Saturday 29 Dec, 2007

We landed at Zurich at 06:00 after circling Zurich for 30 minutes because the airport only opens at 06:00, weird but true. To take the internal flight we had to go back through a security check was turned out to be a bit traumatic. Firstly, Darrel's christmas present which was to have been a 1l bottle of Amarula cream was confiscated which was very annoying but when Megan's scissors were confiscated out of her pencil box - there was a real tantrum from Megan. The security person was unmoved and tossed both items into the trash. Carl's deodorant was also confiscated so we are looking forward to the next few days with some trepidation. We had our passport and visas checked this time which made me feel a little better about the 120 EUR that we spent getting the visas. Last time we went to Avoriaz, they weren't checked even once.


This is us trying to get used to paying staggering amounts for a simple cup of coffee.

Took off for the 30 minute hop from Zurich to Geneva and spent most of the the time coughing and blowing my nose. I desperately hoped that this would clear up soon because it definitely isn't conducive to an enjoyable holiday. Landed in Geneva and collected our baggage which all arrived safely. The taxi to Avoriaz was waiting for us which was great and we arrived in Avoriaz at about 12:00 – 20 hours after leaving home. All of us were feeling a little worse for wear – even those of us that had spent the night in relative luxury.

The fogies, Heidi and Darrel and assorted children were all waiting for us at the car park so there was a big welcome and by 15:00 Carl and myself had our ski's and poles as well as the ski pass organised so we headed out with Darrell for a couple of hours of skiing. With hindsight, it probably wasn't such a good idea because Carl and myself were quite tired and when one is tired, one tends to make mistakes which is what I did and I was very lucky not to have injured myself. I really struggled in the icy, mogully runs and I actually didn't really enjoy it very much.

We went over to the Bergesens for supper which was spaghetti bolognaise and very noisy as a family of 8 adults and 5 children in a 20m2 flat should be. By 19:30 Caron and Carl had had enough and we retired gracefully to our cave and were in bed and asleep by 20:30 exhausted.