Doug and Kerry Hudson in Austria

We drove across the border from Germany into Austria. As our tent seriously needed to dry out before it would be habitable again, we stayed in a guest house in the quiet village of Matrei to the south of Innsbruck. We were right in the heart of the Tirol region. Everything we saw in Austria reminded us of "Heidi": Exquisite meadows with lush grass and wild flowers up to your knees, little alpine chalet-houses perched on hillsides and of course the wonderful mountains!

On or first night we ate at a local restaurant in the village, complete with local people. It was really funny, because everyone was extremely drunk on the local ale! We enjoyed a delicious meal of a local speciality called Matreierschnitzel.

Feeling rested the following morning, we struck out to explore Innsbruck. We have to tell you about the Cathedral of St. Jakob in Innsbruck. On the outside it was very uninspiring, quite a plain baroque building. However, when we went inside, our jaws literally dropped! It was decorated most exquisitely with paintings and gilded sculptures. The pulpit was particularly astonishing. It looked as if it was made from solid gold, and it had golden cherubs all over it.

From the Cathedral we walked to the Royal Gardens and strolled through this beautiful and tranquil sanctuary from the bustling "old town", which was packed with tourists. We were soon lured away however: Kerry was getting hungry! We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the narrow old streets, thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere of this old city nestled in the Alps.

When we returned to the village, we discovered that a wedding was going on at the local church. Outside the church a brass band, an honour guard complete with rifles, and flower maidens were assembled, all in traditional Austrian dress. There was also a contingent of firemen, probably the groom's colleagues. When the happy couple emerged from the church, there was a 21 gun salute. This took Kerry completely by surprise. In fact, she nearly jumped out of her skin! Then the band struck up a merry tune. It was all really festive, and we felt privileged to witness this happy occasion (albeit from a safe and respectable distance).

Whilst in Germany and Austria, Doug had had to wheel out his GCSE German and dust it off. We had really struggled at first, but just as we were about to leave, Doug was finally making himself understood. With regret we left our friendly little guesthouse in the Austrian village Matrei, and headed south for Italy. The bad news was that Doug had not studied Italian at school, so we were expecting to struggle with the language even more. Oh, if only we had known what a struggle it would be!

World Trip >> Europe >> Austria

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006