Austria. Amazing. Awesome. Ah yeah.

Austria. An Amazing week off.

AUSTRIA!!!!!!!!! YEHAH!!! I MADE IT!! Well, after an awful sleep beside random strangers in Stansted airport (London), a cramped plane ride, a really nice Coach ride, an overly priced taxi ride to the wrong hotel, a tired walk to the right hotel I found Tim at the proper Hotel In Hinterglem Austria. It was an unbelieavable day when I got there. Not a cloud in the sky and it was HOT! I was giddy with excitment. This week was gonna be goooooood.  

Here they are... The Jebb's (Minus Linda). I can't begin to describe how grateful I am for bringing me along as a Jebb on this trip with them. I had an absolutely fantastic time getting to know them! It's really amazing when I am so far from home to have friendly and familiar faces to take me under their wing.  

It was really good to spend some time with my longtime housemate and friend Timmy Jebb for the week. He has just been learning to snowboard and he learned a ton during the week and is getting pretty good! Classic Slef shot on the chair lift. Also, a good shot of my double chin and bum chin. Represent.  

Riding in the alps is really amazing because you really never run out of new places to go. Every day you can explore a different mountain! There were, I think about 5 resorts (vilalges) set up in a valley between probaly a dozen moutains. At each village you could go up multiple different mountains, and each village was connected by ski trails and gondolas. It was really amazig to stand on top of one peak and see 4 other peaks, all with gondola stations on top, far off in the distance. This picture shows a little bit what the valley between the mountains was like.  

One day Tim and I decided to treck across the map and try to reach a really good snowbaord park that wa sa few mountains away. This treck required multiple gondola rides and a litl ebit of hiking. The village below is Saalbach. It was really fun hiking through the village to get to the next gondola. We came across different signs in the vilalge that pointed to different gondolas...a really odd thing to see in the middle of a village. So fun. WE actually never ended up making it to the snowboard park. IT took us over 2 hours to get as far as we did and then over 2 to get back. UNfortunately, that day it was raining and we got absolutely, drenched. But still, it was a rockin adventure.  

There was quite a bit of snow on the trails and no ice at all. As you can see, the snow was really just on the trails, so there was no off-piste going on. This Hinterglem, the village we were staying in.  

My Snowboard. Austrian Alps. The Sky. Clouds. A Red Pole. Snow. A Rope. 

I thought this shot caught the moment really well as we took a break mid mountain and caught some sun. Tim is on the end, then Linda (his sister) and Stuart (Linda's Fiancee) in the Camo.  

There were all kinds of paragliders floatin around. Very cool. 

At the end of each day of riding we generally had a similar routine. We would immediately get changed out of our gear and throw on our swim shorts and go down to the spa downstairs. The pool was quite nice and had a bridge, a waterfall, lotsa jets everywhere and a little river with a current. I spent a good chunk of time there relaxing, sleeping and reading. There was also a Sauna and steam room. The first time we went in the Sauna we got a little bit confused and sketched out as multiple naked people, both male and female, came in and sat down beside us. At first I thought I must have gone into the womens change room or something, so I got up and left. I then looked on the door and noticed that there was a sign on it that said.. "No Clothes aloud". Hmmm.. that is interesting. You don't see that in Canada very often. These crazy Euros and their nakedness. At any rate, I spent most of my time in the general pool area. After our spa time we would throw some clothes on and head out to the street just in front of the hotel. There was always music going and a little Apres Ski party going on. We moved a table out in to the street (where the sun normally was) and chilled there most evenings. We met a bunch of people, some from New Zealend, Australia, and England. We later met up with them again and did some Kareoke with them. Cool guys. So there we are, from Linda's window in the hotel, sitting on the street. Fun times.. 

The "Hotel Zur Dorfshmiede." THis is the place that we stayed for the week. It was a nice little place that had really nice pillows and I got a little chocolate on it everyday. Every night we ate dinner in the Hotel and sat at the same spot and had the same waitress (Sabina). I ate without a doubt some of the best meals of my life this week. Every meal was a multiple course meal with very cool presentation. The first nite (Sunday) was especially cool. The first course we got was literally a single crisp on a plate with a little bit of dip on the side. Well, I can tell you it certainly left me wanting more and excited about the next course. I can't remember the other specific courses that night, but , every night they were extremely good! Steak... Fish... Chicken.. all kinds of amazing stuff. All cooked to perfection. The desserts were also extremely delicious. Words cant really do the meals justice. At any rate, meals were always a really fun time where we sat for a couple hours (at least) and chatted about anything and everything. Mmmm... Thanks again Dave and Francis for those meals! THEY WERE GREAT FUN! 

Stuart and I preparing for another big day on the mountain. Stuart was a funny guy, and even though he is engaged, it seemed as though he was trying to pick up our waitress at the restaurant.. "Sabina". She was an Austrian girl, who spoke a littl ebit of English and always called Stuart "Mr. Stuey" ..it was pretty funny, and she will be missed. 

Linda and Mr. Stuey. The happy engaged couple. They get married summer 2006. They are a good jolly old time. 

Voila Me. I was by myself. I was tired of soley scenary shots. So. Me in the Austrian Alps. I loved it. 

The last day, Tim, Stuart, Linda, Mrs. Jebb (Francis...I hope i spelt that right) and I skiied together. I had a ton of fun, even though its not as fast as it is when im trying hard to keep up to my younger bro Mark. It was chill, and I enjoyed the sun and worked on switch riding and little backside 180s. Here is Linda on one of our breaks.  

On the final day, my BIRTHDAY!!! it was really sunny and warm out and we stopped for lunch mid mountain. I some sort of Weiners and we sat outside and caught some sun. Snowboarding is such an amazing package sport on days like today. I got to ride...which was amazing... it was great exercise... amazing... hung out with good friends...amazing... caught some sun....amazing... chilled out and ate lunch on the side of a mountain....Amazing. Snowboading is rad. Nuf said. 

During our lunch break, I decided I'd have some fun on the Tbar located right by the lodge. This particular Tbar was probaly one of the most fun Tbars ever (I know..hard to imagine). But anyway, it was quite a long Tbar and it had 3 or 4 really steep regions followed by very long flat regions. During these flat spots, I found it quite fun to emulate Wakeboarding, Kiteboarding etc. Poked out tailslides FS, BS 360.. whatever.. it was a blast. So there I am doing a TBar BS Noseslide. I think people at the lodge thought I was a chump and a poser... and that may be true... but it doesnt negate the fun I had. Yehah! A picture that I unfortunately Dont have here is when we later conitnued all the way up the TBar. Once I got bored with doing various Jibs and stuff, I decided I wanted to try some more Barefoot-like moves, like ...Tumble Turns. So I cut across the path and jumped and landed on my back in the snowbanks on the side of the trail. I would slide along on my back and then sorta tumble turn back up. Again.. tons o fun. It was all fun and games until i decided to try this off a part in the path that had at least a 45 degree incline. I slid half way down the deep powder on my back and was dragged along in the snow, dodging dips and trees! It was quite possibly one of the most exhausting things of my life, as I refused to let go! It went on for what felt like forever but was probaly about a minute or two, until the incline decreased and I got back on the trail and the liftee stopped the TBar. I was still unable to pull myself up because I was so exhausted, so I ended up letting go of the TBar and riding back to sit on Tims TBar with him. I was done... sheooo.. When I got to the top I got a strip torn of me by some English woman. She thought I was being reckless and dangerous... I just told her I wasn't very good at using TBars. Her son later come up to me and said..."Woah, man that was a cool trick..... Sorry about my Mom" I thought that was funny... I told him "Not to try it at home." Anyway.. it was all good fun and Im glad my lift pass didnt get cut. 

T-Bar FS Boardslide. Hinterglem, Austria. Represent. 

This week was certainly quite memorable. I left and said goodbye to the hotel at around 5 in a taxi--then a van at 6-- then a plane at 930--then a coach at 11:15--then a long walk with my pack on to Bonnie's House--until 7am--then another long walk with my pack on to Victoria Station in London-- then a train to Polegate--then a taxi to the Castle by 10:30am. Home Sweet Home...with a moat. 

Bright and early thismorning we got up and took 4 coaches to the wonderful city of Oxford. I didn't really know what to expect as I knew very little about the city. It was a fantastic sunny day and when we arrived we all had guided walking tours. Until going, I was unaware that Oxford is compsed of about 38 distinct colleges that students apply to all seperately. They all compete against eachother in sport and spirit, but all provide one with an Oxford degree. Each college has its own chapel (which is really more like a cathedral) as well as huge Harry Potter Dining Hall. Once a student is accepted to a college, they are basically a member for life. Often students will return to their home college chapel to get married in. Our tour guide listed off many celebs who were at Oxford including, Tolkien, CS Lewis, Hugh Grant, Bill Clinton and Mr. Bean! We saw places that inspired some of their stories,as well as their places of residence. It was a pretty cool experience walking through this city and it actually inspired me to feel like I should be studying or something....that passed quickily though. The above pic is just one of the many chapels associated with the individual colleges (I cant remember which one that is..) 

After the walking tour of the city, we stopped into Blackwells. Blackwells is essentially the Oxford University Campus Bookstore and is also one of the biggest bookstores in the world. It was really quite spectacular to walk around in and you could really lose track of time while in it. The above picture is in the basement of the 5 level store.