Ski Week in Austria -- Day Two

Every year our kids' school closes for a week in February for "ski week."   That is true of most German schools as well.  We've taken advantage of that week in the past to do some traveling, but since this year is our last year in Germany, we thought doing some skiing was a must.

The school organizes two trips in Austria:  one for families and one just for kids.  David didn't want to be left out (what skier (i.e. David) wants to sit at home while their kids go skiing in the Alps?) so we opted for the family trip.   To make things easier for everyone, I decided to stay home with Becca.  We figured she wouldn't be able to handle ski school for 6 days out in the cold and I wasn't so sure I could either.

The ski resort David and the kids are staying at is Bad Hofgastein near Salzburg in Austria.  It is part of Ski Amade, a network of 28 ski areas and towns that combined, make up the largest ski area in Europe (860 km of downhill slopes / 278 modern ski lifts).

Here are kids at breakfast on the second day of skiing. I just included this picture to show the breakfast nook -- you see these in most traditional restaurants in Germany and Austria and we'd love to build one into our kitchen area once we move home.

Micaela, James and Emilie waiting for the Ski School bus.

Emilie in front of the Schlossalm mountain

Getting ready to begin class. All the kids are learning to ski without ski poles.

All the kids need to wear these vests which read "Don't go so fast -- there's a kid here."

David on his way to his lessons

David stitched together three photos to get this panorama shot.  Click on it to get a better view.

The ski instructor leading the way

This would make a nice winter vacation chalet.

Gorgeous scenery

They had beautiful weather and terrific views on the second and third days.

The ski center in Angertal

David's ski group

Emilie, Micaela and James returning from the bus from ski school

The grown-ups went on a horse-drawn sleigh ride through protected forest lands this night for dinner.

No cars are allowed in this area.

Three of the ladies on the sleigh ride. In order to keep warm everyone bundled up, used lots of blankets and drank a generous amount of schnapps.

David said even all bundled up with blankets, it was almost unbearably cold and the schnapps helped.

The restaurant served only game that was caught locally. After the group warmed up with Jägertee, they were served fresh trout as an appetizer with venison with red cabbage as the main course. Dessert was Apfelstrüdel.

By the time the arrived at the cabin/restaurant on the sleigh it was totally dark. The only lights were from the cabin and the stars shining brightly in the sky. Here's the cabin as they left. On the way back it didn't seem as cold as various flasks of schnapps seemed to mysteriously appear along the way.

James jammin'

We've been taking a lot of video during our stay here in Germany, but due to a bad jack on our old video camera, we've been unable to load any of the videos onto the blog. In preparation for a trip later this month, David bought a new still camera that could take some video that we can upload to the blog.

Last week during his sleepover, James and his friend Kameran had their first jam session, with James on his beloved drums and Kameran on our piano. The boys want to play Coldplay's Clocks in the spring school talent show accompanied by their friend Nick on guitar.

Click on the video above to see the boys' second attempt at playing Clocks.

James has had 5 months of drum lessons and shows off some solo work in this video. All I can say is thank God both Micaela and James have electric instruments that come with headphones. It would be an unbearably noisy house for us and our neighbors otherwise.

Academy Award Nominations

Yesterday the nominations for the Oscars were announced. I couldn't let this moment go by without acknowledging my devotion to Colin Firth, who was nominated in the Best Actor Category for his role in A Single Man.

Yes, yes, I know he is best known in the U.S. for his roles in...

...Bridget Jones's Diary (loved it), and ...

...Mamma Mia! (loved it), and...

...Love Actually (hated, hated, hated it, but Colin was great).

But the movie that first did for me was, of course,...

...the brilliant 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, which made Firth a sensation in Britain and in my heart as well.

And so I have made of point of seeing as many of Mr. Firth's films as I could. Thank God for Netflix. I watched him in Valmont, Circle of Friends, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love and Girl with a Pearl Earring. He is, of course, always outstanding, but other lesser known movies that are worth watching include Fever Pitch, The Secret Laughter of Women, Conspiracy (Emmy nomination), Nanny McPhee, Relative Values, Where the Truth Lies, and I'm ashamed to say I still have yet to see his "performance" in the Jim Carrey version of A Christmas Carol. I am also eagerly awaiting the release of A Single Man on DVD. Whether Mr. Firth is playing an uptight barrister, a Nazi party lawyer, a Dutch painter, an obsessed soccer fan, a slimy Dean Martin-ish comedian, or a single man in possession of a good fortune who must be in want of wife, whether you love or hate his character in a movie, you're impressed with his performance.

David used to roll his eyes when he heard my friend Sue and I talking/squeeing on the phone, which we would do for hours at a time. He finally said one day, "You know, you're always talking about one of three things: Harry Potter, Colin Firth, or scrapbooking. What would really put you two over the edge is if Colin Firth appeared in the next Harry Potter film as the new professor of scrapbooking!"

That struck a nerve. I couldn't just let that comment go.

And so here is one of my first attempts at Photoshop - from 2006 if I'm not mistaken: Colin Firth in a Harry Potter film as the new professor of scrapbooking.

Good luck at the Oscars, my darling!

Snowbound Gnome

We've been getting a lot of snow lately and with temperatures never getting above freezing, it's starting to pile up. Our gnome Fritz doesn't know quite what to make of it all.

Mamma Mia! Take Two

Last October during our trip to London, we all (save for Emilie and Rebecca) saw a fantastic production of Mamma Mia!. An international English-language version of the musical is in the Frankfurt area for a few weeks and we couldn't resist seeing it again.

This time it was my friend Kathy, her daughter Elizabeth, Micaela, Emilie and me. And what made it all so doable was that it was being presented at the Jahrhunderhalle, a 12-minute drive from home.

One of the first questions we had once seated was "What are those screens next to the stage?" We got our answer when Sophie began singing the first song of the show, "I Have a Dream," and the German translation of the lyrics appeared on the screens. I was wondering if everyone coming to see the show could understand English.

Emilie during intermission. She wanted to clap along with all the songs, even the slow ones.

Breaking in the new sleds

It snowed all day yesterday, so today was the perfect time to try out our new sleds on an actual hill. James had two friends sleep over last night and we forced everyone to join us.

We walked to the fields just a few blocks away and walked and walked and walked.

Emilie is also breaking in her new snow pants and boots.

All bundled up

After much trudging, we finally came to a big hill across a field. Perfect. The kids recommenced trudging (and whining) and after 15 minutes, I heard someone yell, "What the heck? We've been walking this long and we're not even at the hill yet!"

It was true. It must have been an optical illusion. It took the kids forever to finally reach the hill and then they had to climb up it.

In the end it was almost all for nothing. Because no one else had yet tamped down the snow, the sleds could not make their way through the 10 or so inches of snow. Well, at least we all got some exercise. And the kids were laughing as much as they were whining.

German Sleds

When we took the kids sledding two weeks ago on their little plastic toboggan and shovel-like sleds, we couldn't help but notice the beautiful wooden German sleds everywhere. With all the snow we've been getting in the last month, David was not able to find any such sleds in the stores or on-line, but one week later, he came across some on the internet and ordered two.

Here is one sled, with its removable backing, with room for two, maybe three kids.

This one is my favorite, with its lovely curved design. You also see these sleds being used as Kindergartener transporters. For the last few days I, and several of my fellow parents, have been pulling children to Kindergarten on such sleds. The Kindergarten teachers are also asking for parents to leave the sleds at school on certain days so they can take the kids sledding in the fields behind the Kindergarten.