Lech, Austria: You know the Queen goes there...

Time for a ski holiday.... After being here for several months and knowing that the Alps were just a short 1.5 hr plane trip away, I decided that I just had to give skiing a shot while I was over here. Almost all of the Europeans that I know and have worked with go for a ski holiday during the winter and I decided to jump on the bandwagon. I thought I would do pretty well at it, I have skied before - for about 10 years when I was in grade / junior / and high school (and then I started work where taking time off in the winter is impossible), and so I believed the common comment of "it's like riding a bike" would apply. And it did. Putting on skies and boots was simple and just like I remembered, of course, the technology is much better - my feet actually stayed warm and the skies look different, but it definitely was much harder than I remember. Perhaps that is because I am 10 years older or perhaps that it because you ski on hills in Indiana and not "real mountains". And these are definitely mountains - they are huge and awesome and beautiful, I am so glad that we went. Derek (who had never skied before) and Todd (who had once) decided to take lessons so that they would spend more time flying down the hill than laying on the ground. I think the lessons were successful, although there definitely was some "ground" time. I wish I had pictures, but I was off skiing with Joe (another friend of ours that was there) and so I didn't get to see them on the hill. At night (well, after about 6 hrs of skiing - that was enough for the day), we would meet and have dinner and hang out. Derek taught Todd and I to play pinochle and the competition was off... I can't say that I completely understand the game, the meld, how to bid, or how to play your cards, but it was definitely fun trying to learn and reach the elusive 150 points. It was a short trip by European standards - 4 days, but it definitely was alot of fun and the company and scenery was fantastic!