First Day of Skiing

My task each morning is to get up before anyone else and put the first cup of coffee on as well as to find some croissants to start the day off in, what we thought, was a european way.  So I confidently stepped out in the -7 deg temperature to find a bakery which proved to be more difficult that I expected.  In France one can't walk a 100m without tripping over one, here, I haven't actually seen a single one but there are a couple of shops which do supply fresh baked breads ... like the butchers shop which was the only place I have seen real croissants.  Having found the shop I was out of luck because they were sold out and I have to order for tomorrow.  Croissants clearly aren't part of the Italian way of life.

By 09:30 we were out on the slopes having struggled to put on all the paraphernalia required.  At the start of each holiday it always feels like there are endless things to put on and arrange but by the end of the holiday it all feels quite normal.

Our first run of the day was a blue run and I had this strange feeling that I would have somehow forgotten how to ski but after a shakey start it all started to come back quite quickly and we decided to get adventurous and try the red run just a little way over.  Instead of skiing down and then walking along the road to the start of the other run we trudged over the brown frozen grassland between the two runs and then down to the gondola lift.

We did the red run a couple of times but it felt a bit manic with lots of people going too fast for us and plenty of moghuls which for anyone other than good skiers are a nightmare.   With aching calves, Kirsten and I only, and lunchtime approaching we decided to give the red run a skip and return to blue runs in the afternoon.

Lunchtime was cold meats and cheese on the rolls that I had purchased in the morning which was just delicious.  So simple and yet so good and then we all had some downtime before we headed out at 15:00 to ski until the lift close at 17:00.  As it turns out the light goes at about 16:30 and it gets really tricky to ski without being able to see the moguls and there were a couple of near wipe outs but we all managed to get to the end of the day without mishap.

 The photo above has a blue cast to it because I had the camera's white balance set to a 'snow' scene which seems like it needs actual sunlight to work correctly.  When in shadow I should just use normal white balance.

 In the background one can see the barren brown hills devoid of snow so, at the moment, Livigno is a bit like a giant version of Afriski but a lot colder.

We have decided to change the way we do the catering with one family 'on duty' each night so that the people that aren't on duty can sit back, relax, drink wine and not have to think about chores and by doing this each family unit only needs to cook one every four days which I think is reasonable.

Tonight, Kirsten made a blue cheese sauce to go with the fresh gnocchi we got from the market.  Simply delicious ... and now she gets to put up her heels for a few days and let other people worry about the catering.