Boxing Day in the Austrian Alps

On the 26th of December, we were picked up at our hotel by a bus bound for the Alps. It was beautiful... even for the unclimatized, like me. Unbelievably, it had started snowing on Christmas, so by the 26th, the sky was blue, but the peaks were covered with fresh powdery white. We headed out on the Autobahn and then up, up up. ON the way, we passed a fortress (name?) that can be seen in the background of the meadow scenes in "sound of Music".

We finally reached our destination, what seemed to be a popular destination for Austrian and German families. Behind this church is a gentle slope with a skii lift which doesn't lift, but drags skiiers and tobogganers up the hill. Across from this church is a huge skii jump which was used in the World Cup events.

And after a little lunch of what else, roast pork (I had grilled trout) and potatoes, we headed to the horses. All of our bus loaded into sleighs which took us on a large loop of the area (the cross coutry skii route) with only a short stop for hot chocolate... beautiful. I only wish (that as it took the horses about 90 minutes to make the route) we had more than blankets to keep us warm on the back of the sleigh.