Guten Tag

As requested, I have returned from Austria with pictures. Though none are of scantily clad ski bunnies - they just don't exist until Easter-time. Sorry Andrik.

The whole week was fantastic. Perfect skiing conditions, perfect weather, a really cute village and great friends to travel with. I would go into detail about the trip, but I'm kinda jet lagged and sick - so I'm just gonna post a couple picts and explain 'em.


This is the village of Hopfgarten from halfway up the gondola. It's a super cute traditional Austrian village. I think it was originally a lumber town - at least there was a pretty large lumber mill directly across from the place we were staying, Gastof Shoneck. Each village is recognizable from above by its distinctive and gorgeous church.

We had most of our dinners at Gastof Shoneck (since it was included in the package), but went out twice - once in town at Gastof Post, and again when we were on our excursion to Innsbruck. The dinner here was really quite good. Mushroom soup, wienerschnitzel, and steak. mmm.



This is me on the only 1 person ski lift that I have ever seen. It went to the top of the Hohe Salve (the peak above Hopfgarten).
The skiing really was amazing. We had a pass for the entire SkiWelt ("ski world"), which covered 250km of groomed terrain and had over 100 lifts, gondolas, and a funicular.

This is officially the best way ever to get down stairs while wearing ski boots.

Ski school looks the same in any country. When we walked by, the group in the lower right was being led in some crazy-dance version of the Austrian hokey pokey that lasted at least ten minutes. That's ski instructor stamina for ya.



We took a day off skiing on Wednesday for some sightseeing in Innsbruck. I think we did a good job of looking sufficiently like silly tourists. I don't have picts yet, but we managed to find our way to Ferdinand II's castle. Castles are pretty and interesting, but damn cold!

Thursday was the first day of classes, so Stacey and I took a commemorative picture of what we were doing that day. Best first day of the semester ever!

That's all I've got for now. I think it's time to set my jet lagged self on the couch and see what's been tivoed while I was away. Hope you enjoyed the show.