Week 92: Garmisch

Matt spent the week recovering from his surgery. It was a constant rotation of ice packs, exercises, and medications. He was feeling a little more normal by midweek and was able to get some schoolwork done.

Tuesday, the maintenance man returned to finish up our bedroom. It was really frustrating that they finished 95% of the work Saturday. and had to leave before finishing. While he was able to come back Tuesday night, he still only got to 98% done. He said we could move some of our furniture back in, but he wouldn’t be able to help us until Wednesday when he came back again to finish.

At this point, we had been out of our room for over three weeks. Matt was stuck on the couch and I was camping out in the guest room. We were desperate to get back in our room and have all our stuff where we could find it. So, the kids and I worked late into the night moving our furniture back in and setting it up.

By Friday, Matt was feeling quite a bit better. We had already long ago booked a dog kennel and hotel in Garmisch and both couldn’t be cancelled so we decided to keep our plans. Luckily, some of our friends were also planning to go for the weekend, so we’d have company.

We arrived in time Friday for dinner and then headed back to the hotel for some drinks at the hotel while the kids hung out and played electronics.

Saturday morning, the kids and I headed to Garmisch Classic for some skiing. Last year, it was unseasonably warm in Garmisch and there was barely any snow in town, but plenty up the mountain. This year the was NO snow in town and even the ski school had to move to higher elevations.

When we arrived around 9, it was about 25F and the slopes were really icy. As the morning went on, it started to warm up and it got really crowded! The lift lines were so long but we still had a great time. And no injuries! We are so thankful every time for that now. We also had a great lunch at the mountain lodge.

By 2pm, it was 65F! In mid February! So crazy! By this time, the slopes were super slushy. We headed back to the hotel and met up with our friends for hot tub time and then went to Taco Night at the hotel.

Sunday, we tried out a new ski lift, Biberwier, across the border from Garmisch, in Austria. The slopes here were much less crowded and barely any lift lines. They have a some really long blue runs and me and the kids spent a lot of time racing on one of the wider ones. We also took a series of lifts up to the peak and it took us almost thirty minutes to ski back down, it was awesome! We had another great lunch at one of their lodges.

We finally got a roof box, like every other German! It’s been a game changer and we won’t go without it again!

Monday turned out to be a beautiful, clear day. We were heading home but decided to take the lift up Zugspitze on the way home. Matt and I had been there in 2017 and had been wanting to go back with the kids and after Matt spent most of the weekend in the hotel room doing homework, it would be a good way to get outside without having to do too much walking.

One big difference from the last time we went in September, to this time on February, is it was frigid! We did not bring our gloves up the lift with us and paid for that decision as it was so cold! The kids took one picture outside and then ran back in to the restaurant.

Matt and I did a little walking around the terrace. We checked out the ski area on the glacier below and added it to our list of places to ski next year.