Happy Weinachten

The weekend was also a corker. Imagine was it would be like to be zooming down the ski slopes of Austria for Xmas day. Those of you who would prefer to stay at home with 20 members of your extended family, all with crying children are free to spend your festivus how you like (saps!). It wasn't as cold this time as last (it was -13 degrees on last Tursday and -21 the day before that), but a tropical -2 degrees. The Hinter Tux was closed, so the next field down (Eggalm) was it.

However I'm getting ahead of myself, since Friday is very worthy of a mention. I met Yayeri in Munich on Friday night and went across from the hostel we were staying at to the local beer hall. In the Bavarian region, of which Munich is the capital is a very drinking-oriented city. Everyone in the hall was well on their way through their 10th stein - including all of the the serving wenches. When I had ordered soup as an entree, our S.W. had looked at me like I had made slurring remarks about her moustache hair. She ambled walked away confused, only to return 2 minutes later to recheck my order against the menu, as if in amazement that soup could actually be on the menu. Literally 4 minutes later, she had returned with our starters, that I started slurping at with a casual pace. 3 minutes later, she had returned with a big saucepan of delicious-smelling Bavaraian cooking and upon seeing my soup still being eaten gave me a look of utter comtempt while she made an eating motion as if I was two, then gave a stern "Schneller, schneller" and stormed off, food in hand. The place was classic.

Anyhow, the next day on the field was fantastic, even though there was only really one run. It was different skiing amongst trees, but I still found that NZ field's are better: more varying terrian and runs, as well as more field to play with. Still, it was great having a blast blowing the cobwebs out. We had stayed in a small homestay-type chalet. It had room for six famies and was owned by a kind old Austrian lady. Those of you know know old ladies know they like to keep a tight ship, so the whole place was decorated and finished down to the finest detail. You felt bad just moving the carefully-placed towel off the bed; some people have too much time on their hands.

Those of you who can remember Xmas day through the boozy haze, will recall that it was on a Saturday, so I still had a chance to spend Sunday on the fields, but since I didn't have an easy way to get back to Munich, then Frankfurt other than via train, I decided to spend most of Sunday travelling, and travel I did. First it was the bus from the Tux, to Mayrhofen station, then the choo choo to Jenbach. Then from Jenbach to Munich, then to Frankfurt. All in all, it was a 10 hour journey. Something that was curiously interesting seeing the back country (and wondering why people would settle in a cold and unforbidding part of the world, but also draining at the same time.

I was a bit gutted to find the gym had closed early on Sunday night, so I pottered around the flat, vegetating in front of the box, watching TV5 from France... haw haw haw.