{"id":7577,"date":"2014-01-17T06:52:01","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T06:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=7577"},"modified":"2017-05-10T18:45:43","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T18:45:43","slug":"ferdinands-house-austria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/ferdinands-house-austria\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferdinand’s House – Austria"},"content":{"rendered":"

We went to Austria last weekend, to find the snow (it still hasn’t arrived properly down here) and for a long over due catch up with friends staying in the area.<\/p>\n

Our home for the night was in Saalfelden<\/a> (on the edge of Berchtesgaden<\/a>), a gorgeous dorf of Heidi style dimensions… \u00a0 There seems to be nothing here but mountains, white (snow and cloud!), green (grass and trees!) and beautiful alpine buildings. \u00a0 \u00a0 And along with such glorious unspoilt vistas, comes something equally precious – silence. \u00a0 That rare kind of silence which makes you realise you might actually have tinnitus, broken only by the odd rumbling mooo from the resident dairy cattle on our farm. \u00a0 \u00a0 Did I mention we were staying on a farm<\/a>? Quite literally too – a huge part of the barn was below us (you would never have guessed, the accommodation was extremely comfortable – not that we saw altogether that much of it!), and shortly after meeting our new found furry friends, it was christened Ferdinand’s House<\/a> thanks to the infamous story of a peace loving Bull that’s a huge favourite amongst the smaller members of our family (in fact most bovines they meet now get called Ferdinand, regardless of gender!)…<\/p>\n

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Ferdinand and Family…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We spent a few minutes topping up vitamin D levels on the rather handsome alpine balcony, before it was time to make tracks to nearby Maria Alm<\/a> (which I loved by the way, it’s a really sweet little resort!) – but not before I vowed to myself to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning to catch the sunrise, with that scenery, it would seem rude not to….<\/p>\n

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Skis and boots hired for the Small people (I am not buying them when they are growing so quickly!), it was time to catch up with the friends from the UK – also here in search of the snow (incidentally, if you are about to embark on a family ski trip, you might appreciate a recent article I wrote for BritMums – you can read it here<\/a>!)… \u00a0 \u00a0This particular group might not hail from these parts, but they now how to enjoy every single aspect of this kind of holiday – which meant that getting up for the sunrise the next morning was not a particularly easy task… \u00a0But I managed, and having struggled with the blinds for a few minutes (armed with my camera for the dawn), I finally managed to open them to reveal the foggiest morning I have seen in a very long time (the photo below was taken a good few hours later!)…<\/p>\n

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Thankfully the cloud obliged and lifted a few hours later, so the more intrepid members of my family were rewarded with glorious sunshine in which to enjoy their favourite pastime of chucking themselves down mountains. \u00a0 And me? \u00a0 I got to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes, a chat with an old friend (who sadly couldn’t ski thanks to a broken wrist!) some caffeine imbibing, and a trip to the top (I’m fond of those<\/a>!) in a cable car for lunch…<\/p>\n

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And once all mountains had been conquered (and lessons for small people completed), the sledges came out, and the last drops of energy were burned up in the remaining daylight before the drive home (I will never get used to the fact that we are able to do that here!). \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

And I might have partaken in a spot of speed sledging myself, albeit accidentally – I trod on the corner of a flat plastic sledge helping the six year old halfway up a slope, and have the bruise to show for it… \u00a0 Until next time! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Scenic drive home\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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