I'm supposed to be in Austria. Instead I'm in Hoofddorp. I'll give you a quick comparison - in Hoofddorp there are less mountains, less snow, less gluhweijn, no handsome ski instructors, and generally not too many opportunities to snowboard. I took the whole week off work because of a planned trip to Kirchberg, but unfortunately the resort is still closed because it all looks very green hills / 'Sound of Music' up there.
Instead, me and my new board-buddy Elise headed off for a road trip into Germany yesterday, to a little town called Bottrop, where there's a ski centre with the longest indoor piste (apparently) in the world. This was just a couple of hours driving, and The Alpin Center made for a great day out. We paid our 35 Eur for a day ticket and were amazed to discover that this included unlimited snowboarding, equipment hire, food , coffee, tea, cakes and as many of those great big jugs of German beer that you could swill!
Okay, it wasn't quite Kirchberg, and maybe the beer helped, but we had lots of fun. They had this bizarre lift which was like a human conveyer belt that took some getting used to, but meant you could hop on and off while clutching your board, leaving the skiers standing on their skis, looking like odd little penguins being shoved up a slope.
Even though it was the biggest in the world, the downward slope always ended too soon (especially when you're as fast as me, ha ha) but it was definitely worth the drive.
So thanks to Elise (who is now linking turns since her two hour lesson yesterday - yeah!!) for our little 'uitje' (outing). Here's to January, Chatel and REAL mountains!
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