Day 8-Hopfgarten, Austria

This morning was great, I woke up refreshed and ready for more activities. Breakfast was great, instead of the usual continental breakfast we had been getting; Contiki treated us good with bacon and eggs, toast, cereal...yum! After we ate we headed outside to meet our mountain biking guides and get our equipment. Allie even led us in a group stretch to get us ready for our ride. I hadn't been on a bike in forever so I was a little nervous to start but we did some warm-ups in the driveway before heading out. They showed us how to change the gears and fit on a helmet, then we grabbed a bottle of water and were all set.

The first part of the ride was great, got me awake, refreshed and feeling good. The pace was good we got to take in the scenery and enjoy being outside. As we came to our first stop of the day we took a group photo. At this point we had an option, long way or short cut. They told us the length and elevation of each option then let us decide. Most people took the long way to get more of a ride and take in more scenery. However I choose the short cut with Nikki, Inna, Caitlin, and Carly; I hadn't been on a bike in forever and the seat was killing me, haha. The guide told us the way and gave us a map, then we were on our own and off into the Austrian countryside. The ride was great, there was a water stop along the way, and we all got to take a break and get some good photos in. When we arrived at the end we were at a restaurant, where they were preparing us an Austrian barbeque with sausage and potatoes, yum!! A little while later the group that didn't go biking arrived by van and the group from the long route showed up a little after that. After relaxing in the grass and finishing up our lunch it was time to head back down the mountain. The ride down was great, especially since we were going down hill, we just breezed on down and it took almost half the time.

Back in town we had our bikes for the rest of the day, and since Hopfgarten is tiny, it was the perfect was to get around. Ryan told us all the hot spots in town; there was a trout pond where you are guaranteed to catch something, then a outdoor playground with mini golf, a lake, swimming pool and other activites, then there were also some shops around town. Jen, Desiree, Dan, Erika, and I decided to stop in town first to mail some postcards, do some souvenir shopping, and costume shopping for the Pimps n Hos party we were having that night with our tour. Now the town can be covered in 30 minutes, yet it probably took us double that to find the post office, haha. After completing all the town business, we headed off to find the swimming lake and pool. The place was awesome everyone was just relaxing, the view of the mountains was great, and there was even a trampoline and climbing mountain in the lake. After taking a swim, we laid in the grass to catch some sun and dry off, then it was back in time to drop off the bikes and get ready for dinner.

Dinner was once again amazing, and afterwards it was time to get ready for the Pimps and Hos party. Everyone was borrowing clothes, getting make-up done, and secretly making costumes; it was like we were in sleep away summer camp. After all the prep work we headed downstairs to the bar in our accommodation, where the party would be with the other Contiki tour that was also staying there tonite. To start the night there was a battle of the sexes and then it was lots of dancing and some drinking, even the Contiki staff was partying with us, they were awesome. Tomorrow its off to Munich, Germany for some more adventures with my amazing Contiki friends, and Ryan said there are some special stop along the way too!!

Day 7-Hopfgarten, Austria

I was so excited this morning to be headng to Austria because we were going to the countryside for outdoor activities like white water rafting and mountain biking. Ryan told us we were staying at a special Contiki stopover which was owned and run by Contiki staff. Before getting into Hopfgarten we stopped in the Austrian Alps to go white water rafting with Feel Free Rafting company. Everyone got suited up in wetsuits, helmets, lifejackets, and booties, which made us all look super hot so of course we had to take a group picture. Then we all jumped in the boats.

There was supposed to be at least one guy in each boat for safety reasons, but my boat was awesome and all girls (Bethany, Allie, Liz, Jen, Kelsey, Krystina, and Christa), with the exception of our great guide, Mike. First we had to carry the boat over our heads down to the river, which was a chore in itself. They told us to jump in the water to get used to it before we headed down the river. It was absolutely FREEZING!! The whole time we were just getting pumped up and couldn't wait to get in. As we started down the river Mike set it up to flip the boat, and it was awesome. We were the first raft to flip and we were the all girls raft. Going through the rapids was a rush, everyone yelling and paddling, rapids splashing all over us; and Mike kept sending people to the head of the raft to ride out the rapids, it was great. Since we did so good with the flip, we tried doing a wheelie, putting one end of the raft sticking straight up in the air. Everyone fell out with the exception of Allie, haha, but it was so much fun.

Mike then told us to paddle fast to the side or we would miss our stop off, but we didn't want to, we had even gotten used to the freezing water haha. At the end we had to get out and carry the boat up the hill. To celebrate our awesome rafting skills everyone got a shot of Schnapps, which Austria is known for, a hot shower to warm us up, and goulash, another Austrian treat, to warm us up. After all our strenuous rafting we had time to chill out outside with everyone and our rafting guides too.

After rafting it was back to the coach and into Hopfgarten; Ryan told us how pumped the Contiki reps would be when we got there, and sure enough we pull up and they are all outside waving and smiling. From that welcome we knew Austria was gonna be a great time. After settling into our rooms we headed downstairs for some dinner, with some surprise servers. Dinner was delivered by the wonderful Helga and Hans, aka Ryan and Andy, and it was amazing. That night we went into town and stopped at the Silver Bullet, a local pub. Dan and Erika had a schnapps shot contest, trying 5 different kinds each. Erika beat Dan, and he was done for the night after that, haha, nah he was fine.

After the Silver Bullet Dan, Desiree, Jen, and I decided to check out the town. After a wander through the streets we headed back for an early night, since we have more outdoor activites tomorrow...mountain biking!!