Apart Vivaldi

We went to Ingrid's House with three families, including one family group. The rooms were good, each with its own bathroom and toilet, and everything was tidy and clean. Some of the style is traditionally Austrian, but that was fine. The beds were nicely made with big, soft, fresh pillows. I personally prefer firmer pillows, so those weren’t really for me. There was plenty of parking too. The kitchen had that same traditional Austrian feel, with benches and bright lights, not much mood lighting ;-). It had an oven, two fridges including a freezer compartment, an electric hob, a double coffee maker, a TV, microwave, and dishwasher. The dishwasher was old, only partly working, and had even been patched up temporarily, so we couldn’t really use it properly. A pity. Still, the house itself was good. The problem was the owner. She was grumpy and rude from the day we arrived, and was upset that we didn’t all arrive at the same time. She watched what we brought in and asked us several times what we were carrying. When I went briefly to the village and came back, someone shouted at me from the balcony, “GET AWAY WITH THAT CAR!” It first seemed like a small misunderstanding, but whenever we saw her after that, she was angry. We were on holiday with another family member. After skiing, we usually have a beer in the kitchen, then everyone goes their own way. I asked in advance if that would be alright. At first she reacted negatively, then later said it could be okay just once. When the other family came over for a beer, she stormed into the kitchen and yelled that it was unfair, ranting for about five minutes. It was impossible to have a normal conversation with her. After that, she left. We spent the rest of the week at the other family’s place, where we were welcome, and they thought it was polite that we’d asked first. Later in the week she came in again, pointed at my brother-in-law’s 8-year-old daughter, and said, “THAT CHILD DOESN'T BELONG HERE.” That was the last straw. We told her firmly but respectfully that this wasn’t acceptable. She backed down and apologized, but our holiday had already been ruined. She tried to make up for it by offering drinks, but we didn’t feel like having any and declined. The next day we paid in cash, since card payment wasn’t possible, and went home. Maybe what happened to us was an isolated incident, but I strongly suspect it happens more often. In the ten years we’ve been going to Kappl and the 40 years we’ve visited Austria, we’ve never experienced anything like this. It put a huge dampener on the holiday, and our children slept badly because of it too. In my opinion, accusing an 8-year-old without first asking what’s going on goes much too far. My niece was truly upset and didn’t understand what she’d done wrong. I sincerely hope nobody else has to go through this.