Ski Adventures in Zillertal, Austria

During the boys February break, the Koch family has a tradition to always go on a ski vacation in the Alps (it’s kind of a tradition for the entire continent, considering it seemed that every single family in Europe was on the highway heading towards the Alps along with us). But the Koch’s, they are hardcore when it comes to travel. In order to miss out on some of the hour and hour long traffic jams on the highway, Oli had us get up at 3:30am and in the car by 4am. We all stuffed ourselves in the car (it was the first time the family had ever traveled with 6 people...but we managed somehow to all squeeze in). Just as we were about to all slam our doors shut, a van pulls up. It’s the newspaper guy. He gives us a curious look, holds out the paper and asks, “Leaving for vacation?” “Yup!” we reply in unison, grab the paper, and we are on our way.

The 10 hour drive turned out not to be as bad as I thought. (You would think, as I did, that is would be like a moving box of hell…driving in a car with 2 crazy boys and 1 screaming baby).  I played a few songs on the mini guitar Oli brought to calm Felix down when he would start to get antsy. He also enjoyed it when Oli turned up some techno beats on the radio (yes, Oli and Sylvia listen to “young people music”..it’s kind of strange to me but I guess to each their own). To all our delight, Felix started clapping and bopping his head to the beat :)

After climbing up the mountain and driving through a deep valley (Tal) for what seemed like forever, we arrived at our destination—Vorderlandersbach. Snow is falling and the cute little wooden houses are covered with white. We drive by a small cabin with little windows and hearts cut out in the shutters and a big sign on the front—the “Hexen Kessl.” Then Sylvia pipes up, ”Well looks like I know where Margot will be every night!” The Hexen Kessl turned out to be one of the most popular après ski places in the town. I laughed (because I know Oli and Sylvie think I’m such a big partyer) and said “well, I’ve never been to après ski before, so I guess I’ll have to try it.”

Some of the hotels in Vorlandersbach

 We found the Forelle Hotel (Forelle is trout in German) and unpacked the car. I walked through the entryway and then found myself greeted by electronic sliding glass doors with the words “Gruss Gott” painted across them. Hmmm oh yes, I remember now, I thought to myself. The Austrians greet each other by saying “Greetings God.” Great. Guess everyone in Austria is God. I walked through the doors and then was greeted again, but this time by a very smiley Austrian lady wearing a full on dirndl looking dress thing, her boobs popping up so much that I felt a little embarrassed. Later, I found that every woman working in the place was wearing such a dress, even our waitresses.. guess I was going to have to get used to it…or maybe just get my own and fit right in:)

My little room:)

Since we were such a big group, we ended up getting the biggest suit in the hotel, complete with a glassed-in living room with beautiful views of the mountains of Hintertux at the end of the valley. I had my own little room in the back, which was nice and cozy but the problem was (and I thought of this the second I saw the room) that I had to walk through Oli and Sylvia’s room and the room of Niki, Jonas and Felix to get to mine. It was going to be difficult when I came home late after après ski…Thankfully, everyone was always really tired and seemed to be able to sleep right through my bumping around in the dark. Then Felix would cry a little later, but I would tell myself it wasn’t my fault because it seemed like he cried at exactly every hour on the hour in the night. I never noticed this before when we were in Brussels, since I basically live in the attic. But sleeping in the room next to him, I can hear every little wine and cry. Let’s just say I didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted to during that week.

View from the boy's bedroom window

View from other side of room

I also found this candy on my bed when we arrived. Quite ironic. And just overall strange:

After unpacking, we headed down to the dining room. The thing I actually really liked about our hotel was that it felt so homey and friendly. The staff was really nice and hospitable (once you  got over the boobs popping out in your face) and always bringing us anything we asked for. The decorations of the hotel were also…interesting. For example, all throughout the dining room was small stuffed (but once alive) furry creatures. On the walls, on the table next to the salads, in the cupboards.. I think it was supposed to represent the wilderness feeling of Zillertal, but I think the dining room was not the best place to show this kind of thing off. Although, the food was delicious. Each night, we had a prepared menu listing our 5 courses—always a special Zillertal soup, then an appetizer, salad, a main course (either vegetarian or meat) and finally a fancy dessert.

For example, this is what we were served our first night:

Soup with crepe pieces

Austrian ravioli with mushrooms

Fresh Salad

Braised calf filet with dough pocket filled with roasted zucchini

Ginger semolina pudding with basil melon sorbet

…I could get used to travelling with a luxus family :)

First  day, I got to ski with Niki, Jonas and Oli since the boys we not starting ski school until the next day.

 Anyway, first day on the mountain…and we have an injury. I mean, I shouldn’t have been surprised (skiing with a 5 and 7 year old who only get practice for a week once a year…something bad is bound to happen). The thing is, the whole episode was partially my fault.

SO, basically Oli went off to ski with one of his friends and left me at the top of the mountain with Niki and Jonas. It was our first day so they were not in ski school yet. Oli told us to take the gondola down, but after he left, Niki piped up that he wanted to ski down (take the Talabfahrt). I thought to myself…well if the boys want to ski, why not. I can find a trail down. Well, little did I know that the trail down was a red one (intermediate/hard).  At first, the boys were fine and I thought we were going to make it, but just when my hopes we rising, Niki began to catch speed and couldn’t stop. I yelled at him, “Apfelkuchen Niki! Apfelkuchen!” (the Austrian version of “Pizza”, the position you put your skis to break) But I think he was just going too fast and too scared to move.  I watched in terror as he tumbled into the snow, doing a summer sault and his skis flying off. Then….screams. Blood curdling screams. I ski down to him, scared to look into his face. But I do, and I see blood. Lots of it. Blood streaming down his face, his nose purple…and all I was thinking was.. Oh god, it’s broken.  As I take a quick look up to see if anyone else saw the fall, I see Jonas tumble just up the hill. Great, another one. Then, a man skis down to Jonas, helps him get his skis on  (thankfully, Jonas wasn’t hurt) and then came to me and Niki. I was blotting Niki’s bloody nose with a tissue as he came over. He asked me if I saw what happened, and I tried to explain what I saw. All the while, Niki is still howling with pain. The man says he is most likely just in shock. We argue with Niki for a few minutes about whether he can ski the rest of the way down or not. We were not that far from the bottom. But no, Niki refused. I gave him my mittens since his were full of snow, and then man called a rescue personal on his phone. All the while, people kept stopping to ask if they could help. It really amazes me how friendly people there were. An older woman with her husband stopped and asked me if they could do anything. I could barely understand her at first, the Austrian accent was so strong, and I could not concentrate very well at the moment, I was just so worried about Niki. Then I came to my senses and suddenly realized Jonas was gone. Simply disappeared. Shit. He must have kept skiing down, thinking we would come soon. I told the lady she actually could help me. I told her Niki’s brother, Jonas, kept skiing down, and asked if she could find him and bring him down to the gondola where we would meet them later. When I turned back around, the man who called the rescue told me they were sending something else to pick us up because our area was difficult to get to.. A few minutes later, I hear a rumbling, and a giant Snowcat (the tractor with huge flat wheels that groom the snow) came towards us down the hill. “We’re riding in that??”, I ask the guy. “Yup,” he replied. “They will bring you to the gondola and then an ambulance will meet you at the bottom.” An ambulance? The kid just hurt his nose, and we have to ride in an ambulance?? I was really freaking out now. Not so much about Niki, who seemed to have calmed down and was now just staring at the “Pistenbully” (Snowcat in German) in awe, probably not believing his luck that he was going to get to ride in it. It’s like every German kid’s dream. No, I was now simply dreading the fact that I would have to tell Oli what happened. I already wasn’t on his good side… why, why me?

Niki and I were pulled up into the side door of the Snowcat, the driver guy nonchalantly touching my butt, acting like he was just trying to help me...yeah sure. I realized after a few days that young guys around there are total players. But then again, where in this world are they not?

We started the steep climb up to the gondola, and the driver tried to make small talk with me. The problem was, this time I could scarcely understand him. The accent was awful. Full of rolling ‘R’s and weird Austrian slang. I settled on just nodding my head to answer him, until I think he realized I didn’t understand and just stopped talking to me.

As Niki and I sat in the gondola on the way down, I decided I should probably try calling Oli. No matter how much I dreaded doing it, I knew he would have to find out. But, when I called his number, a voice came on and said it was invalid. Great. I probably need a country code. I tried it, no luck. How was I going to get ahold of him? Jonas was probably at the bottom now of the other gondola (we were a far ways away from the gondola near our hotel, where the old people brought Jonas), waiting there, wondering where we were. I needed to tell Oli to go pick him up. We reached the bottom, and as promised, there was an ambulance waiting there. Niki and I were helped out of the gondola by a rescue team, and then one of the ambulance people asked Niki if he wanted his mommy to ride with him in the ambulance. It took me a second to realize that this guy thought I was the mom. “Oh no, no,” I said, “I’m not the mom, I am the au pair.” God, I thought to myself, do I really look old enough to be a mom of a 5 year old kid? Kind of scary... We climbed in the ambulance and one of the helpers gave Niki a little white bear, which made Niki immediately perk up (he loves stuffed animals). I climbed in the front next to the driver, and tried calling Oli again, this time with a new combo of numbers for the country code. Finally, it worked, and he picked up. I tried to sound really stressed and upset, and not like it was my fault at all. At first he started to get angry, but when I told him we had everything under control and that he can meet us at the doctor, he seemed to calm down. I gave the phone to the ambulance guy so he could tell Oli where the doctor was. After he got off the phone, he explained to me the plan he made with Oli, but honestly I had no idea what he was saying. I just agreed and we drove off. On the way, he asked me where I was from. Immediately after I told him I was American, I could see the surprise on his face, just like it always is when I tell a German speaker I’m from the States. And then he asks me the same question I always get, “You are American and you speak German? Why?” And then comes the story of my life…

I tell him about living in Brussels with the big, crazy family and about my duties. Then he says, “Travelling with this family, you must have a lot of adventures, yeah? Oh yes, I reply, smiling.

We arrive at the doctor and as Niki and I wait in the check-up room, sitting on the bed, I say,”This is probably one of our biggest adventures yet, don’t you think?” He looks up at me with his watery eyes and giant, puffy lip and says, “Yes! And we will have more, right Margot?” I keep looking at him and say, “Yes, Niki, with a crazy kid like you, I’m sure of it.”

 I went on a walk through some of the towns with Felix in the stroller one day. I discovered this very cute little Friedhof (graveyard) across the street from the “Alpen Disco” (talk about great town planning).  The special thing about this graveyard though, was that the “gravestones” were not really made of stone. Every single one was made of some kind of dark metal, twisted into intricate designs, most of them resembling crosses, but not all. 

The Alpen Disco...

...and this directly across the street

After finding the graveyard, I discovered a snowy path leading up a hill along the woods. I started climbing up it, getting a good workout by pushing Felix’s heavy stroller up in front of me. But it was so worth it. The few of the town below was picture perfect:

Signing off for now! But don't worry, still more entries to come on our adventures in Tuxertal!

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