DAY 94 WEDNESDAY JUNE 27 FUSCHL AM SEE

THE MOUNTAIN

VIEW OF HOTEL FROM OUR WINDOW

At  9.15am we caught a 150 bus which took us through the mountains (over 700 metres) and dropped us right at the door of Bevan and Vanessa's Hotel (Mohrenwirt).  We poked our head in the doorway and realised this was the dining room,  not the reception, but we saw Bevan and Vanessa having breakfast right next to us.  We sat down with them and received a complimentary drink while they finished breakfast and they introduced us to the staff.  Jacob, the manager/owner is an Iron Man athlete and is keen to attract athletes to the Hotel.  All the staff were friendly and we noticed that the Austrian girl who booked us in was called Evelyn.  The village of Fuschel am See (on the lake) is surrounded by mountains and all the houses have bright flowers in boxes along their balcony rail.  The lake is 4 km long and is fed by mountain streams.  Jacob says "you can drink the water in the lake".  We explored the village, which is really "Sound of Music" territory, and bought some Austrian bread and cheese to eat as lunch in the residents' kitchen. Meanwhile Bevan and Vanessa did a "short swim" across the width of the lake as part of their taper for Sunday's race.  At 4pm they took us on the 10km walk that goes right around the lake,  passing a little fish farm and going through forests of high pine trees.  The sign said it was a 3 hours 30 min walk but B & V do it in 45 minutes when running.  We took 2 hours 30 mins.  The clouds disappeared on the way so we were quite hot when we got back and had half an hour before going to the dining room for a 7pm buffet which was bountiful.  To cap off a magnificent day we heard an Austrian Band start to play on the stage set up in the next street.  They were all dressed in traditional clothes with knickerbockers, long white socks, red waistcoats, blue blazers, Austrian black hats and pig tail tassels.  There were about 40 in the band and the music was outstanding, ranging from Verdi to Elton John (Can you feel the love tonight).  They finished with the Radetsky March which lends itself to audience clapping.  The highlight of the night was a 15 year old boy who played the xylophone as lead instrument for the William Tell overture. More serendipity!  Bevan went to the bar to watch a boring soccer match between Spain and Portugal.

OUR AUSTRIAN LUNCH

CUTE TRIKE IN OUR LOBBY

THE LAKE

THE BAND