We came to Zell am See on a whim and found mountain paradise. Having never heard of this lakeside Austrian town, the initial magical trainride deep into mountains blooming with Christmas trees, hidden castles & crumbling stone bridges over aweinspiring gorges was an adventure in itself. A personal pick-up at the station by our friendly Irish B&B hosts began 3 days of luxury. A room all to ourselves (devoid of snoring, drunk travellers), fluffy white doonas and free buffet breakfast. The afternoon of our arrival saw us accidentally hiking to the peak of Schmitten hohe, our 2000m high neighbour, after planning [View Full Entry]

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In the morning there was an optional tour to go to the Schonnbrunn Palace, mum didn't go but I did. We were the first group in again! Luigi always drags us out of bed early so we can be the first ones at these places and it is definitely worth it. We had a local guide again, the first male guide, his name was Gerard. He told us how the Schonbrunn is now a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site. When it was built the architects wanted to copy or recreate the look of Versailles and it is obviously similar but not as [View Full Entry]

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coming soon [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend, I made a trip up to Baden to visit my host family and to begin my moving process for the year to come. I took an overnight train without a bed reservation... so I got the glorious opportunity to experience an 8+ hour train ride, cuddling with some perfect strangers on awkward "pull-down" seats that turn the compartment into one queen-sized bed for all to share. Despite the sleepless night, however, I had a WONDERFUL time in Baden. Karin and Gerald greeted me at the train tracks and escorted me to their teeny little ladybug car. Somehow all of [View Full Entry]

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Today was another big travelling day. Left early, walked to the wharf and caught the boat to the mainland where we go ton the coach. The drive to Vienna was really pretty, we went through the Carnic Alps and saw the Austrian Lake District. We arrived in Vienna in the afternoon, mum and I had the rest of the day free because we didn't do the optional dinner. We spent some time checking out the hotel then we went out for a walk. We walked in the direction of the city centre. We walked for about an hour, all the time [View Full Entry]

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Hi guys! Kate here. Well mom, it finally happened. Your doting daughter left something behind at a hostel...her glasses. Not sun, regular. Hah. I realized it this morning and panicked for awhile before calling the hostel. The guy at the hostel said they hadnt been turned in but he would look in the room we stayed in and let me know in awhile. When I called back he said he had good news, he found them in their case with the blue cleaning cloth. Bad news, I thought, I didnt have them in a case, I thought I just left them [View Full Entry]

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The last time we talked, Robert and I were getting on a train to Salzburg, Mozart country. I have to say that as much as I have disliked the night trains, I have loved the day trains. You get to see a huge amount of the countryside and they serve wine to boot. Once we arrived in Salzburg at about 8 at night. we tried to find the hotel but no one seemed to know where it was, even though it is on the main street. Once there, we collapsed and stayed in our beds until 10 knowing that tonight, ,we [View Full Entry]

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Hellloooo. Does anyone still read this? Haha, I know you do....I can see the page views. Anyways, today we went to Neuwichtenstein Castle...we lucked out actually because we were supposed to go yesterday but I thought Ian had my train pass on him and he didnt so we found out last minute as we were sitting on the train that we had to quickly get off. However, it was pouring rain yesterday and just happened to clear up for today! Yay! It was about a 30 minute hike uphill to the castle and my knee was hurting a bit so that [View Full Entry]

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Ajoin Darmstadtista yhtä kyytiä Itävallan rajalle Füsseniin. Seuraavana aamuna suuntasin Alpeille. Mutkateitä, raikasta vuoristoilmaa, lumisia huippuja. Lehmiä laiduntamassa 2000 metrissä. Illaksi Insbruckiin. [View Full Entry]

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Ok so I’m on the train back right now and decided that a recap of this amazing turn of events was in order. I mean the past twenty four hours have been absolutely amazing and only took up one day of travel on my euro rail pass. ha ha. So I won’t be able to publish this until I get back to my room tomorrow but here is the story of what it takes to get to Vienna and back in one day. The trip all started on Thursday night when Toni, Laki, Chris Shutte, Josh Stutte, and Aaron king and [View Full Entry]

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