The weekend before we headed off to the snow was going to be quiet and getting a bit organized for the week away. It didn’t really turn out that way! We were pretty lazy on Saturday, not doing much other than bit of a walk and having lunch at a café where one of our friends was working, in Notting Hill. Again Sunday morning was quite a lazy morning. For lunch we were meeting Julia near Covent Garden. She was running a bit late, so we ended up having a bit of a look around some shops and at China town. We then settled into a pub for a few hours to have drinks and some lunch.
Mel from the hostel joined us later in the afternoon, and the four of us headed to a theater to see Stomp. This was a bit different, but very good. It only had about 8 performers in it, barely any dialogue, just music and noise. It was all dance and music, made from all sorts of household items. They used everything from brooms, match boxes, bin and bin lids, basketballs and cigarette lighters. It was also a bit of a comedy, with the characters adding in subtle jokes, despite the lack of dialogue. After the show the four of us couldn’t stop tapping our feet and making our own beats!
The following week we only had four days left of work, which went quickly. A combination of organizing things for the week away, organizing our work agencies for when we get back and a few nights out with Brendan (Christine Brother). Finally Friday came round, we spent most of the day rushing around and packing our room. By the time the afternoon came around, we were ready to get on the bus for the 17hr trip across the channel to France.
Our trip was amazing! The town of Chamonix is beautiful, set in a valley surrounded by huge mountains, as you would expect in the French Alps. We were very lucky with the weather and I am looking a little bit tanned now which is nice for a change. We had 3 clear days and light snow for the rest of the time which meant falling was not so painful. It was fascinating to have perfectly formed individual snowflakes falling on us and see the beautiful patterns. I was very cold (-17 Celsius and sunny one afternoon) which meant the snow stayed frozen and powdery. One of the girls we met commented that the landscape looked just like a Christmas card, and it did! It would be lovely to go back in spring or summer to see how different everything looks.
As for our snowboarding prowess.... we were both able to take drag lifts and chair lifts without much fuss by the end of the week (see videos at bottom of page). This was thanks to our wonderful instructors, Emilie and Behonje (pic on left). They were both from the UCPA, which is the place that we stayed at, both very good boarders, amd most importantly, very very patient! We could turn, jump and spin on green slopes and had stopped falling over so much. I loved the fact that I could see Damien from a mile away due to the fact that his outfit was royal blue from top to bottom and his huge arm span which made him look like a giant sliding blue cross.
Then we hit the blue slopes and the falling began again (Face-plant Christine).
I think one of the funniest things was when I was trying to dodge Damien who was dumfounded by the fact that we had a drag lift running across the rather flat blue run we were doing. The fact that the ru
n was flat meant that you really needed a bit of speed, which I did have but due to Damien and some other people being stumped by the drag lift crossing and hence blocking the road, I just about lost. What made matters worse for me was that shortly after the drag lift, which I nailed, there was a red run which also crossed our blue run. At this time I was going very slowly so it was the slope that dictated where I went rather that me by shifting my weight. That was when I started going down the red run! One of our mates started yelling at me that that was the wrong was so I did the only thing I could to try and stop myself which was to fall over. Unfortunately the slope was too steep and I kept on sliding, which was funny at first, then I tried to dig in my board, but kept sliding, so then I was on my back, upside down, moving a bit too quickly for my liking which was funny but a bit disconcerting. Somehow I managed to stop myself but then spent about 10 minutes trying to climb a slope that had only taken me a matter of seconds to come down. It was pretty steep! Our friend Mark was sitting at the top of the slope laughing at me, particularly when I slid half way back down the slope.
The food was really good and we both think we have stretched our stomachs, which was ok when we were on the slopes for 8 hours a day. 3 course buffet dinner every night, as well as breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea! Now that we are back in London I'm going to have to cut back, a lot! We shared a room with two girls from Glasgow who were both very nice. We will probably visit them at the end of March or maybe after mum goes home. The night life in Chamonix is also awesome, although most nights we were too exhausted to make it out. We did head out one night to see an ice hockey game and out for a big night in the pubs and clubs.
We arrived back in London Sunday around noon and discovered there were still pancakes left over from breakfast! This was very exci
ting as I love pancake day! And then it got even better as I discovered a package from Vermont South and a card from Nell! I am not allowed to open them yet, but I have just read an email saying I should.....
This morning I got another package, this time from Glen Waverley so now I am very excited about turing 29, even though that sounds a bit too close to 30.
It is half term at the moment so I am not teaching but have picked up a couple of days work at the hostel. This is good because Damien can justify my manic cleaning if I am being paid for it. It also means I can pay for this weeks rent without digging into our (English) savings which we are trying to ear mark for various trips including snowboarding again next year.
It is shaping up to be a very busy year! We have something on every weekend until mum arrives in Paris and keep thinking of other things we can do. I have work lined up for the next month at a special school, which should help pay for some of our travel and hopefully Damien picks up some new work this week.
Mel from the hostel joined us later in the afternoon, and the four of us headed to a theater to see Stomp. This was a bit different, but very good. It only had about 8 performers in it, barely any dialogue, just music and noise. It was all dance and music, made from all sorts of household items. They used everything from brooms, match boxes, bin and bin lids, basketballs and cigarette lighters. It was also a bit of a comedy, with the characters adding in subtle jokes, despite the lack of dialogue. After the show the four of us couldn’t stop tapping our feet and making our own beats!
The following week we only had four days left of work, which went quickly. A combination of organizing things for the week away, organizing our work agencies for when we get back and a few nights out with Brendan (Christine Brother). Finally Friday came round, we spent most of the day rushing around and packing our room. By the time the afternoon came around, we were ready to get on the bus for the 17hr trip across the channel to France.
Our trip was amazing! The town of Chamonix is beautiful, set in a valley surrounded by huge mountains, as you would expect in the French Alps. We were very lucky with the weather and I am looking a little bit tanned now which is nice for a change. We had 3 clear days and light snow for the rest of the time which meant falling was not so painful. It was fascinating to have perfectly formed individual snowflakes falling on us and see the beautiful patterns. I was very cold (-17 Celsius and sunny one afternoon) which meant the snow stayed frozen and powdery. One of the girls we met commented that the landscape looked just like a Christmas card, and it did! It would be lovely to go back in spring or summer to see how different everything looks.
As for our snowboarding prowess.... we were both able to take drag lifts and chair lifts without much fuss by the end of the week (see videos at bottom of page). This was thanks to our wonderful instructors, Emilie and Behonje (pic on left). They were both from the UCPA, which is the place that we stayed at, both very good boarders, amd most importantly, very very patient! We could turn, jump and spin on green slopes and had stopped falling over so much. I loved the fact that I could see Damien from a mile away due to the fact that his outfit was royal blue from top to bottom and his huge arm span which made him look like a giant sliding blue cross.
Then we hit the blue slopes and the falling began again (Face-plant Christine).
I think one of the funniest things was when I was trying to dodge Damien who was dumfounded by the fact that we had a drag lift running across the rather flat blue run we were doing. The fact that the ru
n was flat meant that you really needed a bit of speed, which I did have but due to Damien and some other people being stumped by the drag lift crossing and hence blocking the road, I just about lost. What made matters worse for me was that shortly after the drag lift, which I nailed, there was a red run which also crossed our blue run. At this time I was going very slowly so it was the slope that dictated where I went rather that me by shifting my weight. That was when I started going down the red run! One of our mates started yelling at me that that was the wrong was so I did the only thing I could to try and stop myself which was to fall over. Unfortunately the slope was too steep and I kept on sliding, which was funny at first, then I tried to dig in my board, but kept sliding, so then I was on my back, upside down, moving a bit too quickly for my liking which was funny but a bit disconcerting. Somehow I managed to stop myself but then spent about 10 minutes trying to climb a slope that had only taken me a matter of seconds to come down. It was pretty steep! Our friend Mark was sitting at the top of the slope laughing at me, particularly when I slid half way back down the slope.The food was really good and we both think we have stretched our stomachs, which was ok when we were on the slopes for 8 hours a day. 3 course buffet dinner every night, as well as breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea! Now that we are back in London I'm going to have to cut back, a lot! We shared a room with two girls from Glasgow who were both very nice. We will probably visit them at the end of March or maybe after mum goes home. The night life in Chamonix is also awesome, although most nights we were too exhausted to make it out. We did head out one night to see an ice hockey game and out for a big night in the pubs and clubs.
We arrived back in London Sunday around noon and discovered there were still pancakes left over from breakfast! This was very exci
ting as I love pancake day! And then it got even better as I discovered a package from Vermont South and a card from Nell! I am not allowed to open them yet, but I have just read an email saying I should.....This morning I got another package, this time from Glen Waverley so now I am very excited about turing 29, even though that sounds a bit too close to 30.
It is half term at the moment so I am not teaching but have picked up a couple of days work at the hostel. This is good because Damien can justify my manic cleaning if I am being paid for it. It also means I can pay for this weeks rent without digging into our (English) savings which we are trying to ear mark for various trips including snowboarding again next year.
It is shaping up to be a very busy year! We have something on every weekend until mum arrives in Paris and keep thinking of other things we can do. I have work lined up for the next month at a special school, which should help pay for some of our travel and hopefully Damien picks up some new work this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment