After spending a VERY snowy week in Pokljuka, Slovenia we discovered that our races in Austria had been canceled due to lack of snow. Hard to believe when we only two hours away and were looking at 3+ meters of snow on the ground outside. We did some quick scrambling and found races in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic that we could enter instead so we headed north.
Here's a photo summary of our visit to Nove Mesto, home of yet another IBU World Cup venue.
We stayed at a very traditional Czech hotel…this is the lobby.
Out back there's a huge collection of sculptures and yard tools stored under a roof for the winter.
The village square in Nove Mesto.
A church in town…the artwork on the walls was very intricate and beautiful.
They are serious about their breads over there.
Our hotel had goats and peacocks out back. The goats were really friendly and this Mama goat had the cutest little kid.
Goatees.
Baby goat.
The peacock out for a stroll round the yard...
The tables in the dining room had these silverware towers on them. I thought they were kind of neat.
The neighbor's peacock enjoying some morning sun on a fence.
Kelsey and I walked into town one morning because training was in the afternoon. There literally was NO natural snow in Nove Mesto.
It was pretty strange for mid-February, especially after coming from Pokljuka.
The skyline in Nove Mesto.
The yard out back where the goats and peacocks roamed.
Enjoying a sunny afternoon on the back deck.
The yard again.
I took a walk above our hotel to explore the neighborhood.
This vine was so cool….all the leaves fell off so just the stems were left for winter.
Little chapel.
How they mark road routes through smaller neighborhoods.
Our hotel.
They had a thing for saving damaged mugs and soup bowls on the fence posts. There were probably a few hundred in total.
I explored up through a really muddy field and ended up with a view down over much of the town.
The venue….very little snow and this picture was before the races. It got MUCH dirtier over the course of the weekend, especially when the sun came out!
Seth taking on Kelsey in a shooting duel. Kelsey won.
Betsey, all smiles at the end of practice.
Kelsey leading out her age group in the mass start.
Those are some dirty skis. Yuck.
Betsey's cleaning rag after day one of racing in "Snowless Mesto".
Mike's white-based Rossi skis put the dirty trails in better perspective. Yuck.
I took second in both races (mass start and individual) and was rewarded with these guys.
Our trip home went really smoothly despite two slightly delayed flights out of Munich and Newark.
A view of NYC after departure from Newark.
What do I do when I'm on the road? This time I watched MANY hours of live Olympic coverage and made at least 10 crocheted hats/headbands. Kelsey and I are working on patriotic hats now for the USA World Junior Team. Friday we head down to Presque Isle where I'll be helping the US coaching staff for the next two weeks. I'm psyched to be back in Maine, especially since we have pretty stellar skiing right now. And on that note, time to go ski !
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