Schladming

We just returned from a fabulous ski weekend in Schladming, a village in the Austrian Alps about an hour away from Salzburg. Schladming is perfectly situated at the base of four mountains with lifts to any of the mountains easily accessible from town. Brent skied the mountain called Planai. The village itself is small and quiet, but still has it’s own brewery (brewing up a fine lager known as Schladminger).

While Brent was shredding the gnar, Katie hung out at Uncle Willy’s Hut, a cozy restaurant on the mountain. Austrian cuisine agreed with us and we enjoyed many a fine dish at “Onkel” Willy’s…chicken wings, apple strudel, nudelsuppe (a delicious noodle soup reminiscent of Campbell’s chicken noodle but with beef bits), Selchfleisch (meat served with saurkraut and dumplings), and kaiserschmarr’n (pancake pieces dusted with powdered sugar and served with plum sauce). The weather made for ideal après-ski conditions, allowing us to soak up sunshine and panoramic views outside on the terrace. Somehow, Brent even managed a few runs between lunch and après-ski.

Some thoughts about Austria…

-One thing that surprised us was that people are still allowed to smoke inside bars and restaurants – something we’re definitely not used to these days.

-Any respectable establishment has a menu of fruity schnapps to try. We liked to preface our order by stating in our best Jim Carey voice, “somebody schnapp me.”

-We didn’t know any German but were glad we could quote a few movies…Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for one: “Danke Schoen darling Danke Schoen.” Turns out “danke schoen” means thank you very much in German. Who knew? Then there was The Sound of Music: “So long, farewell auf weidersehen, goodbye.” It worked out great to have these little gems in our back pocket.

-Riddle me this…how is it that Europeans drink next to no water? We can’t get over this every time we’re in Europe.

For more pictures, check out our Schladming photo album dated 14th March 2011