Austrian dispatch

Snow, tea, slopes, soup!

1.24

Hello from western Austria, where we’ve spent the past week at a charming hotel in Zürs, a village quite literally tucked between mountains (see image below!). The hotel is a family-run business, and many of its guests belong to families that fell in love with the place upon first visit and return again and again, finding another home in its candlelit lounge. I suppose I’m one of those guests by association; Teo’s mom, Mary, has come here throughout her life and knows it well. However, despite Mary’s connection, we’re actually traveling with two families connected by Teo’s dad, Brad. In total, we’re a group of seventeen, a hodgepodge of folks from age 20-something to 60-something, including a cluster of significant others like myself. So it really is a family affair, and this alpine village has now assumed a role in all of our stories. Lucky us.

Zürs is circled in pink!

When we arrived, we met the hotel’s resident dog, an elderly yellow lab who roams the lobby, taking turns nuzzling up against the legs of employees and guests. Adjacent to the lobby is a lounge with plush cushions and wooden bar stools, hearts carved out of their backs. There, we learned to bring our books and order pots of tea, which come with pitchers of milk and crescent moon-shaped almond biscuits. As we explored the hotel, we found each floor quainter than the next: lots of soft, worn carpets and old furniture, dolls and trinkets. I’ve never inhabited such a timeless, elegant hotel; inside, it feels like it could be the 1950s instead of the 2020s. 

Afternoon tea

The hotel chef wears a tall white toque, and the kitchen churns out rich food for hungry skiers. Breakfast is a buffet, and almost every day I’ve eaten a bowl of yogurt with honey, muesli, and seeds, alongside some bacon or sausage. Sometimes a slice of toast, too — mostly as a vessel for the slab of local, room-temperature butter. Wiener schnitzel is always on the menu at lunch and dinner, and you can choose from a whole list of potato preparations to go alongside it. Come afternoon, the wine is flowing: crisp grüner veltliner, plummy blaufränkisch, and on and on. The quiet champion of lunch and dinner, both at the hotel and out at restaurants, has always been the soup: corn, pumpkin-and-chive, consommé with cheese dumplings. 

A schnitzel a day

Consommé with cheese dumplings

On my first ski day, I took a lesson with an older Austrian man named Helmut, “like a helmet,” he chuckled while introducing himself. He was a good and encouraging teacher, and told me upfront that he prefers female students to male since “women are much braver than men.” Whether or not that’s the truth, it was helpful to repeat to myself as I learned to shift my weight downhill, which feels terribly dangerous and wrong at the beginning. (I am still at the beginning.) The following day, I joined the chillest skiers from our group, who turned out to be not quite chill enough for me. I stumbled my way down the slopes, bumpy and tearful, with brief moments of glory. Apologies to my caboose, Teo, for the emotional waves. Again, it’s hard to be bad at things! So, yes, the skiing was a challenge, but hopefully a step in the right direction. I want to bridge the gap between my tolerance for skiing and Teo’s love for it.

The view from the hotel after a big snowfall

On the walk from Zürs to Lech, a neighboring town

Tomorrow, we’re leaving Zürs and heading to Prague — just with Teo’s immediate family — for a few days of exploring before returning home. 

Lots of love,
Phoebe