Leaving Austria, back to Germany

The last month has gone by so fast. After we left Prague, we went to...

Cesky Krumlov, which is a small village about 3 hrs south/west of Prague in the Czech Republic. It was so beautiful, and definitely one of our favorite places. Everything, including the huge castle was covered in snow and gave the village such a magestic feel. A river ran through the town, which in the summer people float all day long. In the winter, there are small ponds that freeze over and people go ice skating, and if you make the hike up to the Montessori, you can go sleding, which was fun, but slightly overrated because it took you so long to hike up, then so quick to sled down. After going to so many major cities, one after the other Cesky Krumlov was incredibly refreshing and just what we needed. We relaxed a lot, and enjoyed the hand-made wood cabin hostel we stayed in. The hostel was, Krumlov House, which I would definately recommend, it is small, and has great people, and is really connected with the community. All in all, A rating for me.

After Cesky Krumlov, we went to Olomoucs, which is about 1 hr and a half east of Prague in the Czech Republic. Locals, call this place Prague without tourists. Here, we finally got to go to a futbol match!!! It was Prague vs. Olomoucs (they are BIG time rivals). The actual play was horribe, Chris would be an all star for either team if he was out there, but the fans were insain! The Prague fans, which were seperated by a plexi-glass wall from the rest of the fans, were crazy! They were so much more loud and routy then all the Olomoucs fans together, even though their section was only a 1/6th of the whole statium. They lit flares and held them up high, which covered the field in smoke. Can you imagine someone trying to do that in the US? They would get kicked out immediately! If the Prague fans started acting to violent the Olomoucs security would spray fire extinguishers at them. It was pretty crazy, and eventually, the Prague fans helped Prague to win one zero, due to the fact that all the flares and "fireworks" they lit off in the stands, covered the field with a thick smoke cloud, allowing Prague to attack a goal that was virtually invisble, making it impossible to defend, or for the goalie to see where the ball was. All in all, Olomoucs, a nice place, but nothing worth going back to in the winter. We stayed at The Poets Corner hostel, which was cozy, but lonely. They had nice staff, a kitchen, and hot showers, so I'm not complaining at all.

After Olomoucs, we went to Vienna, Austria. Vienna...well, I think its better that I am writing this than Chris, because all I am going to say is that I don't think we really got to take advantage of what Vienna had to offer. (Chris will tell you he hated it) EVERYONE smokes, and by smokes I mean is a chain smoker. That by itself isn't necessarily a problem but in Vienna you are allowed to smoke ANYWHERE. We couldn't go to a cafe, because we would get smoked out, we couldn't go to a bar, because we would be suffocated with smoke and it would seep into all our clothes, making them smell horrible, and going out to dinner, out of question, unless you wanted to go to McDonald's, which was surprising smoke free. Couple the smoke with rain, and we didn't do or see much in Vienna, better luck next time I guess... One good thing to note though, was our hostel, Hostel Ruthenstiener. Amazing, big with a cozy feel, modern, yet comfortable, with a kitchen, bar, all the good stuff, and NON SMOKING! Definitely would recommend.

From Vienna we went to Salzburg. I loved this town. Chris thought it was too touristy, but I thought it was beautiful. The Danube (major river going through Middle/Eastern Europe) flowed right through the city, dividing it into two sections. It was clean, visibly beautiful, and home to Mozart. However, downfall, it was pretty expensive. It was very sunny one day and we hiked up the old castle to overlook the entire city, which was absolutely amazing. We also went on a run and ended up going through this forest that led to STUNNING views of the Austrian Alps. It was so clear, so close and soo massive...absolutely beautiful. Not much of a night life, however, we didn't really try to go out because everyone smokes in Austria, and we had already given up on trying to go out when we were in Vienna. Only downer, would be our hostel. YoHo International Youth Hostel, the rooms were nice and clean, newly renovated, but there mentality was slightly, uhm...lets just say not for me. First of all, you can smoke in the lobby and bar...which sucks. Second, they dont have male or female bathrooms, they are mixed, which is just wierd. They have mixed showers too, but luckily, they at least also has just male and just female showers. They wont let you eat or drink anything that isn't from there bar, and they didn't have a kitchen...boo YOHO, you suck.

From Salzburg, we went to Bad Gastein, Austria. AMAZING!!!!!!!! Just the train ride was worth the trip. The entire train ride we were traveling through the alps, seeping underneith them and going through them at times. The sun was shining, and it was so beautiful. Once we got there, we couldn't hide our excitment. We stayed at Euro Youth Hotel, which is literally, just accross the street from the bottom of the slopes, our hotel was closer to the slopes then the rental place was! Skiing is incredibly cheap, we were able to rent for 14.50 euro (which we didn't do because we thought we found a better deal somewhere else, but it wasn't, but the point is, you can rent, board and boots from 14.50 euro a day, and it gets cheaper each day) The lift ticket, was 39 euro and the mountains, yes the Austrian Alps, were so worth it. It was truly amazing, with tons of runs, and lifts, the US is FAR behind Europe with ski technology and runs. The amount od runs and lifts are comparable with Whistler BC Chris would argue. It was fabulous skiing. We only went for one day. The other two days, we enjoyed the very beautiful city, which is sorrounded by mountains on all sides and a massively beautiful waterfall in the middle which is jaw dropping. We also went tobagganing on a real course which was great. You think these are reasons enough to come here, but just wait, Bad Gastein is also home to hot springs, and has thermal spas everywhere. Even closer to our hostel was a thermal bathe. In all actuality, it sounds better than it is. The pools were about 90 degrees, which isn't very hot to sit in for more than 15 minutes, and its quite expensive, if we weren't on a budget, I'd probably recommend trying it, but for 14.5 euros for 3 hrs (which was the discounted price), its really wasn't worth sitting in some luke warm pools.....Our hostel was great, and CHEAP, only 15 euro a night, and free breakfast. I'm sad to leave Bad Gastein, but we are...today...and we are going to Saarbrucken, Germany to visit my friend Dani Bridges, (yay for being able to see a familiar face while you are have way around the world).

We are having so much fun, and meeting so many great people. Generally, we are able to stay within budget and even our setbacks, like losing both our atm cards, haven't been able to slow us down. This experience is truly amazing and we are so lucky to get to experience all of this together. We miss you all back home, and love to hear how everyone is doing, we are trying to keep up with the news as much as possible, and I'm reading Obama's, The Audacity of Hope, which is a dense read, but I think it is important to read. LOVE YOU ALL LOTS!!!!

Jas and Chris

PS. Its probably hard to tell in pics but something is a bit different...can you tell?