Roman Day...

Ashlynn really enjoyed learning about Ancient Rome this term and was especially excited about Roman Day. All the kids dressed in togas for the day and did a variety of activities related to the Romans including gladiator wrestling and amulet making for protection from evil spirits . I also wore a toga when I helped with the feast at lunchtime. For the first half of the feast, Ashlynn was a slave and helped serve food to other students. As you can see, she especially thrived when she was a member of the royalty and was served by slaves.

Did I Read that Right?

As you know, it doesn’t take much to make me laugh. In Garmisch there were many posters for political candidate Max Wank, which frankly sounds like a perfect hash name to me. Throughout Bavaria, I laughed whenever I walked past a jewelery store.

Apparently the German translation of “schmuck” is quite different to the Yiddish one I grew up with.

Valuable Lessons Learned in Garmisch...

* When a downhill mountain biking junior champion says a hill is steep, believe him. No idea why we still let the bike rental guy at the hotel talk us into riding up to the Eibsee, the lake above at 3,000 foot elevation. Turned out that the bike lane was covered with ice, so we ended up pushing the bikes alongside the road for 1.25 miles up a 13% grade (granted, Jimmy did most of the pushing) only to find out the trail around the beautiful lake was also covered in ice and I was too much of a wimp to try it. I did overcome my fears of downhills enough to ride my brakes all the down.

* Jimmy would fight a bear for me. While on our hike, we came across a set of large animal tracks in the snow that appeared out of nowhere. I thought they were a large dog, but Jimmy thought they were bear despite that bears usually hibernate during winter. He tried not to scare me, but secretly plotted how he’d distract the bear so I could get away. Turns out there are no bears in that part of the Alps, but it’s good to know that my man would defend me.

Made it to the Top!

It was easy to consider giving up on the hike as I was gasping for breath on the long uphills in the deep snow, but I managed to keep going and eventually the end was in sight. I was truly thrilled when I finally saw this ski lift (which both Veronica and Ashlynn had ridden several times that day). I was even happier when I had a big plate of spaghetti and a nice cold beer in front of me. Ironically, once I filled my belly, I would have actually considered hiking back down, but there wasn't enough time before we had to meet the girls. Veronica was very surprised to see us on the mountain and thrilled that we could ride the gondola down together.

Should Have Brought Snowshoes...

When we got the map for the gorge, we noticed that there was a trail across the mountain to the ski resort where the girls were. So, instead of a simple walk back, we set out for over 3 hours of trudging through the snow as we made about a 2,000 foot elevation gain. I may be smiling in these photos, but I was not a happy camper despite the gorgeous scenery.

Nature’s Beauty in Bavaria...

After dropping the girls off at ski school, we set out for a hike to the nearby Partnach Gorge, which is a natural monument. It was quite remarkable turning a corner and discovering the simple river transformed into a gallery of fantastic ice sculptures. The gorge is 2,300 feet long and rises to 260 feet high with a walkway near the river’s edge. While I’d seen the backside of a waterfall before, it was definitely cool walked behind a frozen one for the first time.

A Quick Trip to Austria...

While the family was off skiing, I did some sightseeing. I spent one day with a friend at the picturesque town of Oberammergau, which since 1634 has hosted a passion play every decade (in 2000 there were over 400,000 visitors who watched the 7-hour long play which was repeated over a 5-month period and starred 2,000 of the town’s residents). Another day, I took a bus trip down to Innsbruck, Austria for a tour of the royal summer palace and a few hours of exploring on my own (unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to really explore the way I like to which is why next time I’ll just take the train on my own instead of an organized tour). The historic city center was lovely, especially with the snow covered peaks of the Alps towering behind. I especially enjoyed the Hofkirche (Royal Church) which had the most amazing tomb memorial for Emperor Maximillan I. Completed in 1555, it included 28 larger than life bronze statues of relatives and role models placed around the immense sarcophagus.