Final Day in Austria: Hall in Tirol

On our final day, we traveled to Hall in Tirol, a town close to Innsbruck recommended by Rick Steves. Very charming as all of his recommended towns are. Hilly, too! We passed some time at the local mint museum, where some toured the machinery and others climbed the tower. With a little time to spare before our journey back to Amsterdam, we headed up to the Christmas market in the center of town, just in time to catch a pony rids! First ER visit, first time on skis, first pony ride! A big trip for Jude man!

Auf Wiedersehen, Austria! Thank you for a lovely holiday and for getting us in the Christmas spirit! 

Pop's Innsbruck Pics

I am grateful to have not been the only photographer on our trip! Photo credit: Pops. Happy to be in some cute family pics!

Innsbruck Day 4: Skiing (Boarding) in the Alps!!

I had hoped that we would get the opportunity to ski/snowboard on this trip. I had also hoped that Jude would learn to ski at some point in his childhood. I just didn't realize it would all happen on one glorious day! We set off by bus for yet another ski resort- Patscherkofel. Only 3 lifts were running and only 1 main trail was open, but that didn't deter us. Jude was psyched to try skiing. Toddler ski boots and skis are some of the cutest things ever, though Jude did remark that it was hard to walk in the boots! 

Once outfitted, we headed to the bunny hill that had a magic carpet lift. Jude took turns skiing down between the legs of daddy and Opa. Then he learned to put his legs together, hands on knees, bend forward and ski on his own 6 feet or so from one person to another. We were all so proud. Of course he didn't last that long and was soon happy to just run around the ski resort restaurant, but I'd say it was a good start to his learning to ski! Opa is an avid skier and had been looking forward to the day he could take a grandkid skiing so I'm glad we all got this experience together.

Meanwhile, Pete, Opa, Pops and I geared up and headed to the top of the mountain (around 7,000 feet). I can't remember the last time I snowboarded, but it has likely been around 4-5 years. Pops also couldn't remember the last time he had skied, though that was more like 15 years! There wasn't much of a snow base, but the snow that was present was perfectly groomed and there was no one on the slopes! (OK, that is an exaggeration, but we saw at most 5 other people on the trail when we were coming down!). That meant being able to carve at will and take in the views without worry about plowing someone over! Oh, it was so glorious! I wish we'd had more time to do more runs! But I'm thrilled to cross "snowboarding in the Alps" off my bucket list in case the opportunity doesn't return. We wouldn't have been able to do it at all if we hadn't had two sweet grandmas happy to babysit at the bottom of the mountain. Thanks Nana and Oma!

The views! 

The ski bus back to town dropped us at the entrance to one of the Christmas markets. We popped in and were treated to some live singing, a smoked salmon sandwich, gluhwein and general holiday cheer. A wonderful winter holiday day!