Austrian Thanksgiving

Austrian Thanksgiving

While opening day for Aspen and Snowmass was Thanksgiving Day we had ventured to Salzburg Austria to visit our middle daughter Kori who is studying there for the semester. I say the term “Studying” loosely as she has traveled to Italy, Switzerland, Prague, Munich (for Oktoberfest), Vienna, Innsbruck, Kitzbuhel, London and a bunch of other places I can’t even remember. She has made some amazing friendships that she will have for life and had an overall incredible experience. This was all from the girl who when she headed to school in Utah said “I love Utah and the skiing there, I don’t need to travel anywhere else”…how ones perspective changes.

While we didn’t get to visit all the places that Kori did we enjoyed seeing her, meeting her friends, and experiencing all that Salzburg has to offer including the festive Christmas Markets. We were also pleased that Austria featured the Killington, VT-hosted World Cup more predominantly than we see in the States. We did do some traveling while there. We learned you don’t go to Munich on Black Friday, it makes Aspen Christmas week feel like a ghost town. We were amazed at the volume that commutes by bike- they could use the Rio Grande there! Might be a little safer than dodging pedestrians on the sidewalk. While in Munich we ventured to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site…can’t even imagine. Our hearts flinched.

We also side-tripped to Kitzbuhel, and while snow was not abundant, the evidence of the Hahnenkamm World Cup was everywhere! While we also found other similarities to Aspen –

like Engel Voelkers Kitzbuhel location, and L’Occitane du Provence's Salzburg location, we were admittedly quite impressed with Europe’s upscale of McDonald’s McCafe – the best gourmet hot chocolate and coffee we must admit.

No turkey to be found on Thanksgiving Day or even a mention of Thanksgiving but the beer and coffee and experiences were incredible. We even got home and ordered a Cappucino/Expresso maker. Cheers!