As promised, pictures of our ski adventure

We were a bit wary when we first arrived at the Edelweiss Lodge in Garmisch. It is one of the Armed Forces Recreation Centers . The cab driver on the way from the train station to the hotel told us that this was the least amount of snow in the town in over 500 years for that time of year. Not sure how anybody would know that though.

In any case, it was cold.

Sofia and Dylan were enrolled in Ski School for the week so we (David and Stefanie) tried to figure out what we would do with our time. Since David studied in Germany and had travelled quite a bit through Bavaria already he wasn't interested in seeing "the sites". So being the great adventurers that we are :) , we enrolled in a 5 day snowboarding class. The lack of snow in town caused us to have to travel about 1 hour + per day (buses, trains, gondolas) to the Zugspitze for our snowboarding class.

Here is our proof that we made an honest attempt at snowboarding. Notice the church in the background. Perhaps someone was watching over us to save our butts :)

By day 4 we both "got it" and were able to do toe and heel edge turns. Stefanie decided though that she had to make a choice between snowboarding (a re injured tailbone) and horseback riding once she got back to Tunisia. So she spent day 5 drinking Gluehwein at the lodge. David wasn't far behind after "tweaking" his ankle and almost breaking his left arm. It was a blast though. Next time we go though we will rent skis.

The kids finished out the week and their instructors were very impressed 1) that they finished the week out (since apparently a lot of kids get pretty whiny and end up quitting) 2) that Dylan could do "a pizza wedgie" aka snowplow from a fairly high speed and stop on a dime and 3) that Sofia was almost paralleling down red (blue in the States = intermediate) slopes by Friday.

Left - Dylan, David, Sofia and Stefanie on the Hausberg.

Bottom - photo taken from the gondola (15 minute ride up the mountain) once we got above the clouds

Right - photo taken from the gondola of the Eibsee Lake

Now we just have to make enough money to afford 2 vacations per year; Hawaii in the summer and Germany in the winter.