It is 10pm on Christmas Day and objective achieved. We got snow on Christmas Day. It would have been nice if it started 3 days ago but we will take what we can get. We arrived here about 7pm on Monday night and were picked up at the train station for the 2min drive to the hotel (which was nice not having to lug the baggage). Our room feels like a mini apartment, all it is missing is the kitchen. I said to mum I feel like we are walking down the hallway and off to the left is a toilet and then the bathroom and then the bedroom and then the mini lounge which leads to the verandah with a beautiful view over the frozen lake and in the distance the snow covered mountains.

Dinner was being served downstairs. We were here on half board which included breakfast, cake buffet from 3-5pm and dinner. We were assigned a table and advised that is where we were to sit for both meals which surprised us. No choosing our own table...what was that about. Anyway, we sat down, felt like we were in the naughty corner. Food has been good with different choices.

Tuesday we woke up and got to actually see the view for the first time because it was dark the night before. We were surprised by the lack of snow on the mountains around us. I thought being higher there would be more, but no. We caught the train back down to Innsbruck for the day to explore a little. We started to check out the markets but I was pretty much done. There wasn't much different to see. They did have a Swarovski crystal stall as this is the home of the brand. We also checked out their big store which had some beautiful items on display.

Innsbruck is on the bottom floor of the valley and is surrounded by mountains which we kept looking at. We visited 2 churches here. Dom St Jakob which is described as "over the top Baroque" which is a pretty good description. We also checked out the local Volkskunst Museum (Folk Art Museum) which had an interesting collection of folk art, local dress and examples of different rooms from traditional homes. They all had a great display on nativity cribs. Last stop was the Hofkirch which is a royal court church. It was the most different we have seen because it has 2 rows of 14 bronze statues down the middle of the church. The detail of the statues was incredible. There was also a work of art in an empty sarcophagus for Emperor Maximillan in the church. We then rushed back to get the 3pm train back to Seefeld.

Had a quick look through town but it is pretty much like any other ski village with lots of shops, accommodation and restaurants. I had a massage booked for 5pm which was up there with one of the best. Did she find some sore spots, mainly from all the walking we have been doing. Then enjoyed the spa area. There is an outdoor heated pool at 30degrees, which you can enter from inside the spa area. Also a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. Very much one of the reasons why we splurged here.

At dinner in our naughty corner, we asked the restaurant manager if we could possibly move tables tomorrow as we could see there were some spare tables and she said she would do that for us. At 9pm we had signed up for a torch light walk around the lake. It was quite nice out. We did have to watch for embers from the torch so we didn't set our jackets alight and watch for wax falling on our gloves but it was a nice evening and we got to meet some other guests who we had a drink with afterwards.

We spent Christmas Eve morning after breakfast doing our laundry (always fun) and then hanging up most of the items in our room since it can't go in the dryer. We were then going to get the cable car up the mountain but by the time we got over there we wouldn't have had much time up so we walked around to the other side of the town and watched some people try curling and some kids tobogganing down a hill before coming back to relax in the spa once more.

All guests were invited to the lounge at 6.30pm for a drink before our gala dinner. The table they moved us too was next to the 2 Australian couples we had met the night before. We ended up putting all 3 tables together and had a lovely night. It was something like a 6 course meal, never ending. We finished up in the bar for some drinks. Back in our room, the hotel had left a plate of cookies and a small gift (when we arrived we also had a plate of cookies, a welcome note and a bottle of water in our room).

Due to it being so cold outside we have been able to put our drinks out there to keep cool. Doesn't matter we don't have a fridge in our room. Today after breakfast, mum and I walked over to the cable car to go up one of the ski slopes (not many are open due to lack of snow). We met John & Leanne there and up we went together. On the way up, it started to snow so we were all very excited. There was snow on Christmas Day!!!!!

From this station, we got another cable car up a little higher. I set my tripod up and the camera to take multiple photos while I tried to have a snowball fight with mum. She wasn't very co-operative, hiding herself more than throwing snowballs back. It was a fun afternoon and a good Christmas to remember. Back down in the village and the Christmas markets were open so we bought a couple of items to remind us of our time here before returning to pack up our stuff and then spend our last couple of hours in the spa. It started snowing around 3.30pm and hasn't stopped. It was great being out in the pool while it snowed around us. I had a 30min Reflexology appt which again found all those sore spots. Wish we had a few more days here but not to be.

They have left our 3 tables together in the restaurant so we had another lovely dinner together. And now it is time for bed. The wi-fi here has not been the best (I said to mum it is the most expensive place we have stayed and wi-fi has been the worst). We tried to skype some family today but it wasn't to be. Will try again in Prague which is where we are headed tomorrow. Meant to be snowing there over the next couple of days.