A Room With a View

Trying out the built-in webcam on the super-computer...not very good quality. Yeah, that's the excuse for why my roots are so dark, too. Poor picture quality.

Well, we're enjoying our second night in Garmisch. We were supposed to come down on Thursday, but as I mentioned in the last post, we had bad weather both here and in Stuttgart. By the time I packed up and headed out on Saturday morning, most of the snow had been dealt with with the customary German zeal and neatness. I also stuck on the A8 Autobahn all the way to Munich and then came down to Garmisch instead of taking the scenic (read: probably more slippery) route through rural Bavaria and Austria. The roads were completely dry all the way.

I guess it has been slippery here. My husband called me in a panic on Friday to tell me that he was taking the Audi in to get snow tires put on it. He had a scare when he slid through a yield sign. No one was hurt (like on the Island of Sodor), but he was convinced he had to go and drop a couple thou on snow tires for his car. I managed to calm him down and convince him that he did not need to spend money on snow tires for five more days at his class, the drive home and for a car that mostly sits in front of our apartment building. We decided that we would trade cars as the VW has more practical tires on it. Hans had very impractical tires put on the Audi a few months ago. And those were expensive enough.

Husbands.

Yesterday I bought my Christmas dirndl at a store in Garmisch called Grasegger. Immediately upon entering this store, I realized that it's a place we can never take Donna. She will go into spasms over the beauty and quantity of Bavarian clothing. Men's, women's and children's on three levels, plus a huge selection of fabrics and trimmings to make your own dirndl (is there a book out there called "Dirndl-Making for Dummies"?). I wish I could afford to have one custom made, but I chose one off the rack...a red embroidered bodice with a black skirt and green satiny apron, and of course, the white blouse underneath with lace trim. It's beautiful and I plan on wearing it every Christmas that I possibly can. All of the Christmases. Even the ones in Rome.

Took the kids swimming at Edelweiss last night. It feels strange to be in Garmisch and not be staying there. We are staying at a little place called Hotel Rheinischerhof, which is very close to the base and Edelweiss. We are allowed to go and use the facilities, though we had to pay to use the pool. We've just never had a problem getting a reservation over there. This hotel still has a nice view...see above picture. I think it's impossible to have a bad room in Garmisch.

Today we lounged around and then headed down to have breakfast. Josiah walked into the dining room (filled with quietly dining German people) and promptly bashed his head on the corner of a chair and screamed, shattering the peace. We were segregated from the natives just like when we were in Austria. This happened before the scream. They seat us on the other side of the dining room when they hear we have kids. Sigh. Breakfast is sort of tough because it doesn't seem like the eat anything "normal" to eat. There's usually a bunch of bread, meat and cheese and sometimes wurst. Today they had eggs that you could scramble yourself and hard-boiled eggs (though they were completely runny), fruit and toast. It wasn't bad, but it was hard talking the kids into anything else but eggs.

McDonald's for lunch and a quick pass through Garmisch's Christmas market. It's pretty small, maybe a dozen little booths selling ornaments and gluhwein, which is the traditional spiced hot wine they drink at Christmastime. There were sleigh rides yesterday when I was at Grasegger, but today, we didn't see the sleigh (though we had to keep the kids out of the evidence that the horses had recently been there!). It would have been fun to go on a sleigh ride. I had a mental picture of the four of us all bundled up beneath a plaid lap robe, cheeks pink, smiling and laughing while the sleigh whispered through the snow and the bells jingled. And Christmas music swelling in the background. Oh wait, that's a Hallmark movie of the week, not MamaD4's life!

Garmisch always looks beautiful, but it really gets dressed up for Christmas. I love being here. We three head home tomorrow, sandwiched into the Audi. I hope that we can make it home without those snow tires! Sorry Kit.