Köln has very mild winters. In almost three years of living here, we’ve had only two days of snow. The girls and I are pretty bummed about this. Coming from San Diego, we were looking forward to snowy Christmases and all of the winter sports and fun that goes along with it.
Simon has been wanting to take the girls skiing for years now, but since we almost never get snow, it’s hard unless you want to take vacation days and spend lots of money to travel to the snow. We finally decided to try the indoor Skihalle in Neuss (about a 40 min. drive from Köln). It turned out to be a GREAT place for beginners to learn how to ski.
We decided the girls would each get their own day learning to ski with Papa. We worried that trying to teach them both at the same time would be too challenging (I can’t/ am not able to ski due to a leg injury). Quinnie got to go first (all pics and video from Simon’s iPhone)…
no problem getting on and off the lifts!
Quinnie is a quick study. She did great, and loved it immediately. She preferred skiing without poles..
2nd run
Simon said there was lots to do there. They had shops,
restaurants,
and even a club!
A few weeks later it was Kiera’s turn. Quinnie asked Kiera if she could tag along (she was dying to ski again!). Of course Kiera said yes- she loves being around her big sister.
Kiera also learned very quickly, did great with the lifts, and preferred to ski without poles. She now loves skiing also. Simon said that when they took a lunch break she kept asking when they could ski again.
Kiera skiing (and Papa and Quinnie talking).
video of both of them skiing and going up one of the lifts
I love how her arms are straight out the whole way down (I bet she was pretending to be a bird or a dragon)!
Now that we know both girls love to ski, we plan to take a ski vacation in Austria next year (I’ll be by the fireplace reading a book 🙂 )
