Rivers and Mountains

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It was cold and crisp outside the hotel. Slush and ice made our small trip to the door precarious. A tall woman met us. She was the organizer of the trip and the main topic of conversation, which was not usually a good omen. She had very dark skin, which looked more like leather. Her hair was as brittle as stalactites after many years of cold winds throwing it about. Our small group was downcast as across the road there was a five star hotel that looked warm and beckoned us to its large open doors. Whereas in front of us was a small modern ski school that dug into the traditional buildings around it. It barely looked as if it could hold more than 10 people. Ziggy’s face was like a contrary image, she was all smiles.My first day however, contradicted my every thought, the skiing was like a dream and even though the instructors could not even speak more than two words of English we learnt a lot. There was a point, though, at which are instructor was so enraged as to find someone had got lost that he skied down the mountain telling us to wait at the top. It was about 4 hours later that Ziggy appeared at our rescue. Apparently the instructor had entered the building shouting of his resignation and expostulating loudly. It was around this time that I found I enjoyed Austria very much, from its serrated mountains to its creamy streams. Which slinked in between forests and large rocks as though terrified of the large mass of rock that loomed behind. I liked the way the landscape differed from a very callous cold climate high in the mountains were the sun reflects of the snow to trap you with that terrible ailment most commonly known as Snow Blindness. To the not so cold quiet valleys were people built their homes in settlements speckled over the mountainside. Trees shaded these steep slopes with dark patches and avalanche barriers scored the sides to make them look like huge ladders. The mountains in question were so imposing as to let me realize how small I was compared to the world and it was quite daunting when I saw
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something that large facing me.The one problem with Austrians is that they are not shy with foreigners as soon as they are slightly inebriated. I discovered this when came upon a couple sitting in my room listening to my CD player. I had never met the odd couple but they seemed to think that going uninvited into someone’s room was a good way of socializing and offering copious amounts of alcohol was a good icebreaker. They sat on my bed as though they had known me for years, and to my surprise greeted me with apparent familiarity. They seemed very ...

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