There's just something about being on the West Coast

The west coast of South Africa that is, although it has a very Portland-like feel. Erika has had the good fortune to get put on a project down in Cape Town, South Africa where she's been enjoying 70+ degree weather in the middle of Amsterdam's cold, wet winter. 

The first weekend of her adventure was filled with a little sight seeing where she checked out the Eastern Cape and the well known Jackass Penguins. Not exactly the type of animal Erika was expecting to see in South Africa that's for sure! 

The weekend was topped off with a Sunday concert in the Kirstenbosch gardens which made Erika feel right at home. The grassy concert hill was filled with families, groups of friends, lots of kids, and plenty of picnic baskets filled with good food and loads of wine. The amateurs in the park (that would be Erika and her two colleagues) did not manage to pack any sort of picnic and were subjected to packaged sandwiches and water only...no wine for sale on the premises. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it truly was a great time. Just think of the Portland Zoo concerts on a beautiful summer day and you'll have the right idea. 

The second weekend of her adventure entailed a Saturday wine tour in the Stellenbosch wine region. The group hired a driver for the day (very much advised), and hit up four different wineries for tastings and another one for a luxurious lunch on the patio, with wine of course. On Sunday, a local colleague opened up his home and invited the group over to his place for a braai (South African for BBQ).


Jack & Jan may recognize the third girl in...it's Katie who was kind enough to let her Amsterdam apartment be their home away from home when they visited the Netherlands.

All in all, Cape Town has been spectacular. It's full of diversity, beauty, genuine and down to earth people that have been wonderfully warm and hospitable. Rob's coming down in March and we hope to safari with some friends and maybe hit the beach (and maybe smuggle back a penquin... our lease says no dogs, but there's nothing in there about penquins...).

Connor shakes it for the camera

Just a warning for those of you with young kids: Rob teaches them stupid tricks. 

We kept waiting for the thing to pop...

Kirchberg

Our ski trip this year started out with an ominous sign: on the first day, Rob took his skis in to get them fitted to his new boots. The Austrian ski shop guy took one look at the bottom of Rob's skis, scarred from a previous run-in with some 'misplaced' rocks (who puts rocks on a mountain?) and announced, "These skis are only for the trash!" Luckily, one quick rental later and we were on our way.  

The skiing was fantastic and the runs were long and covered several different mountains. Rob quickly realized that he was severely outclassed by Kevin, but he tried his best to keep up (Erika, of course, has no trouble keeping up, as long as the run isn't too flat).

 

Of course, the second best thing about skiing in Austria is stopping for lunch and enjoying the hearty food and a beer. Here we are, squinting, at a lunch break.

And, the third best thing about skiing in Austria is that they had the wonderful foresight to put bars on the mountain. So, on the days when your legs are on fire and you start questioning your physical fitness, safety, and sanity, there's a nice place to stop and forget about it all:

It was a wonderful trip and we'll put up some more photos on the Flickr page. We're also trying to cut together some of the video we took, so look for that soon!

You say 'charming,' I say 'boring'

We just spent a fantastic week with our friends, Tanya, Kevin, and Connor skiing in Austria. Before we left, we showed Connor around Amsterdam. He was not impressed.

More pics and videos of our ski trip to follow! (Tanya and Kev- we hope you had a great flight. You did fly this time, right?)