Today we say goodbye to Austria and our Ski Week holiday. It was a lot of fun and we’ll remember the good times we had for long to come. On our final full day in Bad Hofgastein, we returned all of the equipment and prepared the car for the way home. We concentrated on cross-country skiing and Oliver and Owen are shown above starting their third race. Yes, the Kralovec boys are competitive like most brothers. Oliver cried when he lost the second time in a best of 3 competition. They both took to it quite well and it is something we hope to pursue in the future.
Ollie Attempting to buy a pack of Marlboro Lights
It was funny to commonly see cigarette vending machines in Austria. They are pretty much banned in the USA due to age restrictions, only being found in some bars or casinos. The Austrians like most Europeans, smoke more than Americans. The machine above was in the hotel lobby. By the way, the Marlboro Lights are 4.80 Euros which is about $6.50 a pack.
We also took the boys for a haircut. Ollie looks like such a little boy. He was sad yesterday when he dropped his skiing medal down the elevator shaft while exiting. He carried around the medal for two days.
I rented skis and spent a day on the mountain with friends. We watched our children’s races and had a day of skiing for ourselves. It was a long time since I went downhill skiing and by the end of the day, I felt more comfortable. The runs in Europe are marked blue for easy, red for intermediate, and black for difficult. We mostly went down red and I could handle them. I did feel a bit out of my league on the steeper reds. On our final run from the top to the bottom, I felt the “buzz” of skiing and really was having a great time. To get to the top, one takes a train, then two chair lifts. We skied all the way down to the ski school for the award ceremony. It is amazing how long the runs are. Being from Michigan, with hills and not mountains, I am always impressed with the length and variety of slopes in the Alps or Rockies.
I am not sure however, if the joy I felt on the slopes outweighs the cost and hassle of skiing. Renting the equipment (36 euros) and a lift pass (50 euros) are crazy expensive. The day felt crowded, as there were lines to get on the train and chairlifts, lines for lunch, and lots of people all around. I think there are too few ski areas for the number of people that want to ski. I prefer the solitude and ease of cross-country skiing. It is also a better workout. Downhill skiing is a nice family day outdoors. Nadia will never downhill ski, however. Owen loves it and Oliver I think will like it once he is a bit older. I am still not sure if we will have a ski holiday in the future. Once again, I don’t think the costs and hassles outweigh the fun. I do have a newfound respect for downhill skiing in the Olympics. The speed they attain is amazing. The Austrians are organized the week of skiing was as easy to organize as it could be. We all received lessons (classic cross country, skate cross country, and downhill) and got on the slopes or trails immediately upon arrival.
My lunch on the mountain was great without kids and the wheat beer and “Jagr Tea” was delicious and motivating for my afternoon ski down.
Yesterday was the final day of Ollie and Owen’s ski schools. Oliver is shown above with his gold medal. Each group of students did a timed giant slalom course. There was a big awards ceremony at the ski school to wrap up the week. Both boys were in the Schischule Schlosssalm with the crazy mascot, Bobo der Penguin. Ollie came first in his group and Owen came second in his group. Owen’s slalom course was a real one up the mountain. I love it when the Austrians yell that “yup, yup,yup,yup” when the skier begins the course.
Ollie’s Award Ceremony
I’ll post Owen’s slalom run video later when I get a chance.
Nadia and I really had a great day together on the cross country ski trails. As you can see, our little “ball & chain” (a cute one however) keeps us both busy so we need to swap watching her so the other can ski. We were doing time trials around the 2.5 kilometer loop near the village. Cross-country skiing is a great workout and fun. We watched the races last night from Vancouver- we have a long way to go to beat them.
Heading up the mountain with Owen this morning as both boys have their races in their respective ski schools.
A classic Euro photo in the hotel spa sandals and robes. With our hotel stay, we have access to the Alpentherme water park. It has an outdoor pool with views of the Alps, water slides, and a children’s swim area. The kids love it. I like walking through the hotel in robe. They even have a “Sauna World” in the water park and in typical European style, it is complete nude. I haven’t mustered the will to visit that part yet. In the Puritanical USA, this would be scandalous.
View of Bad Hofgastein from slopes above the village
Bad Hofgastein is a small town (around 6,000 inhabitants) near Salzburg. It is a major ski resort area and with all of the 278 connecting ski lifts and 860 kilometers of slopes, it is a skiers paradise. Owen is really taking to skiing and I am going up with him tomorrow. Very pricey however, and a two-day ski pass for Owen and I costs 126 euros (ouch). This is definitely a vacation we won’t be doing alot as it is very expensive. We are having a great time however. Nadia and I did some more cross-country skiing today.
We are enjoying our holiday in the Austrian Alps. Bad Hofgastein is a winter sport heaven, especially with the Eurosport coverage of the Winter Olympics, we watch the events at night and then go out and do them during the day. Nadia is pictured above learning how to nordic, or cross country ski. She really liked it and we hope to go for our first ski together today.
The boys have been doing downhill skiing the past couple of days. Owen plans to go up the gondola today for the first time – graduating from the kinderschule. Oliver is doing well and able to stop by himself. Ocean isn’t ready for skis yet, but we put her on the toboggan. I took a lesson in the skating cross country ski technique and plan to get better at it before we head back to Serbia.
We are pictured above in the train going from M to Bad Gastein. It was the final part of our journey yesterday. We left Belgrade Saturday morning in blizzard conditions and 10 hours later, arrived at our destination.
The kids loved the train. It was the first time I’ve see a train that you could place your car on and then ride up on. Bad Hofgastein is located in the Gastien valley and the shortest entrance to the valley from the south, is a tunnel that goes through the mountain. The tunnel is only for trains, hence why we put our car on the train. The alternative is to drive east and enter from the north which adds an hour and a half onto the journey. Snowy Belgrade is pictured below – near the entrance ramp to the highway heading to Croatia.
Saturday we went to the Belgrade Arena to watch the first singles matches of the Federation Cup Tennis Tournament. The Fed Cup is the women’s version of the Davis Cup. Serbia is playing this weekend in the quarterfinals against Russia. We also watched the reverse singles and doubles matches on RTV (Radio Television Serbia) on Sunday. With four singles matches and one doubles match, whichever team wins three, wins the “tie” as they say in tennis jargon.
Russia defeated Serbia 3 matches to 2. Ana Ivanovic was awful and lost her two singles matches and was the “weak link” in the doubles match she played with Jelena.
Serbia as you may know, is a power in world tennis because of the big three, Novak Djokovic (#2 ATP ranking), Jelena Jankovic (#8 WTA ranking), and Ana Ivanovic (#23 WTA ranking). Jelena and Ana make a duo that can match up with any pair of women in the world. Russia, is currently in my opinion, the top women’s tennis nation with 6 players in the top 20 and 15 in the top 100. The number two ranked player in the world, Marat Safin’s sister Dinara, was not playing, but we saw world number 4, Svetlana Kuznetova play.
In the first match, Ana Ivanovic (above) lost in straight sets to Kuznetova. She looked horrible in the first set, rallied in the second set to lead 4-2, before collapsing. I thought she looked rushed and off balance most of the match. Both Nadia and I remember watching her a couple of years ago defeating Venus Williams. She showed flashes of that, but mostly showed a very inconsistent effort and lack of intensity. In the second match, Jelena Jankovic played much more aggressively and defeated world #31, Alisa Kleybanova in three sets. Jelena came back on Sunday and won again in three sets, defeating Kuznetova. She never gave up, played with great intensity, and I have a newfound respect for her. I hope she wins a Grand Slam this year and makes a push for #1. Ana looks like she has a long way to go to be back in the top 10. It would be nice to see her dedicate herself to training and the tour this year and get back into the elite of the women.
Jelena serves in the first set
One of the most noticeable things about yesterday’s matches for any male, was the beauty of the Serbian girls. I enjoyed the tennis and respect the athletic ability of the women, but it is natural to notice things like that. Both Ana and Jelena are slender and carried themselves with a more feminine air than their Russian counterparts. They both play up the “babe” factor on their web sites (Jelena’s web site and Ana’s web site)and when they promote themselves. I felt they were at a disadvantage against the bigger, stronger, Russian girls yesterday. I think both of them would benefit from strength training. The Russians looked like linemen (North American football reference – these are the players that push against each other to create clear lanes for the faster and smaller running backs) and not what I think of as tennis players. Both girls are listed at over 150 pounds on the tour web site.
We enjoyed our first indoor tennis tourney
I also think Serbia should develop their women’s sports program significantly. Walking around Belgrade, I see a lot of tall (6 feet and over) women. With the history of success of the men’s basketball, I am surprised that women also haven’t done more. It might be that women don’t regard themselves like American women athletes do. They are more likely to stop competing in sports as adults and girls are not really encouraged and clubs and schools do not have female sports programs. I would like to start a women’s club program like Partizan, to develop women basketball players. Many would earn US university scholarships and they would be a force on the world basketball scene. In the US, law dictates that schools must have equal male and female sports programs. This has definitely helped women in the USA.
(A side note – In the photo of Ana Ivanovic, the gentleman in the background with the white shirt and light blue tie, is former Yugoslavian tennis great, Slobodan Živojinović. He was the first Serbian to be ranked number one in doubles and won the US Open doubles title in 1986.)
The EuroLeague Basketball is like the Champions League in soccer. The best professional club teams compete outside of their regular national leagues to determine one European champion. The EuroLeague is getting close to its “final four” and it is down to the final 16 teams. Belgrade professional team Partizan last night hosted Barcelona.
It was the first time I saw a basketball game end like it did. Partizan was comfortably head by half time but Barcelona stormed ahead in the second half. Late in the game, Partizan tied it and it went to overtime. In the overtime, with Partizan ahead by a point, 67-66, a Barcelona player took a shot. The ball hit the rim twice and was bouncing out when a Partizan player knocked it away from the basket – giving Partizn the win. But shortly after, the Barcelona coach (left in the photo above taken from my TV screen), the two referees (orange), and the Partizan coach (bald far right) were looking at the replay to determine if it had been goaltending or not.
Now while they were deciding who would win the game, the crowd waited. Pionir Hall is a small stadium that seats roughly 7,000 fans was completely full. Partizan fans are like soccer fans and they are on their feet and singing and cheering the entire game. Serbia takes its basketball seriously and so the atmosphere for visiting teams must be difficult. After about a 5 minute delay, the referees finally decided in favor of Partizan. I wonder what would have happened if they had decided the other way? A riot? Violence?
I didn’t know that instant replay is used in professional basketball anywhere. It is used in NFL football, tennis, but I don’t think in basketball yet. Even more puzzling was the fact that the opposing coaches and referees were looking at the replay together court side to make the decision. Usually the replays are looked at in the quiet of a booth in the stadium by a designated official or they are computer generated like in tennis.
With the win, Partizan is 2-0 in their group of four. They had two upset victories, on the road against Panithinaikos (Athens) and this victory at home against Barcelona. They play next Thursday against Maroussi, another Greek team in Athens. My favorite team in Serbia is Red Star, the other big Belgrade team, but I am fully behind Partizan since Red Star did not qualify for the Euroleague.
I’ll be posting more about basketball as the season continues. Below is the photo of the instant replay. I would have not ruled it goaltending as the ball was leaving the cylinder. The Partizan player, John Roberts, former Red Star import, shouldn’t have touched it however, and risk the goal tending call.
Ocean is shown above in the jogging stroller. I took the photo on Sunday during a light snow.
I’ve done more running this winter than last winter. It is actually not too bad to run, even in the coldest Belgrade weather. Ocean doesn’t like it as much as she does in the summer of course. I also don’t have the time because of school to run much during the week. Another detriment to my running is that it gets dark early. Belgrade is 44 degrees north, which is close to the latitude of my hometown in Michigan. World maps are a bit deceiving and I didn’t realize that Europe is more north than the USA. Michigan has colder temps and more snow that most of Europe due to the large continental land mass of North America. But, Michigan would be southern Europe if judged by latitude.
I feel refreshed from running in cold weather. I put on my ear muffs, a running sweatshirt, sweat pants, and off I go. On the coldest days I may wear gloves. The sidewalks and paths in the city are usually clear. It is a bit tough along the river because of the colder winds.
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