Day 2 in Garmisch

Ireland on top of the world – again!! More of that later.

Our bunch of superstars moved into the second day of their gruelling trip looking to get their first win of the campaign. After a lazy start, the boys were up against an Austrian Team in game 2. This was a fun team to play against and included Floran Huber who is well known to some of us as he has played our European teams in the past. Incidentally, last seen in Moscow in the vodka bar after the closing banquet of Euro 2011 with his arm round a certain Ms Kerr!!! Anyway that was then and this is now. The Austrian boys had been partying hard judging by the fumes down on the ice and our boys went into a comfortable lead. The ice was very difficult to judge as it was so stiff and gradually the Austrians came to and began to haul in the men in …er……red? At 5-3 down with the hammer, their opponents went for a split for three but only scored one leaving Ireland as 5-4 winners. Great relief all round!

After a post match Spritzer drinking competition which the Austrians won comfortably, our Fab Five were dragged away kicking and screaming by their better halves who could see the danger signs (TT posing for photos with every girl in sight ). The Segway experience had been on the agenda but TT’s inability to strike a deal with the operator became a focal point. The end result was T exclaiming “I don’t like the guy! He’s at it!!”

Sound of music or great escape????

The upshot of this exchange was that we abandoned that idea in favour of a trip up one of three mountains surrounding Garmisch; Zugspitze which is the highest mountain in Germany; Alpspitze and Wank. Yes, really!! No prizes for guessing which one our fearless explorers decided to tackle. Cue much hilarity! Off we went on the Wankbahn which is a Gondola lift from 720 metres up to the summit at 1750 metres. The World Champs on top the World or so it felt when got there. The views were spectacular and one of the highlights of the trip so far.

The Banquet was next on the Agenda – always a contentious issue for Irish teams at competitions – but it has to be said that this was one of the best many of us have been to. The meal and location were excellent.

As if we hadn’t had enough excitement for the day………………We had to order taxis to get back to town and decided to go to the Irish Pub in Garmisch. As there are 9 of us,  David Hume decided to walk to save having to order a third taxi. Our much vaunted Tour Guide set off having been briefed by Gillian on directions.. When he didn’t appear at he pub for an hour and a half (the walk should have taken 15 minutes) there was great concern among the girls as to his safety. The boys on the other hand continued enjoying the craic!! Desperate efforts were made to contact him which included getting his mobile number from the UK but to no avail.(he didn’t have his phone with him). Suddenly there he was, larger than life, grinning sheepishly! Needless to say he had set off in completely the wrong direction which it has to be said included going up hill despite the fact that we had already climbed in the taxis to get to the hotel for the banquet. He had ended up at the Ski Jump which was about 2km in the opposite direction to the town.!!!???

Can we take any more drama and excitement? Oh yes! Tomorrow’s games determine whether we need to curl at 8 am on Sunday! Last section game first and then the sections join to make a 44 team schenkel ranked on results. No pressure then, especially as JJ is drawn to miss the first game……..

Tune in for the next exciting episode…………….

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