Feb 2008

We drove to an area called Spitzingsee in the Bavarian Alps!

Hardly containing my excitement, we booted up and hit the slopes!

My first tentative movements were like the scene from Bambi on the ice.
But I had been waiting so long for this that rather than get the feel of moving around I decided to head up the slope and plunge into it.

Starting on the kiddies slope....

I was on the ground often and watched as the children would glide gracefully past me. After a couple of rounds of sliding (not skiing) down the hill, I decided to think about what I was doing.

I watched other people as they came down the large slope, analyzing their moves, experimenting, coming to an understanding of the physics behind it. Trying to see if techniques from waterskiing were applicable.
"Ok, I tilt the skis like this to slow down, bend my knees etc. I get it!"

Then, a lift pass and up the mountainside to the real slopes.
The ride was slow and scenic and much longer/higher than I had thought.

We went as high as we could go then down we went.

The slope seemed to go on for ever and once I got off the red (intermediate level) piste and on to a blue (beginner level) one it was all smooth sailing. I enjoyed the beautiful alpine scenery as I zig zaged gracefully down the slope, the warm sunshine counteracting the cool, fresh air.

I got comfortable with it all very quick and before I knew it was taking photos and videos of my decent, going over (little) jumps and getting a bit too cocky with my speed. I did some very audacious (most likly amusing to other skiers) stacks which where mostly harmless. I got away with only some minor bruises and not the cliche broken arm or leg (thankyou guardian angels).

When we ran low on energy and needed a break, of course there was a beer garden cum restaurant waiting in a valley at the end of a number of pistes.

Then, refreshed, but not drunk (I wisely limited myself to one beer) we hit the slopes again. I must confess that I loved being able to say, in context, "Lets hit the slopes!".

The sun slowly dipped lower casting the slopes in shadow although it was still quite early in the afternoon. Unfortunately, most of the blue pistes were on the north side of the mountain and without the sun they became quite hard to navigate.

What I mean is, as the ground is a blanket of white, the only way to make out the shape of the ground is the shadows behind the dips and bumps. When the entire landscape is in shadow I couldnt tell when the ground rose in a gentle hill or gave way to a steep decent.

So we made our way down the long cross country style trail to the foot of the mountain. It was amazing to ski this track that weaved through the snow covered pines, the afternoon sun making jakobs ladders through the tree canopy. However everyone else took off at their own speed and I meandered along and eventually took the wrong way and ended up in the wrong valley. I was so far off course that I had to take a bus back to where the car was waiting for me! oops. oh well...

What a great day!

Another first and another experience to check off my list.

ho ho ho

Here are some photos from my Christmas. It wasnt quite the white xmas I had in mind. But I made the most of it.
I spent one night in Marienplatz.

I hung out with friends at one of the many little standing tables in the square. The air was cold, my nose and ears were being nibbled by old man frost himself, but the rest of me was warm. My hands being heated from the mug of warm glüwein whose steam rose into my face and melted my breath before it froze on my beard and mostache.

The square was busy from the markets, many makeshift wooden stalls selling christmas themed handicrafts and warm food and drinks.

The sound of carols filled the air and I was taken by the clarity of the sound reverberating off the buildings. As I looked up to the buildings for the speakers I noticed on the balcony was a choir giving a live performance! If it started to snow at this moment it would have been perfect.
But alas, it didnt.

The markets sell traditional food and drink including the classic glühwein, a sort of mulled wine served warm and often in different flavours. The Marienplatz ones are the most famous in München and very touristy. So one night I took my bike and did a tour of all the markets I could reach.

On Wittelsbacherplatz the was the Mittelaltermarkt. Once you passed through the giant bundled stick fence, everything on the inside was designed to look as close as possible to a market from the Middleages. You could buy food and drink served in ceramic crockery,also armor, weapons, clothes, games etc. all from this period.

The Chinese Tower Markets in the English gardens had a live band and horse and cart rides and lots of cool handicrafts like pupets and marionettes.

The Schwabingermarkts were the best as far as art and craft were concerned as this is the bohemian suburb of München and where I happen to live. The quality of the art was amazing, it was true 'fine art' as compared to the craft at most of the other places. I gained more than a few interesting ideas from roaming around here.

I also visited the famous markets at Nuremberg which were way too overcrowded and the non touristy but beautiful markets in Bad Tölz.

I travelled from Bad Tölz to a small villiage called Benediktbauern to see the snow and be shown around my friends hometown. If the snow wasnt going to come to see me in München then I would go and visit it. I also had the chance to experience a traditional, German family xmas.

Everything was covered in white but there was no snowfall while I was there.

The snow on the ground, though it looks magical, is around two weeks old and as such more like ice, slippery, wet and sharp. I wasnt even able to make snowballs out of it. Boo hoo. But I did some sledding,

and watched the sun set over a snowy landscape...

Merry Xmas to all, and to all a good night.

The locals it Fasching but most would know it as Carnivale!

The most famous Carnival events are take place Vennice and New Orleans, the largest is in Rio de Janeiro and in Deutschland the best (and one of the biggest in Europe) is in Cologne. But I had to work so I was in München and I think that wikipedia put it best when they said,

"In the East and South of Germany and Austria carnival is called Fasching and especially Munich developed a special kind of celebration."

and special it was.

Initially, I was annoyed at having to work on this day and it was hard to walk the city streets and talk about serious stuff like Hitler and the Nazis when people were walking past in fancy dress and throwing confetti at me and my group...

but we all had fun people watching and at the end of the tour I hooked up with my Fasching Posse.

As we were all on a budget and heard about the long waits for expensive beer at the festival we retreated to my humble abode to work our way through a carton of Augustiner Helles from the supermarket.

I did my tour in my Fasching costume, much to the amusement of my group, and it was at my place that we made some improvised costumes. And the very least we were facepainted.

And then, out into the fray!

The main event takes place in the Victualienmarkt but the whole city centre became one massive street party!

As we meandered our way in we would see more and more people dressed up.

This one was the funniest costume Ive ever seen in my life!!!

Although I had a backpack full of beer we called in to buy a few more, predicting that we were going to be in for the long haul.

Marienplatz was packed! There were food stands and bars set up along the sides of the pedestrianized streets and a stage set up in every square.

We started to make our way through the crowd in the general direction of Victualienmarkt, every now and then in a clearing we would stop and set up camp.

I could drop the backpack and distribute a fresh round of beers and we would hang out and people watch and take photos.

I bought a Krapfen, which is like a filled donut and is a traditional sweet at the Carnivale. Flavours like tiramisu, coffee, black forest cake, custard, etc, etc.

Victualienmarkt was so packed the polizei had set up a barricade and were not letting anyone in, so we thought we'd be sneaky and go around the block to the other side...

but it was just as packed so we headed back to Marienplatz to hook up with more people.

About this time the beer had worked through me enough that if I didnt find the gents I would explode all over the street.

I was so desperate that I went into Burger King to use their toilets. Alot of people had the same idea and they had a guard inside managing people in and out of the lou's.

All I can say is I'm glad I'm a guy because the line moved quickly.

We enlarged our posse and as it was starting to get dark and cold we headed into the Hofbräuhaus...

where the warm hall, jovial melodies of the Oompah band, friendly, drunken people, and at last a seat wecomed us.

Matt and I went on an adventure through the HBH to the upper rooms where other parties were going on in rooms that as far back as 1920 were used by Hitler for public speaches.

Then came the stagger home, followed by more beers, then sleep....zzzzzz