Day 7: AUSTRIA, HERE I COME

So at this point in our travels we are leaving my beloved Italy to head to A U S T R I A. I don't know much about it but I do know we are going to be doing some crazy adventures. One in particular that I have been both stressing and anticipating is WHITE WATER RAFTING. I can't believe I am actually participating in this extreme sport. I am definitely known for staying away from anything that could hurt myself or is out of the norm.

>>Unfortunately I wasn't able to take many pictures of the action due to the water and extremeness.

After having an hour bus ride full of anxiety we finally arrive to our spot where we are welcomed by 7 burly men. They pass around a document confirming that we all know how to swim. Afterward they give us our ugly, unflattering, and smelly outfits. This intricate costume consists of a wet suit, helmet, wind breaker, life vest and water booties. We all truly look fabulous. We then separate into groups of 6-7 where we become educated on how to properly paddle. It's quite simple actually; forward, backwards (which is like a lean back dance) and down which simply consists of us dropping our paddle and sitting down.

After learning the basic procedures from our instructor, Howie, we are commanded to head to the river. My group and I hold our raft over our head to the water where we are then instructed to put it down and run into the water. The water is FREEZING but so refreshing. Our fun soon comes to an end and Howie calls us back to the raft. This is really happening, I am white water rafting.

We get into our raft and get going. Howie is immediately spitting out commands of forward, backwards, forward etc. etc. I am only half listening due to the amazing scenery around me. There is tall mountains, the bluest sky and a beautiful greenery. We even passed by the Paramount Pictures mountain!.

Before we head into tough waters Howie talks to us about some safety procedures. He creates a bunch of "what if " scenarios and shows us how to act in that particular situation. The whole time I am praying that none of this happens to me. To truly prepare us, Howie has all of us jump off the raft while he flips the raft over. Amazingly we all had no problems. On the contrary we showed a great sense of camaraderie. Another trick Howie has up his sleeve is the "pinwheel". This is an extreme trick where half the raft is up in the air while the other is motionless in the air. This scared the crap out of me.. I couldn't wait for the other side to come down because our paddles were facing us the whole entire time. At any second they could have gone right into our face. Howie decided to end the trip by doing a back flip off the raft. Howie truly is amazing.

When we got back onto land we were rewarded with a lethal shot of alcohol. Afterward we had a delicious hearty soup that hit the spot perfectly!

After the thrill of white water rafting we headed to our lodging in Hopfgarten. This was a cute spot in the woods that was very secluded and peaceful. After dinner we headed to a local bar that we clearly kept open that night. It was so funny to see how small this little town was. Evidently changed Hopfgarten for those couple days we were there.