Austria and Germany

In early April I attended an introductory weekend on Management Consulting in Kitzbuhel, Austria.  Situated in the heart of the Alps, the vistas from this small ski resort town were outstanding.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to appreciate the mountains much, as I spent almost all of my time indoors learning about the life of a consultant. 

But, instead of flying straight back to Oxford, I met Chris in Munich to play tourist for a few days while staying at the flat of my good friend, Clarissa.  Our tour of Munich started at Marienplatz, the main public square that has been the center of Munich's social activity throughout history.  The new City Hall (below) dominates the square, and it contains a glockenspiel which, thrice daily, reenacts a couple 16th century tales. 

 

The pictures below are looking out from St. Peter's Church in the Marienplatz, having just climbed the long, narrow staircase to reach the viewing area atop the tower.

We hit the Hofbrauhaus for dinner, live music, a couple beers, and hundreds of tourists, though our visit was much more tame than Michael and Jason's Hofbrauhaus experience years back!

 

We spent the following couple of days at the Deutsches Museum, the world's largest museum of science and technology, the Residenz, the former seat of government and palace of the Bavarian Monarchs, and Olympic park, where Chris and I ventured to the top of the Olympic tower, shown below, to see a beautiful view of fog!

 

After trying on Clarissa's dirndl, we were obviously in the mood for more German beer, so we took a trip to Kloster Andechs, a monastery on a mountain just outside Munich which has been brewing beer since the middle ages.

 

It was a gorgeous hour hike up to the monastery, and we rewarded ourselves with some pretzels, sausage and beer (all very tasty). We even grabbed a beer to go for the hike back down!

Snow and Ice in the Cairngorms

Chris and Andrew took the train up to Aviemore, Scotland, near the Cairngorm Mountains to do a Winter Skills course. I joined them a few days later, but only after experiencing a lovely dusting of snow in Oxford.
After a comfortable night spent on a sleeper train, Chris and I head out for Coire an t-sneachda and onto the summit of Cairn Gorm, the most prominent peak in the area and the 6th highest in the UK. Although it was a sunny day, the 80 mph gusts slowed our progress and gave Chris the opportunity to experience a bit of snow blindness!
Here's the summit of Cairn Gorm, near the weather station.Andrew and I spent the next couple of days doing a Winter Mountaineering course,
then took a couple days to explore some of the routes around Coire an t-sneachda (below) on our own.
We made our way up a classic route called Jacob's Ladder, though the exit at the top was more difficult than anticipated and involved a couple falls onto soft snow before making it out. Here's Andrew on the lower half of Jacob's Ladder with me belaying. As you can see, this day was foggy, making it rather difficult to find any of the routes in the Coire.
The next day, we headed up Aladdin's Gulley. The climbing was great fun, but after a couple rough sections and some difficult route finding, we ran out of time and were forced to retreat back down the gulley.

Christmas Holiday

We kicked off the season with Balliol's annual Christmas dinner in hall, and a few days later I was flying back to states. Eager for snow and skiing, I was a bit disappointing to see Rapid City lacking in any significant snow. Still enough for snowball fights, however.
We checked out Rapid's new skating rink downtown, and I think this was the first time I've been skating since I was about 7 years old- good fun! Despite dad's expression, I think he enjoyed it too.One of the best parts of being home is getting to see my grandparents, and we had a great Christmas dinner with them.
Towards the end of my holiday at home, Dad and I went to hike Red Gate White Gate, which I had never explored. With the fresh snow and sunshine it was a gorgeous hike and an area to which I plan to return.

I enjoyed the skating so much that I wanted to go again once I had returned to London. So, Chris and I spent an afternoon skating in London, followed by an evening watching a Cirque du Soleil performance. It was a wonderful day, and I think we did things in the right order. Had the Cirque performance come before the skating, I may have left the rink with some broken bones, after having attempted to recreate the Cirque acrobatics myself!

And not long after the Christmas season, Corinne and Kevin had their baby boy, Elijah. He's happy, healthy, and very lucky to have two amazing parents!

Mom and Dad to England

That's right, they finally made it over here! Mom and Dad came to visit last Autumn, bringing with them some delightful weather. We spent three days based in Oxford, exploring the town and venturing to Bath and Windsor Castle. We then relocated to London for about 6 days, where we took bus tours, visited the Tower of London, took a ride in the Eye, visited St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, took a boat to Greenwhich, and visited both Hampton Court and Buckingham Palace. It was a whirlwind tour of England, and I think they had a great time. Dad even managed to laugh off getting left behind at a tube station! We took hundreds of photos, but below are some of my favorites. I'm currently in the process of trying to convince them to make the transatlantic flight once more, this time for a different European destination of their choice!
The outside of Balliol college, via a tour bus, followed by the inside of the college, looking towards the chapel.Dad and I in the back garden of Holywell Manor, our graduate accommodation,and Mom and Dad in the gorgeous back gardens of Rhodes House.
In Bath we took a bus tour around the city and up onto the surrounding hills,then visited the ancient Roman Baths. The Bath Abbey is the backdrop of the next two pictures.Next, off to Windsor Castle, home of the British Royal Family and the oldest occupied castle in the world. We walked around the castle and toured the State Apartments,And in the two pictures below, you can also see St. George's Chapel in the background.We watched a changing of the Guard from outside the chapel, and, of course, I wasn't about to let them leave England without this obligatory picture.We next stationed our selves in London for the week, where we started with another bus tour and took a trip up into the Eye with Chris.
We took a river cruise on the Themes, passing the Eye and Tower Bridge,And stopped to tour the Tower of London and see the Crown Jewels.We took a guided tour of Westminster Abbey,and spent a day walking around Hampton Court (in robes, of course).We also took a river cruise up to Greenwhich, where dad and I climbed the hill to the Royal Observatory and to stand across the Prime Meridian. In no relation to either, this also occurred in Greenwhich.We fought the crowds to watch the changing of the guard in front of Buckingham Palace,then took a tour of the Palace itself and a stroll in the back gardens.We walked through St. James Park, directly outside Buckingham, and also past the Wellington Arch.It was a fantastic time overall, and I can't wait for them to return!