running off a cliff

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Another 3 nights have been and gone! Bad gastein was great!! It's a really small town but I filled my time by going out, and some time just hanging around in my room enjoying the space to myself!!
The town is very hilly because it's tucked in between some mountains high up and then goes all the way down to where the vally is. There is a big river/waterfall going right through the middle of town which was really cool. There's a hiking trail that follows the river all the way down to the valley, so i went down there. Then realized that it was down a long ways from the town. It was a greulling hike back up! hahah
There are also thermal springs and thermal baths everywhere you go! They even had a thermal fountian that had hot sprin water coming out of it.
day 2. it was gloriously sunny. and i know what you're thinking but i thought the exact same thing! what a perfect day for jumping off a mountain with a man and a parahute strapped onto you!! Taking the bus 2 towns over, I met up with 'klaus' who was my tandem paragliding guy.We took 2 gondolas up to the very top of this mountain. what.a.sight.
you could see the entire valley waaaay down below. And all along the top of this mountain were hiking trials, it would have been nice to go up there and just talk around. But we had a job to do....we were going down the fast way. The top of this mountain was 2035m high. Oh yes, i was only wearing little shoes, so they gave me these massive hiking boots (size 41 to be exact) and big green wool socks to wear. Along with a huge black fleece sweater. It was an incredibly sexy look. Especially with a big blue helmet!
3.....2......1...... run off the edge of the cliff and don't stop.
And we're floating. The weather was so perfect that we ended up going way higher up than the starting point!! It was SOOOO pretty. You maybe get a minute of anxiety thinking how high up you are and looking at the supports, but it helps to just forget about it and look around haha. Klaus started pulling out these moves like a downward spiral and another one that made you go up and down really fast. It was so much fun! Kinda like being on a carnival ride. Klaus was telling me he's has something like 7000 jumps in 21 years and he once stayed up in the sky for 10 hours!!!! I told him i hope he had a snack up there!! he replied that the bathroom was more of an issue than the food. hahaha
The whole time too he kept saying 'isn't it beautiful' and laughing going 'woo wooooo' 'YYEAAHHHHH aaaahaha'
he was AWESOME!
This company is also great because they take pictures and videos while you're up there and I've got a copy of them all on a disk. Too bad my computer doesn't have a cd drive because i'ts so tiny or i could put up all the photos. oh well, 1 week and you can all see the pictures in person!
To finish off the day, I went to the popular thermal bath. This place is just like a family swimming pool except it's all hot spring water, they have water falls, saunas, jets underneath loungers in the water. It was great! After being in the various pools and saunas for 2.5 hours, my skin was so soft! I want one at home!
It was strange that the sauna was strickly nudist. People love being naked over here! I don't know what it is. It's not like your bathers are uncomfortable! and in a sauna you don't have to worry about unsightly tan lines. To each their own. Anyways, they do allow you to go in with a towel so you can still enjoy the sauna all covered up. ohhhhh and the sauna was nice!! They air was infused with what smelled like menthol and camphor, really refreshing.
And that about sums up bad gastein. Not a lot to do, but it was great for just hanging out and enjoying the scenery.
On my was back to munich!! mmmm sausages and saurkaut!! gotta love bavaria!

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