August 11, 2022
A Rest Day in Bad Hofgastein (Aug. 11, 2022)
So, this should be a short entry, first because we had a pretty quiet non-eventful rest day and second, because I am writing this in a hotel where the internet keeps dropping off and I am writing in fear I will lose the entry if I dawdle.
We were cooked after our ride into Bad Hofgastein yesterday evening so we ate in the hotel and slept like rocks. Staff shortages are very clear. The restaurant was only half full but there was a pretty significant conversation about whether they had “room” for us at dinner. In Austria the hotels do this thing where they give you a table for the duration of your stay and you eat all meals at the same table.
We spent a leisurely morning doing our journal and emails and then roused ourselves enough to go for a walk and explore the town. It’s a cute ski town, pleasantly busy but not overwhelmed. It has a large thermal pool — an Austrian thing - but not really our speed. Dave had planned to take the gondola up to the top of the mountain to do some photography but left too late so he wound up walking around and taking pictures in town. The mountains surrounding us are amazing.
After my previous email maligning Austrian cuisine we had another superior contemporary meal last night at Restaurant Aurum so that’s 2 out of 3 really nice interesting modern dinners we have had in Austria lately. I have to eat my words - not for the first - or last - time.
And, in the interest of being fair, breakfasts are quite good here. It’s always a buffet but with a lot of fresh breads, meats, cheeses, granola, yogurt, fruit etc. In the nicer places they offer to prepare eggs to your preference, or an omelette, which is great. And of course the buffet lends itself to purloining a bun along with meat and cheese for lunch. And Europeans just have a charming politeness as they delicately put stuff on their plate which Americans do not have. I have a really bad memory of a time when I stayed at an Embassy Suites in Hawaii with a breakfast buffet. The way the hotel guests were piling waffles and chocolate sauce directly onto their trays left an indelible, negative mark about buffets in general on my brain. The Austrian experience has revived my positive view. Even the kids are polite.
So, tomorrow we have a big cycling day and we are excited.
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