In the days leading up to our journey south, Essen was increasingly blanketed in snow. With each day forecast to have even more snow than the previous, our plans to drive 860km to Sued Tirol on the 24th December, started looking as bleak as the views from our bedroom windows. Despite grave fears of being stranded at some isolated Autobahn petrol station, with nothing but automatic cleaning loos for entertainment - we set off. The first hour of our journey was spent sliding in the one usable lane at 30km/hr with the other crazy drivers on the Autobahn. At that speed I calculated we'd be at our destination around 2am!
Eventually our average speed grew steadily to almost 100km/hr, as the further south we got, the less snow we encountered. Very odd. And by the time we hit Austria then Italy, the trees were green and the roads completely clear from snow. Oh no! Had we driven almost 10 hours to ski fields devoid of snow?
We arrived in Kronplatz at 10:45pm, after 13 hours behind the wheel. It was almost as bad as flying to Australia, except one's ankles don't seem to swell up as much. Our lovely hosts had placed a Christmas tree in our apartment, and had even decorated it.
The following day we hired our skies and hit the slopes. The concentration of snow canons dotted up the piste reminded us of Australia, but the snow was good.
Mia and Steph spent Day 1 telling Hubertus he was the worst teacher ever to have lived. So we booked the girls into the local ski school where tuition was a mixture of Italian and German. Despite this they soon learnt to master the snow plough. The teachers had a cute habit of calling parallel skiing "pommes" and the snow-plough "pizza". By Day 6 both girls participated in the mandatory slalom downhill race in their groups. Mia scored a bronze medal and Steph a silver. Steph was over-joyed and Mia said it was the worst day in her life!!!
Kronplatz is a very pretty place. Early in the week, the weather started off at minus 15C then rapidly warmed up to a pleasant minus 3C, during which we enjoyed most of the week under beautiful blue skies. The mountain is literally littered with scrumptious restaurants you can ski to, then sunbath outdoors whilst enjoying a beer or Italian aperitif with a yummy pasta.
A lovely week of snow, sunshine, Christmas presents, gluehwein, slalom medals, cousins and aching legs in Sued Tirol was a fantastic way to spend one's last days in Europe. We completed the visit with a New Year's Eve family tradition - Doris and Kristine baked home-made Berliner buns - I think I ate FIVE!!!
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