Austria part 1

Ok,
friday afternoon, all set, kids picked up and there we went.
Alas, there were more ppl who'd thought the same as the next 500 kilometers in 7 hrs showed.
The kids had been terrorising the backseat for the last, well, 4,5 hrs and as it is always nice to start your vacation with a clear mind and in the right flow, we decided to call it a day and look for a hotel in Karlsruhe.

The first hotel we tried was full.
Did you make reservations?
ehh...no.
O i am sorry m'am we're totally booked.
As of December.

Holy cow.

He did help us find something else a bit further in the village and around 8 the next morning we left for the last half. Which indeed costed us the same time coz we arrived in Serfaus around 3.
Now you may think that a vacation is relaxing, but i can assure you ski-ing is hard work.
You need to get ski passes for the elevators and decide for which height and how many days you're going to need them.

You need to get all the gear (shoes, ski's, helmets, sticks) for FIVE different seized persons.
And it's not as if that stuff is weighless.
After about 2 hrs, you're sweating like a pig, carrying ski's over your shoulder and accidentilly disheading the ppl behind you, skishoes (which weigh about 2 kilo's each!) slip out of your hand and fall- he, where else- on your at that moment shoeless toes.
So,
after we had stored the stuff at the ski-depot we could use a Weissbier and headed home.

This is a normal sized beer in Austria. So after 2 days of driving and a couple of beers this is what you're bound to get.

In total we were with 14 grown-ups, 2 toddlers and 9 kids who had the time of their life. Differing in age from 1,5 yrs till 45, everyone found someone to relate too.

Next day was spend at registering for ski-schools, trying out the slopes and ofcourse the rooftop pool.

Yes, there was a LOT of snow.

Monday morning, breakfast at 8 and then quickly on our way to the skilessons where we needed to be present at 9.30.
Now i've been in some pretty disturbing and stressful situations in my life but nothing prepared me for the ski-depot hell.
Imagine over 6000 ppl (NO kidding) all putting on their skishoes, picking up their ski's and throwing those over their shoulders, kids crying that they were too warm (everyone was dressed in at least 3 layers coz we were told it would snow up at the slopes) ppl looking for the appropriate depot numbers and loosing them.
Oh i could go on.
It was the worst.
Then everyone needed to go into the same elevators.
AAAARRGGGGHHHHHH
Let's say it this way.
I seriously considered cancelling the whole vacation and would gladly be in the car for another 2 days to go home right there and then.
And the fat lady hadnot sung yet.

Up at the slopes we had to find the right teacher for the kids.
Their were about 50 teachers.
And the classes had about 12-15 children.
Do your maths.
Sheer horror.
Now this is what C. looked like in the morning.
And as some of you may know she's got somewhat of a ...well, rather big belly.
And these ski trousers were rather tight in that particular area.
And the ski shoes were rather heavy to walk around with. Let alone you had to put on the ski's.
And that ski glasses kept gliding down.
She wanted to go home.

Luckily i bought a one-day pass for her, coz this was a bit what i had been fearing and after we upgraded M. the next day to another class our days were spend in perfect rhythm.
After breakfast R. and i dressed the boys for ski-ing, C. stayed in the village with Jamie and they came up to join us for lunch (Kaiserschmarren, some sort of dough with applesauce, or fries with a Frankfurter Wurst).


That is untill R. tore his knee ligaments.