Welcome to Austria!

Bad Gastein. The place we never planned to visit until we found a postcard peeping up from the desk of a hostel en route, is the highlight of the trip. It's like a picture postcard; every stereotype of Austria rings true - the beautiful Alps, the Austrian wooden houses, the authentic Austrian dress code with hats and socks, lush fields to hike through, and goats.

And Phil and I chucked ourselves off the Alps.

I want to set the scene, but I just can't hold this back. The day after arrival we found yet another 'magic flyer' in our hostel and gave a man a call about giving us a hit of adrenaline.  That man, Louis, happens to be the current world record holder for long distance paragliding. A bus ride through idyllic countryside later we found ourselves shaking him by the hand at the foot of the mountains and boarding our first ever ski lifts. To go up a mountain in a box was a new experience itself but nothing compared to being at the peak of the Alps, without snow shoes, staring into the abyss, carrying the flimsy plastic sheeting we were going to use to keep us airborne when we ran off the snow peaked caps.
We went one at a time, and so I could film him for part of his birthday present, Phil went first. Take off happens all too quickly, but the flight itself takes about 40 minutes. With re-packing the equipment and hopping back on to a ski lift, our instructor left me up at the pinnacle of the Alps, in the glorious sunshine for over an hour. it was the most remarkable hour of my life...note this, I was happy to sit in silence and enjoy.
Before I knew it Louis was back, I was strapped to him, he was counting down 3,2,1 and we ran off the mountain together. And here began the most incredible armchair in the sky that I will ever experience, swooping past frozen lakes, trees, and mountain peaks, staring down on skiers the size of ants. We were 2000m up.
Its not an exhilerting extreme sport, nothing on skydiving (with its freefall) or bungee jumping (with the ground being oh-so-close) but when Louis finally stopped taking calls on his mobile (yes I do mean that, he got signal up there), I asked him to ratch it up a notch and a few dives and twists and turns that make even the best rollercoaster look tame later brought a white to the knuckles and smile to my face. A gentle landing followed and Phil and I appeared, two happy Easter bunnies.

We spent everything we had on us enjoying that experience. Why not? So we were delighted for the warm weather which greeted the start of a 2 hour hike by the side of the main road, laden with backpacks through the Austrian fields to the next train station. We entertained ourselves with the 'theme songs' from the Sound of Music and a quaint detour to meet a set of friendly goats on a nearby farm... As the Billies were only too happy to try to climb over the fence to greet us, the farmer wasn't best pleased to see us cooing and clucking at them when he peeped around the corner, us both with cameras in hand (tourists :-)).

Our reward for the exertions was Strudel from the local bakery in the heart of the town. Warm and with lashings of custard it was amazing.. Combine that with the Schnitzel we had and the tankards of beer at the 'end of season' party the night before in our hostel (which saw the barmen necking Sambuccas and Jagers for fun) and we can safely say we ate and drank like kings.

Bad Gastein is amazing. The tourists know how to party, and the locals know how to host. Its not somehwere well known outside of snowsports circles, and yet it really is a slice of heaven. The Alps are my new favourite place, and I guarantee I shall pop by to say hi again...