Innsbruck and Salzburg Austria 1989

Last weekend I was watching the downhill from Kitzbuehl Austria where the skiers are all hitting speeds of 120kms an hour in some parts , and one reason I enjoy watching this , aside from the race itself , is I just loved Austria when I was there.

In fact I will even go as far as this and say there are only a few countries that I would choose to live in and Austria is one of them. Because of the scenery , the slower pace of life there , or the even for the coffee houses where you would order a strudel were different as they had big long tables with benches and in order to sit down anywhere you always had to share a table with someone. This created a great opportunity to meet others.

The first time I was in Europe in 1977 buzzing around in our Renault 5 with my friend , Innsbruck was the city we stayed at the longest out of all the other cities and towns we visited.

We were at this camp site for a week situated right beside the Inn River and what a blast we had seeing the city and sights. The one thing that sticks out in my mind during that visit was getting right beside the 90M Ski Jump platform at the Winter Olympic site. The 1976 Winter Olympics were just held the year before in Innsbruck so the memory was still very fresh in our minds.

Then fast forward 11 years later while I was working in Switzerland this time and another trip to Innsbruck saw me enjoying some white water rafting on the very same Inn River. A side trip to Salzburg on another occasion I was staying at a small bed and breakfast about 1/2 block away from Mozart's birthplace. So cool cause I love classical music and Mozart.

The architecture is beautiful with very much of it still in good shape from way back. Churches were unbelievable. I remember just down the street from where I was staying in Salzburg it turned into an open square with a colossal church and walking through it just gave me a very peaceful feeling.

Such history , grandeur , and tradition all wrapped up when you go to Austria. I would love to go back but go further and visit Vienna. From pictures and footage I have seen Vienna must be really something.

Ah yes , when the kids get a little bit older.............