A tale of two shoppers - Supermarket enforcer

One of the major adjustments you need to make in adapting to life in Austria is at the Supermarket checkout. The checkout operator is a bit different to those in the U.K. For one they are not normally seated and also, between customers, they are moving stock or stacking shelves. They are a force to be reckoned with.
In the UK, the checkout operator is sedentary and the customer sort of passes them by. The customer tends to be in control. How often do you get stuck behind someone painstakingly and neatly bagging their purchases. Only once finished, without any regard to the queue forming behind them will they dive into their over capacious handbags for 'the purse'.
The purse with a frightening array of different store cards, credit cards and debit cards. Careful sorting and selection of the correct card is followed by laborious entry of the secret Pin Code, Oh, and yes, I do want cash-back aaagh!
Now I know Mr Cameron will have a lot on his plate when he takes over, like re-instating fox-hunting and sorting the financial mess' but I have a great suggestion for his manifesto.
Supermarket proficiency testing with teams of wardens giving on the spot fines or condemning them to a remedial training .... in Austria.
Why Austria? Well, its different over there and a bit of a culture shock. We mainly go to a Billa Supermarket which is fine but dawdling at the checkout just cannot happen.

Bagging your shopping at the till? Nope, not an option, put it straight back in the trolley and sort it out over there!
Fruit and Veg. weighed at the till? No way, you have to bag, weigh it, enter the correct number on the weighing machine and print a label which you stick on the bag. Great fun, if you're 8 years old! TW found this out when she turned up at the till with loose veggies. She was taken, almost by the ear, back to the veggie stand by a particularly ferocious operator. I wouldn't say she was as frightening as Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, or the Green Witch in the Wizard of Oz but she ran them a close third. So, we figured that if we were going to eat we needed to get organised and have a strategy. We needed to operate as a team, like a Formula One tyre change. No Jacqui, you can't wander off to get a forgotten item once were in the queue! Preparation was to be the key, both of us would put the items on the conveyor. Jacqui would then position herself after the scanner to catch items and put them into a second trolley. I would concentrate on paying. Then we'd pack at leisure. Anyway, after a few hiccoughs, which included yours truly panicking and putting items into the second trolley before they had been scanned, we actually got it right. We did the checkout routine perfectly. Our adversary with a knowing up and down movement of the head gave us the ultimate accolade, 'nicht schlecht' (not bad). It was wonderful, we floated home across the park, it was like passing the driving test all over again. By the way, she's not there any more but she's left a lasting legacy.

So next time you're baulked in the queue at Tesco, tell her - you should go to Austria luv, just wait until Cameron takes over.

Bad Hofgastein on Google Earth

Fly in and take a look at Gastein from a different angle. They have overlayed the ski runs on Google Earth and it gives a whole new perspective.





http://en.skigastein.com/service/googleearth.htm

Postcard from Bad Hofgastein in December 2009

Much prefer skiing with trees around. The above was taken on the longest run in Bad Hofgastein H1. In fact its one of the longest runs in the Easter Alps at 8km. It was in superb condition on this trip. Bit of a leg-burner!

This the Ache that runs through town, in warmer seasons its a pleasant bike ride south towards Bad Gastein. On this day it was lovely walk with a stop on the way back for a bio steak sandwich at the Restaurant Ortenstein - brilliant!

Fulseck, the top of the mountain that overlooks Dorgastein,

on a bright morning. From here you can either ski down to Dorfgastein or turn left down to Grossarl, a small village in the neighbouring valley. Best not to miss the last lift though its helluva distance by road.

Over the rickety-rackety bridge

They have put a new swinging bridge in at Bad Gastein. Its at the top of the Stubnerkogel mountain and links one lift station with another - sort of.
I think its purpose is more touristical than practical although one end does link directly onto the restaurant terrace! I imagine they will ply summer tourist with schnapps prior to their gravity defying crossing. Anyway, once I'd been across TW didn't have much choice but to follow. Striding purposefully across without a care in the world - not! Look out for the trolls Jacqui!
At the top of the mountain they also have a play area with computer game consoles wii etc, some free internet pc's.

So its a good place to check on the latest football news as well as to keep the the wife quiet.
The ski runs from here opened on the 19th December. It was bitterly cold on the day, about minus 18 Celsius so not a day for fooling around on the bridge. That was more a hot soup kinda day.

Postcard from Sportgastein

Sportgastein is the highest ski area. Its about 40 minutes on the ski bus from home. It can be quite a harsh environment when the wind's up and the snow's falling. A gondola lifts you to about 2700m and there are some good runs, particularly late season when the prettier parts of the Gastein valley have lost snow cover. On this, day the gondola was swinging in the wind and a fierce icey blast was coming off the Tauern Mountains so did not stay too long. There's good cross-country skiing up here and its a popular area for walking biking in the summer with the obligatory huts for refreshment. Think I'll come back when its sunny.

Advent - December in Bad Hofgastein



Christmas is coming

Went to the Kursaal, the local hall, for an Advent concert on Saturday.

It combined some oompah, some choral singing and a little harpsichord and zither music.
We quite enjoyed it, mainly locals were there.

We were among the last to leave and there was a chap waiting at the door who I ushered to go ahead.
Nein, he said, we have a saying in Bad Hofgastein, the gaste sind Kaiser, 'the guests are king'!
We chatted to him and he revealed that actually there was a second part, die gaste sind Kaiser, aber die Einheimischen sind Emperors.
'The guests are kings but the locals are emperors'.
Not sure what that makes us, we are not really guests, and we'll never be locals, just lucky I suppose.

It set me thinking that even though its a tourist spot, it still has a very active community and the infrastructure the locals can take advantage of is fantastic for a small village.
Apart form the mountain based activities there is a superb swimming pool complex, free ice skating, indoor tennis courts etc.
You also get the impression that a lot of the social activities, like harvest festival parties and concerts are not put on for the tourists, they make sure they do it for their own enjoyment and, hey, if it brings in the Euros so much the better.

Krampus

Krampus is a bit of a hoot, he is one of St. Nicholas helpers. He wears a fearsome mask and where St Nick is the good guy, on which on which our Santa Claus is based, Krampus doesn't give presents! His purpose seems to be to frighten the living daylights out of naughty children and a few adults as well!

So, if you are in Austria during the first week of December and you are chased down the road by a fearsome monster wielding a stick, it's not the wife, and you will most probably deserve it.
The Emperors really love it but the Kaisers hide!

Ski season has started in Dorfgastein December 2009

Dorfgastein 2009

TW - all wrapped up



Put skis to snow today, the 10th December 2009, for the first time this winter. Dorfgastein was the scene of the shaky first run. I always worry that, over the summer, I have regressed to beginner status. Its easy to fall back, literally, into the old habit of watching the ski's rather than just letting them run.

Not all the runs are open today but the hordes have not arrived yet so quality makes up for quantity. No snow-boarders to dodge and definitely no queues to take a break in. Have never really considered pre-christmas skiing before. If you are short of holidays the snow conditions are a bit of a risk. The lift pass for a week's holiday is so expensive its important to get on the slopes every day. If you have a ski pass for the season and ample time it does make a lot of sense to come out early.

Advantages:-

Pistes are empty
Plenty of elbow room in the huts at lunchtime.
No queues for the lifts
Everything seems very fresh, there is a real sense of winter advancing and the snowline creeping down the mountainside.
Avoiding the commercial Christmas at home
Christmas Markets and Advent events to go to.

On the downside:-
Not all the ski buses are running yet.
Not all the ski lifts are running.
Snow coverage is a bit thin in places and not all the runs are open.

Miss some pre-Xmas lunches

Salzburg – Christmas Market

Salzburg is really smart and knows how to dress up for Christmas. The old part of the city is well worth a wander at this time or indeed any time of year.. There are loads of pubs, coffee houses and restaurants, as you'd expect in Austria, along with museums and concert halls and, of course, Mozart. He gets star billing in Salzburg as their most famous son.

Anyway, a restaurant we like is St Peters Stiftskeller. Its underneath a former monastery and has been serving wine since the 800's! It can be expensive but if you go right to the end of the menu you can find standards like goulash and pork steaks. We spent £40 for two. The upstairs now plays host to various stylish function rooms. See the pics.

Follow your nose to the Christmas Market. The smell of Gluwein pervades the whole area. Can't say I particularly like it but, hey its Christmas, and I don't like mince pies either. Fortified against the cold by the evil brew it qualified us for a quick circuit of window shopping, or the equivalent for market stalls.

We can get to Salzburg for about 12 Euro. on the train. Its not a vast city but is quite a contrast from our small alpine village of Bad Hofgastein.

Where we hang our hats in Bad Hofgastein

Summer in Bad Hofgastein

Winter in Bad Hofgastein

Walking The Gastein Valley is a wonderful area for walking. Over 200km of clearly marked paths take you all over the surrounding mountains. Nordic Walking is really popular. Visit mountain huts and sample local produce. Use the summer lifts to get further and higher.

Skiing Beautiful skiing area, slopes for all standards. Comprehensive snow making which allows skiing into the valley until Easter.

Many mountain restaurants. Altitude: 840 m - 2,686 m.) Marked Piste: 200 kms. with 45 Ski Lifts

Cross-country Skiing

Network of tracks in the valley, in the Angertal valley at 1180m and at Sportgastein 1600m.

For whom the bell rings

Now, I’m not a heavy drinker but I am not averse to picking up a discount bottle of Merlot and a pack of Carlsberg when I visit our local Supermarket. Making my way to the checkout isn’t a problem but that’s where the problem starts. The Supermarket uses part time staff from the local schools on the checkout and of course they are mainly under-age. So as soon as they spot the offending bottles or cans they ring a dirty great bell. Alcohol, Alcohol this man has Alcohol!
Cue yours truly to try and make myself small as the whole shop turns to see what’s going on.
It’s not mine, I’m buying it for a friend!
Then one of the other staff, presumably trained in the noble art of ageism walks over to verify that I am of age and to push a button on the till. As its over 40 years since I celebrated my eighteenth birthday this is not a difficult decision and, let’s face it, how many sixteen and seventeen year olds walk around in a fluorescent cycling jacket with their trousers tucked in their socks.
It’s probably true to say that a sixteen year old is a far better judge of who is under age than anyone, when I was at school anyone two years older was definitely antiquated, perhaps almost senile.
I suppose the problem is they might let their mates buy booze.
Anyway, so not only do I have to remember what to buy, to take shopping bags, my debit card and its dreaded PIN number I also have to remember to go to a checkout staffed by an oldie. Pretty tricky for a retired person! Doing all those things might just get me out of the shop without the guilty feeling.
It got me to thinking that maybe we should be chipped like dogs. If the chip carried our ages it would automatically register me as a legal drinker, when I get to 60 I won’t need a bus pass.
Probably women would not like it but then they shouldn’t drink anyway as they need to drive.
By the way the Marlow ladies in their bling and Chelsea tractors don’t much like sharing their shop with a scruffy cyclist, maybe I should invest in some bicycle clips!