Sunday 31st July
Up we got at 5.30 and off in the hotels shuttle service for £4.50. I think the driver either had a death wish or a hankering to be a race car driver. We had booked Lufthansa and had a very comfortable flight over with a change in Frankfurt to Austria Airlines. When we arrived in Frankfurt we went through the various official stuff and then off we went to go through the scanner. Rod did his big undress thing that he always does. Off with his watch, belt, camera and shoes. Wallet out of pocket, check for bits and pieces then through he goes. My turn, laptop out of backpack, off I go. No, beeper goes off. I get taken to a cubicle. Shoes off, scanned again, then I get patted down by customs. All clear. I go through but no they have my bag. “Open bag please”. I open it, Oh no, my underwear is on top!!. Out it comes. They are after my portable hard drive. Out it comes. “What is this?” “Portable hard drive” “Huh?” “For computer” “Huh?” ”For my files from my computer”. “Come with me please” “oh no!” I’m thinking what are they going to do? “They take me into a cubicle about 50 metres down a corridor and in there is one of those machines that I have seen on the airport programme on telly. They ask me to open the case and take out the hard drive through lots of pointing. I do so, he then tries to prise it open. I shook my head and said “No” He looks at me then talks to the other officer. They then swipe it all over and the case too with a cloth and put the cloth into the machine. The officer at the machine looks at me and says “Ok, you go”. I grabbed my drive and was gone back to find Rod. He was looking a bit worried as I didn’t even get the chance to say to him to wait. We packed everything up and scurried away. I wasn’t even guilty of anything but they made me feel very nervous. Finally, we arrive in Salzburg and head off to find the car rental. The lady there says, there has been a mix up with your order. I though “What now?” She then said we have given you a bigger car at no extra cost. A BMW. That’s fine says I nonchalantly as if I drive BMW’s every day. Off we go down to find it. Pretty car, we load all the gear in and Rod gets in, then gets out and gets in on the other side. Left hand drive. It feels weird as I have never driven a left hand drive before and I keep grabbing for the door handle to change gears. Okay, let’s see how we go. Out of the garage and swerve onto the right side of the road. I got into the right lane and lucky it was the right lane that we needed to be in to go to Sank Johann Im Pongau where the resort was. Rod meanwhile had got the Navman up and running, we had already programmed it in and off we went. About 40km later we pull up without too many grey hairs at Alpenland Sporthotel. Rod goes in while I try and relax a wee bit. Nervewracking this right hand driving.
Out he comes with a pretty girl in custom clothing and she says welcome to Austria. I was thinking, this is nice. She then tells us we have the wrong hotel. The right one is the same name but in a different area. She shows us where on a map and meanwhile I searched on Navman again. Found the right one and off we go. We had to go through the alps and it was an amazing trip. They are so majestic and breathtaking. The houses are all pretty chalets that have window boxes overflowing with flowers around the balconies and everything is so beautifully kept. We eventually arrived at the right hotel and got settled. Lovely room with excellent facilities. We went for a wander around and found the pool, the sunbeds, the gym, the restaurant, the tennis courts. We then wandered into the town and saw very neat and tidy streets with well displayed windows. There were even large glass display cabinets in the footpath that were full of displays from the shops. Obviously a safe town with very little trouble. It looks a fairly affluent area and being amongst the ski trails primarily is a winter town. We found a café and ordered dinner, deer stew with potato dumplings for Rod and Chicken for me. Lovely big meals. I also had a Kaiser beer which was very cold and very tasty. We went back to have a swim but Rod found he had forgotten his togs so that plan was changed. We went back to the room and sorted out the brochures ready to plan the week.
Out he comes with a pretty girl in custom clothing and she says welcome to Austria. I was thinking, this is nice. She then tells us we have the wrong hotel. The right one is the same name but in a different area. She shows us where on a map and meanwhile I searched on Navman again. Found the right one and off we go. We had to go through the alps and it was an amazing trip. They are so majestic and breathtaking. The houses are all pretty chalets that have window boxes overflowing with flowers around the balconies and everything is so beautifully kept. We eventually arrived at the right hotel and got settled. Lovely room with excellent facilities. We went for a wander around and found the pool, the sunbeds, the gym, the restaurant, the tennis courts. We then wandered into the town and saw very neat and tidy streets with well displayed windows. There were even large glass display cabinets in the footpath that were full of displays from the shops. Obviously a safe town with very little trouble. It looks a fairly affluent area and being amongst the ski trails primarily is a winter town. We found a café and ordered dinner, deer stew with potato dumplings for Rod and Chicken for me. Lovely big meals. I also had a Kaiser beer which was very cold and very tasty. We went back to have a swim but Rod found he had forgotten his togs so that plan was changed. We went back to the room and sorted out the brochures ready to plan the week. 
No comments:
Post a Comment