Happy Easter!

Here we go again! Today we only did the first 2 hours of lessons because we want to also relax a bit. It snowed again, which is quite extraordinary for this time of the year.

So, up a little bit more to get to the right piste. The lesson went well and in the end I did some skiing by myself and it was great. I totally enjoyed skiing this time around. Definately want to do it again!

Yours truly coming down! Didn't fall at all today. I did well :-)

So just after noon we took the lift down again.

Some areas were quite foggy.

Little ski-ants everywhere.

Our skis.

In the afternoon the weather cleared up a lot. When we went out for lunch most of the clouds had gone.

This is our hotel. I can highly recommend it I just dunno if you can afford it ;-)

We went to get pizza. Simone wasn't tired at all ;-)

Neither was I ;-) I was hungry though! That pizza was delicious.

Late arvo we had an apres-ski party in town. There was even a band! Nice :-)

On our way back to the hotel we visited the little church after we heard that you could actually just walk in.

Lovely little church.

Simone and I having a great time.

Play time during dinner.

Today's 5 course dinner. It was all lovely.

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.

ChipSki day 2

Looking out of the train window around 7AM after 4 hours of sleep.

Austrian trains are very similar to German trains.

As we drove closer to our destination we passed a lot of little Apls-villages. Very picturesque.

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It was funny to see the sharp line between clear and snowy ground.

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We had to wait in Worgl for one hour to swap locomotives.

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Not our locomotive but still... hehe.

The guys I share a train compartment with. My colleague Sylvester and his mate KlaasJan.

And also my colleague Norbert.

Austrian cottage.

Another view.

Another view.

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Final destination: Zell am See!

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One hour after arrival we were all geared up for some skiing, including yours truly.

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We walked from the hotel to the ski-lift. It was not cool, I hate ski-boots. However, the view from the lift was stunning. The ferris wheel at Dam-square at home has nothing on this lift!

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I was in a class for two hours. I only fell once about 15 minutes before the end. I had to take off my skis and I called it a day. I really liked the class but the walking in those boots takes away a lot of the fun. I don't think I'll be doing more skiing.

Apres ski. Not my thing to be honest.

On my way down to dinner I ran in to Klaasjan and Sylvester who went for a swim.