Day 4 - Enjoying Seefeld, Austria and the Olympia Sports Congress

We decided to spend our last "vacation" day before meeting up with Daniel's family (for more vacation, but a slightly busier one and one with more people to coordinate with and to draw the girls attention), at the Olympia sports center complex in Seefeld which included multiple pools, a children's area and water slide, and a big adult (and small children on parent's laps) water slide - it was awesome!  Hannah and Lily LOVED it and had a great time swimming and playing with us.  We were all wiped out by the end, but it was a fun and rewarding activity for sure.  We definitely have two water babies.  

One additional thing I really loved was the fact that the locker room was just straight up practical.  All of the changing stalls were unisex, the locker room was open to all, and the only area that was partitioned by gender was the shower area in which some would choose to actually remove their clothes in a more public environment.  Otherwise, everything was just first come first serve... and therefore unisex...it was just so much easier to navigate getting two girls ready to swim with Daniel around and for it not to be taboo to have him around...or to be "assigned" to one or two family stalls when 90% of the people using the facilities were "family" and co-ed.  

I also loved how laid back the rules were - there was an implicit trust in the regulations and there were never people policing you or your children's behavior at the pool - even on the water slides, you were expected to just follow the instructions on the sign and respect the "red" or "green" light at the top of the slide.  Were things monitored?  Of course...but it felt so much more laid back than a facility like this would feel in the US.  

Ready to swim!

Enjoying the big pool

Lily snoozing by the pool - there really isn't anything better right?

I was jealous.  She looked very chill.

The outside pool, with a beautiful alpine view - and the water slide can be seen off to the left

enjoying the slide at the kiddie pool

this place had particularly fantastic pizza and furry chair adornments that Lily loved to pet

Hannah slept through our late lunch snack after the pool because she was just soooo very tired

Lily takes her hydration very seriously

another crisp, beautiful view from our room

Hannah and Lily playing on their bed

Daniel with the girls, while I went for my awkward massage

Afterwards the children slept hard and then had some down time at the hotel while Daniel hung out in the room and I snuck off for a massage...that was seriously the most awkward and least relaxing massage of my life.  Picture a 50-60 year old man...in a small, bright room, who doesn't say, okay, I'm going to leave while you slip under this towel/sheet/blanket...but instead never dims the lights and says "off, off!" And gestures for me to just strip down in front of him and climb on the table in front of him and only gives me a small towel to cover 20% of me because I asked for one.  Then, he never dims the lights and would be delivering an awesome massage when he would suddenly switch to his gnarly knuckles without warning.  I love deep massages, but today I feel like I have been beaten.  I returned to Daniel a little dazed by the cultural discontinuities of the massage and the awkwardness of it...but the guy did know how to work out my lower back better than most.  

Seefeld, Austria

We even managed to make it out one more time to enjoy a yummy steak dinner.  We strategically picked a restaurant that had looked particularly fantastic on one of our walks and then also happened to be within the pedestrian zone and also happened to be near several flower beds and phone booths and a bench, which easily captured Hannah's attention.  We were able to eat outside and allow her to play only a few feet away, while not breaking basic restaurant decorum.  We also enjoyed a particularly funny moment when the waitress came through offering everyone blankets (it was getting a bit chillier as the sun went down) and most of the men at the table behind us took one.  When we offered one to Hannah she very loudly proclaimed "no, I don't need a blanket!  I'm not cold!" - at which point the men at the table behind us (who were all wrapped in blankets) burst out laughing.  Overall, it was delicious and a very nice capstone to our time in Seefeld.

this place was delicious

Overall, our vacation is off to a wonderful start!  :)

our snuggled babies - doing better and better at sharing a bed each night!