Postcard from Bad Hofgastein in January 2011

The skiing has been great since we returned on the 4th January after our Christmas break.
Across the field to the Schlossalm
Ryanair flew us into Klagenfurt in the south of Austria. The airport transfer buses are irregular so we shared a Taxi (16 Euros)to the Railway Station with two young Austrian ladies from Lienz on their way back from the New Year celebrations in London.

The train to Bad Hofgastein took a very relaxed two hours. Using the Austrian Railway website it’s possible to reserve tickets and seats in advance. I reserved us a couple of seats in one of the old fashioned compartment carriages with just six seats. Bit of a dry-do because there was no buffet car. A guy with a trolley embarked halfway but by the time he reached us we were half an hour from home and by then I was looking forward to a beer in Hansi’s. This caused TW some consternation as she alleged that I had been whingeing the whole journey about the lack of a beer. To shut me up she claims she was driven to walk the length of the train in an attempt to find a buffet car. Anyway, Austrian trains are excellent.

The Bad Hofgastein Railway Station is out of town but the train is met by a Rainer bus that drops passengers off at their Hotels or Apartments.

So, we were deposited outside our Apartment within minutes – nice to be home!

It’s not surprising how quickly we get back into the Bad Hofgastein way of life. It’s just like getting back to work from a holiday and forgetting all about the trip by lunchtime. Except of course the work here in winter is skiing.

The snow conditions have been excellent. We started off on icy dicey conditions when we arrived but then the pistes softened up as some warm weather came through. A day of rain last Thursday meant a rest day was taken but the snow held up very well.

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