To all our millions of faithful readers

To all of our millions of faithful readers... Please be patient, this blog will be updated shortly...

So, just in case you were wondering what has happened to The Woods...

From November the 16th the ski season opened... That should say it all ;)
Then, there were the German Christmas Markets; then shopping for the arriving Marais clan; then frozen lakes for Christmas and new ice skates;
Then a week-long road trip in a vw kombi with 4 adults and 4 kids (ages 3;4;5;&6!!!!) through Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Followed by a week of skiing in France at Samoëns in the Grand Massives with the view of Mont Blanc
This is now our first week-end home since the 9th of November and we are wading through the over 2000 photos from the trip and planning our next ski week-end!

30th Dec - Tour Day 3

Sunday dawns, and it's off to the slopes for 3/4 of the Marais. We have to get Amber to a hospital for her required check-up before we get further away, and Mandy will be coming along for the ride.

It snowed last night, so there are a good few inches of fresh powder all about. Before we can leave the hotel, the kids are already up to all kinds of stuff in the snow..

Mandy - air guitar version of "Hotel California"...

'Teeeenhun! The troops lined up for inspection

The kids are out spotting buck foot prints in the new snow.

We dropped Michael, Mish and Pierre at the slopes and set off. Michael is in the capable hands of Miro (Miroslav) for his lessons today.

Man... at this time of year, the skiing is great - if you can get to the lift!

Hayley, by a stroke of inspiration thought of going to a closer hospital rather than trekking all the way back to Plzen. Long story short, we stopped in one of the larger towns, found the nearest hospital thanks to TomTom, and again by the synchronicity that goes before us wherever we go, were able to get to see the required people, get the required stuff done and were set for the rest of the holiday.

In the CR, if you want to see a physician, you wait outside a closed door until it opens. Understand, there is no receptionist, there are NO receptionists ANYWHERE, in any institution. So, frequently one doesn't know if one is even in the correct place at all. The sister appears like the angel who stirs the healing waters, all aglow with authority, people, especially the ones who arrived since her last appearance, all rush up or call to her and tell her what they want / need etc, she issues directives, takes documentation, and then summarily disappears again behind the closed door. We have never found a sister who can speak a word of English, so we are typically at a loss where we start, not able to get past the angel at the door. In a moment of boldness, I asked a particularly studious looking gentleman, reading a book, on one of the chairs that line the corridor that is also the waiting room, in my best Czech "Prosim Vas... Mulvite Anglicky..?" when he answered "Yes" I knew we had hit the jackpot, he immediately sprang to our aid, relayed to the heavenly sister what we needed doing, and once she knew that she couldn't speak to us she somehow seemed to soften and accommodate. 1, 2, 3, we're in, see the man, do the photo, some more plaster on the cast, a little documentation and in a flash we're out of the hospital on our way to pick up the skiing Marais and set off for Rothenberg ob der Tauber.

Michael had been skiing for most of the day with mom and dad, apparently like a pro, doing the family blue slope on his own and really taking to the snow. Mandy, with us, had been the model citizen and had preferred to come to the hospital because skiing "Takes too long." A comment we've often had from our 2, not about skiing you understand, but just about anything else - "Sarah, put on your shoes!" (for the 5th time). "Dad I can't! - It takes too long...".

After a late lunch / supper at the restaurant on the slope we bundled into the van and began the drive to our guest house, a restored mill, in Rothenberg o.d.T.

Our diggs tonight are at Pension Fuchsmühle. This guest house is really first class, everything seems like it is new, spacious accommodation and nice services, stocked fridge downstairs, coffee machine etc.

Amber bathing in her bag

"Look ma... a broken hand!"

Bed time for little people, some of whom will be sleeping in a genuine camping cot for the first time in 5 years... The kids room only had 2 regular beds, the other two sleeping spots are in camp cots! At first there was rebellion, no one wanted to sleep like a baby, until the parents spun it into a cool thing to do. Then of course, you have the job of mopping up all the broken hearts and tears for those who can't sleep in the "cool" camp cots... you can never win.

Pierre (the legend) captivating babies with his stories of somewho's doing somehow some daring doo's... and kids enthralled. I think this was the case of the escaped hamsters.

Click here for the previous day - 29th Dec

Click here for the next day - 31st Dec

29th Dec - Tour Day 2

Let the skiing begin. After the usual 2 hour mobilisation phase of getting families out the door we got to the slope at about 10:30. With Michelle and Pierre itching to get some snow under their ski's, Hayley and I tried to get some of the basics taught to Michael and Mandy before their lesson began at 12:00.

Mandy, in the reverse snow-plough position - the first requirement for becoming a snow-inspector.

Michael is not interested in being taught basics, he wants to do the complex stuff off the bat, and do not attempt anything without poles! You gotta have the look even at the expense of learning. Within 5 minutes, he is telling me how he likes to ski (from his years of experience) and I'm taking notes.

Mandy is another story, she's in the kit, ski's on feet, either Hayley or I are kneeling in front of her talking about what we are about to do. Mandy is staring blissfully into the middle distance, dreaming of something... not within the vicinity of her senses and it takes touching her, or calling "Mandy... Mandeeeeee!" to get her to return to her body...

Nevertheless, the time passes quickly, Michcat and Pierre return, we have a quick lunch,

then its lesson time for Michael and Mandy, and off the 6 of us go to ski while the instructors get to deal with the budding professionals.

A stunning day is had by all and there is lots of good tiredness by the time we are forced to quit by the closing of the lifts.

Click here for the previous day - 28th Dec

Click here for the next day - 30th Dec

28th Dec - Tour Day 1

Today is the day we officially set off for the trip. By a team effort and some superior three-dimensional packing, Pierre and I manage to fit a few metric tonnes of clobber, 8 sets of skis, ski boots, toys, and a myriad of other odds and ends into a VW transporter. Man, we used every available inch of space in that bus...

The Volksie in front of Zelený Dům ("Green House" our affectionate name for our home):

Loaded to the brim off we set for a ski warm-up session at our now regular weekend ski haunt in Arber. It has a nice selection of runs, with some really good stuff for families. By the time we got to booking the accommodation for Arber, typically in the nearby town of Bayerisch Eisenstein, there was none to be had, peak season, holidays and all. So we had to sleep in Železná Ruda a town about 3 Kms from the border, so almost no inconvenience.

The drive to DE is filled with snowy scenes and there is happiness all around

If anyone knows what these wooden thingimys are around this field please let me know - we can only speculate about snow barriers and other unlikely stories.

Yes sir, she is chilly out there

Snow on the roads, heavy van, slow driving... not that the scenery had anything to do with it!

Only arriving in Železná Ruda after 3pm, we found our hotel, up on an hill with a driveway of ice and snow, in a van with 8 people and tons of luggage... well, it's a good thing we had winter tyres on or we'd have had to walk to the hotel. The first slow approach failed horribly, and after reversing down a slippery hill... The second running attempt at the hill got us up and parked.

This is the great Hotel Dix...

With all the snow about, the 4 kids were already eating, throwing, stomping, rolling and sleighing on a little slope in the garden of Hotel Dix having a great time.

Everyone in their new snow kit...

A frozen pond to walk on, complete with a fake frozen stork.

A winter-proof Mandy steams down the slope

The broken arm, not allowed to get the plaster wet cautiously approaches the scene

Cute kid!

As soon as we'd unpacked we headed off to the ski area to see if we could get passes and things for the next day, but got there only after they close at 4. Still, the kids had enough time to sleigh for about an hour before it was time to get back for supper.

Dinner was at another regular spot of ours in Bayerisch Eisenstein - Poeschl-Stuben. If you're in the area, you should stop over, big menu, friendly staff and frequently attended by owner Jurgen, who is a really helpful guy. He also owns one of the better local ski kit shops, a hotel, ski school and other businesses in the area.

Pierre capturing some night scenes of BE from just outside the restaurant.

The hotel was functional, skimpy on the heating at night though - if you go to Hotel Dix in CZ, just take warm jammies to sleep in - we had the kids sleep in their ski thermals and pyjamas to keep them warm enough.

 

Click here for the previous day - 27th Dec

Click here for the next day - 29th Dec

Skiing at Špičák (pronounced Shpiechak)

It was really touch and go for a while as to whether we would actually get to Špičák or not! Have you ever tried to make an accommodation booking where neither parties can understand each other? We tried the e-mail thing first, but never received a reply. Eventually, I scanned through my limited knowledge of Czech and the dictionary and worked out all the correct words to say. The only problem with this is that he could now understand me, but I had no clue what he was saying back! Fortunately, a Czech colleague saved the day and phoned through for a reservation for us on Friday morning.

The next challenge was finding our accommodation when we got off the train (after forgetting our map at home and the resort's contact details!). Every one we asked "Kde je Penzion Barta?" (Where is Penzion Barta?) just returned the conversation with a blank look and a long string of Czech words, which we kind of figured meant that they had no clue.

After trudging up the street and only finding ski slopes and ski lifts, we then turned around and trudged back down the street, to find a big tourist map just metres from the train station where we had disembarked a good 40 minutes earlier with "penzion barta" very clearly shown on the map and was infact about 5 metres as the crow flies across the snow, but about 50 metres around the corner by road (Satellite image link here, just imagine it covered in snow).

By this time, we were thanking our sanity of sleeping those extra 2 hours in the morning and not trying to catch the 5am train but the 7.30 train as there was a high level of crankiness in the 2 littlies already. We then blazed forward, swapping jeans for ski kit and headed back up the street to find out how the whole ski thing actually works. With ill fitting, hired ski boots and skis in hand, we had about 1 hour to kill before we all (yes, all 4) had our first ski lesson at 12:15. We spent the time munching a pack of peanuts followed closely by chocolate and skidded and slipped our way around the base camp as there was very little snow and thick layers of ice everywhere.

Our ski instructor Jacob met us at 12:15 and we followed him for the few hundred metres to the kiddies slope with our ski boots feeling like lead; the skis on our shoulders (ours and the girls); ski poles (ours and the girls), while dragging A & S who all but believed the world was going to end if we didn't carry them too.

Fortunately, the novelty of putting on skis kicked in and the mood lightened significantly for the duration of the lesson (which was spent with Jacob just trying to keep A & S upright). Colin & I didn't get very much out of the lesson, but certainly enjoyed watching the antics of the 2 newest ski enthusiasts.

After the lesson, it took us close on 45 minutes to get back to the camp with the now very ratty tatty moods in tow.

We decided to hitch a lift on the local train shuttle to the next town - Železná Ruda (that housed the closest ATM) and have dinner while waiting for the return train.

It was stunning. This little town was incredibly picturesque and we were kicking ourselves for forgetting our camera. Sarah slept the whole while, first on Colin's shoulder while we walked through the town, then on her chair in the restaurant, then on the floor on our jackets in the restaurant, then on Colin's shoulder while walking back to the train. She woke up at the train station and perked up when we started feeding her the chicken schnitzel and smiley face potatoes from her supper.

Sunday morning we got smart. We left the 2 girls for their private 2 hour lesson and we hit the intermediate blue slope for a bit more action. It was great fun and I can claim to even have had a spectacular wipe-out! The weather was stunning with blue skies and the ski run was in the shade of the pine forest. The ski lift was the time killer though and limited our number of runs to about 3 or 4 before we had to go back to fetch the girls.

We had a lunch of pizza and sauer kraut soup and then we walked through the forests a bit alongside the ski runs. The girls were horsies (as usual).

After lunch, we took the girls back to the kiddies slope and in more sensible boots, ran around while they practiced staying upright on their skis. We managed to teach Amber the concept of the "snow plow" which was a momentous occasion; Sarah was just giggling and practicing the sideways-onto-bum maneuvere.

Tip: Chocolate and Jellies are a great mood lifter! Skis off, we had a great time playing in the snow - and as you can see - "The Woods were here!".

(The picture after of our bum prints in the snow has been censored!).
At about 4pm we headed off the snow, swapped ski pants for jeans and walked a bit through the town of Špičák before having dinner at the restaurant next to our pension.

Monday morning, with no ski instructors available to take the girls, we spent with all 4 of us on skis playing on the kids slope.

Colin & I took turns to ski with Sarah down the hill (her between our legs). After Amber had a turn between our legs and remembered her snow plow techniques, she then braved the slope on her own, following in my tracks. She was incredible to watch - snow plow position, bum in air with her poles paddling along side her in a chookoo train motion - very cute!!!

After a lunch of Bratwurst and Chips, we headed home to pack and wait for the train to take us home.

Pending some more snow - See you again, Špičák!

(Link to Our Web Album)