Leia's first ski day

Breakfast at our hotel is great: it was very diverse and tasty. We had bacon and an omelette and all sorts of fruit and things. Leia made herself a little porcelain pot of tea. This morning after breakfast we went to the ski rental place to pick up a set of skis, poles, boots, and a helmet for Leia; we also got skis and poles for me because mine haven't been found yet. Last night we saw people there having beer and this morning I asked if I could have a beer if I rented their stuff - so they gave it to me! I had a beer at the rental place at about ten in the morning.

After renting things we got to the hill (with the ski bus) after 1130 so we could have bought a half-day lift ticket, but the ticket woman said it would be cheaper to get a 6-day pass than to try and get 5 and a half or 4 and a half days. Lift tickets are expensive! We hardly used it: there was no open flat area near the bottom to learn so we went up the gondola to see the view, but up there I only taught Leia how to put on her skis and how to fall. She did very well.

Leia was the best ski student I ever had. We took the gondola down to practice on a T-bar at the bottom. At first we only did one run down it, during which she learned how to parallel turn to a stop and practiced the basic stance (with a little more practice in falling.) It took a while to get down the first time since we covered a lot of tips and theory, like pressing on the outside ski and rolling onto the new edges, and after that we needed a rest, so we broke for lunch (Goulash soup) nearby. After lunch we did three more runs and Leia was amazing: she skipped the wedge and could link a few parallel turns, and can turn to the side of the slope to stop. We were mostly practicing keeping our weight forward. The lifts closed while we were having hot chocolate.

After skiing we enjoyed the sauna. It's a few small saunas, and one small steam bath (Turkish sauna) which we used. Because it's Austria, we went into the sauna naked, and my nudity frightened away some poor British guy who poked his head in. After a shower we went for a swim in the pool. There is no hot tub but the pool is warm.

There was a complimentary "greeting" glass of sparkling white wine in the bar around dinnertime, but there were not many people there. The dinner is still gourmet: small portions, but pretty good if you don't mind creative combinations of sauces and flavors. Leia said instead of dinner she'd like to have breakfast again.