Zell Am See, Austria - A White Christmas!

With a list of legitimate excuses, this blog comes exceptionally delayed – our epic Christmas trip!! Ok, I admit, part of me has been procrastinating to write this one. I really want to do it justice, however, there literally are no words to be able to recreate the experience for you all. I will indeed do my best, as it cannot go unshared. But please, do forgive me if it is borderline novel length… it will be worth it (I hope).

 

Ah, my mind is just swimming with vivid memories, a montage of images and a flooding of words wanting to be descriptively arranged on the screen, excitedly wanting to relive my reminiscences. Firstly, I cannot go any further without paying attention to the fact that mid December, we had the long awaited arrival of some of our closest friends, Jonny and Lauren Higgins! These immensely missed faces arrived in cold London, ready to party and help us celebrate Christmas. It was such a blessing to have a piece of home and fellow kindred-spirits to help create a homely Christmas. When family, traditions and the comforts of home are thousands of miles away, it is easy to feel despondent. However, we truly did do our best to enjoy Christmas in the most enchanting way possible.

 

With a week of the hilarious Higgins residing in our Putney home, we frequented many a charming English pubs and started what became a holiday essential – card games! The end of the school term came with much relief and excitement, and we all prepared for our unbelievably amazing Christmas itinerary; our first destination being the post-card, scenic charms of Zell-Am-See, a small town in the Austrian Alps. We flew into Salzburg where we were meeting Tez who had already spent a week snowboarding in Austria (lucky duck). When we found her, my excitement tripled as I realised how blessed we were to be spending this festive time of year with four of our friends, in AUSTRIA!! We boarded the train to Zell-Am-See, unknowing of what this place would have in store for us.

 

Both Tim and I (but especially Tim) have discovered a deep love for train rides through countryside landscapes. I’m sure anyone would, really, when seeing the likes of snow-tipped mountains and cascading roads weaving through hills, fields and valleys. It has become a treat to travel via trains; even if it does take a little more time, it is definitely time well spent. Hence, the train ride to our snow-covered town was indeed an extravagant delicacy for our eyes! When we arrived at our station, we jumped out of the train station feeling the cold air but also gasping at the stunning sight. We accidently yet thankfully exited the station on the wrong side and popped out of the shadowed, dark station tunnels to see winter in all its glory. There was a large lake that was glistening under the morning sun and in the distance there were heavenly mountains framing the pool of diamonds. I couldn’t believe we were actually standing at the foot of this scene and shared a squeal of ecstasy with my fellow travellers.

 

So our next step was to get to our apartment, again unknowing what it was going to be like. It always feels like a lucky dip when going to find out what the accommodation is in reality; Internet pictures can be quite deceiving. But no. This place was breathtaking! I laugh still when I think about our first impressions. We met the host outside of a local restaurant and he took us to the house. We entered a huge, heavy and arched wooden door and ascended the steps to the top floor. When we stepped into the main room, we all let out a laugh of shock and admiration… through the large double glass doors to the balcony there was a display of surreal looking mountains, dusted in soft, white icing and flirting with hints of a shy sunshine. We got the jackpot with this lucky dip!!!

 

For sometime we sat and revered our surroundings. Whilst still getting over the view I realised that Tim had dumped the bags, pulled on his coat and shoes and was waiting by the entrance like an extremely excitable puppy. Now, I must highlight that Tim grew up snowboarding down the mountains in New Zealand, every winter. It had been years since he had felt the thrill of running the slopes (apart from a very short run in Poland). If you are a snowboarder, maybe you will understand more than I did the unshrinkable grin on his face and the tears in his eyes when he thought of the board between his booted feet and the powdered snow. Thus, there was no stopping him, despite the fact that we had just arrive and it was 4pm in the afternoon. It was actually the cutest thing to see, and it was such a delight watching him bubble up with such eagerness. With a flash, he was out the door. Mark, Terri and I decided to trail behind him, however, after hiring out our gear there was too little time left for us to venture up the slopes. So the next best thing to indulge in… snow fights! We played like young, wild kids, laughing until our stomachs hurt and making snow-angels until our bums were soaked.

 

The next two days were filled with the thrills and, at times, the tantrums that were evoked from the joys of snowboarding. I must admit I had envisioned myself absolutely shredding the slopes after one or two runs. Of course this was not the case. In fact, I unfortunately landed quite heavily on my arm, jarring my elbow. Defiantly, I was so determined to keep going, which I did despite the discomfort and pain. It was a slow and frustrating journey at times, but every time I looked up over the clouds that resided around the mountains below us, I was stunned with the beauty and serenity of where I was. There were more laughs than tears, and as always I was filled with thankfulness and happiness for the opportunity and the unforgettable moments.

 

As you might imagine, with the landscapes that surrounded us, enjoying a white Christmas here was only too easy! The night before Christmas gave us a feel for a traditional winter scene, with fairy lights adorning the streets and an enormous tree establishing the celebratory event. If the views weren’t enough to enthral us, the sounds of a traditional choir singing carols definitely did the job! With a crowd of admirers entranced by the music, we stood, also entranced and perhaps a little teary eyed.

 

Christmas morning we woke up and enjoyed a delicious breakfast together, swapping our secret Santa gifts and exchanging smiles and heartfelt embraces. After spending sometime on the mountain, we came home and began the preparation for our Christmas roast dinner! With a pull together of different family traditions, we managed to serve up an incredibly heart-warming roast, and did not forget to eat too much on Christmas day!

 

Christmas was not the same without family, especially when we were missing out on our beautiful niece’s first… it was incredibly heart-breaking not seeing Emi enjoy what will become one of her favourite family times. Yet, with the alternative that was at hand, I don’t think we could have achieved a better outcome! A small fear within me did begin to develop… nothing was going to be able to match the wonders of our first destination. Oh how wrong I was. After our love affair with Zell-Am-See, we boarded the train to Salzburg where we would depart for our next stop: Prague, Czech Republic. I didn’t think it was possible for my heart to be devoted to several different places. I learnt that the diversity of each place would tug on the strings of my heart, and I soon realised that beauty is discoverable in every destination.

 

I hope you were able to share in our love for Austria. Prague will get you, no doubt!

 

Love to you all. T&S x 

Brugge, Belgium - Wet, windy but oh so beautiful!

My first moment of falling in love with Brugge was when I was standing on a bridge, overlooking a small river reflecting the deep autumn colours that dripped off the trees, like a misty water-colour painting. My initial thought was that it reminded me of the bridge in Anne of Green Gables, and I was almost expecting to see handsome Gilbert appear (Sarah Weir, I know you would understand this). Even though it was raining, the city still held a romance and history that intrigued me and kept me warm, despite what my cold, purple fingers were arguing.

 

It was a little wet. Actually that’s quite an understatement, it was bucketing down. Despite the cold and the wet taunts Mark was extremely keen to take a boat road down the canal. We were all playing along, saying that if the weather cleared up we would suss out the boat ride. There were sightings of lip pouts from Mark and frequent queries into a possible boat ride, when all of the sudden we were perfectly positioned to watch a gliding boat pass underneath the bridge we were standing on. It was in this moment, without any words passed between us, the decision was finalised that we were not getting on a boat. The passing passengers could not be seen underneath their roofs of umbrellas, except for one guy sitting exactly in the middle of the boat; we managed to catch eye contact with the man as he glanced up slowly before going under the bridge, silently pleading to be anywhere but there. The misery on the man’s face was so evident, as was the fact that he forgot his umbrella and was forced to endure the saturating boat ride. We burst out laughing and looked at Mark, whose bottom lip was nowhere to be seen.

 

The main square was adorned with a line of green awnings, each holding above their hidden entrances brick buildings with welcoming windowsills of flowers or lampshades. Peaking out from amongst the square buildings, in the distance a beautifully tall church and its steeple was visible. I love stone churches! And this one was quite vast in its size. However the walk around it was a brisk one as we were desperate to find somewhere indoors. We managed to stumble across several chocolate shops and this did the job just fine. The smell was seductive and so tasteful! We promised ourselves a hot chocolate at the end of the day, once we visited the chocolate museum!!

 

It wasn’t what I first envisioned… endless chocolate tasting, with maybe a little show bag of chocolate souvenirs.  No, not quite. However, it was still really impressive – the history of chocolate as well as enormous chocolate sculptures and the viewing of chocolate making. We managed to walk out with a delicious taster, only further feeding our desire for that hot chocolate.

 

So we ventured around a little more until we were forced into the doors of a gorgeous tearoom café, by the gushing cold wind. Wallpapered with flowers and butterflies, the warmth of the room and the smell of the baking ushered us to our seats where we ordered our steaming hot drinks. The boys weren’t even bothered by the choice of the overly feminine café, however they must have foreseen what was to come for dinner… A pub serving the tastiest stews along with the finest beer they had come across. Tim was sold that it was the best beer in the world, which I think was helped by the novelty of the glass he was drinking out of. Both glass and Tim’s joy can be spotted in the photos!

 

With the warmth of a good feed and a train to catch, we walked back to the station feeling a little more acquainted with Brugge, but perhaps a desire to come back and reintroduce ourselves when the weather was a bit nicer. It felt like I had glimpse inside a treasure chest and was able to see its stunning beauty, but did not uncover all the treasures that it was holding.