Traveling: February 2011

Monday, 28 February 2011

Skiing

Hochficht and Zauchensee

Last weekend my dad and I went skiing to a nearby ski resort called Hochficht. Since Austria is one of the best skiing nations in the "FIS Alpine Ski Wolrd Cup", you can imagine that skiing is very popular over here and for me, skiing is one of my favorite hobbies.

Hochficht is a small ski resort, but still big enough to spend a whole day there. It was here where I learned to ski. The weather was fantastic and we had a wonderful time. Here are some impressions of today:

Hochficht

Zauchensee

Each year my family is on skiing vacation in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee. Usually we spend a week there, because Zauchensee is a wonderful ski resort in Salzburg. It's really large with slopes for every skill and features only modern ropeways, so you don't have to queue long.

Zauchensee

Austrian Alps

Saturday, 5 February 2011

Disneyland Paris 2010 - Part 1

Arriving At Disneyland

Wednesday - February 10th 2010

We started our journey to Disneyland Paris at 6:30am and we drove from Salzburg via Munich, Stuttgart and Strasbourg to Paris. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very nice, it snowed a lot in Germany. So after a long ten hours drive we arrived around 5pm at the Sequoia Lodge.

Sequoia Lodge

After staying three times in the Santa Fe Hotel, we decided to try the Sequoia Lodge which was really a very beautiful hotel, but our room was not. Although our room was (somewhat) clean, it was not as nice as the refurbished rooms at the Santa Fe we had during our previous trips. Maybe our expectations were just too high, but we really thought that the quality of the room would be better and maybe the other rooms in the hotel were better.

Our Room

Bathroom

The Sequoia Lodge offered a pool, but we didn’t try it, because it wasn’t open in the morning and in the evening when we returned from the parks, we were too tired. Instead we had some drinks at the Redwood Bar & Lounge.

After we checked in and dropped our luggage off in our room, we went to the Disney Village. We had a drink at the Sports Bar and afterwards we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We have only been once at a Rainforest Cafe in Chicago and it was okay then, but nothing special. However, we had a very pleasant experience that time. My girlfriend ordered a really tasty Stir-Fry over rice. I had the Veggie Burger, which was also very good.

Disney Village

Starbucks in Disney Village

Sports Bar

Rainforest Cafe in Disney Village

Stir Fry

Veggie Burger

Disney Village

After dinner we had another beer at the Sports Bar and then we went back to the hotel, where we had to check out the Redwood Bar & Lounge. We loved this bar, because it was such a cosy place with the open fire place. After a last beer we went to bed early, because we were tired.

Redwood Bar

Cocktail

Friday, 4 February 2011

Disneyland Paris 2010 - Part 2

Our First Day In The Parks

Thursday - February 11th 2010

After getting up we had breakfast at 7am. We chose the earliest breakfast time, because it was always quiet and relaxing before all the families with their little ones arrived. Breakfast was served in both restaurants, the Hunter’s Grill and the Beaver Creek Tavern. We are not big fans of the Nescafe Coffee and so we always we stopped at Starbucks to get a real cup of coffee.

Breakfast Buffet

Breakfast Room

Breakfast

After breakfast we headed to the park to make full use of the Extra Magic Hours. Our first ride was Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, followed by Space Mountain. Since there weren’t more attractions open we walked to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan's Flight and Mad Hatter's Tea Cups. Around 9am we left the Disneyland Park for Starbucks.

Disneyland Hotel

Main Street USA

Space Mountain

Dumbo

The Old Mill

Sleeping Beauty Castle

It's a Small World

After a cup of freshly brewed coffee we headed to the Studios, because we wanted to ride Crush’s Coaster. There we got in line and after some minutes a Cast Member told us that the ride wouldn’t open because of technical problems. So we decided to ride the Tower of Terror and the Rock’n’Roller Coaster instead. The Cast Members at the Tower of Terror were so great, they were so creepy.

Main Street USA

Coffee at Starbucks

Walt Disney Studios Park

We returned to Disneyland Park to make some restaurant reservations at the City Hall. Afterwards we rode it’s a small world. Later we decided to have an early lunch at the Hakuna Matata Restaurant, where we ordered Fries, the Vegetable Rice and a Green Salad.

Vegetable Rice

Fries

After lunch we strolled around Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, one of our favourite attractions, and Indiana Jones.

Adventureland

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril

In the afternoon we had a reservation at Agrabah Café. We have already eaten there in 2008 and so we knew what to expect. Agrabah Cafe was a buffet restaurant which offered oriental cuisine. The food was really good and we enjoyed our time there.

Agrabah Cafe

Before we left the park, we rode Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor and strolled through the shops. King Ludwig’s Castle still had the happy hour we discovered in 2008. We got two beers for the price of one. Many people had the same idea so it wasn’t always easy to get a table. For dinner we went to the Sports Bar. I had a Four Cheese Pizza and my girlfriend had Nachos with Salsa and French Fries.