Skiing in Austria

 

For Crocus Break, we headed to the Austrian Alps for some winter fun. We drove to Bamberg, Germany the first day to split the drive up.  Our first order of business was to find Allie a winter coat, seeing as she forgot her's at home...We were in luck! We found one at the first store we stopped at for 20 euro and it's purple with fur...I think Tessa is wishing she forgot her coat too. Also, Chris found some some lederhosen and I found a typical German dress to match-you think I'm kidding, but just wait until Halloween...The funniest time at the store was, hands down, when Chris came out of the dressing room with the lederhosen on backwards...The tourist sign above our head couldn't get any bigger....Bamberg is known for the most breweries in Germany, so we had to partake. The girls obliged, knowing there was Sprite in it for them. We had some wonderful beers, especially the 'smokey beer' that is described as having a bacon flavor to it. I'm not a huge bacon fan, but I would have this with my eggs anyday...

The next day we drove to Dachau Concentration Camp. We weren't sure we would take the girls there while living over here, but decided we should.  The girls are aware of the War, as it's referred to over here, and have been to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, but going to Dachau made it even more tangible to them. Dachau was the first concentration camp and it was a 'model' camp where many SS sodiers were trained. 30,000 people lost their lives there. Chris and I could have stayed for hours at the museum, but it was a bit much for the girls.

From there we drove into Munich to the Hoffbrau House for some brautwurst and beer. The girls got a 'plate full' of frankfurters, and I fear they will never be satisfied with the Dutch canned hot dogs again (not they ever were...) Our drive to Austria was a short 90 minutes. The Austrian Alps are absolutely breathtaking! We were so reminded of Colorado. We stayed in Oberndorf, just outside of Kitzbuhel, at the Rosenhof Inn, in a tiny wood cabin. It was perfect for our family. We were fortunate to have fresh powder on our 2nd day of skiing-Chris and I were loving it. The girls learned they liked it too! We did a lot of powder, off trail skiing. Oh, and a few of the lifts have heated seats! Let's see, fresh powder, heated seats, gorgeous Alps views, wienerschnitzel every night...does it get any better than this?  We skied 3 days and on the off days we swam at a pool in town, went sledding, and even tried our skill at Bavarian curling. We have no idea if we were playing it correctly-they turned us loose without any instructions-but we think we are ready for the 2014 Olympics.

I believe I mentioned this last year, although skiing in Europe is wonderful, it's better in Colorado. The setting is more picturesque in Europe, with small base towns and chalets and church steeples popping up in every town, amidst the painted buildings. Also, we love the Bavarian/Tyrolean food; I could get used to having fresh soft pretzels every morning...