As Arnold (Mr Terminator) would’ve said, "I’ll be back!", that is how I feel about Austria. The two days in Hopfgarten was an eye opener to how different some countries are compared to South Africa.

Green
Austria is one of those countries that recycle as much as possible. This also means that there are no litter anywhere. No plastic bags that fly in the wind or float in the streams. The water streams are also crystal clear.

Stop
Don’t you just hate having to stand at a pedestrian crossing trying to figure out if that car is going to stop or not? Well, in Austria cars will actually stop if a pedestrian stands at a pedestrian crossing! The first time it happened I thought that maybe the driver was just friendly, but then it happened every time!

Language
German is spoken, but English is understood and spoken (mostly) – sometimes a little broken. If however you are Afrikaans (and the broken English is really bad), just ask the person to speak German slower – you’ll do ok!