Join us for a week in the beautiful Austrian Tyrol, taking in lakes, castles, mountains and the cities of Innsbruck, Kitzbühel and Salzburg.
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Sunday, 10 August 2003. It was our first full day in Austria for this trip and we are booked on an excursion to Lake Achensee and Tratzburg Castle.
Our coach is picking up from our sister hotel, the Schonnschein or "Sunshine" hotel. We were first meeting our holiday rep here before the trip, to take up or otherwise any optional outings.
There is only one day we don't fancy which would be our last day. I start to plan an outing for that day and then it's time to get on the coach for today's trip. We travel through some typical Tyrolean landscapes. Many of the buildings have large stores of wood for burning fuel over the winter. Some have sheds, others pile it around the house for added avalanche protection.
I thought at the time that we had been to Achensee before, during our 2000 trip. But that had been Königsee. So I didn't recognise anything particularly!
It was quite dull when we arrived but before long the sun came out, turning the lake a bright and beautiful turquoise colour and raising everyone's spirits.
We heard the deep note of a diesel engine and turned to see the arrival of the Nostalgia Bus. This was a regular service and although our schedule didn't allow us to go for a ride on it, it was worthy of a closer look.
The driver was in full traditional dress, complete with lederhosen, leather shorts.
Then it was back to our own bus for the trip to Tratzburg Castle. This was taken from our moving coach so is a little blurred. Unfortunately no photography is allowed inside.
Outside though was the mangled wreckage of a car. Maybe you had been wondering from a previous comment why the Austrians might need to stack wood against their buildings in case of avalanche? This is why. The damage to the car was caused by something slightly larger and weightier than a snowball...
We arrive back at Niederau following our tour and the coach driver is good enough to drop off the Schonnschein guests and then carry on up the hill to our hotel. The local pony club is setting off for a late afternoon ride.
