Ski Week in Chamonix

Last week we managed to take some time off skiing in the French Alps. We absolutely lucked out on the conditions: after a 100 mph storm the week before we got 2+ feet of dry powder and sunny skies later in the week. The highlight was without a doubt a run down Vallée Blanche starting at 3700 m. We did not take the tourist route and instead skied steep and deep. Our guide Mark skied first on a mono ski which was very impressive. Nicole held up her own and I managed to stay out of trouble. Despite the fresh snow on top of some older ice we did not experience any avalanches and only a fool could fall into the giant crevasses on the Mer de Glace glacier. Definitely the best day of skiing for both of us despite the fact that the gondola to the train was busted and we had to hike out from the valley.


While we were skiing at altitude, the boys were learning to make turns at the ski school. After a day or two Sasha was taking the Poma lift and skiing all by himself on the easy slope in La Tour. Jonas got also the hang of it and would chase a pole while skiing downhill all by himself. And when we wanted to make few runs by ourselves, our friend Jirka Schmiedt graciously stepped in and played the role of “babicka/granny” – as Jonas called him.


Bummer to be back, I think we all could get used to the lifestyle.

New Years Resolutions

I know that a great deal has happened since we last wrote in our blog. Since it is the New Year I thought perhaps I could write once a week - even saying that I am listening to Sasha complain that I am not baking banana bread as promised, thinking about the German homework that needs to be done, laundry to be hung, dinner to be cooked, house to be cleaned and, worst of all, ironing that needs to be done. That said, it has been a fun New Year.

We decided to take the train to Wien (Vienna) for god only knows what reason. It is a 9hr train ride that required Jakun taking 2 days of holiday. Had we factored that into the budget we would have quickly realized that it did not pay, in any way, to take the train. Jakub had the boys mostly for himself for both legs of the trip due to me vomiting on the ride their and having a migraine on the ride back(both due to some weird health thing that we are trying to clear up, no worries).Once home, we were glad to be in our own flat but sad to be back in the land of no smiles and "No kids please!".

That said, we are back! Sasha and I did our yearly ritual last night and saw the Nutcracker or "Der Nussknacker" at the Hamburg Ballet. He and I were both looking forward to Christmas trees, mice and lots of snow. Unfortunately,John Neumeier decided to update the ballet and it instead featured Claire at her 12th birthday. Drosselmeier the head of a ballet school and her dream involving seeing the inner workings of how a ballet comes to life. It was a ballet in 2 Acts, the first of which I found rather weak, the second I loved.

Jakub and I have also joined a gym here, with free child care. Given that it is dark out here as late as 08:00 and it only light till 16:00 we felt a gym would be a good investement. We just don't have the motivation to run although, Jakub did buy himself a Christmas gift that is helping a little to get us out the door. Check it out at: http://www.jplichta.motionbased.com and click on the runs listed on the right hand side.

Both boys are up so that is it for me today....bis Nexte Woche