Ski Trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen {Part 3}

Day four of the trip and finally SKI DAY!  This was the kids' first time skiing.  How lucky are they to learn to ski in the Bavarian Alps?!  I learned at Snowstar in Andalusia, Illinois on fake mountains of ice...Whoop de doo!  

Don't they look so cute in their ski clothes. :)

Allison is stressed…can you tell?

The kids did their first day of ski school in the "backyard" of the lodge.  It was a day of basics, so they were not yet ready to go up on the mountain.  With not a whole lot of snow, I was worried how they would do.  Chris and I left them in the hands of their ski instructor Owen and went off with our own ski schools.  I was in "advanced beginner" and Chris was in "intermediate".  But, he was moved to "advanced" about 15 minutes into his lesson.  He only did one day of ski school, but I did two.  Really, I loved my classmates and instructor and could have stayed in the rest of the week.  They were such a fun group.

My lunchtime view ~ It was a beautiful day in the 50's!  We had to take the gondola to this part of the mountain.  There was plenty of snow up here.

On the first day, our class spent a lot of time around the blue runs and ski school slope.  We were all in the same boat…about the same age, hadn't skied in about 20 years, scared to death we might break something.  So Conor, our young 26 year old ski instructor, was very patient and went easy on us on day one.

This is the smile I saw at pick up after day one.  Oh happy day!!!  I was so worried she would hate it.  I knew Thomas would enjoy it.  He's really easy going like that.  But, this one had me worried.  When asked what she thought…she said it was more fun than a One Direction concert….whoa!!!

The backyard!  See what I mean about the lack of snow…..

After skiing from 9:30am-4:00pm, we headed out for night sledding (as if we weren't tired enough.)  This might be the craziest thing I've done.  You go to the top of mountain, it's dark, the slopes are dimly lit, you send your kids down on a sled at 20-30mph, you attempt to break with your feet (didn't usually work,) it takes at least 20 minutes to complete the run, and pray that everyone makes it to the bottom alive.  I had a moment on the first run where I thought I am the most terrible mother!  Thomas looked terrified thanks to Chris who flipped off his sled and nearly went through the orange fence and off piste.  Kristina can't even talk about it without dying laughing.  But Thomas…well he didn't think it was so funny.  But by the second run, he was making it to the bottom before all of us.

The Krings and the Vastines

Ready for some fun!  I should have known it would not be a leisurely activity when they told us to dress in our ski clothes and be sure to bring our helmets.  Uh oh!

Crazy people….but we had so much fun, and I would do it again!

This was late in the night after most people had done at least three runs.  The snow became a little harder to move through in some areas.  At the beginning of the night, it was pretty much ice, so there was no stopping that sled.

Those are very tired faces.  But after dinner, they wanted to do one more run.  And the only adult willing to go was me. Mom of the year!

Needless to say, we all slept very well that night, and I had aching arms from a death grip on that sled for the next three days!

Check back for more skiing fun.

Until next time,
Wendy

Ski Trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen {Part 2 - Innsbruck}

Since the kids would not start ski school until Tuesday (no ski school on President's Day,) we decided to stay off the slopes until they could be properly instructed.  That is code for Dad is not going to teach you to ski because you won't want to ski again.  No offense Dad, but my dad used to help with math homework.  I know how it goes.  So instead of skiing, we jumped in the car and headed to Innsbruck, Austria.

It snowed the night before, so the snow covered landscape was breathtaking.

I love the rounded steeples in Germany and Austria.  They look perfect with the beautiful landscape behind.

First stop in Innsbruck was for breakfast.  YUM!

We have been fortunate to go on amazing vacations.  But, they do not always go off without a hitch.  On our trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, one whole side was covered in scaffolding.  And on our Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, the hills were anything but alive.  We couldn't even see the hills.  In Switzerland, Jungfrau was a total whiteout, so that very expensive journey to the top of the mountain for the amazing views was a bit pointless.  On a visit to Sicily, we were looking forward to seeing Mt. Etna up close and personal.  The fog had other ideas.  No Mt. Etna viewing for us.  So, it came as no surprise that Innsbruck was blanketed in clouds on the day we visited, and the lovely mountains surrounding the city were just not visible…at all.  UGH!

Innsbruck, Austria

The colorful buildings were a lovely backdrop.

But, this is what we were supposed to see.  Nice huh! 

Oh well…...

Taking a ski vacation during the winter Olympics inspired us to visit some of the local venues that were used in past Olympic competitions.  Innsbruck held the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Games, so we set out to see the ski jump which is the #2 attraction when visiting the city.

Just beyond the cemetery, the ski jump rises up over the city.  I wonder if the cemetery and ski jump have any correlation with one another??? 

It was quite a hike up there! 

A huge thank you to Chris who carried my bag the whole way up. I brought way too many lenses and just couldn't manage the weight.  Chivalry is not dead!  Longchamp looks good on him! ;)

The wear and tear over the years has set in, but it was still very impressive!

It was pretty cool to get a picture in front of the Olympic rings during the Olympics.  

We made our way up to the top of the ski jump.  We were not allowed to take this lift (for obvious reasons.)

Even though we couldn't see the mountains, it was still a great experience.  And, curling was on.  What could be more exciting??

Our view... 

The real view...

I decided ski jumping is just not for me.  Yikes!

 We spent a few hours wandering around Innsbruck.  The city was described to us as a more colorful Munich.  I would agree with that.  But in comparison to other cities we have visited, we just didn't feel there was as much to do here.

I prefer the robin's egg blue Fiat…but pink would do. 

And, that concludes our trip to Innsbruck.  It was back to the lodge after that to get fitted for our skis, poles, and boots!  The excitement (and nerves) were setting in!  Check back for skiing (finally!)

Until next time,

Wendy