A glimpse of heaven... Part 1

Shortly after I moved into my new place, M and I were randomly talking one night and we were on the topic of travelling. Liandi has been raving to me (and pretty much everyone!) about this out-of-this-world place in the Austrian Alps and out of abruptness, I suggested why not we both do a weekend trip together in October as a birthday treat for myself. (Yes endless birthday treats.. I love myself a lot you see haha!) We hurriedly booked everything and before we knew it, 2 months later, it was finally here! wheeeee!

This is supposedly to be a chilled out relaxing spa trip (hurray to spa trips!) and because it's in the mountains, we had to fly in to Salzburg and take a train 1h30min to reach the quaint little village Bad Gastein. (Don't be fooled by the name, but as I found out, "Bad" in German means spa, and Gastein means guest.) M was a great travelling companion and especially so because throughout the whole trip, she was my German interpreter haha... people there do speak English, but a lot of times, it's better to converse with them in their native language.. also the menu and signs in the hotel were all in German.

This has been an amazing blessed summer for me because all my trips were already out of this world (Slovenia, Sardinia, Croatia which I have yet to blog about I know.. soon soon I promise). Hence for this last summer trip (I call it summer altho the temperatures in the mountains were like 2-5deg when we were there), I am running out of words to describe this unforgettable trip. I think I shall call it HEAVENLY. It was seriously, a glimpse of heaven. Liandi and Joel told us that they never thought such a beautiful place could exist on earth. We totally concur, but that is also because the amazing amazing AMAZING spa hotel which we stayed in made a HUGE difference. The little town centre of Bad Gastein is nice, but there is nothing much to see. However, because it is in the mountains, there are many hiking/trekking trails which you could do in the summer. (In the summer if you want a little picnic in the mountains, the hotel can actually pack a picnic basket for you- how cool is that!) In the winter, people go there for their ski holiday so it is the peak season. Being in October, it's low season as you can't do much hiking, and you can't ski. The best way is to just chill in the hotel, which we did. :)

This was Bel's 3rd time in Salzburg, and I still love it so much. Home of the movie Sound of Music, I spotted this cow in the city centre and I had to take a picture with it. I asked M if she has watched the movie Sound of Music and to my surprise, she said No. Followed by "I grew up in communism!!" hahaha that's right, it just slipped my mind.. nevermind, I told her I will play her the movie after our trip so she can sing along with me next time... The hills are aliveeee..."

So then we took the train into the mountains, greatly looking forward to what is awaiting us. Amazing views..

...and finally we made it.

When we reached the hotel, it was so beautiful and stylish and tastefully done, we fell in love with it immediately. Like immediately. Don't even have to show us our room- we know it is gonna be good.

The lobby

View from the lobby

We were welcomed by our names, and also with a glass of sparkling wine each.. wooooh, we like. Then we were brought around the hotel which we were gasping with delight. This was a full board package so all meals were provided for. And every meal is a buffet spread of healthy food.

Entrance to the dining hall

My fav pic of the day.. meal with a view. This is the restaurant terrace. How beautiful to use sheepskin as cushion for the chairs.

And then there was our room. We had requested for a room on a high floor with a valley view, a little extravagance I know... might as well, since THIS is the main reason we came to Bad Gastein. When we went in, we barely could contain our excitement. You know that kind of sheer surprise and joy and excitement all rolled into one? When the lady left the room and closed the door behind her, we were squealing with joy and hugging each other like we won the lottery. And no, I am not exaggerating.

A shot of the hotel, see the corner room above the restaurant terrace.. yup that's our room!

Our room with sunlight streaming in.

Our terrace with valley view

*excitedness*

of course you need a view of the mountains when you take a shower

The first day was brilliant sunshine and from the hotel, we saw a good view of the valley below us, and into the horizon where there are more mountains. We took a short walk into the town centre just before it got dark at 5pm.