The 2nd and 3rd lesson

Today we had 2x 2 hour lessons but with a different teacher. The lessons are going quite fast. I fell once pretty early on. No harm done. Yesterday we were practicing how to step up a mountain sideways and how to make a snowplow and how to break, today we are going down the piste. Yikes!

Look at my girlfriend coming down the slope!

That guy was our new instructor. He was actually nicer than the first one I think. Very patient and fun.

Simone quit a little bit early and went back to the hotel because her back started to hurt a bit. I continued and at the end of the day he let us ski back using a blue/red route. Red is not really suitable for beginners. Blue is just about doable enough as it is. I fell a second time but not very hard. I did nearly end up in the trees though ;-)

After a long skiing day we went back to the hotel, had a shower and then went downstairs for dinner. We joined Natilja and Sylvester. Very nice people. Sylvester is my colleague. He raced past me on the piste a few times yelling "Vinceeeeeeeeent" which made me laugh.

The food in this hotel is very good. This was my starter.

Simone's starter.

We are skiing in the middle somewhere. I had a fantastic day!

Hello Zell am see!

The train with all 600 of us drove all through the night to drop us off in Zell am see late this morning.

We are staying in hotel Tirolerhof. It's a great hotel and I've been here 5 years ago as well.

We got a personalised welcome which I think is very, very nice!

Very important: our ski passes! Yeah, gimme some of that freude bitte!

With not much sleep we enjoyed a quick lunch at the hotel and then we received our first skiing lesson. It went very fast and by the end of the first 2 hours we were going down the first little slope. It went very well and it was fun. The weather was fantastic today. I actually took my jacket off because it was too hot.

Going up the baby-lift.

Simone enjoying herself :-)

Since it was sunny we had great views from the mountain.

The Zellersee without people.

The Zellersee with people ;-)

And again without people. Actually this is almost the same photo as before but it's so beautiful I'll just post it twice :-)

The church in the town center.

After a 2 hour lesson we returned to our hotel to finally have a shower and a rest. It was a great afternoon.

Going away

Not much going on today. Except for 600 people in blue skiing jackets (including Simone and I) getting on a train to Zell am see, that's all :-)

The escort

On my way to work this morning I saw this mama duck escorting 6 or so ducklings to safer waters. Spring is near :-)

Ever more construction

They have started getting the area in front of the HEMA head office ready for construction. I wonder what they're going to build here. Probably another huge office building. Because we don't have enough empty ones yet...

The new NDSM ferry terminal

The field in front of the HEMA office has been fenced off and the concrete plates have been removed. I wonder if they are finally going to build something...

The old NDSM ferry terminal has been taken out of use.

And the new one is now in use!

I like this new terminal.

So spacious!

The old one now looks desolate and from the past.

When I got home I found gifts that Raymond and Joyce left me. I let them use my appartment over the weekend so that they could spend some time in the Dam. They are lovely people, I was happy to help them out :-)

Happy Easter!

We had Easter breakfast today, a week early, for various reasons. Simone made a lovely breakfast table.

A few months ago I bought this inexpensive but huge grill plate. Today was a good day for a first test!

The test was a success! We used it with just the four of us but I think it easily fits 6 or 7. It was super easy to clean and it made cooking easy. Great buy!