ST. ANTON (AUSTRIA) WITH A QUICK STOP IN ZURICH - December 2010
We went skiing in the Alps for our last weekend in Europe, first stopping by Zurich to pick up two of Mike's friends, Simon and Paul, who worked for Facebook in the UK (after doing a little shaking and baking with the travel plans due to all the snow storms). Allie and I ate at McDonalds for the first and only time in Zurich and a meal for the 2 of us was $20...some highlights below while we checked out the town until the boys' flight got in...
It was quite a long drive to St. Anton, Austria (and everything changes from French to German halfway through Switzerland) which is known for its Apres-Ski which means there are bars along the slopes that are supposed to make you more confident and a better skiier. I promised Art I wouldn't drink and ski, but this wasn't a problem because I couldn't even ski down the mountain! But back to that later...so Mike had arrived a day earlier and had gone out drinking by himself that night. He called us to check in on our drive the whole way, but had gotten so drunk and passed out when we finally arrived at 2am. He had the only key, and not wanting to sleep in the car, we kept banging on the door of our bed and breakfast, knocking on windows, etc. until the poor "Frau" (owner of the place who was like 60 years old) finally came and yelled at us/let us in. The next morning, Mike remembered none of this and Frau yelled at him in German and called him in a "failure!" It was awesome. The boys were very excited to hit the slopes...me, not so much, since I've only skiied once in the Poconos (not exactly the same as the Alps...) and these mountains were not exactly easy.
I took an expensive lesson with an old Austrian man whose nose hairs stuck out about an inch (his snot later froze on them as well), but he wouldn't even let me ski down the mountain because he didn't think I was ready! It was so embarrassing...I had to take the ski lift DOWN the mountain...it was a really lonely ride. I also ran into a little girl on the practice slopes, and her dad yelled at her because she was obviously better than me and therefore should have known better.
My astronaut suit was a big hit on the slopes!
The views were beautiful, and we lucked out with perfect weather...
When we had to return our ski gear, Simon and I realized we left our shoes at the hotel/at another ski rental place and therefore being the quick thinkers we are, we taped plastic bags to our feet. Luckily, Mike came to the rescue and gave both Simon and I a piggy back ride!
Now to the apres ski part...we met a nice German couple one night at dinner who later got us into this radio station party and we all went out dancing until the wee hours of the morning!
We also went to this one bar on the slopes (Allie and I had to take a taxi since we couldn't ski to it), where Allie proceeded to have a dance off with a 10 year old at the bar. The kid later took a shot of Jaegarmeister with some random dudes (I saw him crying later).
Then we rolled/slid down the slope (since we couldn't ski) to the next bar...we learned some pretty stellar German hits: "Das Geht Ab" (translation: "That's awesome!") and this new song "Barbara Streisand" where the only words are literally, "Barbara Streisand"...for the whole song. So catchy...and easy to learn!
Germans are typically fairly reserved people as well, and Florian was no exception, until you got some liquor in him and then he became a dancing machine (see video below)...Florian is the older man in the white polo.
All in all, a great weekend!
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