Nov 2009

So this may be one of the last entries until our leave during the deployment.

Luckily today was gorgeous and a beautiful day for skiing! We got to make more than 1 run down the slopes and spent slightly less time in the lodge.

At one point we went all the way up to the Hintertux Glacier to have a look - you could see peaks go on forever and it was gorgeous. Unfortunately it was getting dark by 4:30 so we went back home to rest.
Dinner was a pizza place and delicious.

Sunday was a quick breakfast, walk and drive home. Next vacation....6 months

Thanks to Veterans Day we were given a three day weekend and we decided to go skiing in Austria. Hintertux was the destination we made it down on Thursday night. Friday morning we were up for breakfast and then skiing.

Unfortunately this was the view of the mountain from our hotel - Troppmair in Finkenberg.

When we got up to the mountain after a 15 minute drive it was starting to snow. We thought we could still ski so we bought half day lift tickets and got on the gondola. Our first (and only) run was a white out. We couldn't tell the difference between the ground and sky so we tried to wait it out in the lodge with some hot chocolate.
By 1400 it wasn't any better so we headed up the next gondola and met up with some other people for lunch at the lodge. After eating the visability was only getting worse so we just gave up and went down the mountain.

At the bottom it looked like the gondolas were heading straight into the clouds.

This morning I had in mind to hit the park with the Atomium and Mini-Europe.

We got there at opening time but decided not to go to the top of the Atom. It was built for a worlds fair and you can take an elevator to the top circle. It was advertised as claustrophic and there was a line so we skipped that tour.
Before touring Europe we stopped to have a waffle for breakfast.
Mini-Europe is a collection of 350 miniature models of the most famous sites in Europe. They are 1:25 size and very realistic.
In a about 2 hours we visited.....

Copenhagen, Denmark,

Big Ben and Parliament in London,

The Arc de Triumph in Paris,

a Bull Ring in Spain,

Gondolas in Venice,

the Berlin Wall,

the astronomical clock in Praque,

and I got a better photo of the parthenon than I actually got in Athens.
Brussels is heavy on business as the center of the EU and the NATO headquarters but was still a fun weekend away.