Skiing Austrian Alps

How is it already March?  We took a wonderful weekend trip to Austria a few weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to sharing some pictures and memories!  Thanks to the generosity (and the great connections) of a co-worker, we were able to stay in a cabin in the village of Tirol, Austria which was about 30 minutes from Innsbruck.

We started the trip by renting skis and equipment from Outdoor Rec at Pulaski:  they let us reserve a week in advance--a nice time saving perk! With winter weather advisories in the mountains, we decided to take Mike's wagon (winter tires) instead of mine and literally stuffed it full of pillows, sleeping bags, ski gear, 3 boys, electronics for the road, etc... good thing we rented the ski box for the roof rack!

The drive was fairly short (maybe the Autobahn had something to do with that!) and we were in the quaint lakeside village, Lindau, within 4 hours.  We decided to stop for dinner crossing over to the island part of Lindau, Germany and found a fantastic Italian restaurant!  We didn't want to spend a long time eating there, so in my broken German and totally non-existent Italian, managed to explain I needed a table for 5 and would like to order quickly.  Europeans in general take dining out very seriously and if I really wanted fast food, I should probably just do the American way --eat at McDonald's--there's one at EVERY rest stop! As a matter of fact we almost started counting McD's, but decided to count castle ruins instead.  My new Italian friends were very nice, let me order while M parked the car and we had 3 delicious pizzas and lots of fizzy water in a very short time!


Back on the road, we drove thru lots of tunnels to get thru the Alps to our cabin in Tirol.  Too bad it was so dark, because those first moments take your breath away when you see the mountains, doesn't matter where you are on the earth.  The folks in the other cabin (friends from work) were already there and happy to share a beer with us after the 6 hour trip.  Boys were just happy to get some space again!

Saturday morning we headed up to Ischgyl, a ski resort nearby.  By the time we got everyone booted, scarved, hatted, gloved, zipped, helmeted and goggled, it was 11am!  At least we only had to pay for 1/2 day ski lift by then!  There were so many ski runs and lifts in the area the fact that so many people were there wasn't an issue.

Post ski day--a little tired!

 We headed to the bunny hill first, which was 2 gondola rides up the mountain!  We're not in Michigan anymore!  A beautiful, clear day and not terribly cold either was a nice perk.  We spent a couple hours on the bunny, (which was quite a nice, long run as far as bunnies go) and then Z and A felt confident enough to try their first blue.  We weren't prepared for what was next:  blue was a little more advanced than we had hoped -- I'm no expert skier by any means and hadn't been on the slopes for a few years (Michigan skiing totally doesn't count) so it was a bit daunting (M was still too broken to ski).

Ischgyl view from above!

Z went flying straight down the slope, no holds barred.  A on the other hand started to freak after the first hill and wanted to walk down the slope.  Finally convinced to finish what he started, although not happy, he made it to the bottom.  Z was so tickled with himself he couldn't wait to try again.  I was willing to give it another try, but first some lunch.

Lunch at most ski resorts (well, my limited experience in Tahoe, Vermont, Michigan) is generally really nasty burgers that sit in boiled water all day.  This place---gourmet!  The salad bar looked like a Dorothy Lane Market, only better!  They had soups, burgers, brats, Schweinshaxen (pork knuckles), waffles, and this pancake-like sweet stuff called "schmerer" or something like that.  It was delicious, whatever it was!  Nuts where was the camera before it was all eaten?!!

After lunch, I have to say we were all pretty tired.  But, knowing the lifts closed at 4:30 (because it gets dark so darn early) Z wanted to give that blue a go again.  He put on the go-pro cam and we gave it another run.  By the time he got down the first slope and wiped out, I could tell things were probably not going to go so well --this was really powdery snow, so a very different feel to me at least.  He was just too tired to really get control and continued to wipe out.  Then he got scared and frustrated, and well, it's all sadly on the go-pro.  If you want a good cry, that's the video to watch.  I didn't know really what to do, but helped the best I could, but when he took off his skis in frustration (which btw, DON'T ever do on a mountain!) and insisted he was just going to walk back to the bottom (which was a REALLY long way) he slipped and went belly sliding down about 75 yards --screaming for help, I might add.  Finally, what seemed like forever, I managed to get the skis back on the boy and start the negotiation to finish the run.  Long story ends with him finally at the base, and totally finished skiing "forever".  Hopefully not forever, but we both agreed we should ski either easier blue runs somewhere else, or find someone like Daddy or Aunt Julia to lead us down next time.

In the meantime, N discovered his ski legs and he and A had a blast just up and down the bunny run!
Recovered with some delicious dessert at the resort --what a beautiful little town!  And then later that evening with our cabin friends, finished the recovery process with a few bottles of wine and some scotch.  Boys were sound asleep by 8pm!

A beautiful Sunday drive:  Innsbruck --a walk thru the altstaat.  We discovered the hard way that having a really good street map is a worthwhile investment.  On the other hand, not having a reliable map can also lead to amazing discoveries!  The map in my guide book only contained a couple streets.  We wandered around looking for the Imperial Palace and the Dom (Cathedral).  Sundays are a great time to discover these old cities --not very many people around and most of the shops are closed, so you don't get side tracked by mountains of "kitsch."  Along the way we saw street performers, cool medieval buildings, cobblestone streets, delicious butcher shops (open, in fact!) a cheese shop, a little grocery store...little things that are just different enough from the States that we are continually intrigued.

N found an alpine hat and has started a pin collection 

for the different cities we plan to visit.  He has always been my hat guy, and this one perfectly suits him!

Finally after wandering thru and not finding the palace, we decided to leave.  As we were heading out, I ducked thru an alley way and can you believe the palace was right there?!  We walked right past it on the way in.  It didn't have the façade of a palace, so I assumed it was just another hotel.  Self guided tour with English audio guides was worth the time!  

Giant's Hall Imperial Palace Innsbruck

The palace (Hofburg) was decorated in the popular Rococo style with furniture and paintings from its former resident, Empress Maria Theresa (mid-late 1700s) She was a Hapsburg and responsible for changing some of the social forays of her time:  i.e.:  the "Giant's Hall" (banquet room) was filled with paintings of her 16 children, not of her ancestors. And, they were set in birth order, not boys/girls.  We loved seeing the "tattered from time"throne she sat on to receive her guests, the chairs she would offer to them (a variety of comfort levels depending on how much she liked a person) and the various rooms of the palace.  There was a video display that showed gatherings of different people in the palace courtyard throughout history.  The sheer elegance of the Baroque style was something amazing to see in person.  It's definitely not how I would have decorated, but was certainly elaborate!

After our day in Innsbruck, with a bit of daylight left, we drove the extra 30 minutes thru a crazy snowstorm in the mountains and found ourselves in Italy!  How cool was that?  The boys were tired and we were just in the border town, which happened to be home to an Italian Outlet Mall, and can you believe they didn't want to get out?  OY!  Turns out they missed an awesome toy store.  I stepped out long enough to take a picture of the roundabout --one side was Austria, the other side Italy.  Kinda cool!

We stopped in Ulm, Germany for lunch and quick tour of the Münster on our way back home.  Ulm, birthplace of Einstein, boasts the highest church spire in the world--161m (over 500 feet!)  Lucky for us, even in the snow, it was open half way --we climbed 380 icy steps (N counted all of them) to the mid-section of this mighty spire and were amazed!  The view on a clear day was for miles, but for us, on this snowy day, just a few blocks.  Inside the spire we could look down below at the 13 massive bells and heard them toll.   Every year in December they ring the largest bell for 15 minutes as a reminder of the bombardment of 1944.  81% of the city was devastated during WWII, however Ulm Münster was left untouched as it's spire provided a great navigational landmark.  The church was under construction from 1377-1890.  Part of the lengthy delay was financial turmoil and structural issues:  2 stones from the vault fell during a service in 1492 and created a massive setback for the project.  Image that happening during a service!  The damnation of the world happening right on top of you--must have been quite a sermon!  Although it was originally constructed as a Catholic church, it became Lutheran in 1529 after the Reformation.  

Standing in the steeple looking up was pretty amazing --and we were only half way!  Looking down, felt pretty far...traversing the steps was probably the scariest part --very narrow, super curvy and slippery from the ice accumulation!  Reminded me of Hitchcock's Vertigo......

one of the altars in Ulm Münster

So many things to see --I would imagine a lifetime isn't long enough!  Lucky for us to be able to see and experience a few of these historic and beautiful places.

Tschuss!

Linda