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On our trip through Bavaria, we feel like eating Weisswurst. But no such luck. The Autobahnraststaette Hofoldinger Forst outside Munich does not have Weisswurst on the menu. We make a detour and stop at the Erdinger Weissbraeu in Erding, but it is 1 PM. They stop serving Weisswurst at 12 noon! At least, they did not run out of my favorite Weissbier! We are back in Wuerzburg at 5 PM and relax in the Novotel pool and sauna. On Saturday morning, we sleep in and miss Weisswurst breakfast. In the evening, we are invited to dinner at Maria and Rolf’s house in Rodenbach. Maria is spoiling us with a tasty Sauerbraten and we spend a nice evening together. It is late when we check into the Novotel Frankfurt Niederrad. I leave our suitcases on the luggage cart in our room. We are only here for 7 hours. On Sunday morning, we are back at the Frankfurt Airport. Gabi is disappointed with the security check. We do not have to take off our shoes and even though we fly on Continental, there is only one check, where there used to be two.
Continental 119 takes off at 9 AM, and our 777 flies all the way north to Bergen, Norway, before we head west across the Atlantic. We have strong headwinds and fly further north. 8 hours later, we see Saratoga Lake, Albany and the Hudson River right below us. We could parachute from the plane and would land right on our property. Unfortunately, the airlines do not offer this drop off service!
We land in Newark at 12 Noon and drive back to Clifton Park, where we arrive at 3:45 PM. There is still no snow here this winter!

This is the motto for our ski week in the Hotel Gran Ciasa in Colfosco, Italy. The sun only rises over the mountain at 8:30, shining every morning on our bed. We rise with the sun, but on most days are still the last guests at the breakfast buffet. At 10:30, the sun finally shines on most of the ski trails, and it is not until then that we hit the slopes. It is pretty cold in the shade and the snow is hard. We have 5 days of perfect sunny weather, but no new snow. At lunch, we stop at one of the Uetias (huts). The mountain huts are more like full size restaurants. We go back to Uetia Bioch (remembering the beach chairs from our last trip 5 years ago) and after lunch, enjoy sunning in the beach chairs. Piz Arlara and La Branchia are 2 other favorite lunch stops, with good food and good views. It is only January and the days are short. By 3 PM, the sun disappears behind the mountains and we are done skiing. Usually, Gabi and I are the first guests back at the Gran Ciasa hotel and heat up in the sauna and steam room. The indoor pool is nice and warm, and we do some cross-training before dinner. The Declara family runs a first class hotel and our dinners are gourmet style 4 courses, with salad and desert buffet on top of that. Diego, our waiter, is our guide. Besides serving us food and wine, he can enlighten us about all kind of topics, from local school education to language and the Italian income tax system. Most people here speak 3 languages: German, Italian and the local “Ladinisch”. Interestingly, the school classes are in German, but we are in Italy. Although Alto Adige used to be the Austrian “South Tyrol” until WWI.
On Friday, January 20th, we have to leave our Gran Ciasa paradise. From Corvara, we drive the many curves along the Gader river back to Bruneck and then north on the Brenner Pass Autobahn. The weather in Austria has not changed from last week. After one week of sunshine in the Dolomites, we are back in Austria and drive in a snow storm!

Gabi is on my tail, skiing faster than ever. We are back in Kolfuschg/Colfosco in the Dolomites. Today we ski on rock-hard slopes under a sunny blue sky. We start in Colfosco, head up Boe and cross over to Pralongia. There are no lift lines and we cover a lot of slopes. It is very cold and we warm up in one of the numerous restaurant/huts. In the afternoon, our skis take us down Col Pradat and Stella Alpina or Edelweiss Tal. After all this work, we are the first guests in our sauna at the Hotel Gran Ciasa, warming up our cold bodies. From our balcony, we can see the sun setting over an impressive rocky Alpine panorama. The vertical cliffs surrounding us should be called the Rocky Mountains!

“Es passt?” or “it fits?” is what our Austrian waiter asks us at every meal. We are in Kirchberg and everything fits.(is ok) After 2 days of alpine skiing, we are taking a break and spend the day in the WWW. No, not the internet, but a spa: Wörgl Wasser Welten. Gabi and I have the outdoor pool and bubble beds all to ourselves. Later, we work our way through several aroma saunas. A new experiènce is the salt water pool: we float in the high saline pool and listen to underwater music. After serious skiing, we deserve some serious relaxation. Besides, it is snowing again in Austria!

The Kitzbuehel mountains have ten feet of snow. It snows for the first three days of our vacation and a lot of lifts are closed due to “sturm”. Finally we ski on Wednesday and Thursday. Two picture perfect days with blue skies and good powder on groomed slopes. We begin our mountain assault on the heated chairlift of the Maierlbahn and continue on Ehrenbachhoehe, Steinbergkogel and Pengelstein.On our second day, we take the 3S Gondola across a very deep valley to Wurzhoehe. The views are breathtaking and we breathe a big sigh of relief, after we are back on terra firma. It is time for suntan lotion and lunch break on Baerenbad Alm (hut). After lunch, we ski as far as Gauxjoch, before we head back to our Hotel Willms in Kirchberg. The sauna and steambath revive us before dinner. Then it snows again! At least, we had 2 days of great skiing here this week. On Friday and Saturday, the lifts close again due to another winter storm!

After 2 days of anticipation and lots of snow, a great day of skiing on the Kitzbeuheler Alps was the reward for our waiting. We skied km after km but only took a few lifts all day. It seems like the trails never end.
At the end of the day we went to our hotel sauna to help our muscles recover for tomorrow. For the first time ever,I made it to stay in the 85°sauna for the “required” 15 minutes. A quick shower and into my warm robe, I sat and waited on the heated tile bench for Lothar.He was enjoying his Grohe all over body shower. A fellow hotel skier wanted to get into the sauna but needed to shower first. After waiting a couple of minutes, she asked if there was room for 2 in Lothar’s shower stall. What could I say, there were 2 showers…..the lady went in and the 2 showered next to each other in their birthday suits. I think my US upbringing still wouldn’t allow me to do that. I’ve mastered coed saunas but showers is another thing.

On Sunday, January 8,we have breakfast with Henning, Anne Marie and Hubert in the Haus Delecke, before we head south to Austria. On our drive through Germany, it is cloudy with frequent rain showers.We stop in Wuerzburg and the sun is shining. Lunch is at “our” restaurant Laemmle and I have the usual: Sauerbraten. We arrive in Kirchberg , Tyrolia, four hours later. It started snowing in Kufstein and the road into the Aschau valley is snow covered. It snowed for the last 3 days and we are driving through a winter wonderland.In the darkness the houses and trees are covered with a heavy layer of snow.We are only 200 yards away from our hotel, when I have to drive up a steep side road in Kirchberg. Our Mercedes A 160promptly gets stuck in the snow. I get out and survey the damage: the rear wheel is deep in a snow bank and the car won’t move forward or back. Just at that moment, four drunk guys appear out of nowhere!
One persuades his friends to be nice and help me. First,they all piss between some parked cars and then, with new found energy, the four are able to push our small Mercedes uphill.I take a running start and we reach our hotel just in time for dinner. Thanks, guys. Your piss and push strategy worked. Now Gabi and I can begin our ski vacation.

In Frankfurt, our 777 lands on the new North-West runway and our luggage is the first to appear. We pick up a Mercedes A 160 and cruise on the Autobahn to Aachen. In Aachen, we recuperate in the Carolus Thermen. The saunas and Turkish baths feel good after the long flight. In the dark, we swim in the steaming outdoor pool, followed by another sauna session. Dinner is in the historic Aachener Brauhaus, a nice finish to a long”Heilige Drei Koenigstag”.
On Saturday, January 7, we arrive at Haus Delecke, which was built as a knight’s mansion in 1270. Today, Henning has invited us to celebrate his 60th birthday here. Gabi and I move into a large suite, overlooking the Moehne lake, which used to belong to the Kettler noble clan. We meet Henning, Elisabeth and Thione and about 80 other party guests. Gabi and I have fun dancing the night away. Later, we talk withAnne Marie and Hubert and take a tour of their new motor home. The bithday party is a lot of fun. Henning’s brother, Jochen, is a professional cello player and, together with a pianist, plays several nice classical pieces. Gabi and I still have some jet lag and go to bed at 1 AM. The party continues without us until 4 AM!
Happy Birthday, Henning! We have been friends since 1959 or 2nd grade in Elementary School in Struemp!

After 3 hrs in the 1st class lounge in Newark Airport(which Lothar said we received through a credit card application), we boarded our 777 jet to Frankfurt. After going through the front door, I expected to take a right to find our seat in Economy, but no, Lothar took a left. “Isn’t that Business Class?” I asked. “No, 1st,” he said. “Huh?”I was confused. He had been able to book this flight in “Business-First” on Continental with miles. Merry belated Christmas Gabi!
After settling in with champagne,a movie on a 13 in screen, and looking forward to a good night’s sleep, the captain informs us that the jet stream is really fast tonight and we should make it to Frankfurt in only 6.5 hrs. What a disappointment! 180° bed and only 4.5 hrs of sleep after the 4 course meal, to enjoy it. Life is not fair!
The next morning I was totally rested, so it was definitely worth it. We were all set for the Carolus Thermen in Aachen….thermal pools and sauna to come. I could get used to this again. In 2004-5, we were spoiled rotten with the trip around the world, with our Business class ticket. Maybe in the future again!?

We are trying to fly to Newark and from there to Frankfurt. The occasion is Henning’s 60th birthday party. Today is January 5 and we taxi out to the runway at 1 PM, as scheduled. Then the usual Albany waiting game begins.Our pilot informs us that our take off time has been delayed by 1 hour. We are sitting on our Dash 8-200, listening to the turbo-prop engines, for the next hour and do not move one inch.Eventually, we take off at 2 PM and the 30minute flight takes 75minutes. Newark is operating with only one runway, the other one is blocked by a disabled aircraft. Always something new happening. We land at 3:15, driving would have been faster.I manage to get into Continental’s President’s lounge and Gabi and I have a wine and cheese party, while we wait for our flight to Frankfurt. I am still waiting for the staff to bring out some real food. The First Class lounges are not what they used to be. We must be spoiled! Next stop is Frankfurt.