Austria Ski Holiday

We decided to take a long weekend in January to get in some skiing. There are so many places to choose from, but we landed on St. Anton Arlberg in Austria due to its nice Alp views, as well as convenience.

We caught an early morning flight out of Amsterdam on a Friday. Got to Innsbruck mid-morning. Caught the hour-long train out to St. Anton, walked to the hotel, and were on the slopes by 12:30. Super smooth.

We had quite a bit of white-out madness what brought us a lot of fresh powder. We also had a perfect sunny day that spoiled us for stunning views.

First half-day treated us to my first time taking skis on a gondola, and a lot of untouched powder:

The village of St. Anton:

A lot of painted buildings:

Blue bird powder day!

Day 3 was near zero visibility white out in the morning, but cleared up in the afternoon. Leading to a gold-rush style powder grab by all the skiers.

Day 4 was another white-out, but we headed to a different part of the mountain that was in the clear with a lot of untouched snow.

Good exercise, good snow, good food, good times.

Train ride back — There's a castle!

Til next time!

Christmas 2013

This year we journeyed south to Barcelona to join Ignasi's family for Christmas. Christmas eve we had a very nice dinner followed by singing and dancing. On Christmas the whole family came around for presents and the feast. And we got to spend a little more time with the new niece and nephew.

After Christmas we took a little road trip out to the Pyrenees to get some skiing in.

Baguette Service?

We had a bit of white-out weather, but the sun did manage to peak out for a few minutes at Baqueira Beret 

 

After a couple days in the Pyrenees we headed back to Barcelona and off the Amsterdam the next day.

Sunset drive:

Amsterdam Autumn 2013

A very brief overview of some of our autumn happenings!

We hit up our favourite leafy stop: Amsterdamse Bos

I became an Aunt! 

And Ignasi became an Uncle! 

There were a lot of leopard spottings: 

I got to see a grand piano moved Amsterdam-style:

Made some whales:

Threw some pots:

Took Ignasi material shopping:

Saw this thing:

Went to London for Gareth and Lucy's wedding:

Saw this:

Had a wind storm to end all wind storms. Trees down everywhere.

Built a table for our studio:

And hosted Thanksgiving!

All in all it was a pretty good autumn with a few sunny days with bright yellow leaves!

Calella End of Summer 2013

Since we had visited my old summer-time stomping grounds in the states, it was time to visit Ignasi's in beautiful Calella! We took a few days off and joined his family at their summer time paradise.

 One of their beach spots:

Many good meals:

The lovely Calella:

A day trip out to the medieval town of Peartallada (literally meaning "Cutrock")

Also a trip to Begur for their Fira d'Indians yearly festival:

Our last couple days Ignasi took me to some of the different sites, and we attempted a rainy beach outing.

Good to finally put a face to the name of the place I've heard so much about!