The Sound of Music

Today, we cruised into beautiful Austria to spend some time in a little town called Hopfgarten. This town was adorable, and was surrounded by giant, lush hills. This region of Tirol is where the movie "The Sound of Music" was inspired.

The town was small, and there wasn't much to do. However, I was able to soak up the sun and admire all of the unique buildings. With the style of an Austrian ski chalet, each building was a different pastel hue.

After my walk, it was time to go paragliding! Like I said, the town was in the midst of many grand hills, so it was the perfect place to get a birds-eye view. I was extremely nervous because I've never done anything like this in my life. On the drive up the mountain, each time I looked out the window, my stomach did a backflip. We were climbing higher and higher up what I thought was a hill!
A man told strapped myself to his chest and told me to keep running until we were in the air. I was basically supposed to run off a cliff. I did what he told me,

and all of a sudden, I found my feet off the ground! Unfortunately, his feet weren't and I was dragged across the ground, face first, for about three meters. In that moment, I thought I was going to die. But he somehow managed to get airborne and take me with him. Once we were up in the air, looking out onto the astounding Austrian landscape, I decided it was worth it. The view was incredible! I could see the tiny village below and the Austrian Alps to the north. As we gracefully floated down to Earth, I felt so exhilarated, and I couldn't stop smiling! We did a couple of corkscrews toward the end, and then landed safely on the ground.

That night, the Contiki crew stayed in and had a themed party in the basement of our chalet. We played this game where you try to hammer a nail into a log using the back of the hammer. It got harder and harder as the night went on. It was a pretty fun night, and I was glad I was able to bond with my new friends.