Tuesday 29 January 2002. It's a new day and it's a sunny day! Jock and George have the coach all nicely warm as we set off for a first stop in Zell-am-See, where we spent a wonderful and memorable week two years previously in 2000.
That had been a summer holiday and the only snow we saw was high in the mountains. This time around there is absolutely no chance of getting up to the glacier at Grossglockner without a snowmobile. But today at least there is snow a-plenty for us to ooh and aah at.
There's a bit of mist but it lies in a layer of cloud, sometimes above and sometimes below us. Now, this is the sort of scenery we were hoping for from this holiday!
I recognise that burnt bacon! We're in Zell-am-See with some time off the coach to explore, but it's a little colder than the last time we were here! In the summer there had been plenty of these stands selling smoked joints of bacon outside the shops in town. There had also been stands with sunglasses, yodelling teddy bears, Tyrolean mountain cow bells and all sorts of souvenirs. Today there are deserted streets and snow and ice... Lots of ice...
In fact the entire lake is a vast sheet of ice! People were swimming in this lake the last time we were here. Now there are adverts posted saying you could take horse-drawn sleigh rides across the lake! If so the horses had refused to come out, pointing to the stable thermometer and complaining it was too cold.
Steve and the lads were playing cricket on the lake with lumps of ice. We ventured out a little way but in the same way I've never been for strapping planks to my feet on snow, I'm not one for strapping thin bits of metal on either and trying to balance on ice. We had hiking boots on and they weren't helping us to stay upright too much...
We moved back into the rather tenuous shelter of town. A few ice sculptures were cordoned off in the square, though they looked a bit in progress rather than finished works.
We bought a bread board that had a designed burned into it. We still use it some 21 years later. The design has worn faint and the board certainly has a few gouges in it but it is still serviceable and better than chopping up the work surfaces in the kitchen!
There's another wall of cuckoo clocks, all ticking away merrily. They stay there, on the wall. Let someone else buy one...
Then it's back to the coach and we set off towards Kitzbühel. Here the road has climbed above the mist which hangs below us in the valley like a fluffy carpet. Ooh... coming over all poetic there for a moment...
We are starting to see a few ski lifts and ski runs as we pass. We are getting higher up. Then we start to drop again as we approach Kitzbühel. The road straightens out and we come to the buildings of the outskirts of the town. The coach stops. Out we get. To be continued...
