Austria

"I drive a hybrid. Tipper and I got a Lexus hybrid. And we have a couple of Priuses in the family with our children. And I encourage people to make environmentally conscious choices because we all have to solve this climate crisis."
--Al Gore



We made it to St. Anton's, only to find out that it has been over 1500 years since it was this warm in the alps. We decided to give it a go anyway and were severely disappointed to find a base of 0 inches with just about the only snow being man made. I quickly discovered how dangerous it could be to ski under these conditions, when I got the bright idea to head off the trail on what appeared to be some nice powder. Before long, I had descended below the level of the trail and it started looking like a long hike to get out of it. I was just about to take off my skis when I thought to myself: "Wait a minute. I'm rental boy #2. I can do this!" (Sorry for those of you who weren't in Salt Lake in 1998 and have no idea what I'm talking about at this point). To make a long story short, the folks at the ski rental office were very forgiving and didn't even charge me extra for the large chunks that I took out of the bottom of my skis as I was scraping across the gravel.

After one day of that nonsense, we decided enough was enough and got in the car and headed for Innsbruck and Salzberg. At this point, we had also met up with my friend Jackie, who had joined Sam and I on our very first trip to Slovenia and Hungary. It was the perfect bookend for what has been a whirlwind 6 months. We're in Salzberg now, which of course brings back numerous memories of our last trip here 18 years ago when we were accompanied by Beatrice Storch, who later became a Joyce family icon as our nanny. Trixie left an unmistakable imprint on each of our lives. I'll never forget how she reacted after proofreading my 3rd grade school report on Austria. In discussing Austrian religion, I commented: "92% of Austrians are Catholic. The rest are prostitutes." I honestly had no idea what a protestant was at the time, any more than I understood the significance of what I had actually written. Trixie also taught me many German words which I have now completely forgotten, as well as the difference between a eucharist and a uterus (which I have retained after four years of medical school). Sadly, she joined the peace corps or the Air Force Special Ops, I can't remember which, and we haven't heard from her since.

In any case, tonight we went up to Berchtesgaden, which was unbelievably my first Band of Brothers site visit. So much for my intentions of seeing every battlefield of the 101st during my six months here. Amazing how fast time flies. The view from the Eagle's Nest easily rivals the goldmine in Montana for the most beautiful scenery in the world--especially with the Christmas lights and bells ringing in the town below.