Family Holiday Journal: February “Ski Week” 2009

I have not been able to update my blog this week. We travelled to Austria for a family holiday and access to the internet was sporadic and slow. I did manage to upload some photos and do one blog post which is below. I will be catching up and posting photos and stories from our week away today and tomorrow. Below is a post from earlier in the week.

We are in Feld am See, Austria for a few days of rest and relaxation. ISB is on their annual “ski week” which is a Serbian tradition as all schools get time off in winter to head to the slopes.

Feld am See is a village (in the USA we call them towns, but the European village sounds more picturesque) of around 1,500 inhabitants located on a small lake in the Knockenburg Alps, which are in the south-eastern part of Austria. We chose to stay at the Brenneshoff Family Sports Hotel because it caters to families who want to do sports. 

We drove 6 hours on Saturday to reach the hotel from Belgrade. That is a strange thing about Europe is that in six hours, we crossed 3 international borders and three different languages. The kids were well behaved in the car as Owen is feverish and slept most of the way, Ollie had his Gameboy, and Ocean slept and watched the scenery. We stopped in Slovenia for gasoline at on of our favorite restaurant chains. “LeMarche” is a gourmet deli attached to some gas stations in Slovenia. It is a strange concept as most US gas stations have either a fast food chain or their own “party store” full of cheap and low nutritious food. Le March on the other hand, has an amazing salad bar, freshly squeezed juices, sandwiches, and hot meals. 

Upon arrival we immediately hit the pools with Oliver and Ocean. Ocean learned to stay on her feet in the baby pool. She loves water and I only had to save her life 4 times. There was a ramp near the slide that she had difficulty managing and she fell on her back and couldn’t get back up.

Yesterday we enjoyed a relaxing day at the hotel. The highlight for me was Owen and I skating around the lake. Owen was getting quite good at ice skating and I hope to do some more with him. I also want him to practice skiing and we set up lessons for the boys today. It is a nice setting with the towering mountains on both sides of us. The village must have a zamboni, as they ploughed a hockey area and a loop around the lake. Nice idea. I didn’t see any ice fishermen however, which would be standard in any Upper Peninsula lake.  Nadia went to the spa for a massage. We are loving the European spa concept. I like it because everyone is walking around in hotel issued robes and sandals.

 

 

This hotel greatest service for kids however, is a kinderhaus. They have a room with toys, books, arts & crafts, and a couple of teachers to watch the kids while the parents enjoy themselves. Owen and Oliver are fine with this as they go to school, but Ocean can only stay a short time until she begins to cry inconsolably. We hope she improves.