Weekend in Austria

The first weekend in December found me torturing my best friend, Kelly, with a nonstop-no-jetlag-allowed-weekend. Finding a great airfare to Nuernberg from NYC, she hopped a plane and the next day arrived, via bus strikes and missed Paris connection, in Nuernberg. With not a moment to rest, we stopped off at the vet clinic with Kianga for xrays and ultrasound testing, and then immediately headed to Obertauern, Austria to meet up with friends in the Frankfurt International Ski club there.

After an all too short night, we were bundled and ready to start exploring the Obertauern valley. Neither of us were able to ski at the moment, so we opted to hike with Kianga. The first trek took us through the village and to the heart of the ski resort. Kelly performed a lovely back pirouette on the icy road and Kianga munched snow along the way. And that BEFORE our rum spiked hot chocolate!

We spent the afternoon exploring the local valley and half-heartedly searching for hiking trails. We stopped at a small village for a long lunch of local fare - how was the bologna and onion plate Kel? We also found a working milk farm, complete with milkcan lifts to bring the milk in from the mountain meadows. We returned to Obertauern and spent late afternoon sledding with kids on a local slope - we didn't realize until the next day, it was actually a ski slope! And how do you steer those things anyway? After napping and relaxing in the sauna, we met the group for dinner and late night drinks in a local bar & restaurant.

The next morning we were up early again and started the day sledding. Sadly we returned our toys and headed to Salzburg for the Christmas market. We lost ourselves in the throngs there, shot plenty of photos, and of course ate! Such a lovely place in the winter! We didn't stay too long and then headed back to Nuernberg for a well deserved quiet evening there.

Wish you'd been there!

- Tiffany (photos compliments of Kelly Naito)