischl
A lovely stroll through town before a quick bite of lunch
A stop at Zauner for some soup and coffee and cake...including the famous Zaunerstollen...delicious.
driving along the lakes and mountains
Our second stop...Linz!
After a nice walk around town it was back to Vienna!
Such a fantastic trip...I really wish there was a way to completely capture all of these things, but there really isn't, and perhaps that's also ok. I cannot wait to go back next winter, or hopefully even in other seasons just to enjoy the general splendor of it all while I'm still so close.
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