Day 155: I’m in a fog; I’m naked next to a girl
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
155 — I’m in a fog; I’m naked next to a girl
04-January-1972
(Dienstag—Tue.)
TRANSCRIPT
St.
Anton
Terrible day for skiing
because it was foggy. Very dangerous. So I spent
whole day with the ski class. Went down easiest
slopes.
Afterwards, went to a sauna. Not as good as
Innsbruck, but very relaxing. At night, simply had a
good conversation at dinner, and then a walk.
Conclusion: St. Anton ist
toyer! [expensive]
REFLECTIONS
Foggy
skiing. Yesterday,
skiing was great, although a little snow. Today, it’s
foggy. That can be dangerous. You don’t want to ski
off of a cliff or anything. Remaining with the ski
class and instructor was the thing to do. The ski
conditions itself were probably fine. The opening
photo are the Valluga slopes on a sunny day.
I’m
naked next to a good-looking girl.
Ok, I didn’t write this in the journal, perhaps I was
shy, but I remember this incident and am 90% sure
that it happened in St. Anton. I remember going to a
spa and I’m getting ready to go in the sauna. I have
a towel in my hand. I’m naked. (Excuse the
sensational journalism—I need to build readership.)
I’m reading the instructions about the sauna, getting
ready to go in. A door opens right next to me and a
beautiful petite girl comes out wearing one of those
white nurse-type outfits (you know, like we guys
always fantasize about). She is hot. She locks the
door, gives me a quick look, and then goes off as if
nothing happened. I’m dying! What is going on here?
Then I notice the sign above the
door—Massage,
$50. $50 US
dollars. That’s all I needed. $50 US dollars I didn’t
have. That’s in 1972; it’s expensive. I would have
done it. Certainly, it was a legit massage, but it
was a perfect fantasy. Really, to this day I’ve never
had a professional massage, especially by a nice girl
in a white nurse's outfit.
No, I wasn’t dreaming. Ah, youth. Ah, fantasies.
Sauna
time. Well,
after the above incident, the sauna was just a
traditional sauna. Relaxing, just a few people, but
not like the amazing sauna-theater of Innsbruck. I
end the day with some nice dinner conversation and a
walk.
Money.
Money; we
never have enough of it. Money affects the travel
experience. It’s even true today, that when I go
somewhere, I am never spending a whole lot of money
to do everything a place has to offer. However, if
the skiing itself is fantastic, as it was at Valluga,
then your experience is still priceless. You can get
a lot from travel, whether skiing, scenery, or
sightseeing, without spending a lot of money. If you
have money, sure, spend it.
This was true in St. Anton. I had little spending
money and thus walked around St. Anton, instead of
experiencing it as a traveler with a bit more money,
taking advantage of restaurants and spas.
A nice dinner, and conversation ends the day.
[As an
example of how money affects your travel experience:
When I went skiing to Utah a few years ago, my first
time, I stayed in a “traveler’s inn” type of hotel on
the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Absolutely zero “ski
ambience.” We’re not in an outdoor hot tub on the
slopes of Alta, after all. It would have been nice to
actually stay near the ski resorts but that is
considerably more expensive.]
John
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