A great trip to Austria

Despite a few hiccups for which I am not sure who should be blamed, I considered it as outstanding organization/planning. Especially taking into account the number of people attending.
Coaches took us from the office to the airport where we boarded a chartered plane. Flying in a plane filled only with colleagues is a nice experience! Once arrived in Innsbruck, we received a welcome pack and then hopped on another coach which took us to our hotel.
Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with conferences in a nice complex. In addition to the interesting content of the conferences, it was a great opportunity to meet other people from Google.
On Wednesday, we left Innsbruck and took coaches to Sölden for the Ski trip!
The weather was great and the snow outstanding for the period. I skied most of the time between 2800m and 3200m. I was expecting to be cold but was very comfortable and the snow was just great at this altitude (apparently, it snowed the week preceding our arrival). Also, the 5 years of non-skiing did not seem to be a problem and I regained my confidence in just a few minutes. I wanted to experience skiing without sticks (I did not want to have to carry them around) and the experience was a great success. Much more freedom both on and off the slopes. (And skiing with your hands in your pockets looks so cool! ;-) ) Only two glitches during the day: First, someone took my skis during the lunch break at the restaurant. Since there were very similar skis next to where mine should have been, I hoped they were only moved but none of the other similar pairs fitted my shoes (not even close). I'm not sure if this was an accident or a steal but the restaurant was at the bottom of a few slopes and to go back up you need to take the gondolas. Therefore, there's a good chance that if this was a mistake (someone picking the wrong pair of skis) the person would only notice the mistake after a while and only once away. Fortunately, there was a small ski renting station next to the restaurant and when I mentioned the issue (and the fact I was from Google) they took my name and gave me a new pair of skis so I could enjoy the rest of the day. :-) The second glitch was the fact that I did not have anything to protect my eyes. Since it was partly cloudy, I thought it would be ok but the wind and snow is probably what hurt my eyes the most since they were quite sore and red in the evening and the following day. It's better now but I won't let it happen again. Sun glasses have been added to the shopping list.
I took some photos of the surroundings while skiing and you can see them here: http://picasaweb.google.com
For the evening, Google took all of us back to the ski resort for a dinner 'on the glacier'. Again, the quality of the food and the organization was outstanding knowing how many we were. Several night clubs were then booked exclusively for those wanting to party into the night.
Nothing much to mention about our return on Friday apart from long queuing caused i.m.o. by the inappropriate number of travelers we were compared to the size of the airport.

Now that I am back, it is 'moving-in' time. We went to out new apartment this morning in order to sign the lease. Although a few administrative details (including payment) still need to be sorted out with the landlord on Monday, we now have the keys and will move into our apartment this week-end.
This means that the next post will probably have to wait for when we have broadband working in our new home...