Altenberg - arrival

Cassie and I left Salt Lake City around 10am, flying through JFK with a direct flight into Berlin, arriving the next day at 10am Germany time, 2am Utah time. This is my first trip to Europe since my England / France trip with Kris, Nick, and Shanna when I was 17...oh the memories!

On the approach into Berlin, looking down from above I could see lots of apartment buildings around squares - I like that design a lot! Driving out of town, we saw lots of old WWII era buildings, factories, and so on but strangely I don't feel like I'm in a foreign country except for when trying to speak to someone!

Cassie taking a picture of herself outside the airport:


And me...nope, don't have any idea what kind of pose I'm aiming for:


We picked up our rental car, a tiny little fiat that we somehow stuffed our sleds, gear, luggage, and bodies into, and proceeded to drive. We stopped in Dresden to buy a sim card for Cassie's Euro-phone, then drove to Altenberg.

TONs of tunnels, long and winding. I love tunnels:




It was rolling green hills and farmland until we started rising in elevation; we hit the snow about 50 kilometers from our destination which slowed our movement to a crawl. Then, we got a little lost in the maze of roads by Altenberg, looking for our hotel. Well, we knew all along where WE were, but didn't know where the HOTEL was!

This road is clearer that the ones we were "lost" on, but it's an example of the character of the area:




Teammate Daly - the internet doesn't work in his room, so he's out in the stairwell:


On a side note, JETLAG SUCKS! No, the time change is what really sucks. I was SO tired and all that I wanted was to sleep, but to make the transition Cassie and I made ourselves stay w/no naps 10:08pm Germany time (2pm our time, after a sleepless "night" on the plane). It worked, mostly, since we were able to sleep through the night and only took a short(-ish) nap today. Phew - we need to be as acclimated as possible by the races this weekend!