9 days-8 failed lactose intolerant meals-7 exceptional pinned up pictionary drawings-6 people brave enough to deal with this guy for more than...5 seconds... of pure adrenaline sledding down a black ski run-4 flights-3 countries-2 brothers and the others- and 1 hell of a vacation!!!!Day 1-deboard in Stuttgart to a half hour wait time for luggage while Andrea holds a homemade wilkommen(I probably spelled it wrong) sign and chubs(oh we'll get to that later)...I was fascinated at the concept of having a bathroom separated in 2 rooms-the toilets and the wash area so I took pictures...it's what I do...caught the train home where I learned to "sprecken'ze deutsch"!My girlfriend thought she was going to make a residence there the rest of her life and packed an extra 50 pounds of clothes.Who had the honor of lugging that up hill-ON COBBLESTONE?Who do ya think?ha...then 3 flights up the stairs where I wasn't allowed to grunt or even exhale because Germans have some sort of no verbal expression rule unless you're admiring/stalking a little dog named Chubs(I'm almost on that topic...patience)...their apartment is beautiful,very well decorated, and quite cozy(when I leave the window open!)...the BEST scrambled egg whites and toast I've ever had were prepared for me...we then hit up ol Baden Baden(I wanna say 2 different trains and a bus-about 2 hours away)for an invigorating spa treatment like no other with 17 + steps/stations to go through...back to the house to see Brendanamo bay where he cooked up some enchiladas AND chicken pesto to accommodate diets...that's when I got my first taste of Guitar Hero or Rock Band(one of those)...and I was so good I played drums and sang at the same time!ha...no I was terrible and I think they'll have Roxanne forever changed in their minds.Then went to a beautiful city known as Praha(Prague for you English folk).The architecture was just as I'd imagined of old Europe and the castles and towers and bridges were fantastic!One thing you wouldn't have a hard time locating there though would be lung cancer...mm mm Marlboro!Later on my brother and I go to one of the many gambling edifices in place and tear it up!I was bringing in the bacon and ready to walk and then threw it all away.Ya don't need to know all the details-but I blame it on the bathroom ha.So I wake up the next morning and who do I see running into my room,all excited and ready to explore the world?Chubs!How bloody cute...and what does she do when she is just absolutely thrilled?PEES!Nothin like a broken in house pup!So my comforter naturally shifted colors on parts of it and that was that.We were fortunate enough to see the guard change at the castle that afternoon and the metronome,which was under construction.We caught a glimpse of the mini Eiffel in the distance and had great views of the city from above.I was mesmerized at the TV tower they had about a half mile behind our hotel,that had humongous babies crawling up and down the sides...they love their babies over there!It was either after Praha or Switzerland where we stopped at the Dachau concentration camp.You read about these events and places in books but there's no way to capture the feeling of actually being there and seeing the conditions and going through what it was like.....went home that night to Stutty G and we were off to Interlaken in the morning!!!!!!I hadn't been skiing in probably 8 or so years and now I was going to the ALPS!Got all suited up compliments of Katie.I thought I would've been fine in sweatpants or jeans and a couple sweatshirts ha...boy o boy was I an imbecile!I'd done skiing before and thought it'd be cool to give snowboarding a go...I mean come on how hard can it be?Ya got 2 feet on a board and ya weave back and forth...piece of cake!So a lovely couple,Allison and Simon(friends of A & B's)were kind enough to join us and what do ya know?Simon even brought an extra board!So I get on the thing and test out which foot is more dominant and adjust the board accordingly.Well I'm naturally a lefty and didn't listen to his advice when he told me I should switch the footings to work best for me.Do I ever listen?So stubborn me goes on the slopes ready to get some hangtime and I can barely make it down the hill in 1 piece.Ya and then let's talk about once you get to the bottom of the hill you've then gotta get to the top of the next hill(it's how hills work).So I spent most of the first half of the day G.I.Joein it up these hills.So I'm frustrated with myself for A)not listening B)sucking terribly and C)I couldn't get the hang of it and I was holding everyone else back.So Katie was nice enough to sit with me at the top as we waited until our meet time approached.We got some lunch and Simon helped me switch the board to goofy(left-dominant) and then guided me down the first couple hills,waking me through the motions.Hey alright!I was gettin the hang of this thing...as long as I could make it down the hill without falling I'd make it up the next 1 and not have to crawl.So I do ok for a bit and then start struggling again and tell the other to go ahead I'll catch up.I watch as they veer to the right and I try to mimic that and instead I go left.Ha so now I'm on my own in the Alps on this stupid snowboard that I can't operate..AWESOME!So I do my best and just try and take it easy on the path I'm taking and have minor slips...alright!ok!...then there's a point where I can go to the left on a marked path or just shoot down the center underneath the gondola trail,which is basically untouched.Who needs paths???I am stuck in that fresh,clean snow for a good 45 minutes just tryin to get down...and that's supposed to be the easy part.I finally make it down and find 1 of the paths leading back towards Grindewald(our starting point)and I'm cruisin...ya a few slips every now and then but overall rockin this trail!Our meet time was 4 o'clock at the bottom of the hill...so I'm lookin at the phone Brenda gave me to call if I got lost, and it's 330...shite!...I'm clearly not gonna make it on time...I try to call Andrea or Allison-nothin!...ha now I just gotta keep on truckin until I get there...next thing ya know I'm at th bottom of the hill about to commence in my upward army crawl and I see Simon at the top of the hill I just stumbled down...nice!So they go zoomin past and occasionally push me up when needed and we make it there just past 4!...now the bad news-we(as in I)left our stuff in a locker at the very top where we started and the gondola closes at 415 so some of us were walkin back to the hotel boots and all...mine were heavy,but pretty comfy.I can't speak for the others ha....day 2 we go sledding!!!Time of my life...the views,the thrills,the laughs,the teamwork ha!So we say farewell to Allimon(think about it...)and head back to Germany..spent the next day at the local Christmas market shopping and gazing and then returned home to pack and prepare for the voyage back west :( that guy knows what I'm sayin...my bro and sis were incredible hosts and Brenda's amazing navigational skills got us through it all even though we got pulled over for being American and some customs guy was threatening to not let us in Praha because Chubs decided she was too cool for a passport and did what she wanted...but I speak for Katie and myself when I say we had a spectacular time and it will never be forgotten and many thanks to all involved
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