Winter holiday was upon us! Alex more than happily left school already at lunch time and we headed to the airport. We avoided most of the heavy half-term traffic and made our way to Munich. Sadly for Alex with a lot of pain – his cold prevented him from equalising his ear and so he was in absolute agony. Poor little thing. No last drinks that night in Munich, but straight to bed. Next morning i picked up Laura after breakfast. She had flown in overnight from Bangkok with the same airline we used from london – yet with a very different experience. She was given neither food nor blanket and couldn’t get any food on her journey while our stewardesses took such great care of alex. Strange.
Off to austria!
Traffic wasn’t great, but we had a relaxed journey. Mainly off the big roads. There was time to talk, stop for Austrian lunch with sun and a view and still enough time to sort out skiing gear for alex and laura – our newcomer – after a warm welcome with the parents.
Exploring the Stubai glacier
Laura went straight for her 5 day ski course and even had a Spanish instructor 🇪🇸. She did well and learned the basics pretty quickly as the sessions went past. I doubt though that the tight ski boots will ever become her friend.
Bodo and mum had a private lesson right away the first day. Mum has really mastered her skiing by now while Bodo didn’t see the slopes all that much owing to some physical issues. Let’s hope it gets better next year.
Alex didn’t attend any ski school for the first year. Mainly because last year his progress was poor (concentration isn’t his strength exactly) and the whole thing was a waste of money. So Frances and I took him with us for most of the time – later joined by Steve who arrived a few days later from Copenhagen and is an excellent skier like Frances.
For the last day, Alex made a dream come true and had his first go at the snowboard. For that we headed for the piste nearer by our house (Schlick2000), as bad weather on the last day robbed us of a lot of skiing enthusiasm. He did well though realises he is a long way off his skiing ability … 🎿 🏂
An evening with the Widdecombe’s
A special occasion this year was the visit of my good friends and godson from London – Sara, Paul, Liberty & Bob. They were on their first family ski holiday and lived in the same accommodation. What a fun evening we had over raclette. The laughter over one of the jokes (sorry Paul!) is probably still echoing in the valley. Avalanche risk level 5!
Back in Munich
Tradition dictates that the Saturday after skiing is spent in Munich and more particularly the Hofbraeuhaus. We also managed to visit the zoo two years after our first visit (Weekend stroll through Munich and the zoo), the surf wave in the English garden and, how could we miss it, the Viktualienmarkt. Fun times as always!
Laura gave Alex a Bayern Munich shirt just before we had to say goodbye at the airport. He had zero issues putting it right on top of his Chelsea top. Kids have no loyalty these days!
