Solden Days 2/3/4- Ski Schule

Classification test - they took everyone who thought they were intermediate and advanced and made each person individually ski down the hill so they could determine what 'class' we would be put in for ski schule (aka school). I was looking forward to doing school with Mel but she was put in a different (lower) class than me! Hopefully she joins my class soon as she ended up being the top of her class!

I was in a middle intermediate (yay me!) and they immediately took us up the nearby lift and started a number of drills for us to learn positioning drills - assuming that we had all mastered turning. It was good. We went up and down a number of lifts trying slopes with and without poles. I felt good after the first day and felt that I had definitely improved my form. ;o) All three days of our training were beautiful sunny days we got to try out a number of lifts, including a steep black lift. Each day was 10 am to 3 pm so we were usually pretty tired after, but on the 2nd day Mel and I decided to meet the guys for drinks (hot mulled wine!) and strudel on the ski down to the village. It was an exhausting and long ride down but we were proud of the accomplishment of finishing the entire jaunt!

I have to admit that on my last day of ski schule I fell off the tow rope lift that is basically a bar you hold onto that pulls you up the hill on your skis. My skis crossed with the girl beside me and we slid off the thing (no big deal), but had to go 'off-piste' to get back to the main run. In the open terrain I hit an area that was totally deep snow and fell right in with my ski tips up! My team laughed and cheered me on. Needless to say, I was then the class clown. Sweet....At least I left a legacy. ;o)

SOLDEN - Day 1 - Exploring the alps on our own

The first morning in Solden Austria, in our 2 bdrm appartment in a small hotel called Haus Fiegl, we woke up to a view of sun coming up over the peaks of the mountain, right from our bedroom!

We then headed over to the big gondola to get to the main ski area. What we didn't anticipate was a 45 minute wait to get on the gondola itself! We felt like cattle, but once we got up to base of the mountain it was totally worth it.

Since we missed the first class due to the gondola line up, we decided to take on the mountain ourselves. Melissa and I were obviously more junior skiers than Syd and Joe but they were so patient with us. We found time to get great picture opps as well.

In the early afternoon we went up to the top of a 3000m peak. The view up there was so amazing...though I looked at the steep hill down and had to mentally prepare myself for the ride down. Let's just say that Mel and I struggled. In the steepest parts our butts became the quickest (and safest) route down. It was steep in most of the beginning parts and took us about 30 minutes to get down the entire mountain. At the end of it, we both thanked our stars that we made it, but then were grateful that we would be going into ski school the next day!
We had a few beers (weiss beer - yum) at a bar at the base of the main gondola, the bar was called 'Kuckkuck' - which stands for 'kookoo bird' or rooster. It was cool to have fresh cold beers while standing outside on a musical patio in our ski gear!

We were pretty pooped from our first strenuous day of skiing so we went for some sauna and swimming pool action before heading to a pizzeria nearby for a nice european pizza dinner. Early night of crashing for an early morning of hitting the slopes with ski school!

OBSERVATIONS:
Children are patient here! While waiting in a 40 minute line for the gondola I totally expected whiny kids, but they were the complete opposite - regardless of age! So I thought, either the children are REALLY well behaved or otherwise very excited to go skiing! No crying or complaining or anything. I was very impressed.

We hit a grocery store on the way home from 'apres ski' on the way back to our appartmenthaus to get provisions (aka booze). This normally wouldn't make the cut for a blog, but wait, it gets better. I had sore feet from my new ski boots so I offered to be the 'watcher of the boards' while the other three went into the store. During that time I just chilled on the floor inside the exit and entry doors and waited. Apparently this was 'weird' as I got a number of strange looks, and one bunch of people decided to take the piss out of me and offer me a euro! I was embarrassed and said 'no, no' (with a smile). But now that I think of it, I should have taken it and bought a beer with it...doh!

Innsbruck - A city in the valley of three peaks

On our first day in Innsbruck, Austria we were just knackered (aka tired) after an early wakeup and really only 4 hours of sleep. It was really neat to walk out of the plane onto the tarmac and find ourselves in the middle of a valley with mountains surrounding us in EVERY direction!

To top it off, after we grabbed our bags we grabbed a city bus into the town (only a 15 minute ride) and it ended up being our cheapest airport transfer yet at 3.20 euro for both of us! We stayed at the Hilton again but had a consensus that the Hilton room/hotel amenities were better in Stockholm. ;o)

Because it was lunchtime we chose to walk around and find a bite to eat while seeing some cool city sites. There was an old town that had pedestrian streets (love those!) and very colourful facades on the sides of buildings, and colourful churches too! In the main cathedral called the 'Dom' the ceilings were completely ornate. So pretty, though a little overdone to be honest. hee hee. That night we went in the sauna of the hotel and went out for an early Austrian dinner in a cute 'gasthaus' in the old town. Syd had schnitzel and I had pan-fried potatoes with beef and bacon. Both very tasty, though a tad oily...
The next day we had a long 'lie-in' (aka sleep-in) and then went exploring again before catching a train to Solden for skiing. We checked out the ski lift from the 1976 olympics which involved a hike up a steep ravine. It was really cool though. Too bad the ski lift still isn't in operation. Neat to see though. It was a beautiful day for a hike with vistas overlooking the valley city and mountains.

The train ride and following bus ride to Solden was also majestic as it went up, up, up into the mountains. Snow eventually showed up during our northward journey and we got really pumped for our ski vacation.

Observations:
Easter is a big thing around here. Everywhere we go they have colourful eggs and bunnies in the shop windows, and hanging on trees in lobbies of restaurants and hotels. We went to to a cafe to have a cappucino after only 3 hours of sleep and some authentic Austrian pastries. Syd had an apfel struedel while I had a Krappfel, which is a sugar dusted doughnut with apricot paste inside - soooo good! Anyway, back to the easter thing, even in this little cafe they had little baskets on each table with colourful hard-boiled eggs and salt in the basket. Very strange....will people actually sit down and eat those, or is it just for show?...we didn't understand. Ah well, they looked cute in any case.

Off to the Land of Schnitzel

After a pretty grueling work week, Astrid and I are now en route to Austria for a ski holiday. We're running on pure adrenelaine -- we were in bed around midnight, up at 4:15, out the door by 4:45, on the 5:02am train to Gatwick, and sitting on the tarmac now at 7:45am. Whew.

But we should be in wonderful Innsbruck in time for lunch. We stay in town tonight before making our way to Soelden tomorrow (about an hour bus ride) to meet our friends and get a full 6 days out on the slopes.

Valentines Memories in London

As valentines fell during the week this year and Syd and I both have busy work schedules I didn't know what to expect. Syd came through and kept it surprising and well planned! I was working away (until 6:30 - yikes) getting the odd text message from Syd saying that he left work. So I continued to work only to look up and see him standing right in front of me, at my desk! He has never come to my work before so that was well cool. He said it was interesting to see where (and how) I work. He found it weird that there was alcohol randomly located around the office. I don't partake, I swear!

From there we went to this cool bar in a meat-packing district near my work in central east London to this bar (revamped warehouse) called Smiths of Smithfields. It was pretty busy and was a great place to wind down and enjoy a drink. It was a quick drink actually as Syd was getting anxious about the reservation he made.

We got in a cab to Trafalgar Square - which is literally a huge roundabout with streets going in 6 different directions. Syd only had an address, which could have been any one of the streets! After a brief walk around, we found the restaurant (which was huge) and it was called Albannach. When we went inside the entire wait staff were in kilts (including the men - hot) and I instantly smiled and turned to Syd and said "Honey, you booked a Scottish restaurant for us? Wicked!"

It was quite a fancy place. There was a 'natural' theme about it as antlers (and even a lit up deer near the coat check) were used everywhere. Antlers made up the base of lamps, and interconnected antlers made up a massive chandelier in the middle of the tall ceiling. It was well cool.

What made the ambience that much more special was the tenor saxophone player that was playing some jazz and modern tunes throughout dinner, starting with the classic "Only You". ;o)

Our meal was so good. We both had chateaubriand (nice cut of steak) with a truffle mushroom mash. That was followed up by a cheese plate and decadent desserts - I had a cheescake with a shortcake base while Syd devoured a dark and white chocolate mousse cake.

To top it all off, Albannach also had a lounge bar below named Doon, which had a great menu of cocktails that we enjoyed one interesting drink a piece while we took part in people watching a number of singles that showed up for a masquerade night.

Thanks for a great valentines memory in London!

Cousins, Fish and Friars

We had the great fortune of another cousin visit this past weekend. This time from Jedburgh Scotland! My 'second cousins' came to London on Saturday as they came down for the weekend to stay in Reading just outside the city. It would be the second time on record that I have met these cousins as I first met them in Edinburgh on my trip in September. I must say though, Lilian, and her teenage daughter Emily are so cool! And super nice!

We met them at the train station as they took the train from Reading. Thank goodness! I was originally thinking that they were going to drive into the city and I thought that they were mad. I thought it might be fun to hit the London Aquarium which is located on the bank of the Thames right next to the London Eye. The shark tank was pretty cool, and I loved the coral reefs and watching the clown fish frolick among the sea anemone. What I didn't expect was how small and dark it actually was. It was basically all underground. We only had 2 hours and I thought we would only get to see one floor. We saw the whole thing in 1.5 hours. I guess its not fair of me to judge as the main aquarium that I am comparing it to is the Boston Aquarium which is just massive!

The best and most original experience that I will always remember was the touch pool. This was a large pool filled with about 12 stingrays that allow you to touch them if they come up to the surface. Each ray has a different texture. Syd felt one that had a scaly rough surface with a bony spine, whereas I touched a soft fleshy one that must have been in infancy. It was such a neat experience and totally worth the admission price alone!
Following the aquarium we crossed the Blackfriars bridge and hit a pub called 'The Black Friar'. Yes, I know, very original. However, inside, it was really funky. I tried to take pictures to capture it. There were wood carvings of friars all along the top of the walls and cute phrases.


We enjoyed a good ale there and then walked over to covent garden to have a hearty American meal at TGI Fridays. It was so fun to get to know each other, share funny stories and even share pictures and music over bluetooth with our mobiles! Emily taught Syd about how to do the bluetooth exchange, to which he was embarrassed to not be too knowledgeable about (sorry honey!) ;o)

Its great to be able to be close to cousins who would normally be across the ocean. Can't wait to spend time with them again at the Edinburgh tattoo in August!

Prehistoric Stones and the Magna Carta

After being in England for 6 months we finally took the opportunity to visit the infamous prehistoric rocks that have put Salisbury on the map, yes, that would be Stonehenge. Archaeologists believe that the circle of standing stones were erected in 2200BC. There were many theories of how they were built. As the stones were not indigenous to the area, it was believed that they were moved upriver on logs, and then rolled by many men on logs across the hilly landscape using thirty million man hours and 3 construction phases to be built on the spot where they rest today. The spot just 13 km outside of Salisbury had significance because of where the sun's rays touch the centre of the rocks during summer solstice.

Now, many people say that they are just a bunch of standing rocks, but to us, they had somewhat of a mystical quality. Jutting out from the green landscape of the English countryside, the circles of stones and outlying monuments emit a power that must have been ingrained in the site itself. But it is a magnetism that can't be explained by architecture alone. Much of Stonehenge's intrigue stems from the fact that the stones are so shrouded in mystery, a characteristic that is magnified by its age.

Following stonehenge we visited the quaint town of Salisbury and took a tour through Salisbury Cathedral. Outside the cathedral was this neat marble statue that looked like a full moon.
Salisbury Cathedral, one of the first medieval churches in the UK and has the tallest spire is also the home of the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was written in 1212 and was the first written document of principles that later formed the basis of national constitutions, including America's Declaration of Independence. Most of its clauses deal with specific, and often long-standing, grievances rather than with general principles of law. Some of the grievances are self-explanatory: others can be understood only in the context of the feudal society in which they arose (i.e. "no widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without a husband").

The cathedral itself was fantastic. It had amazing blue stained glass at the back and a long nave that is apparently extensive. While we were there an exhibition of wood carving was in the front of the nave so we didn't get to see the full expanse, but we could imagine it.
We had to head back to catch a train home, but on the way we walked along the stratford river and caught some swans enjoying the sunset.

A night in London in the 1920's

My cousin Brandon came to visit us for a few days at the end of January. We were excited to show him what life is like for us in London. Fortunately he had the best weather (sunny!) in which to explore.

The first night he was here we packed it in with dinner at home, a trip to see a band and then a 1920's bar. The guitarist on the left of this punk band works with Syd. The music had a fun vibe and it was a good start to the night.

Of course, we couldn't do this dressed in our modern duds, we had to immerse ourselves in the era! I borrowed my mom's flapper costume and Syd and Bran wore suits with fun historic hats. Bran said that he felt like the spiffiest backpacker ever!

We took a black cab to the bar, which Bran thought was quite authentic. We gave the cabbie a good laugh with all of our Canadian references and observations along the way to the bar in Soho (near Oxford Circus). Upon first entering the bar we instantly fit in as there were tons of gangsters and flappers - boas everywhere. On stage was a freaky clown that stripped down to burlesque clothing. So strange was he that none of us could stomach getting a picture of him. ;o) We did manage to enjoy watching others, and getting creative with our photography (below). Good times!