Day 14: Hopfgarten
The food here is AWESOME! Bacon and eggs and
hashbrowns and lamb and snitzel for breakkie and dinner. Boy
did we need it too! Today we started off with a 25 kilometer
bike ride through the scenic mountains of Austria. The first
half had us all crying, but we saw beautiful waterfalls and
drank from the cleanest, coldest natural spring. We stopped
for lunch at a house along the way, and had sausage and a baked
potatoe before we coasted home on our mountain bikes. We got
back at around 1:15, and immediately jumped on the shuttle for
parapenting. Only eight of us went, but it was so much fun!
The drive there made us all sick, but once there, we all brightened
up quickly. We met our jump buddies (mine was Tom) and took
the ski lift to the top to get ready. No worries at all, Tom
had 14 years experience, and did up to 8 jumps a day, and the
setup was relatively simple. Parapenting (just a different name
for paragliding), is when you lay out your parachute, and run
and jump off a cliff and sail down below. Not much to it. Scary
moment though when Danny's jump buddy got tangled in someone
else's parachute lines, almost tripped and fell as he was running,
but he recovered and took off ok. I had Tom put away my camera
cause I didn't want to lose it, good thing too... Danny lost
his mid flight. (Should have brought one
of those disposables that I bought, hindsight's always 20/20
eh?). With a simple "Ready?" and nod, we were
up and flying. It was a rollercoaster ride, only without the
jerkiness and rails. We did turns, spins, and just floated in
the cool mountain air. Too bad it only lasted 15 minutes...
I wish my office had a view like Tom's. Everything was so serene,
no responsibilities and absolutely nothing to worry about! Too
bad it only lasted for 15 minutes. Getting down from the flight,
I had to pay 15 euros for the roll of film that Tom had taken
during the flight, too bad all the pictures turned out to be
crappy, there were just too many straps in the way. After everyone
came down from their flight, we drove back to the Gastof and
found out that most of those who hadn’t come parapenting had
walked into town. Not having our room key, Danny and I rode
into town, bumping into Stace and Kate as they were walking
back… I told you things always work out
as you want them to on vacation =) Saying hi, and then
bye (they were tired and wanted to get back), Danny and I went
on to get some medicine (Stace was sick and couldn’t find the
apothecary/pharmacy) and snacks in town. All of the markets
were super cheap, and so we loaded up on all of the essentials,
mainly cookies and candy. Grabbing some ice cream, we rode back
to see if Andy had come back with our room key.
Tonight was another party night, with “beach” being the theme.
Of course everyone showed up in their board shorts and thongs,
sunblock too. Lots of beer, vanilla and chocolate shots, dancing,
and Stace, all the way up to 2 in the morning… makes waking
up so impossible. Hopfgarten was exactly what we all needed.
No more dirty cities, just nice clean mountain air, good food,
and plenty of fun.
Day 14 Photos
