The walk to Bad HofGastein (the next town. The name is confusing, I know) took about 2.5 hours and I loved every minute of it. It ended up being very similar to an NZ bush-walk except much more... civilised? What I mean is, it was reasonably flat, and mostly paved. Old people can do it (with alpine walking sticks of course!) and they were all out in full force. It was fun and relaxing getting into the bush and passed lots of rivers and little waterfalls etc.
I also passed:
- 9 squirrels
- 30-something pairs of alpine walking sticks with backpacks to match (people take this 'hike' very seriously.)
- about 5 really really large slugs (1 squashed)
- 3 horse poops
- 3 baby-buggies
- 1 runner-lady with a long ponytail top-knot from the very tip of her head like Sporty Spice, complete with head band, sharkies, and lots of matching labelled lycra. I secretly wanted a man in pink spandex with a shaggy blonde mullet to come hooning round the next bend and complete the 80s picture. But he never did.
In Bad Hofgastein there are actual SHOPS that even sell more than mother-of-the-bride-hats and overpriced souvenirs! Never mind that they inexpicably close between 12 and 2.30pm (this is not South America people). There are also people under the age of 40 living there! Lots of them.
They have a big green park with a lake in it and i was extreeemly tempted to lie down on one of the benches in the sun and have a nap but 1) this is Europe and 2)I am not homeless. At this point.
I got some food in a cute konditorei (I guess a bakery that specialises in cakes and pastries and chocolate etc... don't worry. I was good) and had a wee wander around the place.
On my way back on the 2.5 hour walk home I ended up having to walk through these tunnels in the cliffs that go in behind the waterfalls. I got a bit scared at that point, partly because the tunnels were dark and scary, but mainly because this made me realise I was on the complete wrong path home.
The good thing about this area is that you can just point yourself in the direction of the mountain you recognise and head that way and you'll be fine. So it wasn't a problem.
Tonight Annamarie made Topfenknödeln for dessert which I'm quite excited about and its the main reason I'm even writing this, but don't spread that around because it's not like i'm OBSESSED with food here.
I asked her, like I always do, what they were called, and then I had to ask 'but what IS it?' because I couldn't make heads or tails of it even after eating one.
Basically on my plate was a tennis-ball sized ball of something coated in a sugary crumble, prinled with icing sugar and perched on a puddle of mashed raspberries. The something was soft like baked custard, springy like flummary, crumbly like american cheesecake, sweet like yoghurt and plain like sponge. I was so intrigued. It turned out the something is Topfen, and Topfen is Quark which the internet may tell you is cottage cheese but its not. It's smooth and creamy like cream cheese. They make a mixture of it into balls, cook it, and serve it as dessert.
I love food in the shape of balls. Everything in balls tastes better. Meatballs. Rumballs. Chokladbullar. Potato dumplings.
They have SO much food in the shape of balls here. Half of the menu called 'Knudel' (noodles) actually means giant tennis-ball sized dumpling. We don't have much in NZ at all.
I had to tell her 'Ich liebe das!' which got me the offer of more balls, which I nobely declined.
I'm trying to omit the part where I accepted cake to take to my room about 2 minutes later. But it seems I've come out with it.
