Day 5 (Ooh la luge!)

Bob-sled day! I was giddy all morning and couldn't wait to get on that mountain. I was not thrilled about that drive through the mountains... some of the roads were so curvy and most of the drivers just zipped through the curves like they were qualifying for LeMans. Did I mention how steep the roads were? As we exited the Autobahn we were all thrilled that the sun was already beating down and it looked like it was going to turn into a beautiful summer day.

Now, there are times in a woman's life when she is made excruciatingly aware that she is, in fact, a woman... and not a girl. I would say that giving birth is definitely one of those times and cooking a big holiday meal for the whole family is, too. When Christopher started to cry I didn't think much about it... He and Sebastian were probably trying out some kind of new Chinese torture method in the backseat. Then he started screaming that his mouth hurt. Then wailing- Basti was thumping away at his DS so my torture theory was way off. Klaus wanted to pull over but WE WERE ON A WINDING MOUNTAIN ROAD WITHOUT A GUARDRAIL!!!!

"Just keep going, we're almost there," I'd said. Less than a minute later Christopher's head started spinning around, apparently he'd turned green when I wasn't looking, and he was channeling the Evil One from the back of the Grand Scenic. Not really. He was just carsick. There was a moment when I was frozen like the proverbial deer in headlights... trying to reconcile the liters of what was coming out of my baby with the petit 1/2 Broetchen breakfast he'd had earlier. Amidst a cloud of concerned curses Klaus managed to find a small alcove where we could pull over. Thankfully, I'd packed away baby wipes and trash bags into the trunk months ago just in case... Klaus and I did our parental duty in record time and put our underwear clad laughing 3 year-old back into his car-seat like nothing'd ever happened. Yes, indeed.... I am Woman!

There aren't, unfortunately, many shopping malls in the middle of the Austrian Alps. We could have used an H&M right about then. There are, however, an insane amount of sporting good stores. We find one that is still open (it was midday- many were closed for lunch). I ran in and was greeted by Heidi... Six feet tall, blonde, dirndle clad...How can she help me???? I give her the condensed version and ask if they have anything for children. (Do things like this happen to women like that?) In Christopher's size there are a whole two choices- an authentic leather overall set- it's adorable! It's also 80 Euros. An investment I'm not prepared to make with Old Faithful at the moment. That left the sun-reflecting bathing suit- top and bottom. He looked like Lance Armstrong. We took it!

The rest of the day was great! We did 3 rounds on the bob- sled. The track was over 1.5 kilometers long. Christopher loved screaming, "whoo hooooo" all the way down and was feeling well enough afterward to eat an ice cream.

On the way back to our apartment we decided to break the trip up a little- no need to tempt faith. We'd driven past a hotel made to look like a castle carved into the side of a mountain several times. We went to investigate. The hotel looked grand from the road, but in reality it wasn't that spectacular. There was a beautiful blue-green sea at its base and we headed there. (Christopher was dressed for the occasion) We rented a row boat and tooled around for about an hour. It was great. Sebastian played gondolier and did a super job rowing us all around!

The drive back cost us a few nerves but we did it. And couldn't wait to go to bed so we could get started on the next day's adventures as soon as possible.