Dolce Far Tutto

The sweetness of doing everything.

Back in the spring we spent a week in the Austrian mountains doing nothing.
It was sweet.

I guess we behaved ourselves well enough on that trip because the Deaconus invited us to join them on another of their vacations in the mountains of Austria.  Only this time instead of doing nothing we did everything.

Cross-country skiing
Turns out cross-country skiing is like downhill skiing for the massively uncoordinated which includes yours truly.
It's also for those of us who recall the joy of downhill skiing in our youth yet have not forgotten what it felt like to fall while downhill skiing.  Those of us over 35 would prefer to flop over from a standing position instead of flipping end over end while zooming out of control at 40kph.
It's also a great workout although it turns out it doesn't quite mitigate the devastating effects of daily beer and sausage consumption.
But you see some beautiful scenery as you glide along and that is sweet.

Down hill skiing
Okay, so my kids are 13 and 10 and I've never taken them either skiing or snowboarding in the States.  My bad.
Unfortunately the Austrians, with their remarkable organizational skills, leave no room in their ski lesson program for the disorganized Ionescus.  Who knew that on Sunday we would have to anticipate a desire to ski on the future Wednesday and schedule accordingly.
Fortunately Mihaela and her boyfriend Roman came for a few days and were willing to provide informal lessons.

I want to publicly thank Mihaela and Roman for using the best hours of skiing weather on that particular day to stand at the bottom of a slope trying to coax my children into doing nothing more harrowing than simply sliding forward.  And eventually they did. Sweet.

Outdoor ice skating
At 12 I had no skating talent and my skills are not like a fine wine; time did nothing to improve them.  However, I went around the oval rink and remained upright and consider that sweet success enough.

Ioana possesses far greater skill which is evidenced from the fact that she was going fast enough to blur the photo. Bravo!

Mountain tobogganing
Probably the highlight of the whole week.
The first time we tried this dubiously safe activity was at night and this was not without its perils.  Perils involving hurling yourself down an unknown mountain trail in the dark with snow pelting you in the face.
However the Austrians are kind enough to provide warnings:
(I particularly enjoy the more highly the dead weight bit)

But when you are a teenage boy (or the adult father) loaded with testosterone do you bother to stop and read?  No. Neither do you listen to your mother as she shouts "pay attention to the signs....!"

The only way up is by chair lift.  In the dark.  In the snow. Sweet.

Ioana and Luci are the only people I got photos of not because they were going slower than the others but because they were the only two that I trusted would slow down and not plow into me while I was taking their picture.
It's a hazardous world for us bloggers.

Bathing
Unlike Budapest these baths were almost completely inside and with staff that were far more organized and less Gestapo-ish than in Budapest.  Still, for the beauty of the buildings and the variety of the water temperatures you can't beat Gellert or Szechenyi.
However, inside these baths there were lounge chairs to lie on and fire places to keep you warm while you relaxed and watched the snow falling outside.  Ahhhhh.....sweet.

There were also two water slides.  Mihai was clocked at 5:15 seconds.

Firework launching (and having no one lose an eye or finger in the process=sweet)

Duck feeding while others are cross-country skiing and trying to sweat off their beer and french fries.  Sweet, huh?

Snow ball fights (not getting hit with one the entire week-sweet)

And after all this outdoor-ness, what do you think was left to do?  Eat and drink.  Sweet.

Mia and Carlo, this is for you: the boys got hot chocolate after skiing.  They were trying to keep alive your tradition of hot chocolate after surfing.

That the Deaconus and the Ionescus are happy doing nothing (other than eating) was well established last spring. Apparently we are also happy doing a lot of things (as well as eating).
The fact that we like to do nothing or everything all together is...

saccharine.