Ski Bavaria

Well, I have been quite remiss in posting the last couple of weeks. I’ll get better.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. During the girl's Carnival holiday (yes they celebrate that here, the Northern most reach of the Catholic “Latin” culture, I’ll post on that later) on a whim we checked the US military owned, but top notch, resort hotel in Garmisch, GE - Edelweiss to see if they had an opening….and they did.

So off us four tropical types went to the Bavarian Alps to see if we can keep orthopedic surgeons fully employed! I last went skiing in November 05 at the same place while in Germany for work – but before that it was, well, DEC ’93. MJ had a chance to ski in ’94 and the girls, of course, had never been.

I was looking forward to the “100 mph in the slow lane” trip through the Autobahn, (yes, that is my Alfa Romeo - no wife or kids in the car, and I am in the slow lane. I will let you translate km/h to mph), but due to the blizzard, there were wrecks all along the way. The key was our Garmin GPS that let us take the side roads around the mess. And it was a mess.

Since November, the area at the foot of the Bavarian Alps has looked exactly like a Christmas Card. It wasn't terribly cold though. It was in the mid-20s to low 30s the whole time. Trust me, that isn't that cold here. As always, you can find the pictures of the girls imbedded in the hypertext (if you can't get the privacy controls to work, let me know), but most of the views are scattered through the post. Yes, it is that sublime. Funny thing I noticed, Bavaria is very Catholic, as Limburg is, and there are memorials everywhere - including the tops of almost every mountain. This one was at 1,680 meters, about 5,500 ft. Though not the American South; not all Europe is post-Christian as you would think. However, 10 feet behink that big 'ole Cross, you can get a beer. Then again, in Bavaria, you can get a beer about anywhere.

The first day was lessons (here, here, and here). In time, SJ got the hand of things, though a bit timid beyond staying close to dad and the easy slopes. OA, as usual, was very intent on going a bit further than she really should...but that’s OK.

Day two was playing tourist (and nursing sore legs) and ice skating at the same rink from the '36 Olympics. SJ was ready to go, having learned how to roller skate in VA and ice skating at Rockefeller Center in NYC. OA needed some help with a solid rubber penguin, but got a handle on it quite well after awhile.


We managed another day on the slopes (other scenes of the slopes here, here, here, here, and here) prior to heading back through the winter madness. Action ski shots of the girls here and here.

Yep, we're going again next year. Big advantage, we found out. SJ is picking up her German very well. At the ice skating rink, the restaurant, and the Abbey (we did a tour at Ettal), I turned to Savannah as asked her, "Could you tell him in German...." Half the time, she didn't even wait and plowed right in. And yes, the German Grandmothers thought that was the beyond wonderful...

Oh, one last thing. The European attitude towards advertising is a bit, well, different. Take a close look at this add on the lift waiting to head up the mountain.

If interested, the high resolution versions of the above smaller pictures are here, here, and here.

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Happy Birthday Lisa!

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