Bad Gastein

Last weekend, the whole group took an excursion to a small town in Austria called Bad Gastein. It was a really great trip.  The first night, we just arrived at our hotel and had a private dinner.  The food was probably the best food I had had on the trip up to that point.  The main course was chicken, rice, and potatoes.  The rooms were also very nice.

Euro Youth Hotel - For Young and the Young at Heart

My room

The agenda for Day 2 included a city tour in the morning and archery in the afternoon.  One of the first stops on the tour had a ledge with a very nice view of the city.

Then we stopped at this nice waterfall.

Then we stopped at a fountain/natural spring area and learned about the town's history with Radon therapy.  Bad Gastein is famous for being a health resort.  Marie Curie helped to discover the Radon and did some work there.  One interesting statement came up when we went inside a very small "cave" to the spring.  There was a tiny, dark pool of water in the concrete, and someone accidentally set their backpack in the water.  The tour guide then said, "Oh don't worry, it's just radioactive," in an incredibly nonchalant voice.  Hmm. That's usually something people are told to avoid.  Oh well.

The cold fountain

The small "cave"

Running water below the glass and a pool of radioactive water

After the tour was over, we took a little hike and followed the river.

After grabbing Döner for lunch, it was time for archery!! We all headed up to the archery place and got fitted with arm protection, bows, and arrows.  Then we split into 3 groups and headed into the forest to start the course.  There was a path through the forest, and along the path, there were fake animals that we had to shoot.  There were 16 sites total.  Each person got 3 tries to hit the animal, and you got more points for hitting in the "kill zone." It was a really cool experience.

Getting ready for archery

After releasing my arrow

See the owl with all the arrows in it? We killed it!

It was very hot after archery was over, and we really wanted to find a lake.  A group of us took a taxi to this really fun lake in the middle of the mountains.  The afternoon at the lake was one of the most fun afternoons I've had here.  There was a little pier with a high diving board and a low diving board. Claire and I swam across the lake!  People were throwing each other in the water.  The water was perfect.

After a long day, we had a barbecue back at the hotel.  That food was also amazing.  I had chicken and a baked potato. After dinner, we sat outside and hung out for a few hours for a relaxing evening.

Our train left at 10 the next morning, so since we didn't get to do much hiking the day before, a few of us took an early, short hike.  The trail was very steep!  It was pretty foggy, but there was a nice view of Bad Gastein from the top.

After that, it was time to take the train back to Salzburg for the afternoon.