Austrian Christmas

Oh there is so much to write!! Unfortunately, internet sucks in Italy. It is incredibly slow and has an hourly limit each day. Most of the internet time is spent downloading a site therefore my apologies ahead of time if I'm not posting as much as I was hoping too.


We left rainy Vicenza on Christmas Eve and drove to the gorgeous Alps. I know you all love Italy and most are enamored with it but the second we leave Italy and start heading into the mountains I am at peace. Jagged, new mountains scattered with castles, lil villas and gorgeous church steeples.  I will post pictures when I remember to bring my camera.


Last night we walked around rainy (see a pattern here?) Innsbruck. It is the perfect Christmas town except that everything was closed due to Christmas Eve. The window shopping was probably a good thing though- the clothes and shoes are to die for and they cost more than a pretty penny :( People were gathered round in one of the town squares, listening to the live Christmas music being played from the balcony of a church. Gluwein was flowing, fire crackers were exploding and the rain continued to drizzle. Restaurants started to open a bit later so luckily we found beer and weinerschnitzel!


After my favorite breakfast this morning - European continental with bread, cheese and marmalade- we headed to the mountain. We were getting a bit nervous that it was closed but luckily it was just empty. It was beautiful, covered in fresh snow and not many people in sight. We got in several good runs before the white-out hit and I wussied out. Not being able to see the ground really messed with my depth perception and made me sick to my stomach. That and my lungs froze up, leftovers from my nasty chest cold pre-Europe, so we made it back down a couple runs in the blinding snow before starting our snowy drive home. We passed through tiny little towns with cute guesthouses painted in the traditional Austrian/German style. Crazy Austrians were cross country skiiing through pastures and gorgeous valleys. It is like a storybook here in Austria.


Tomorrow we journey to Unterleiterbach, a tiny town outside of Bamberg, Germany, to visit Pat's family. I just received word though that his aunt fell in the snow and broke her shoulder...