We wish you a merry......

Welcome to the Gasthof Hochalmspitze equivalent of the Queen's Speech! Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking and all that. I know it's not actually Christmas until Friday but we are likely to be a little busy over the next few days and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to wish all our readers/Twitter followers/Facebook Fans the very best of Christmas fun and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.

We are slowing getting some organisation into our own Christmas arrangements. We have had a guest here to ski already this weekend and he reported good snow and still quite quiet slopes but everyone gearing up for the rush of the festive season. Certainly the temperatures have been helpful: -19 at the top of Tschiernock yesterday! Our guest list for Christmas itself is still quite small - which does mean that we will be able to enjoy a few hours of celebrations with the friends that wil be here at least - but from the 27th we will be welcoming guests from Britain, Holland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania and, very excitingly, Japan! Still a few rooms left for New Year, but not many, so get in touch if you think you can join us!

Tomorrow is last minute shopping day (brought the mincemeat for the pies from the UK - forget the pie tin to cook them in!) before Andi & Paula arrive on Tuesday, leaving us Wednesday to show them a bit of the valley in full Christmas mode before everyone hunkers down for the great eating and drinking festival of the year, starting at noon on Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile we continue to get biker bookings for next summer at an amazing rate, both those returning after meeting us last summer and those we met at the Bike Show - the first group of 12 will be here on May 15th, which means we will be able to do some riding with them we hope. Seems very strange to be planning next year's biking when you look out of the window, but it IS the shortest day tomorrow, so Spring is really only just around the corner!

Still plenty of time to contemplate the next season once this one is a bit further under our belt. I hope to be able to post some photos as we go through the next week or so, but in the meantime from me, John, Pauline, Christl and Elfriede (not to mention the cats!)
'Frohe Weihnachten und Alles Gute für 2010!'
Ros x

And the winners are.....

Just a quick post to let everyone know we are now back in Malta and starting to work through the 4 pages of our 'before Xmas To Do' list! The journey back was uneventful - although it rained continuously from Dover to just the other side of the Katschberg Tunnel. Carinthia at least had no rain - but also far less snow than we had expected - apparently it came and went again! Today is sunny and warmish!

We have been in touch with our 3 Free Draw winners and are pleased to be able to tell you that Jakki Francis from Rugby, Andy Cooke from Totton, Hants and Nick Lappage from Leicester are all hoping to take up their prizes next summer. Looking forward to meeting you all!

Also just wanted to share withyou a little Anglo/German Xmas culture - sent to us from some German biker guests we are looking forward to seeing again in 2010. They are in LA for Xmas and thought we would enjoy this!

When the snow falls wunderbar
And the children happy are,
When is Glatteis on the street,
And we all a Glühwein need,
Then you know, es ist soweit:
She is here, the Weihnachtszeit

Every Parkhaus ist besetzt,
Weil die people fahren jetzt
All to Kaufhof, Media-Markt,
Kriegen nearly Herzinfarkt.
Shopping hirnverbrannte things
And the Christmasglocke rings.

Mother in the kitchen bakes
Schoko-, Nuss- and Mandelkeks
Daddy in the Nebenraum
Schmücks a Riesen-Weihnachtsbaum
He is hanging auf the balls, (<- Christbaumkugeln!)
Then he from the Leiter falls...

Finally the Kinderlein
To the Zimmer kommen rein
And es sings the family
Schauerlich: "Oh, Chistmastree!"
And the jeder in the house
Is packing die Geschenke aus.

Mama finds unter the Tanne
Eine brandnew Teflon-Pfanne,
Papa gets a Schlips and Socken,
Everybody does frohlocken.
President speaks in TV,
All around is Harmonie.

Bis mother in the kitchen runs:
Im Ofen burns the Weihnachtsgans.
And so comes die Feuerwehr
With Tatü, tata daher,
And they bring a long, long Schlauch
An a long, long Leiter auch.

And they schrei loud - "Wasser marsch!"
,Christmas is - now im - Eimer...
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
Hear the music, see the lights,F
rohe Weihnacht, Frohe Weihnacht,
Merry Christmas allerseits...

Hope you enjoy it too!

12 Days at the NEC Bike Show - and still standing!

Yes, we have survived! 12 days after the opening day and what seems like several thousand visitors laterand the show is in its last few hours and slowly starting to wind down. Thought I should write something before the final whistle blows - especially as we then have until midnight to take down the stand and collect up all our goods and chattels! Not that we have much left - the interest has been tremendous and we have given away all but a few of what had seemed to us to be a rather optimistic array of brochures, cards and giveaways.

One of the highlights has been the great partnership we have bult up with our Irish Tour Organiser colleague, Michael (www.motorcycletouring.ie) Being able to offer something to suit just about every level and experience of biking is a definite plus point for us. Also being able to accommodate groups - we have been able to offer packages for a whole range of organised (and not so organised) clubs, groups and just gangs of mates. The National Park Card is a very popular extra - the women particularly are keen NOT to be on the bike 24/7 - and there is so much you can do with the card for free. But the MOST important thing has been our personal knowledge and experience of the area and being able to answer just about any question that is thrown at us. Other people here are just acting as agents for the various accommodation providers and just don't have that ability.

Any way so far we have had confirmed bookings for nearly 100 bed nights (according to the other more experienced exhibitors this is practically unheard of!) plus serious enquiries for many more. We have made contact with a whole range of organisations who are looking for large group accommodation - from the Swansea Hells Angels to the Gay & Lesbian Riders of Europe and the Civil Service Motorbike Association - diverse or what! We have also made links with a number of other tour operators who will be sending people to try us out for their 2011 tours and have, in between, found other non bikers who want to walk, ski or just bring the family out to visit us.

Over 430 people have entered our free draw to date and so we have decided to add an additional 2 prizes of 2 days free B & B, in addition to the first prize of 5 days for 2. Winners names will be announced here, on Facebook and Twitter after 6pm tonight.

All in all coming to the show has been a real success and we are looking forward to reaping the benefits over the coming months and introducing a lot more British people to our lovely area of Austria. Definitely planning on coming back next year.

Thanks to Matt, Becky and Sam and Michael for all their help.

(sorry no photos today - uploader will just not work! Will try again later).