Heaven must have powder runs...

Hi Everyone,

Yeah, I've been fairly lazy in updating my blog. Not as bad as some other bloggers but not up to my usual high standard ;)

Innsbruck, Austria. Man that was awesome snow!!! Going towards the end of March there was always the risk that snow conditions had deteriorated but the town that twice hosted the Winter Olympic games didn't let us down. Actually we were staying a little out of Innesbruck at the little town of Igls but we landed at Innsbruck airport and were taken to Igls by bus. We had booked through a package holiday group so pretty much everything was taken care of, ie. flights, transfers, hotel and food (breakfast and dinner). The tour company representative was an Aussie guy from Croydon!

The hotel was only a two star but it was sooo roomy! Very different from what I was used to from Australia and New Zealand. The bathroom was about as big as my bedroom in London and had enough space for a sofa!! I don't know why you'd want one there but there it was! The only down-side was that we had squeaky beds! I move around a lot when I sleep so I was keeping myself awake! Ended up taking the mattress onto the floor in the end.

There a quite a number of different resorts around Innsbruck but the ones that I snowboarded (and Geoff skiied) were Stubaier Glacier and Axamer Lizum. Axamer Lizum is situated at 1583m above sea level and reaches 2340m. (OK, got that bit from a web site.) Stubaier Glacier is much higher up at 3,200m. One of the lifts takes you up to 3000m!

Axamer Lizum was our second day resort and I quite liked it and it is reputed to be good for snowboarding. I liked it because I got a more suitable snowboard (more on that later) and was getting into the feel of it again. Axamer had these massively long runs that were just perfect for snowboarding! The place was almost deserted as well and there was sunshine without a single cloud in the sky!

Stubaier Glacier was the location for the other two days of snow. Again, day one at Stubaier Glacier provided us with sunshine and clear blue skies - couldn't ask for better snowboarding weather. Day three I caught the early bus (while Geoff slept in) and it was cloudy with a light snow fall but that cleared up around midday. Of all the days that I decide to not bring in my beanie, this was the day! On the other two days the beanie ended up in my pocket because it got too warm. When the snow was falling it was the first time that I had seen snowflakes falling with their crystal structure intact! It was very beautiful.

I also explored much more of the mountain the second time at Stubaier as the first day I was getting my 'sea legs' and trying to learn how to ride fakie (backwards sort of). It was harder than I thought but I got someway there. I'd only do it where the slopes weren't so steep and ride normally enjoying the runs at other times.

Yes, with the snowboard equipment that I hired, I had 4 different boards over 3 days!! After the first day I realised that they'd given me a board that was too big for me so I took that back and got another one. However, because I was learning how to ride fakie my binding angle was +15°/-15° and the snowboard had to be adjusted. The guy who did that wasn't there so I took the board anyway and came back the next morning. In the morning they couldn't adjust the bindings (screws stuck!) so they gave me snowboard number 3! I didn't mind either way. And throughout all this the ski hire people were fabulous and friendly and were very helpful and cheerful. The board I got was great but after snowboarding the second day I managed to lose part of my binding!! I have no idea where as I obviously had it on the last run of the day!! Then I took it off, put it in the bus and took it off the bus to the hotel. Oh well... So I had to get another board. The trials of not having your own board...

I was pretty happy with my fitness over the three days and that was probably due to several things:

1. I get calf cramps so eating bananas for a couple of weeks before going
2. Drinking a whole bottle of sports drink before the first run
3. Stretching
4. Deep Heat and
5. possibly improved technique

Even though I was sore most days after snowboarding I didn't cramp up and my knees didn't give me any pain either.

Alas, after 3 full days on the slopes it was finished. Didn't seem like enough after missing out on the Australia season before I left in July 05. If I had to choose one more holiday to do in Europe it would be snowboarding! :o)

Some photos here:http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=za0rna8.akpct20&x=0&y=h5if78
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And here: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYt2TJu5bOGF1

Greenwich

Hi everyone,
OK I have been slack of late updating this blog due to a recurring addiction to '24'. Seasons 1, 3 and 4. Season 5 has started over here but might have to wait for the DVD - you need the patience of a saint to watch 1 episode a week!

Had a weekend in London and decided to go to Greenwich and see the 'Cutty Sark', the last remaining tea clipper ship that ran the China tea routes from 1870 until 1877. The name comes from Robert Burns' poem, Tam O'Shanter; Tam meets a group of witches, most of whom are ugly, but for Nannie, who is young and beautiful and is described as wearing only a "cutty sark", ie., a short chemise or shirt. The ship's figurehead is a representation of this witch. Sadly it will be undergoing a £25 million pound restoration and will be closed to the public from 29 Mar 2006. Looks like I just made it in time! They still need to raise another £13 million so it may not re-open to the public for a while.

The area is also home to the Royal Observatory which is the origin of GMT, Greenwich Meridian Time or Greenwich Mean Time.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is also the source of the Prime Meridian, longitude 0° 0' 0'. this is an imaginary line that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and is the line from which all other lines of longitude are measured. Given my recent show viewing it was perhaps appropriate that there was a 24 hour clock at the Royal Observatory!

The Greenwich town is also quite nice and I had lunch there before deciding it was too cold to be out and headed back home. Spring still has not arrived and being out and about for long periods of time does put the chills in you! Had to stop taking photos at one stage because my hands were too cold from taking off my gloves!

It has been snowing in the north of the UK but only a couple of small flurries down here in London.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=za0rna8.8p3gb3c&x=0&y=xv3k68
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Switzerland

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=za0rna8.13ava42w&x=0&y=ysmm0a
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More photos from Elly
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=4320012
Under 'Switzerland' at the bottom.

The Swiss Glacier Express. A train across the Alps of Switzerland. It was a much anticipated trip where I would be meeting a few of my Manchester friends in Switzerland as I was the only one coming from London.

I had a 09:00 flight from Stansted airport and realised how badly I had planned it when I found myself on the train at Hammersmith at 07:00!! It takes 40 mins to get to Liverpool St and then 45 mins on the Stansted Express to Stansted. I was stressing majorly!!! No doubt I put up a few prayers as well! It was owing to quite a few things that I got to check-in at 08:35!!! These things were a quick Tube train to Liverpool St, waiting only 6 mins for the next Stansted Express to depart, no one ahead in the check-in queue - straight in, and no one ahead at the security check!!! It was a minor miracle that I got to the gate as they were making the boarding call!! All along the trip to the airport I was thinking that I'd have to book another flight or call up my friends and tell them that the Glacier trip was over for me.

So I made it to Geneva airport and waited there for Gregg, Elly and Bruce coming from Manchester. Once they did we met up with Nic who had arrived earlier and went around Geneva. We tried to get into Cathédrale St-Pierre (St. Peter's Cathedral) where John Calvin preached from 1536 to 1564 but there was a funeral going on and even though it was meant to finish at 4pm the church was still shut so we gave up and went back to the train station to meet the final 3 members of our group (Barb, Clint and Jodie). I'm not sure if Calvin was part of the Reformation (the Church History lectures have paused since the lecturer's wife had a baby) but every evangelical Christian should acquaint themselves with the five points of Calvinism.

The trip on the Swiss Glacier Express was fantastic even though a good part of it was closed due to record amounts of snowfall!! We were on the Glacier Express from the starting point of Zermatt to Visp -> Brig and then had to change trains on each subsequent stop to get to Bern -> Zurich -> Chur and then back onto the Glacier Express for Chur to St Moritz. In some ways the moving trains was good because we'd otherwise be sitting on the one train for 7 hrs! But it was a hassle running for a couple of trains and trying to find seats together all over again.

We finally got to St Moritz and the snow was fantastic; there was sooo much snow falling!! I think we all had a lot of fun with that snow! The next day we left St Moritz late in the morning and caught the train back to Zurich where I was flying out. I made sure that I gave it plenty of time and if anything was more paranoid about missing the flight than anything else!

Overall it was an amazing trip; fun company, beautiful scenery, great food. Well worth the time and money and it almost didn't happen ;-).

Cambridgeshire

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=za0rna8.15wbmbq0&x=0&y=-h8h3sz
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Well went off to Cambridge on a Saturday, departing from London's Kings Cross station. It is also the station that will take you to Harry Potter's Hogwarts ;-)

It was a sunny day but still quite cold so I needed to be rugged up with jacket, scarf and gloves. The trains leave every half an hour to/from Cambridge so it wasn't a problem getting there and back. Denise had gone there for summer school and stayed at one of the Colleges. The structure is a little different to Australian universities. Here the university confers the degrees and does the administration but it's the different colleges (31 at Cambridge) that do the teaching. As each college is a separate institution with its own property and income some are more affluent than others. Denise wanted one last look around before she returned to Australia, hence more photos of her than usual.

It is really quite a grand place as the colleges make up a good part of the centre of the town.

We had lunch at the Eagle Pub in Cambridge, famous for being frequented by James Watson and Francis Crick, the guys who figured out the structure of DNA. There is also a ceiling with signatures of Second World War pilots. So much history around the place.

I love the 'shire' names around here, makes it sound so much posher! Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Hertfordshire... when in reality some of those places aren't that fantastic!

God bless.