Jim went skiing at Kühtai; no photos today, sorry. I took my normal walk, up into the meadows just above our house. I would like to vary my walk and go down to Kematen and Unterperfuss and walk there, but as Jim takes the car skiing I would have to walk. Walking down would not be bad, but then I would have to come back - and it's quite a hike in itself up to Oberperfuss because we are at 800 meters. Maybe I will start taking the local bus down to Kematen and Unterperfuss. Have to get a bus schedule. There is a bus stop very near our house.
I find it hard to believe how much sunshine there is here. Almost every day. We have had only three overcast or rainy days in the almost three weeks that we've been here.
The snow that came this week, along with the sunshine and warm temperatures, has led to some ice on the meadow roads and other roads and paths at higher elevations. So be careful driving, those of you who are coming. And don't forget to bring flip-flops for the sauna. Meinrad and Regina told me a funny story about their sauna experience in Minnesota. I don't know why they found themselves in Minnesota, but it must have been in the winter because they said it was very cold. They were so thrilled to get to their hotel and discover that it had a sauna! Boy were they looking forward to that. So they went down to the sauna, only to be thrown out for being naked! They were disappointed not to be able to use the sauna because they didn't bring bathing suits. We had a good laugh about that. Cultural differences.
Lately I had a craving for blood sausage. I found some at the market in Innsbruck, it was very good. Different from what I had as a child, but still good, actually even better because it had less fat in it. And I get to eat different kinds of head cheese, too! Another one of my favorites.
I went to see Manuela again today. She and I are now calling each other "du." I am enjoying listening to her dialect and am understanding more and more of it. I should have taken the camera, because she lives up on the mountain outside of Aldrans, where there is an amazing view looking down into Innsbruck. Her husband works for Swarovski, and she said she could get me crystals wholesale. Will have to let Sue know that.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A normal day
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The ski conditions were fantastic both yesterday and today. Yesterday the off-piste powder was really nice. Not too tracked up, about to the bottom of my knees. And brilliant sun, no wind, no lift lines, no crowds. Today was more of the same (different ski area though). With an extra day, the powder was more tracked up and caused a couple of good face plants. And now I can hardly walk. Tomorrow seems like a good day for an alternate form of exercise.
I still have yet to see a single other telemark skier on the slopes. Even in New England, where they are rare, I can usually see at least one on any given day.
It's about time to leave some comments on what is different here either from what we're used to or what we expected.
•No base lodges at the mountains! Everyone changes clothing and boots in the parking lots. It means that if you want a dry pair of gloves or warmer/colder clothing, you have to come all the way back down to the bottom to do so.
•Proximity card readers for lift tickets. You just walk through a gate and the turnstile lets you in after recognizing your card. At the end of the day, you have to return the card to receive a €2 refund.
•Toilets -- love the small flush/big flush buttons, hate the bowl layout. Don't make me provide more detail!
•Fresh bread. Oh, they really know how to make great bread here. But it goes stale in less than a day. With the supermarket closed on Sundays, our landlady was very insistent about telling us where to buy on Sundays. They are serious about this!
•Driving - they like to drive fast here, and they like to sit on your tail if you aren't driving fast enough.
•Drugstores - there is nothing like a CVS here. If you go to the Apotheke, they will sell you prescriptions, first aid stuff, and some types of non-prescription things (eg. cough syrup, contact lens cleaner). But you have to ask someone for what you want. You can't just browse the shelves, compare products, etc. They want to offer advice.
•Cooking measurements - all non-liquid measurements in recipes are by weight rather than volume. It is more time consuming to than using measuring cups.
•Du and Sie - in English we just say "you" when we mean singular or plural, formal or informal. Not so in German. It's easy to make a mistake and embarassing to realize afterwards. The problem is that our brains aren't even wired to think about this relationship when we are saying "you."
•Music - this is surely the US' best export to the world. The local pop music is (IMHO) horrible! I find some of their American "hits" to be surprising choices that I don't believe were hits in their day back home.
•Paying the bill at a restaurant - they will never hussle you out of a restaurant to turn a table here. Far from it. You have to ask for the bill. And they are not at all put out by having to split a bill among different diners. Amazingly, the waitstaff is able to perform addition without use of a computer, right at the table!
•Cuisine - the food is hearty and delicious here. But they are not really into vegetables or fruit. I've noticed before that at a breakfast buffet you will often find canned fruit instead of fresh. The produce section at the supermarkets is also quite a bit smaller than we are accustomed to. They make up for it with a large selection of canned, jarred, and frozen vegetables. As a fancier of pasta, I have to say that the Austrian offerings are excellent -- knödel (big dumplings, sometimes stuffed or with things mixed in), spätzle (freeform noodles), krapfen (ravioli stuffed with all kinds of things). And I'm sure that there's lots more to discover.
•Beds - if you have a double bed, that means that you have two half-size down comforters. Nobody drags it all to their side! And making the bed consists of folding your comforter into thirds, rotating it across the bed, and fluffing the pillow.
•Energy conservation - they are really serious about carbon footprint and energy conservation here. Most of the light bulbs are CF already. Fuel is really heavily taxed, so that it is about three times what we pay. And now the EU is going to be levying penalties by country for exceeding certain emissions levels. Why can't we get our act in gear?
I'll think of more to add to this list. But in the meantime, I plan to keep savoring the differences.
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