For our winter holiday, my family and I passed a week in Österreich which is situated just next to the south of Germany. The Region (region, area) we’ve been to is called “Vorarlberg”. We lived in a Bauernhaus (farmhouse) which is over 300 Jahre (years) old!  Right out of the window there´s an exceptional view towards the Alps of Europe (as pictured above). At least a small part of them. The peaks of the mountains in this region reach up to 3000 m high. By the way, I write about Österreich, because they speak German over there as well. Though with a strong accent. Did you ever hear the accent of Switzerland? Well, they speak a mixture of this and the accent of southern Germany. It´s hard to explain, but I guess for people learning German it sounds quite funny! 😉

When we got there, we found ourselves in 50 cm Neuschnee (fresh-fallen snow) which is approximately 20 inches. For urban dwellers like us, we aren’t very used to so much snow because it doesn’t stay on the ground for very long in the city. Motivated by these circumstances we passed our days with Schlitten fahren (sledding), building snowmen and skiing/snowboarding. The Skipisten (ski-slopes, ski trails) were in an excellent condition, so it was really fun to cruise around over there. Beeing exhausted by these sporty activities we returned to the farmhouse in the evenings to warm up ourselves in front of a Kachelofen (cockle stove) traditionally fired by wood.

A “must have” to eat in Austria or Switzerland is “Käsefondue” (fondue made of melted cheese). Cheese is absolutely tasty over there! It´s made of milk that comes from cows living directly in the Berge (mountains). I guess that´s the reason for the special flavor.

The days passed pretty fast and as the Schnee (snow) started to melt (perfect timing by the way) it was time for us to return to Germany.  So here we are again.

For everybody thinking about travelling to Europe in winter: Come over to Vorarlberg and enjoy the first-class skiing areas and regional Produkte (products). It´s worth it, I promise!!!

Click here for a detailed map about the region!

Vocabulary:

Österreich – Austria
Region – region, area
Bauernhaus – farmhouse
Jahr(e) – year(s)
Schnee – snow
Neuschnee – fresh-fallen snow
Schlitten – sledge
Schlitten fahren – sledding
Skipiste – ski-slope, ski trail
Kachelofen – cockle stove
Käsefondue – fondue, made of melted cheese
Berg(e) – mountain(s)
Produkt(e) – product(s)