Monday, June 11, 2007

Day 8 - White Water Rafting


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This morning we were checked out of the hotel by 9:00 and drove about 20 minutes down the road to the place for our white water rafting trip. After about a half-hour to get into our wet suits, life jackets, and helmets, we loaded the bus with four rafting guides and drove for about another 20 minutes to the beginning of our journey. We had about a 15-minute mini lesson in rafting and then loaded the rafts in the water for the start of our trip down the river.

The water was about 7 degrees (C), but with the wet suit on it actually felt refreshing at first. Some of the later parts of the river were a bit colder, but it was not unbearable. Right off the bat, almost everyone jumped in off a floating dock to get wet before getting into the boats. We had three boats, with two rafts of 8 people and one of 9. It was an absolutely thrilling experience and every single person had an enjoyable time. We rafted on class 3 rapids, which is mid-level - parts of water where you could paddle slowly and then parts where you had to work hard to get through the rapids and avoid tipping the raft or falling out. Everyone was in the water at some point and I think not one of us went in by accident. We all jumped into the water at some point along the way.

All three of the guides made the entire day fun for everyone, engaging all the rafts in splashing wars, having one person try to balance at the front of the boat, while the rest paddled to spin the boat, jumping off a rock, and letting us swim alongside the boat when the rapids were smaller. Towards the end of the experience, our guide had us all get into the back of the raft and then he tied the oars up at the top with the safety line, before getting the raft into a position where it was perpendicular to the water. At the end of the day, most of the players and staff even jumped off a bridge that was about 20-30 feet high into the river below.

After getting off the water, we all showered and put dry clothes on before heading back to the center of Innsbruck for about an hour. We had just enough time to grab some lunch because we had to be back on the bus by 3:45 to begin our trip to Germany.

We arrived in Germany by 6:45 and checked into our hotel, which is simply amazing. Everyone had time to relax before our 8:00 dinner on the outskirts of Munich. The hotel is brand new and is beautiful. It is only rating ***, but everyone has made at least one comment about how nice it is. The beds in all of the hotels we have stayed in so far have been twin beds, but this hotel has two giant beds in each room so I am sure everyone will be glad to have a bit more room.

We ate dinner at a place called Wirtshaus Zur Brez'n and the food was delicious. The meal started with salad and ended with dessert. For the main course, they brought out two platters for each table that consisted of green beans wrapped in bacon, potatoes au gratin, and steak. It was the first but of substantial meat that was served during the trip. Even though we had been eating meat the entire time in Italy, most of the portions were small because of the traditional two course serving. The vegetarian meal was sort of a macaroni & cheese with onions. It too was very good.

Our bus driver, Stefano, provided us with about a 1/2 hour driving tour of the city, before we made our way back to the hotel for the night.

Tomorrow is another late morning as we leave the hotel at 9:00 for our guided bike tour of the city. Following the tour, we have about 4 hours of free time before our fourth game of the trip in Regensburg.

wiedersehen

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