With Max's school following the British calendar, we had several days off for what is called "Half Term Break." With the Alps so close, we had to take the opportunity to ski there. We took a day long train trip to Kaprun, Austria. Taking the train was a really fun and relaxing way to travel. We read, colored, snacked, and played cards to pass the time. Here is a picture of a town near the Czech/Austrian border.
Kaprun is a beautiful little alpine town that we had been told was especially good for families with young children. It definitely lived up to its reputation with something for every ability level and beautiful scenery. 
Max had some lessons and was skiing all over in no time. 
Katrina learned to ski on the bunny hill after some lessons from daddy. She liked to say she was a reindeer.
Rod got to ski on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier one afternoon. The views from the top were wonderful.It was also fun to watch the Olympics at the same time! In Austria the coverage was all about the German and Austrian teams of course. There was also a huge amount of coverage dedicated to the biathlon and cross-country ski events that aren't as well known in the US. Incidentally, Lindsey Vonn lived in Kaprun part of the time while she was training for the Olympics, and so locals there were keeping a close eye on her races, too.
Here in the Czech Republic, there is a lot of coverage of the Czech ski team and people are so happy about their speed skating champion. For hockey fans, however, there is no joy in Mudville. Charyssa notes that the time delay has been wreaking havoc on the health and work productivity of her business students. Her die hard hockey fans have had to pull all nighters this week to watch Finland beat Russia at 2 AM local time (very satisfying) and then watch the Czech team lose at 4 AM (ouch!) We are also happy to report that our TV drought of 6 months, due to technical difficulties with our internet provider and an old analog TV, has finally come to an end. We have finally found an internet site that will allow us to watch TV coverage from the US. NBC Olympic coverage live and in English!! Yeah!!
Breathtaking scenery. I can remember watching the summer 1996 olympics from Australia and being frustrated that I couldn't see the American gymnastics team. Instead, the broadcasting was heavily focused on the Aussie swimmers. BTW, that little red vehicle in the background of Charyssa's photo looks a little too similar to the snow vehicle in The Shining! Yikes!
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