The Alps

After finding George, we found our driver and headed to Ischgl, Austria which is deep in the Tyrolean Alps. Tyrol is a western Austrian state in the Alps that’s known for its ski resorts, historic sites and folk traditions. The capital city, Innsbruck, surrounded by mountains, is home to Habsburg Empire landmarks like baroque-style Hofburg Palace. It should have been about a 2 ½ hour trip from Zurich to Ishcgl but it took us almost 3 ½ hours. \240Why? Because the road into Ischgl was closed - no not because of an accident or runaway livestock - but because an avalanche had blocked the road and had to be cleared. \240You see the big complaint in the Alps this year is that they have “too much snow”! It is piled everywhere – not good for traveling but very good for skiing. \240The Tyrolean Alps received over 6 feet of snow just this past weekend and everyone has told us that tomorrow with sunny skies and warm temperatures will be the best ski day of the year.

Picture as we near Ischgl

The Alps are spectacular.About an hour east of Zurich we started to reach the foothills of the Alps. \240As we moved deeper into the Alps, I was like a little kid, swiveling my head from one side to the other to take in the spectacular views. \240I was also amazed at the tunnels that are carved right through the mountains. \240Some took 20 minutes to drive through – some engineering.

We finally made our way to Ischgl. It is a cute town nestled right at the base of the mountains. \240Our hotel, The Trofana Royal is a gorgeous hotel right in the middle of town.

My room is very cozy and breakfast and dinner are included. \240A great deal for $400 per night.

Below is the view from my balcony and, as you can see, we are not far from the mountain.

After settling in, I went down to check out the locker room. \240Every guest gets their own locker complete with boot and glove warmers. \240I rented skis and am now all set for tomorrow.

George and I took a walk around town as the sun was setting. \240The hotels are beautiful.

Ischgl in the afternoon

Beautiful hotels and shops everywhere

Across from our hotel

View out the window at the end of the hall in our hotel

David, the third of our group arrived about 5:30 and we chatted for awhile. \240He is real estate guy from LA and seemed very nice. \240Our fourth is Jonathan, who we met briefly on the bike trip. \240He isn’t coming until Thursday.

We headed to dinner at the lovely hotel dining room. \240Dinner is a five course affair and is quite good.

Restaurant at the Trofana Royal

After dinner we checked out the nightlife which is rumored to be the best in Austria. \240We visited Trofana Alms, a bar right next store to the hotel. \240Even though it was a Tuesday night, the place was rocking.

Beer Delivery

The crowd is rocking and its Tuesday night

Of course George made his way to the bar and ordered Jagermeister Shots served in a glass with the bottle.

Interesting Approach

George also went up to the DJ and requested two songs: his favorite “Where the Heck is Alice” and “Sweet Caroline”. \240The place went nuts singing and dancing to both.

All of us were exhausted and we headed to bed. \240Tomorrow is a big day.

A view from the top. \240Notice, no trees and all the snow.

Another view from 10,000 feet. \240As you can see, the weather is gorgeous with great visibility. By the way, we are about to ski over the ridge you see in front of you and down into the valley.

Look at what waited for us over the hill. \240This is skiing paradise. Beautiful snow everywhere. \240I have never experienced anything like it.

A picture from another area we skied. Snow everywhere.

Another area with some lifts in the picture.

I learned something interesting about the 126 lifts in the Ischgl and surrounding areas. \240The lifts are all privately owned. \240Private individuals, companies, and local towns will pay for the lift to be erected. \240The ski resort measures usage of the lifts and then the owners of the lifts get a share of the ticket sale revenue. \240The ski resort monitors usage by reading a chip on you ski pass. \240The ski pass is not a big ugly piece of paper on a wicket like in the US. Instead, its a card the size of a credit card with an electronic chip which you just put in that little pocket on the sleeve that is on every ski jacket. \240Chip readers do the rest. I can’t see why they don’t use this system in the US. \240One other interesting thing, because the lifts are privately owned, lift owners are incentivized to constantly upgrade their equipment so that people use them more. The lifts are state of the art with seat warmers, sunscreens, and wind screens.

Here is our guide Bernie trying to talk David into trying out the patch of powder over on the left. \240He would have nothing of it and we continued down the groomed slope on the right.

One of our group said “It’s like skiing on an 8 lane highway.” A very accurate description.

Snow everywhere

After skiing for several hours, it was time to take a break. \240Like the lifts, the restaurants on the mountain are also privately owned. They compete with each other. The business at the restaurants, even on a quiet day, was brisk. \240We found a restaurant with a sunny patio. \240We parked our skis (see below) and found a table on the patio.

A busy day at the restaurant

Bernie in front of the restauarnt

Bernie and I enjoyed the drink of choice.

After our “coffee break”, which also included a dish of pasta Bolognese that we all split (carbo loading), we were off to Switzerland to have lunch. \240You can see that there is a helpful sign to help guide you to the right country.

Thank goodness for the sign.

The sign above is actually on the Austrian / Swiss border. \240Just a few hundred feet past the sign in Switzerland, there is a trail that leads you to highest altitude “duty free” shop in the world. \240You buy stuff in Switzerland and you can bring it back to Austria without duty or tax. \240OK - now I know why everyone was wearing a backpack!

We skied into Switzerland and headed for one of George’s favorite restaurants.

View from a balcony at the Swiss Restaurant. \240Don’t the Swiss Alps look remarkably like the Austrian Alps. \240

We opted for a table inside. \240Not your typical ski lodge.

The restaurant was beautiful. \240They had a room to dry and warm your boots and gloves. \240They had a great wine list and menu. \240We started with a great cheese plate with homemade bread and some wine, some of us had soup, we shared some small plates. \240The food was outstanding. The bill - \240€100 for four. \240

By the time we left, it was getting busy on the patio.

It was now about 2:00 so we headed back to the top of the mountain and back to Austria. \240After a few runs, it was time to head home. We took a long leisurely ski back to Ischgl and arrived back in town. \240That run from top to bottom, with just a few stops to catch our breadth, took almost 1 hour and every inch of it was magnificent.

I had to throw this in. \240This is a snow sculpture of Superman near the Swiss / Austrian border. \240I waited and waited but this women would not get out of the way. I have no idea what she was doing but Superman didn’t seem to mind so I finally just gave up and took the picture.

After a nap and a shower, we headed into town for some apre ski.

Ischgl at night

We passed by the famous Schatzi Bar but it was too crowded to get in.

We went to another place, the Romerquelle, which was rocking and rolling. \240We all had car bombs and listened to an interesting mix of music. \240There were a lot of German covers of American songs but the songs that drew the loudest sing along were Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline \240(complete with the whoa, whoa, whoa and so good, so good, so good verses) and John Denver’s Country Road. \240Go figure.

The obligatory car bomb

We passed the gondala on our way home. Back in the morning.

Our guide, Bernie, had hats made for all of us as a momento. \240How great is that.

Well, sorry for the abreveated blog (although most of you are probably saying “Finally, a blog without all those useless facts”). Tomorrow, we ski and then we are off to Zürs for two days of skiing, good food, wine and nightlife - somebody has to do it and I think your eternally grateful chronicler is the right one for the job.

My lift ticket covers both Ischgl (Austria) and Samnaun (Switzerland)

We took the gondola to the top of the mountain. We skied for awhile in Austria and then headed down the “long road”, a trail that took us all the way to the base of the Samnaun Ski Resort in Switzerland. \240We headed up a chair lift to the peak of Samnaun which is 11,000 feet. \240We took a lift that had heated seats and, thankfully, a full bubble to block the wind. \240It was a good thing too because as we reached about 9,000 feet, the wind started howling. \240Our bubble kept us nice and warm.

We then skied in Switzerland for the rest of the morning. \240Our guide, Bernie, who is also an instructor worked with us on our technique. \240First we practiced long sweeping turns on steep terrain. Then short quick turns on a very narrow trail. \240Then my favorite - straight down long, carving turns on steep terrain (this technique is also known in the US as “bombing”). \240The skis performed perfectly and the feeling of flying down a perfectly groomed highway of snow at high speed (with no trees in the way) was incredible.

Top of the Swiss Alps

Swiss Alps

View off the chair lift

George, David and Bernie deciding which way to go.

Beautiful slopes

After a few hours of perfect skiing (well, actually perfect conditions, not necessarily perfect skiing), it was time to head back to Austria for lunch. \240

On our way back to Austria for lunch

We had lunch at the same restaurant as yesterday. \240However, we had more of an appetite. \240George and I split the Wienerschnitzel, which is one of the national dishes of Austria. It is a type of schnitzel made of a thin, breaded, pan-fried veal cutlet. Thank goodness we split it because the serving was two huge portions. \240The Wienerschnitzel was accompanied by the traditional condiment which is quince jelly. \240However, Bernie had his with the modern twist, ketchup.

George and David relaxing at lunch

We lingered at lunch quite awhile. \240We had a few cappuccinos and soaked in the beautiful scenery. \240We headed back down the mountain to our hotel on the same 1 hour run as yesterday. It was fun to put my Nordica skis to the test and they performed great. We agreed as we reached the hotel that it was two incredible days of skiing.

We returned our skis (the owner of the ski rental shop inspected mine closely but there were no scratches), grabbed our stuff and headed to Zurs and the Zureshof Hotel, our next stop. As we made the one hour trip, you could not help but notice the snow piled at least 10 feet high on either side of the road. \240Remember, if we had planned to go to Zurs first when we arrived on Tuesday, we would have been out of luck - the road was closed for two days. \240Guests at the Zurserhof were actually locked into the hotel for two days because of the snow. \240The ski areas and lifts were closed. \240However, by the time we arrived late afternoon, everything was back to normal. \240The weather forecast was for a few inches of snow overnight and then bright skies. \240I hope so.

The Hotel Zurserhof in Zurs, Austria

My room is a nice size with a nice sitting area

The view from my window (it is already snowing)

We hooked up for a drink and were joined by our fourth skier, Jonathan, who had just arrived that day from LA. \240After a few drinks, we headed into the beautiful dining room for a feast of a meal.

The bar at the Zurerhof Hotel

The hotel lobby

The Dining Room

As dinner wound down, everyone was fading fast. \240It’s time for a good night’s sleep because tomorrow is the :long day”. We leave the hotel at 9:30 and ski all day through several towns until we reach the town of St. Anton at about 4:30 to visit a legendary apres ski spot called Mooserwirt. At busy times, it will attract over 5,000 skiers. \240As you might guess, its a zoo but George knows the owners and is one of the few people for whom they will reserve a table. Well, this should interesting. \240Oh, by the way, if you were worried about, we don’t ski back to Zurs. \240We take a taxi.

Well, time to rest up for the big day. \240Until tomorrow, “Tschüss, Priat di” (Bye Bye) from your crazy skiing chronicler.

This is the weather that greeted us as we headed for the lift

I was excited to ski Zurs because I had read that it has spectacular views and quite a bit of interesting terrain. \240If Ischgl was a series of wide open highways, Zurs is a maze back country scenic drives. \240Our hotel, the Zurserhof, is ski off and ski on so we hoped on the ski lift and up we went - up and up and up. \240This “not so high lift” took us to almost 9,000 feet and the views were stunning.

View from the not so high lift

David, George, me and Jonathan ready to go

Look at all the snow

With the snow last night, Zurs had received over 8 feet of snow in the last week

This was our first run - all beautiful powder

We skied all over the mountains in Zurs in the morning. \240Our guide took us “off piste” for some really cool skiing. \240Piste is the European term for a groomed slope. \240Off piste is where you leave the groomed slopes and ski. \240We skied in powder that was about knee high. \240We had a blast and with Bernie’s instruction, I actually felt fairly comfortable. \240It was so cool to look back at the area you had just skied and see the fresh tracks.

After some great skiing, it was time for lunch. We took a gondola to the top of the mountain in Zurs and headed down the other side to Lech, a small village about a 30 ski away. \240What is interesting about this part of Austria is that there are a series of small villages to which you can ski. \240There is Lech, Oberlech (meaning above Lech); Zug, St. Christof, and St. Anton. \240They run along about a 20 mile stretch and you can get to all of them by skis. \240In fact, as you are skiing you will see signposts pointing the way to each town. \240Our lunch destination was in the town of Oberlech and we had a beautiful trip there.

Sign for Lech

Entering the town of Oberlech

We headed to a tastefully designed restaurant know as Murmeli, named after the restaurant owners Annamarie and Wolfgang Murmeli. I had researched the restaurant and during ski season, it is impossible to get a table for lunch. \240One reviewer suggested booking a year in advance.

Well, by the greeting we got when we entered the restauarant, you would have thought George was a rock star. \240Every waiter and waitress in the place rushed over to say hello. \240The proprietress, Annamarie, gave George a big hug and explained that his table was ready and that she had made sure the chef made his favorite meal, lasagna.

George’s table

Annamarie stopped by to make sure we were comfortable

While beautiful, I never thought the restaurant could live up to the hype - but it most certainly did. \240We were first served a cute plate of various pickled vegetables and cured hams and cheeses. \240We all ordered the lasagna which came with a nice cabbage salad with a delicious sweet dressing.

The lasagna

The lasagna was light and tasty with a mix of cheeses and just a hint of tomato sauce and ground veal. \240It came in its own ramekin and was covered with melted cheese. \240While my Mom’s lasagna is the best, this certainly gave it a run for the money. \240After lunch, we shared some delicious apple strudel and George’s favorite dessert which he pronounced as “Kasakstan”. \240It turns out the dessert is actually “Kaiserschmaar”, a traditional Austrian dessert. \240It is a pancake made with spices that is torn into pieces as it is being fried. \240It is then covered in powdered sugar and served with a plum compote. \240It was great. \240A few cappuccinos; a few more hugs and we were off. \240George was right, so far the skiing and the food had been nmemorable.

We strapped on our skis and headed back to Zurs and then on to St. Anton, the home of the famous Apres Ski bar, the Moosterwirt. \240On the way, we skied down this unbelieveable bowl. \240It was steep and powdery and just a great ride.

On our back to Zurs

We made it back to the Hotel Zurserhof but there was no time to waste. \240We had a long ski to St. Anton and the Mooserwirt.

A view of our hotel from the slopes

The trip to St. Anton took about an hour. \240It involved some difficult skiing because some of the ski trails between Zurs and St. Anton were closed due to a severe avalanche warning. \240That meant we had to go down several very steep expert trails. \240Everyone made it safe and sound and we arrived at St. Anton.

As we approached the Mooserwirt, I was worried. \240Even at 4:30, there were many people there and it looked like a madhouse.

Mooserwirt

I was surprised as we skied right past all the craziness and up to the hotel which is adjacent to the Mooserwirt. Our guide and George skied right up to the front door and started taking off their skies. Of course I followed suit not knowing what was up. \240

The Mooser Hotel

I soon found out. \240You see, George knows the proprietors of both the Mooserwirt as well as the adjacent Mooser Hotel. The owners allow George and his guests (luckily in this case me) to use the hotel to store their gear and then access the Mooserwirt through a secret connection. We avoided the masses and entered the bar. \240Yes, I felt like royalty but the best is yet to come.

These are ski boot slippers that they gave us at the Mooser Hotel so we could walk through the hotel to the Mooserwirt without damaging the floor.

Even though we had entered without having to deal with the crowds, once inside the place was a zoo. \240Again, George forged ahead and was on a mission. \240Of course, I followed. \240Next thing I know we are heading upstairs. \240The inside of the Mooserwirt is two stories with a large open area on the bottom and a balcony that runs all the way around the top. \240At one end, in the middle of the action, was the DJ in a fairly large cordoned off area overlooking all the action. Around the rest of the balcony were tables but like downstairs, there was not a seat to be had. \240 George made a beeline for the DJ and as soon as he saw George, the DJ started to wave - not a hello wave but a come here wave. \240He motioned all of us through a gate that kept people away from the DJ area. \240Finally I understood, the proprietor had reserved a very comfortable area right next to the DJ for our use. It included a railing over which we could watch the action below; a table for drinks and a window so we could see the crowds outside.

View from our window to the regulars outside

This is how they serve drinks at the Mooserwirt.

David, me, George and Jonathan in our own perch

We had our own waiter who kept us supplied with Apres Ski supplies

The drink of choice

It was so much fun watching the crowds grow and people partying. \240In fact, as the video clip below shows, yours truly may have gotten into the action.

In case you couldn’t download the clip, it is of the crowd led from the balcony by yours truly singing Sweet Caroline. It was a blast.

We left the Mooserwirt as we came - through the secret passage and ended up back at the hotel. \240Of course the hotel had already called a taxi and it was waiting for us in the heated garage with our skis already loaded. \240We returned our “slippers”, said thank you to the owners and headed back to Zurs. \240What a day, it lived up to everything that had been promised and more.

Bye

View from our first chairlift

Before I tell you about our day, I have to make a correction. \240As you know, it is always important to keep your blog as accurate as possible (unless of course it involves how many Jagermeisters you had last night at Mooserwirt before leading the crowd in a drunken version of Sweet Caroline - inaccuracy may be in order in that situation).

Anyhow, in ysterday’s blog I raved about Murmeli’s restaurant. \240All that food raving was totally accurate. \240What I got wrong was that I stated that the restaurant is named after the owner’s last name. \240In fact, I learned today that Murmeli in German is a term for the Alpine Marmot, a large animal in the squirrel family that inhabits the Alps region. \240Marmot’s are great tunnelers. \240They use these skills to dig large burrows for their family. \240When creating a burrow, they use both their forepaws and hind feet to assist in the work—the forepaws scrape away the soil, which is then pushed out of the way by the hind feet.

Now knowing that the restaurant is named after a rodent, I wonder how that name was chosen. I think it is because the \240restaurant is buried in a burrow of sorts. \240I don’t know the right answer but I will follow up before next year’s trip. At least I can rest easy that the record has been corrected.

Alpine Marmots in the lobby of the Murmeli’s. \240Should have been a clue.

By the way, today was a very special day in the Arlberg Mountains (that is the name of the entire 7 mountain area where Zurs and the other local towns are located). It was the Annual White Ring Race, an annual event that has been held for over 50 years where both locals and international skiers compete on a 14-mile circuit of lifts and ski slopes that connect the mountain villages of Lech, Zurs, Zug, and Oberlech. We have essentially been skiing the White Ring for the last two days and I didn’t even know it.

The White Ring Race logo

I also learned some of the history of this area. \240There was a famous Austrian named Sepp Bildstein who had the vision to build ski lifts in Lech Zürs (the name given to the area between Zurs, where we are staying and Lech, close to where we had lunch at Murmeli’s). Prior to that, skiing required the skier to hike up the mountain and ski down. \240The first “drag lift” (i.e. rope tow) in Austria was erected on a beginner slope in Zürs in 1937. What is interesting is that Sepp Bildstein asked his friend Emil Doppelmyar to assist him. \240Doppelmyar has gone on to become the largest manufacturer of ski lifts, cable cars and gondolas in the world.

With the first ski lift in the area built in 1940, a milestone was finally set: the birth of the White Ring. A more Intensive development of the Lech Zürs ski area with multiple chair lifts began in the 1950s. The lift system proliferated \240and soon joined the five towns making it easy to travel from mountain to mountain. Skiers flocked to the area to avoid the arduous ascent that used to define skiing. This was a game changer and led to skiing becoming a recreational sport.

Picture of the first drag lift in Zurs

Sepp Bildstein teaching an early ski class. \240Quite a difference from Bernie

The White Ring Race is interesting. \240The circuit comprises 5 downhill runs, 5 different lifts (which are closed to the public), an intensive ascent and a challenging back country ski run. \240Skiers of all types enter the race. \240Skiers are sent off 20 at a time every 100 seconds. The clock does not stop while you are on the chairlift, so you want to be the first to get there. The winning time is 44 minutes set back in 2016.

We were lucky in two ways today as it relates to the race. First, we got to see some of the competitors as we skied in Zurs. \240Second, we happened to be the first group to go up one of the main chairlifts (after it reopened after the race) and thus were able to access pristine slopes that had been closed all morning because of the race. \240Yeah us!

So we skied part of the White Ring from Zurs on our way to Oberlech and, you guessed it, another lunch at Murmeli’s (which we now know is named for a Marmot).

Shadows are Bernie and me ready to descend

On the slopes

One of my favorite pics - this is right before we got on a chairlift to take us closer to Oberlech (and lunch)

George waiting at the lift

Almost at lunch - last trail

Another cool picture. I love the way the clouds seem to reflect the surface of the trail

I took this picture right after we skied off this lift. \240However, from this point to the next slope is a fairly long flat \240area. \240In the picture below, you will see how that problem is solved.

A rope toe drags you along the flat area. \240It is much better than poling and gives you a few minutes to take in the awesome view.

Lunch at Murmeli’s was quite a treat. \240I had Fishcurry, a stew of shrimp and monkfish with potatoes and greens in a very light curry sauce served over rice. \240It was delicious - it was a far cry from your typical cardboard hamburger and greasy fries considered “ski food” in the US.

Fishcurry

On the way back, we decided to take the “big gondola” from Lech to save some time. If you ever want to know what a sardine must feel like, try this mode of transportation. The operator will not close the door until the car is filled with as many people as it is physically possible to fit. The European definition of physical space is far different than ours. \240Thankfully it is only about a 15 minute ascent and, thank God, people have good personal hygiene in Austria.

Here is a picture of the gondola as it was filling. \240I would have taken a picture when it was full but there was no way I could lift my hand with my phone.

We headed back to the Hotel for some R & R. \240I worked on this blog while George and Jonathan slept. \240We met again at 7:00 \240for a drink followed by dinner at 8:00. Saturday is billed as a Gala Dinner at the hotel and the restaurant did not disappoint. \240Below is the menu for the evening.

You will see that the dessert included cheeses and fine delicacies from the pastry chef. \240See the pictures below to get a sense of the amazing spread the hotel put out.

Cheese table

Just a small section of a gigantic dessert buffet

We lingered after dessert and discussed everything from politics to business. \240We shared some memories of the trip. \240Then it was time to say goodnight. \240It certainly was an awesome trip but I am looking forward to getting back home.

I sincerely hope that this blog finds everyone well. \240And thanks for indulging me. \240See you stateside.

Truly yours,

Your tired chronicler

Coffee waiting for me at 7:30 AM when I came down for my car to the airport

As I head back from Austria, I can’t help but reflect on some things that struck me during the trip. \240For those who have been enjoying this blog, here is a warning – this entry may be very boring so I wouldn’t blame you at all if you closed the blog \240right now and moved on to better things, like cleaning your bathroom, watching paint dry or giving your pet a bath. But, I believe that every experience teaches us something about life and even an Austrian vacation is no exception. \240With that foreboding preamble, here goes.

It was very interesting to me to watch my companions deal with being in Austria on a religious note. \240David, Jonathan and George are all Jewish and each had to come to terms with the role Austria played in the Nazi movement. \240Many of the concentration camps were in Austria and, the Von Trapp family aside, many Austrians supported Hitler. While we did not dwell on it, there were enough references and partial conversations to know that it was on their minds. \240I know that in one conversation, David said he had a number of Jewish friends that would not set foot in Austria. I realized that even though those atrocities took place over 70 years ago, it was recent enough that almost every Jew was either personally touched by that terrible event or had relatives who were. \240What was striking was the contrast between the ghosts of Nazi sympathizers that my friends were dealing with and the truly generous and loving Austrians that we encountered all through our trip. \240George told me that the Zurserhof Hotel, where the proprietors went out of their way to make us all feel like special guests, was actually occupied by the Nazis and was a command center. Yet, there we were in the very dining room where the Nazis probably sat discussing the “Final Solution” \240while eating the same traditional delicacies that we were enjoying last night. No one made it a major subject of discussion but I must say it was sobering to me and I would find myself thinking about it several times throughout the trip. \240Sometimes its important to reflect not only on the good things in a country’s history but to remember the bad as well.

On a lighter note, I also spent some time reflecting on the sport of skiing. \240Why do \240so many people love skiing? I came up with my own conclusions. For one, it is one of the few opportunities most of us get to try to conquer nature. Most aren’t going to climb a mountain, rappel down a sheer rock wall or tackle a wild river on a raft but you can ski down a 10,000 foot mountain and have a great sense of accomplishment when you succeed. Also, for me, skiing is one of the only times that I can escape the troubles of the world. \240Once you strap on the helmet and pull down your googles, you are in your own world, totally immersed in what you are doing and focused on the mountain ahead of you. \240There is no room for outside thoughts. I know it may sound odd to those who don’t ski but, at least for me, it is very zen like and my mind always feels fresh after a day of skiing (even if my legs feel like jelly).

Skiing has another attraction and that is the pure exhilaration of speed. \240It is one of the few activities that you can do where you feel like you are defying gravity with no mechanical device involved (at least not going down the mountain). When you are in rhythm and everything is working, you really do get a sense that you are flying. Of course, at my ski level, that perfect, flying thing only happens rarely but it happens enough to lure me back time and time again.

Another reflection on skiing is that it is also one of the few things where looks, age, race and physical attractiveness play no role (except on the apres ski front). \240When you are bundled up in ski clothes and helmet, no one knows who you are, where you come from or how old you are. \240You are just one of many enjoying the mountain. \240In a world where we often judge people by their physical attributes, it is nice to be on a somewhat level playing field. However, I must admit somehow you can pick out a young Scandinavian woman even bundled up - just don’t know why that is. Skiing is also one of the few sports where you can keep getting better even as you get older. \240I know I left Austria a better skier than I was before I came. Other than good wine, in what other arena do you get better with age?

Next observation – I was so impressed with the professionalism of the wait staff and hotel staff we met and with whom we interacted. It is a stark contrast to what we find in the US. \240In Europe, wait staff pride themselves on being professionals. They pride themselves on their skill and their ability to make customers happy. More importantly, they are respected by patrons as well and make a good living. For example, at lunch at Murmeli’s the other day, Jonathan ordered Dover sole. The waitress took great pride in properly filleting the fish and removing every bone. My friend George has a very selective palate and more often than not he ordered off the menu (we actually began calling it “off piste”). Never once did he get that look of disdain from a server that you invariably get in a US restaurant when you ask to alter something on the menu. \240This pride in doing it right is not limited to wait staff. I noticed it with hotel housekeepers as well. When I left some clothes strewn on a chair in my hotel room, I returned to see them folded neatly. Another great example - when I arrived at the front desk this morning for my 7:30 car, the manager at the front desk had arranged for some coffee and hot milk (my morning drink of choice) to be waiting for me. \240I asked our guide Bernie about my observation and he agreed summing it up this way: “In Austria, a person is not judged on what they do, they are judged on how well they do it”. A little different than the “What you do is what you are” attitude that we often find in the US. I think we could learn something in this regard.

Last observation – the Austrians and Swiss really dislike Donald Trump – I mean really dislike him. They are sophisticated enough to know that some of his policies make sense, especially his tough talk against China and the need for immigration reform (which is a huge problem in some European countries right now). But they \240don’t understand his lack of statesmanship. \240In a parliamentary system as in most European countries, where you have multiple factions, leaders function by forming coalitions. \240In the European system, your ally today could be your opponent tomorrow so in order to get anything done, you have to bring disparate groups together. The ability to negotiate among differing factions is the standard by which leaders are judged in Europe. The Trump persona is not one of diplomacy and coalition building and the Europeans seem to \240really take offense. \240They could care less about his personal background, his misogynistic personality, the Russian collusion or his malicious twitter feed, I really think it’s his disregard of the need to practice diplomacy that really bothers them. On that basis alone, they give him very low scores. \240To be fair, they dislike Pelosi and Shummer as well for the same reasons. I don’t want to make this a personal political statement but I do think a little more coalition building on both sides might be a good thing for our country.

Well that’s it – enough blogging for now. \240I hope you enjoyed sharing my trip with me - it was nice to have you along.

Until next time, I wish you all the best,

Your reflective Chronicler