Gruenau, Austria - August 1999

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Where the hell is Gruenau?




Since this is the first article I am writing for you all, let me introduce myself. My name is Heidi (Stackhouse) Bammer and I am an American living in Austria. I origianally came over to Europe to finish my last year of university in Salzburg and as luck would have it, I went skiing, met a nice Austrian, got pregnant, got married, got pregnant again, & bought a hostel.

This is a very abbreviated version of my story, but it gives you an idea why I'm still here. I love it.

My husband Gerhard and I were working together in a hostel in Salzburg

called the YoHo. After having the children, we decided we wanted them to grow up in the country. We didn't like the idea of walking our children to the nearest playground just so they could play outside.

After a lot of searching we ended up buying an older pension in his home town in Upper Austria. He's from a LITTLE town called Gruenau im Almtal (pop. 2000) We loved what we did in Salzburg and decided to continue the YoHo traditions in Gruenau. We call our place the TreeHouse Backpacker Hotel.

Out of all of Austria, why Gruenau?




The TreeHouse is just a 5 minute walk to the ski lift. Our mountain is called the Kasberg has over 40km of runs and, best of all, it's cheap! Only 250AS for a day pass (about US$25.00) and the ski/snow board hire is 100AS (US$10.00) per day.

We found most of our backpackers in Salzburg were looking for a

cheap place to ski and a nice place they could afford to stay. The question was...How do we get through the summer months? Adventure tours was our answer. We started organizing canyoning and rafting through some friends of ours.

The funny thing is, most of our backpackers get here and they are exhausted. They are tired of the ABC's of Europe (Another Bloody Church, Another Bloody Castle). They are perfectly happy to sleep in, eat well, relax and enjoy the outdoors at a slower pace and perhaps have a few quiet ones in the bar downstairs.

So what's going on in Gruenau in August?


The biggest thing happening in August is the Total Eclipse. Gruenau is exactly under the path of the eclipse. We are planning to go up on the mountain for the best view. A friend of ours is having a bit of a party at his guesthouse up there. The eclipse starts August 11th, around 12:15, and goes for over 2 hours. For some it could be a once in a life time experience (I actually saw one already when I was 8 years old and living in Seattle, it was cool!).

Where?


Gruenau (map) is located in Upper Austria and is in the heart of the famous

Salzkammergut. Our lake is called the Almsee. We are about 100km NE of Salzburg & 20km SE of Gmunden and the Traunsee. Gruenau is hard to find on a map sometimes.

Language?


Austrians speak German, but the dialect here would be like listening to someone from Northern Scotland, or let's say Alabama, speak English. It's different.

Money?
In Austria we still use Schillings, but since we are now part of the EU we will be using the Euro.


1US$ = 13.5AS (the dollar is quite strong at the moment)

Geography


Austria is a land locked country bordered by Germany, Czech

Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Liechtenstein, Hungary and Switzerland.

The countryside is a mix of dark forests, lush green pastures, snow-capped mountains and crystal clear lakes and rivers.

Good Links


My Hostel


Austrian Tourism. Look for the button to change the text to English.


www.gruenau.at. Sorry, it's only in German.

Good Austrian Beers


Stiegl, Eggenberger, Gösser, Edelweiss Weissbier, Zipfer & Kaiser

Tasty Foods


Wienerschnitzel, Sweinebraten (Pork Roast), Forellen (fresh trout), Tafelspitz (Beef meat) & Gemusestrudel (Vegetable Strudel)

For Dessert:


Topfennocken (cream cheese dumplings served with mixed forest

berries) or the more famous Apfelstrudel (Apple Strudel).




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