Homeward bound

I had not been looking forward to the long trip back to home but it went by relatively uneventfully and we arrived home a bit tired but otherwise none the worse for wear.

The morning started in a pedestrian enough fashion and we all woke up quite late, I am going to miss these 07:30 starts to the day, and finished packing, had breakfast from the remains of the food and were out of the apartment at 10:00.

We dumped all the bags in the waiting lounge before heading down but because there were signs absolutely all over the place to not leave ones' luggage unattended, Caron happily agreed to remain behind. Ostensibly it was to read but I think it was as much a matter of fortifying herself for the travel ahead.

The rest of us went down to the town for some last minute shopping and to bid farewell to what had become familiar places to us, the medical centre in particular!

The taxi arrived on time at 12:00 and we had a very easy trip down to Moutiers, Kirsten just couldn't stop remarking on how much better this was than having to take two buses. She tried to stop but, in the end, just couldn't quite crack it.

There was a slight delay in the departure of the TGV and one of the carriages was missing, not ours thankfully, which I managed to understand from the announcements. Maybe my French lessons were not all quite in vain. The TGV proved to be a wonderful trip, we spent most of our time on the upper level in the dining area watching the countryside rush past; it really is a spectacularly beautiful country.

We arrived in Gare de Lyon and took two trains out to the airport where we spent quite a bit of time waiting for the aircraft which only took off at around midnight. Negotiating the trains was a bit of a hit and miss affair and my clearly not knowing where exactly we should go next didn't stop Caron continually asking where we should be going which didn't enhance my mood at all. While we were waiting Carl and I spied a duty-free shop where we replenished our supplies of Aberlour and Balvenie Double-Wood since they had been devastated by Kim. The two of us has nothing at all to do with the consumption of whisky of course.

As soon as we boarded I took a melatonin pill (mild sleeping pill) and then hung on desperately trying to stay awake until supper arrived. With supper out of the way, the next thing I knew it was 08:30 and two hours later we were on the ground. An unexpected minus to travelling on the A380 is that everything just takes ages, loading the aircraft, disembarking, waiting for luggage - it all takes just that much longer just because of the sheer number of people.

Baggage collected we headed out to the Gautrain which we missed by a couple of minutes because Caron had to feed her nicotine addiction so we had to wait 25 minutes for the next one. Kirsten and Carl had my parents meet them at the airport but all of us couldn't fit into the cars so we took the sensible option and used the public transport. This worked quite well until I tried to get out of the station at Sandton and there wasn't enough money on my gautrain card which was really annoying. I later realised that there wasn't a system malfunction, there really wasn't enough money there since I had used the buses a couple of times and it just took the balance available to me under what I needed.

That sorted out, I walked to my offices in the pouring rain using the umbrella I had carried to europe and back but never used until this point.

That is pretty much it! Landing back in South Africa, the first thing that struck me was that we really have become the land of the fatties but, it's still home!

Ag nee, the last day skiing

Glorious sunshine greeted us for a change, still very cold but it was much nicer to be in the sunshine than the mist. We had decided to head up to Val Thorens to do some of the runs which I had really enjoyed previously.

Today has got to be the best skiing I think I have ever had, conditions were just perfect. Blue skies overhead, nice and cold but no so much that you are freezing, great pistes and perfect snow to ski on. Still scrunchy below one's feet. I can't think how the conditions could get any better.

We took the following route in the morning

• Up mont de la chambre lift and then down the mont de la chambre into Val Thorens
• Up the peclet lift and then down tete ronde
• Up moraine lift and down moraine
• Up moraine lift and then up the col lift, down the red col run and then down genepi.
• Up the portette lift and then down fond, plateau, altiport and lagopede and gentiane
• Up boismint lift and then down blanchot, tetras and bd cummin back to Les Menuires

The view from the col was awesome and we could look out over the glacier de chaviere and watch some people climbing up it. I'm not sure what they were actually doing because they had both climbing equipment and ski's; they looked like ants on the glacier.
The red run was very steep at the top but the snow was reasonable so it wasn't too much of a problem. After we negotiated the red we took a break at the restaurant half way down genepi with some pretty fair chocolat chaud and crepe nutella. The view from this restaurant out over Val Thorens is just awesome, definitely aided by the fact that we could actually see Val Thorens today.
Skiing down tetras gave a whole new meaning to ice, the entire run is north facing and is low enough to have been rained on. I think there was a conspiracy and we didn't get the memo because we were the only people on the run and not once on the whole run was there anything even vaguely powdery, even piles that looked nice and soft were just frozen solid. My knees by the time we finished were quite sore, the run was challenging after two weeks of skiing and if we had done this run when we had just arrived I think disaster would have ensued.

Had the usual for lunch before heading out for the last time to Grand Lac, pezolet and 3 marches which were all nice but a bit more icy than yesterday. We were on our very last run when Carl was mowed by a moron in a red bobble headed devil suite who was flying straight down the slope. I think he was racing his friends and I caught it on video, he didn't even try and swerve at all. My first thought was whether Carl had hurt his shoulder because he was lying very still in the middle of the piste. My second thought was to catch the perpetrator and rugby tackle him, see how he likes that, but by the time we had gathered our wits he was long gone - unfortunately.

Well, that's it. Skiing is over and we are all more or less intact. Kirsten and Carl were going out for an anniversary dinner so we took Megan and Alistair down to the market for some more nutella crepe's while I took some photographs. The proprietors were very co-operative and I think I my have a keeper of one of the store owners looking very proud of himself. It must be quite a life doing the market and moving the entire thing every day to a different town. It sounds like the move between Val Thorens, Les Menuires, Meribel and Coucheval every day of the week.
Once the kids had retired to bed I retired to the balcony with a big glass of red wine and my last cigar to see the holiday out in the peace and quit of the mountains at night.

Tomorrow is travelling day, ughh!

The light at the end of the tunnel

After yesterday, everyone needed some cheering up but when the day dawned, it looked absolutely miserable; all misty and worst of all, it looked like it had rained overnight which didn't bode at all well for the days skiing.

We were all wondering what we were going to do because skiing in the mist for the whole day wasn't high on anyone's agenda. Fortunately for us, Carl happened to open the front door and lo and behold, there was blue sky on that side of the house so before it could vanish we kitted up and were out the door. Unfortunately I think the whole of Les Menuires had the same idea and the queues at the lifts were pretty bad. Not as bad as we've had at Avoriaz or on new years eve in Paris but by the standards set during our two weeks here, pretty bad. It turned out that most of the lifts up to high points weren't yet running due to ice so we had to slosh around in the mush left by the rain until we found a reasonably high one (sunny express) from where we skied over to the becca lift from where we could actually start the days skiing.
The rain that we had had in Les Menuires hadn't fallen on the higher pistes so these were absolutely fantastic to ski on but as we dropped down in altitude we would be in and out of the cloud that was lurking in the valley and rising and dissipating sporadically. We tried skiing pelozet but by the time we got to the bottom lift we were in really thick cloud which doesn't make for the most enjoyable skiing. A piste marker would loom out of the mist and one isn't sure which side of the marker one should be and what direction one should be skiing; it's very disorientating.

Once we figured out which runs were okay we had a great time skiing on Grand Lac and 3 Marches which both had really good snow and good sunlight. One can't have too much of a good thing so we stopped for chocolat chaud and nutella waffles at our favourite restaurant who tried to seat us in the entrance hall way which we refused and fortunately for us, a table opened up in the 'drinking only' section which we quickly nabbed. The chocolat chaud was good but not quite as good as the on from the restaurant on tete ronde. We eventually headed home for a late lunch of cheese, tomato and lettuce on baguette which, just like yesterday and every day before that, was scrumptious. Carl commented on how, when he was sick and stayed home for the day, he was thinking how ordinary the fare was; today however, he was in full agreement as to just how tasty it was.

After lunch, with much trepidation, we decided to do 'Roc'n Bob' which is a toboggan run. The instigator was, of course, Alistair but with yesterdays escapades in BK Park fresh in our mind all the adults were a little anxious. We needn't have been, it was great fun and even if you have a really good spill there wasn't any way that you could seriously injure yourself. The following photo's were by Kirsten because I was having way too good a time flying down the run while taking a video of the proceedings.
Alistair showing how it should be done after collecting yet another piste marker which had to be put back into the snow.
Megan the maniac after showing us all how to ride the edge of the wave. Carl had visions of her going of the back and doing a little off-piste in a toboggan.
Carl being closely shadowed by Roland who is filming. I was hoping for a close up of a whoopsy right in front of me. Carl was being very uncooperative, possibly due to not wanting three GT stripes from the runners of my toboggan on his noggin.
All of us very happy to have finished, it was great fun.

The next order of the day was to go and watch the 'Russian Christmas' which meant we all dressed up warmly and padded down the icy path to bruyere which is one of the village-lets within Les Menuires. Just next to the place that the the demonstration took place was an open air swimming pool.
People would swim and then get out and have a roll in the snow on the edge of the pool before getting back in. It must be fun, if you enjoy that sort of thing, or if you are really trying too hard to impress a girl. The 'Russian Christmas' consisted of a torchlight descent by the ESF (Ecole de Ski Francaise) instructors followed by fireworks.
My new camera is performing spectacularly well with the monopod that I bought in Paris. I was busy photographing the fireworks and this woman came and stood in front of me to take photographs so I moved but she followed me. By move number three when she arrived, enough was enough and I politely pointed out that she was getting in the way.
The fireworks were very pretty but over quite quickly at which point the 'Russian Christmas' started to become an open air discoteque which only served to confirm my strongly held belief that white people (in general) really just can't dance.

Heading home we had these great views of the Cathedral which Megan has been nagging me to take pictures of so now she can stop moaning.

Caron and I took the bus home like civilised people while the van der Riets trudged up the hill in the darkness. Thereafter it was supper before we all collapsed into bed, exhausted.

A piece of trivia, when we arrived we found this dessicated frozen frog on the roof just outside our front door and it has been there ever since. That was until a couple of days ago he was mistakenly rolled up into a snowball and hurled at someone. We don't know who did the hurling and who was the recipient of snowball frog but he is now safely back in the snow on top of the roof out of the reach of Alistair.

Thrills, spills and Dentists bills

The title is courtesy of Carl and Megan. The day started well but by the end we all, other than Caron, had had enough of the day. Caron, on the other hand seemed to have had an almost perfect day other than having had some moron skiing across the front of her ski's.

Caron and I started the day by extending her pass into the Val Thorens ski area for 21 euro, we had started out earlier than the van der Riets since Caron is slower that they are and sure enough, they caught us before the Bruyere lift. Just after that Megan took a wrong turn and had to walk back up a slope and by the time they caught us again we were right next to the Caron lift.
On the way down into Val Thorens the pistes were just perfect, there had been another 5-10cm of snow and with the pistes recently groomed it was great to ski on. The following photo is only of interest to someone who ski's, those are my tracks in the foreground and I'm quite proud of them even though the slope was minimal. It's not so easy to get one's tracks to look like railway lines.
Once the van der Riets had caught us we immediately separated again, I went up the Caron lift to do gentiane with Caron once before heading for the snow park to catch up with the van der Riets. This is the time when the day started to go pear shaped. I caught up to them and it was quite obvious that something was wrong, Megan had done a little off-piste in the new snow and the fronts of her ski's sank and during the wipe out she broke her front tooth on the ski pole. Fortunately there wasn't any blood, just an exposed nerve which at -9 deg C must have been quite painful. Carl had this very stoic resigned look on his face, his last three days have consisted of skiing while feeling terrible, taking the day off to recover and now most of the day is going to involve sitting in dentist rooms.

So while the van der Riets headed back to incur more medical bills, I ventured forth into the valley below the Renod and Bouchet glaciers which proved to be very hard work. The day after snow is definitely the most beautiful day to be out but, from a skiing point of view, it's really hard work. Lots of moguls and uneven and soft pistes to negotiate. My route was

• Up the grand fond lift and down gentianes (not the same one Caron is doing)
• Up the peyron lift and down peyron
• Back up the peyron lift and down peyron again
• Up the rosael lift and down chamois, eteriou and the end of fond and back down to the Caron lift.

The wind at the top of the col between the valleys was something else, you had to actively walk downhill, skiing was not an option and even managing the ski poles was a mission. The best method was to drag them forward on the ground before planting them, actually lifting them up like one normally does just results in a plant next to one's boot which isn't very useful when trying to move forward. I tried to stop in front of a piste map but before I knew it, the wind had blown me past it and trying to manage a paper map would have been completely impossible so I didn't even try. Peyron was quite hard work but I think that tomorrow when the snow has compacted a little it would be a very nice run.
I met up with Caron at Chalet de Caron pictured below, she had been going up and down gentiane the whole time. She says that she did it 7 times so I think that I am safe to say that she really enjoyed it. This is just as well considering the effort and trauma not to mention expense experienced in getting her here.
I just had to take a photograph with Caron under the sign at the entrance, I just couldn't get a break when there wasn't anyone else on the steps.
We both headed back down and met the van der Riets at home for some lunch. After lunch we headed out in the gloom to BK park at Alistairs instigation which was definitely a mistake. The park is like a toboggan run but done on ski's and snowboards and in the gloom it was really difficult to see the bumps and drops not to mention the camber and, most importantly, the edges. As a result I skied into thin air and down a small drop of 3 or 4 metres, nothing damaged but not enjoying the ride at all. Caught up with Kirsten and Carl and Alistair and started again but now there were skiers and snowboarders shouldering their way past because we were obviously going too slow. As a result, Kirsten was forced too close to some netting and when she turned her ski's caught and she did a backwards somersault down another 3 or 4 metre embankment. I'm not sure whether I was watching Kirsten backflip or the guy behind caught my ski's but I also went down and then the whole queue of people behind ploughed into me. Again, nothing really damaged but by now we had all had enough and decided to call it a day. Even Carl fell while trying to avoid running over Alistair although compared with a backwards somersault down a 4 metre embankment it barely rates a mention.

We gingerly threaded our way home and Kirsten and Carl took Megan off to have her tooth fixed and we, almost all, had a running snow ball fight the whole way down the path until Alistair fell and hurt his broken hand. Caron resolutely refused to join the in the childish festivities no matter how many snow balls she was peppered with. While Kirsten and Carl went to the dentists Caron and I did some shopping at the market for a new fleece and bought some t-shirts to commemorate the trip which in our current frame of mind mostly consisted of "I survived" themed t-shirts. The dentist was taking a bit long so we headed up taking Alistair with us and an hour later got a phone call to come and rescue Kirsten and Carl. The dentist only accepted cash and they didn't have enough and the ATM was being snoep about dispensing more cash. I walked down and was able to draw some cash because, although my standard bank card was refused just like Carls, I also have a nedbank one which worked.

Finally, we all made it home for supper which would be Megans first meal with her new dentures. Between Megan's tooth and the adventures at BK park we had all had enough of the day.

A rest day, sort of

Carl was still feeling very much under the weather and decided to stay in bed for at least the morning while the rest of us went to play on the slopes. I wanted to check out a new route to Val Thorens which would't involve any hair raising descents that Caron would freak out on.

The route I followed was as follows:

• Up doron lift and down boyes
• Up bruyeres 1 and down the lower half of paturage
• Up montaulever and then down into Val Thorens
• Up the funitel peclet lift and down tete ronde and then 2 combes.
• Up moraine lift and down genepi
• Up morain lift and down moraine
• Up portette and down fond and then plateau to the top of Caron.
• Down getiane and bd cummins all the way home.

The weather had started out fine but by the time we were coming down tete ronde it had started to snow lightly again. We stopped at the intersection of tete ronde and 2 combes for more hot chocolate at the same expensive restaurant which was just as good as before. While I was waiting for Kirsten and the kids to emerge I watched 3 british girls putting their skis on, very funny, the one was pointing straight downhill and took off immediately straight into a whole pile of nicely stacked skis, poles and snowboards. Carnage ensued with lots of shrieks and laughter.

By the time we got onto the Moraine lift the snow was coming down quite hard and it was nearly impossible to see the slope that one was skiing on so the kids decided that enough was enough and that they were going home. Kirsten reluctantly following them. It was a real pity because both moraine and genepi are fantastic slopes, they're steep enough to really go on but not so steep that one has to be worried about not being able to stop if things get out of hand. I loved the feeling of carving down the slope while the snow is falling even though not being able to see where one is skiing, other than the piste markers that is, is a little disconcerting. I must admit that the chair lifts in the driving snow and wind was less than comfortable but definitely worth it.

I was meant to head straight home after moraine but I couldn't resist another run and ended up going down gentiane. I was just thinking how Caron would enjoy the run as I noticed the name and now that I have found an easy way into Val Thorens for Caron, this is a real possibility.

I arrived back home about 45 minutes after Kirsten and the kids just in time for lunch. By this time it had really started snowing quit hard so we all decided to have an afternoon off and rest up a bit. I spent most of the afternoon resolving a problem with my notebook because it had run out of disk space and computers, in general, really don't work well with 0 bytes available, hence my late post of yesterday.

At about 16:00 it was still snowing hard but we needed supplies so Kirsten and I went down to carrefour to do the necessary. The plan was to take the bus down but after waiting for 15 minutes and no bus, we walked and arrived in town just as the bus finally overtook us. We finished the shopping and went and stood in the bus shelter but again, after about 10 minutes, we decided to walk. This was a big mistake, not only had we been walking for only about 2 minutes when the bus arrived but by the time we made it back to the apartment my arms felt like they had been pulled from their sockets by the groceries and we were both bathed in sweat. Thankfully Kirsten helped with the bags for some of the way. I think that waiting patiently for the public transport is something we are not culturally equipped for. Since both of us were sweating profusely from the walk up the hill we both dived for the shower at the same time and, just like at home, this was not a good idea because there is only enough pressure for one shower at a time. I ended up standing in the shower waiting for Kirsten to finish so I could turn the water back on. The cold water here is not just cold water, it is freezing. Fortunately Kirsten showered quite quickly so I wasn't going hypothermic by the time I could continue my shower.

The snow continued to pour out of the sky and Megan and Alistair spent some time on the balcony trying to catch snow flakes on their tongues.
As darkness fell Carl and I had a cigar and whisky on the patio which was just fantastic. Carl was commenting on how the whisky tastes stronger here as he realised that ice cubes don't melt in the glass here. I was half tempted to just put the ice blocks back into the ice tray to use tomorrow.
We finished the day with a chicken and chips from the restaurant over the road before a quiet evening reading and watching movies.

Ski poles and Doggie doo!

It is rumoured that there are more dogs than children in Paris which, judging from the amount of doggie droppings on the pavements could well be true. It's difficult to judge since french children, unlike their poodles, have made the evolutionary leap to porcelain. Thankfully!

When we arrived at Les Menuires we walked into a beautiful, clean apartment with white snow drifts on the balcony. Enchanting but little did we know that beneath the drifts lurked the evidence of untrained french poodles. It was very disconcerting to have the frozen turds slowly appear from the depths as the drifts melted away in the warm weather of a few days ago, it just takes some of the magic out of the snow drifts.

Skiing entails a fair amount of time spent on ski lifts watching the scenery go by and one of the games we play is spot the ski pole or, if you're lucky, a ski that some unhappy ex-owner dropped. The snow, like with the turds, covers these up with time so the number that we see is only a fraction of those dropped which means that some poor, keeping in the scatalogical allegory, turd has to walk all the ski-lift lines during the spring to pick up all the detritus of the skiing fraternity. I guess it could be worse, thankfully dogs are not welcome on the ski lifts!

The day to Courcheval and back ...

Our hopes for a decent snowfall have been realised, we had 9cm of snow as measured by Kirsten using a ruler on the snow that collected on the balcony handrail. The snow arrived just in time for Kim and Sage to see it before they left on the bus for the 24 hour journey home. It is quite amazing what the snow actually collects on, even the top edges of signs are not immune to catching a frosting of the white stuff. Megan got all creative with the snow that adorned the patio furniture.
Across the road from us someone made this snowman complete with ski's and a scarf which was awesome but it was destroyed soon after the photograph was taken by persons unknown. We think that there is a snowman assassin on the prowl in Les Menuires because no sooner has someone finished a beautiful snowman/woman than the creation is destroyed. The reason for destroying a snowman eludes me so I am going to chalk it up to creative envy.
Carl wasn't feeling so well but we had a big day planned to take the kids all the way over to Courcheval which is two valleys over from us so he literally sucked it up and gritted his teeth while ignoring the sinus headache. The photo below is taken just below our apartment and note the snow encrusted pine trees and the arrangement of the triangles in the composition. I read somewhere that this is a good composition technique but I'm not so sure.
The weather was quite unsettled today, one moment you are in bright sushine and the next one is in heavy cloud which makes for great photographic opportunities because the light is always changing. I had the video attached to my goggle straps which has been great for footage taken during the actual skiing although I find it quit difficult to keep my head pointed exactly down the slope, it is so instinctive to want to watch where one is going rather than some point far down the slope.

Going across the Col de la Loze we had great fun because we were able to do a little bit of off-piste skiing, it is quite disconcerting to look down at where there should be skiis and only seeing snow or small mounds generated by the ski's. There is something very satisfying which I can't explain in looking back at a patch of virgin snow and seeing only two ski tracks through it, yours!
The route for the day, for the record was:

• up menuires lift and then down boyes
• up sunny expess lift and then down an unknown slope
• up roc de 3 marches 2 lift and then down grand lac pelozet
• up st martin 2 lift and then down cretes, choucas and gelinotte
• up saulire 1 lift and down an unknown piste to lunch (70 euro for five of us) at the bottom of loze
• up the loze lift and then down lac bleu
• up the biollay lift and then down pralong
• up the pralong lift and down biollay
• up the pralog lift and down biollay verdons
• up coqs lift and then col del la loze lift and then down boulevard de la loze and marmottes followed by charon
• up tougnettes 1 and then toughnettes 2 and then gros tougne and la violette all the way home.

I embarassed myself down the pralong slope by taking a really good spill while the video was going, all one could see was ski's and sky, a combination which should not by juxtaposed against each other. I had been trying to avoid a beginner and picked up too much speed and that along with moguls was the undoing of me. The skiing today was really hard on the knees because the snow from last night soon formed moguls which are tough to ski on if you are not used to them. Even Megan and Alistair were complaining of sore knees which made me feel somewhat better.
Even worse, I took yet another spill, this time while I was completely stationery and just overbalanced and the video captured an expletive that is going to have to be edited out of the footage.
The Courcheval valley is visually and from a skiing point of view just fantastic. I'm not sure if it is a true reflection of Meribel but it doesn't seem to be as great a skiing area. While the snow in Les Menuires and Courcheval was firm and good to ski on, the snow in Meribel was distinctly slushy. I'll try and get back to Meribel to try some of the routes that aren't just transit routes from Les Menuires/Val Thorens to Courcheval and back before we leave.

Alistair distinguished himself on the way back while descending into the Meribel valley by demolishing one of the piste marker poles even while handicapped by having his broken hand wrapped up in a cut-up glove and plastic bag.
It was quite a day, all in all, and I think Carl was particularly happy to get home so he could get into bed. He had been getting quieter and quieter all afternoon and his nose had been getting redder and redder. I think a much quieter day for all of us is in order for tomorrow.

The high after the low ...

What an awesome day's skiing, somehow because of the colder weather the snow on the runs was great to ski on. I don't have any photo's because the weather was very overcast so the whole day was this dull even light which isn't great for photography. By the end of the day my legs were starting to give out and my knees were a bit sore but it was worth it.

Kirsten and Carl were getting Alistair ready so while I was waiting, after renewing my ski pass, I did the following runs.

• Petits creux
• Menuires

We were using the radios to communicate when a very loud american accent came over "Get the ^&*&^ off MY frequency" which just ensured that this was the frequency that we are going to continue using. I met up with Kirsten and Carl and Megan but Alistair had to stay behind and recover. We had great fun going down the following runs and because we are really starting to feel comfortable on them we were really whizzing down even the steep portions. The feeling of just carving down the piste in big curves is just amazing and now that the school holidays are over the pistes are bare of skiers.

• grand lac
• pelozet
• biolley
• gros tongue
• grand lac
• pelozet
• gros tongue

Time for chocolat chaud which we had at the bottom of the granges lift and then Kirsten and Megan headed for home to relieve Caron who is baby sitting Alistair leaving Carl and I to go and explore a bit.

• grand lac
• pelozet
• jerusalem - red
• pramint - red
• gros tougne

After two not so nice reds because they were quit icy although pramint would be quite nice if we were to get a decent dusting of snow - it was time for lunch. We went back to the same place we had chocolat chaud just now and had the french onion soup each, a shared plate of chips and two chocolat chauds (28.50) which really filled us up. The soup is listed under the starters but I seriously doubt that anyone could really have a proper main course after finishing a soup like that. It was great, I must say that I really do enjoy the french onion soup. After lunch it was more exploring.

• allamands - red
• petit creux
• david douillet haut - red
• david douillet - red
• menuires

... and home. We must come back with Kirsten to do allamands and david douillet again because they were both great runs. David douillet was very steep and the steep bits were much longer than other reds but the snow was good which made it very manageable. The higher one goes the better the quality of the snow and the easier it is to ski. We had only been home about 10 minute who had gone out and did grand lac and pelozet and despite a couple of falls looked to be much happier. As the sun dipped below the mountains it started to snow lightly at first and then much more heavily.

The photo above didn't really capture the snow falling so I tried the same shot using the flash to highlight the snow.

I'm really hoping for more than a dusting of snow, say 3 or 4 inches. Funny how, even two decades after imperial went out, I still measure distances between and inch and a couple of feet in imperial for rough estimates.

A frosty silence

I guess it is just as well that none of us are in the medical profession because alistairs hand isn't sprained, it's actually broken. He's handling it really well and has the tiniest of casts on that just immobilises the actual thumb while preserving wrist and finger mobility.

Nobody did any skiing this morning but for different reasons. Kirsten and Carl because of taking alistair to the clinic and myself, caron and kim because we decided to take the morning off to do shopping and generally laze about before collecting the remaining kids from ski school at 12:30.

I have been wanting to get caron up into the val thorens valley to do a run called gentiane which I thought, and still think that she would love. So while carl and alistair took the afternoon off, kirsten, sage, megan and the two of us set off. Unfortunately the only way to get there was to go up mont de la chambre and then down pluviometre which turned out to be a huge mistake. Caron took one look at the steeper sections and refused to do them but there really is no other way to get down other than going down the piste so she took off her ski's which I skied down with and then walked all the way down muttering about how horrible I am no doubt. Kirsten, Sage and Megan got tired of waiting and went on ahead while I nursed caron down the piste.

She skied all the flatter sections but the whole run took so long that we arrived at the run I really wanted her to try about a minute after it closed so I think that the closest she is going to get to doing the run is the picture below. I can't see her putting herself through that again even though the snow higher up is far nicer and easier to ski in that lower down nearer the villages. We saw Kirsten, Sage and Megan briefly at the Caron ski lift, they had already done the run twice by the time we arrived and then bolted for home.

We followed on a bit more slowly and barely made it to the last lift before it closed and finally made it home in frosty silence. As a counter point to the silence, the sunset was really amazing.

Kisten had made a big bowl of bolonnaise the previous evening and we had a great meal followed by some chocolate or coffee flavoured creme caramel which went down rather well. So at least the day ended well even though the rest of it was pretty abysmal.

Of Reds 'n Accidents

An eventful day!

The intention was to drop the kids at ski school and then Caron, Kim and I to go skiing but it had rained overnight so the slopes were all really icy which made Caron very uneasy, so much so that she refused to go up to do the slope (vallons) we had chosen to do. As it turned out, this was a really good decision because the slope turned out to be almost completely iced up and I didn't enjoy the run at all. Kirsten didn't either but Carl thought it was the best run he had done which I really don't understand. On the way down we saw a small boy who had fallen taking an awfully long time to get up and later saw an ambulance toboggan so we think that it was the small boy in sage's class that broke his leg today. According to Sage, he was one of the 'hot boys' which just set off the warning bells in Kim's head. Sage is only six after all!

Kirsten, Carl and I went up again to do les enverse hoping it would be better than vallons but it was even worse, most of the slope was either grass or just plain ice, not even ice with a dusting of snow. There was a narrow strip of about 2m that was mogul-led but ski-iable. If moguls are the preferred option, that means that the rest of the slope was pretty bad.

I then met up with Caron and Kim and the three of us went off to do La Violette and took in a cup of coffee, chocolat chaud or, in my case, vin chaud. We headed home for another scrumptious lunch before I joined the van der riets for the afternoon.

Kirsten and Carl had done the cretes and longet routes while I was out with Kim and Caron and, since the kids had done them in ski school as well, they were keen to do them again because the runs were so nice.

The van der riet family at the ibex at the top of the run which was an absolutely fantastic run, we enjoyed it so much that we did it three times in a row. A minor mishap occurred on the horrible blue run that we had to take to get back down, alistair made an impressive face plant into the ice and in doing do, sprained his thumb quite badly. When I picked him up off the snow the gap between his goggles and his helmet was completely filled with ice and he was feeling quite sorry for himself but he recovered quite well after some hot chocolate.

Kim and my cunning plan to play a trick on Carl finally came to fruition. Carl had been making odd references to the speed with which the whisky was going down so we drained most of the last bottle into another bottle and hid it and waited for him to notice. It took a couple of days but finally we got our reward, carl's face when he took the bottle out spoke volumes and I couldn't keep up the joke any longer, much to carl's great relief. Anyway, kim and I enjoyed the joke.

For supper we decided that we would eat out in the local restaurant to try out raclette which is a local dish which carl, in particular, has been very keen to try out. Raclette consists of a 1/4 wedge of an entire block of cheese which goes onto sort of a roaster which then melts the cheese. One scrapes the melted cheese off and then wraps it with various cold meats or vegetables. Carl seemed to really enjoy it, I thought it was nice but nothing special. I definitely preferred the three cheeses fondue that Caron and Kirsten shared.
Note the matching Sani2C shirts!

The Great Trek

We are based at Les Menuires which is in the one valley (along with Val Thorens) of the three valleys ski area, the other two valleys have the towns of Meribel and Courcheval in them respectively. Getting to Courcheval is more than a mornings skiing away so Caron kindly offered to collect the kids from ski school and to babysit them until we returned in the afternoon thus giving us enough time to get there and back.

We dropped the kids off at ski school, I skied down following Sage and Kim who are both doing well, and then set off. We had a few navigation mishaps which weren't so much from miss reading the map as not following the pistes correctly. It is not always such a clear cut thing here exactly which way a piste goes, they seem to diverge and join up or join up on another piste, it's all very confusing. We found ourselves at the top of 3 marches Saulire which only had a red run (alouette) going down from it into the Meribel valley so it was time to negotiate our first red which we accomplished with a reasonable degree of elegance. Fortunately, it wasn't so long before we joined up with a very long and boring blue (ours) all the way down to Meribel from where we caught the lift up to Sauire where our only choices of route were red or black - again. So red it was, we're starting to get the hang of them now. We finally got to Loze and could drop down into the Courcheval valley where we spent a couple of great hours repeatedly doing the pralong, biollay and petit lac runs. They were great fun and the pistes at courcheval are enormously wide and it is really difficult knowing where one piste ends and another starts with the result that I lost Kirsten and Carl temporarily. I caught sight of someone with a very similar jacket to Kisten whom I started following which just made matters worse. Somehow we managed to find each other and decided to start heading back. There are so many english people here that it sounds like London closed down and relocated to Courcheval.

We had lunch at the top of Coqs which is quite close to Loze and is the location of the great soup bomb. I don't quite know what happened but I ended up spilling soup all over myself, the tray and worst of all, the herring salad. In spite of the herring swimming in a sea of vegetable soup, it actually tasted fantastic. The soup wasn't bad either, at least what was left of it. Spent some time trying to desoup myself, I had to clean my salopettes, my jacket and my boots but in spite of this, this lunch will be remembered for the herring salad, and the soup bomb I guess.

The weather was turning miserable so we just headed home from then on and arrived home just after Caron, Kim and the kids returned home. The had spent the afternoon having a huge amount of fun building snow men and women.


We had just finished having a great meal of baked potato and beans and roast courgette with pesto and gruyere lovingly prepared by Kim when we heard a loud bang so we all rushed outside to see a fireworks display just over the roofs of the apartments next to us.

Somewhere, in the house there is another popping sound somewhere which I have barely to notice but is busy driving Kirsten demented. It's very funny but she doesn't find it anywhere near as humorous as I am. I think it may even become her enduring memory of Les Menuires.

Oh, no! Not another day of Skiing!

We are starting to settle into a routine now. We drop the kids off at Ski School in the morning and then Carl, Kirsten and I go exploring new areas and then in the afternoon the whole van der Riet family and I go exploring yet more areas.

This morning we took the mont de la chambre and then used pluviometre to descend into Val Thorens from where we took peclets up to to top to have a look at Galcier de Peclet which we didn't really notice for some reason. We should really have a good look at them because they ain't going to be around for much longer. The tete ronde back into Val Thorens was great and we stopped at a restaurant half way down for our morning 'chocolat chaud' and 'pain au chocolat' which was fantastic, easily the best 'chocolat chaud' that we've had thus far. At 18.50 euro it had better be! I think Val Thorens is a bit more upmarket than Les Menuires. Carl borrowed an allen key from the restaurant and managed to adjust Kirstens boots which were proving to be very painful. I made a joke which I can't repeat in the blog but Carl will remember it!

We skied down to the bottom of Caron, not to be confused with Caron's bottom, and took the lift up and then skied down gentiane which was so nice we did it all again. There exists a Mount Caron here so the lift's name is also called Caron which is going to cause some confusion at some time. Obvious double entendre's come to mind ...

Back at the apartment, I had the most fantastic lunch, it was the same as yesterday with the addition of fresh tomato and lettuce which just created perfection. Sometimes it is the little additions that make all the difference.

The afternoon was spent going over into Meribel using faon and lievre which, although listed as a blue, are actually borderline reds. Even so, I quite enjoyed them; I am finding that I am enjoying the lumpy bumpy stuff much more nowadays. We had some 'chocolat chaud' on the way down at a very noisy cafe before I got some great video footage of Kirsten wiggling her derriere to the music as we skied away.

Before we knew it, it was time to return via gros tougne which was uneventful but I think I might have got some good photographs. The sky was dark and heavy but the sun was shining in underneath so maybe ...


Supper consisted several very yummy pizzas before bed. After a glass of wine and whisky of course.

The first day of skiing, my aching legs said to me ...

"What the dickens are you trying to do to me?"

The pandemonium of last night continued this morning. Getting our ski passes, finding and enrolling children in ski schools and finally getting rid of them. Kim managed to get Sage to the school in time but Kirsten and Carl weren't so lucky and handed Megan and Alistair over to a ski instructor to pass the children over to the correct class. Needless to say that this didn't happen and Megan and Alistair spent the morning being passed from one instructor to the next, even between ski schools which resulted in much unhappiness and comments about how the kids did not enjoy the ski schools here.

During the morning I went with Kim and Caron to do some green slopes so that both of them could remember what they have previously learnt at Afri-ski. We had only just finished "La Violette" and it was after 12:00 already so we headed down to fetch the children and go for lunch.

I was feeling really under the weather so I missed most of lunch, i.e. I was there and present, I just can't remember anything and it was a touch and go as to whether I went skiing in the afternoon or not. I think I was not entirely over the fever of a couple of days ago and I was quite worried that this may be a sign of what the rest of the holiday might be like which wasn't greatly encouraging.

I decided to go out skiing because I really didn't feel like spending it in bed which is where Caron would have ensured that I ended up if I had stayed at home. Happily this turned out to be a good decision and I had a great afternoon skiing with the van der Riets, starting to explore the three valleys ski domain. It is quite different to Avoriaz in that the runs are generally longer and wider and I think the runs here are a bit more severe for the same grade but that is a really subjective assessment of the grading system. By the time we finally headed back to the apartment I was finished and could barely keep my eyes open through supper. My heart sank when, at the end of supper, I realised that it was only 18:30. I had to stay awake for at least another 3 hours and all my body and eyes wanted to do was shut down for the night. Fortunately I had some episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" to help and then I started reading a Vince Flynn book even though it really annoys me the way that he writes about american extrajudicial murders as acceptable because, well, they're american therefore that have to be justifiable. I shouldn't get annoyed because it is just a novel after all but I have a sneaking suspicion that the truth is quite close to fiction in this case. I think the annoyance worked and before I knew it, it was 21:30, time for beddie byes.

I forgot to mention my spectacular wipe-out on a green slope, the shame, where I had enough time in the air to finish the thought "This is really going to hurt!" before I became a snow plough for about 30m. There is now a roland's nose shaped furrow down a section of "La Violette" so I resolved there and then to take it much easier for a few days so I could get my skiing legs back and prevent the early onset of concussion.

Carl came up with the chirp of the day which, I think, is going to stick to Sage. he described her as a "woodchipper" because whatever she has to eat in her hands gets spread out in her general vicinity.

Oh Travelling Day, how I detest thee!

Travelling days form a significant part of one's experience when travelling both from a time and an experiential perspective but that doesn't mean that one has to like them. Today we caught two metro's, the TGV and then two buses and between each of these there was the inevitable travelling bugbears. The dragging of suit cases that one can barely lift up and down stairs, wondering where to catch the next transport. Are we going the right way? where do we buy/collect/validate tickets? All, of course, in a foreign language. Nonetheless we made it with everyone intact although we came close to sacrificing Caron to the travelling gods.

But before I get into that I have recount the tale of Kim and the turnstile. Getting baggage through a turnstile is not that easy, one has to do some fancy manipulation of the handle so it doesn't wind up on the other side of the turnstile from oneself. Due to some mishap, Kim ended up between the turnstile and the doors which isn't a very big space and if one is wearing thick jackets and handbags and a backpack it is positively cramped; anyway, there she was, stuck, with no way out and unable to turn around, bend down or even climb up. Very frustrating for her, we eventually took all her bags from her and she quite inelegantly shoehorned her way under the turnstile door. Her beautiful new Zara jacket meeting the cold hard reality of the metro floor.

Once we got to the TGV station we had to convert our Internet bookings into actual tickets, easy, peasy one would think. The first two ticket offices we went to AND queued for were the wrong ones and we found ourselves outside yet two more without any inkling which was the one to use. We solved this by despatching Carl into one and Caron into the other while I acted as the runner. Besides the ticket offices there were automated ticket vending machines which should have worked. After several wrong avenues in the menu structure I hit on the correct one and printed one set of tickets, unfortunately, it refused to print the second ticket so we were left standing in the double queue in any case. Sometimes technology really just doesn't work when one needs it. Tickets done we boarded the train only to find people in our seats but Caron soon dispatched then like a good Charon should.

The trip itself was very peaceful and pretty, we watched the country side go by and Kirsten, Carl and myself took it in turns to chortle at some episodes of "The Big Bang Theory". Things got a little more interesting when we arrived in Moitiers because we had been planning on taking the bus or a taxi but the taxi office was closed and the location of the bus station was less than obvious. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing I stumbled on the bus station and there was a bus about to leave at 16:45, it was 16:40 at the time so it was a run to get everyone on the bus and while they were putting their bags on, I went to purchase tickets. I got back, climbed on board and was just about to relax when I realised that Caron was nowhere to be seen. Climbed back off to find her standing patiently at the luggage bay which was open but the bus driver had told her not to put her luggage on for some reason so she was just standing there, at the front of the queue, ok, maybe not so patiently, waiting. As she turned around to talk to me, the bus driver closed the luggage doors which came down on top of Caron and hooked between her head and her backpack, forcing her down. We were shouting at the bus driver who took way too long to respond before another guy and myself shoved the door back up. I chucked Caron's luggage on and accompanied my little dark cloud up and onto the bus. She was fine but a little shaken by the accident and thinking that we might be leaving her behind so I left her to stew for a while and by the time we arrived in Les Menuires, she was fine again.

Finally, the last bus trip. Same routine again, find out where to catch it, check it really is going to the place we need it to, wait for the next us in the -7C temperature before squeezing like sardines onto the bus. The bus dropped us off at the right place and a short walk later we had finally arrived but our day was not yet done.

Once we had checked in Carl and I went hunting for takeaways and groceries respectively while the ladies took all the kids down to get skis and boots. By the time I arrived back, everyone had their skis and boots organised and we just had to collect the chicken and chips which turned out to be probably the best value for money we will ever find in France.

Some wine, supper and then it was time to turn in. The only outstanding thing that still needs to be done is buy the ski passes and pay for internet access which we'll do tomorrow morning at 08:30.

Montmartre and Sacre Coeur

I stayed in bed all morning because my better half said that I had to. This was made significantly easier by the fact that I was still having feverish periods so I didn't really want to get up in any case but by lunch time I had had enough and felt well enough to get up. I could feel that I wasn't quite right but well enough to get up and out.

The only thing I still wanted to do, other than go to Versailles, was to go and walk around Montmartre, see Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge which we did manage with everyone in tow.
Montmartre was a very pleasant walk although there were quit a number of people so one had to walk with purpose through the crowds rather than do the polite thing and walk around people. I wasn't sure how much of this Caron would be able to handle but she seems to be getting better at handling these situations. We were accosted by a pesky hawker who, judging from his english, his attitude and height, must be from Nigeria. Just like in Pisa, they just won't leave one alone and, like sage, 'No' gets translated into 'Yes'. Unlike sage, when they stand in your space, it's very annoying.
Quite near the top of Monmartre, we stopped at what is obviously a tourist cafe so I wasn't expecting much in the way of culinary delights. It was a pleasant surprise that the coffee and the nutella crepe were both very good. Carl was very put out that the cafe noir was 2.50 and the cafe au lait was 4.50 which means that it was 2 euro for a dash of lait.
I just had to take of photograph of the moulin rouge, Carl wanted to know if I wanted to go which I politely declined. Not sure the rest of the party would have appreciated the show as much as Carl and I would have!

I could feel that I was starting to fade because I could feel the cold starting to seep through. I wasn't the only one though, Sage was walking with her eyes closed which was very funny at the start of end of steps where her legs did this sort of cycling motion in the air or she lurched off the edge and sort of dangled in the air from Kims arm.

Hennie and Diedre came over and we had a very pleasant evening although I was in trouble from the the women for suggesting that French Designer apparel was the same as Woolies apparel which wasn't really my point but it took a while to clear that up; perhaps I should have elucidated it more clearly but between whisky, wine and being a bit sick, my head was feeling a bit fuzzy. I even told hennie that 7+5 was 13 so I definitely couldn't have been thinking too clearly.

New Years Eve at la Tour Eiffel

We had quite a relaxed morning, I only went out briefly to walk down Boulevard Temple and find a photographic shop to buy a replacement protective case for Caron's camera. While I was there I couldn't resist a lightweight mono-pod which came in very handy later on in the day. Unlike the tripod, it is much easier to transport and I find it easier to use as well.

Kirsten and Carl were off somewhere so we had lunch with just the four of us before we headed out afterwards. Kim, Caron and Sage to go on the big wheel which is at the one end of the Champs Elysee while I went to Musee D'Orsay. When I arrived at the Musee D'Orsay the queue was enormous but I thought I would give it 30 minutes and by the time 30 minutes was up I was already inside. Thoroughly enjoyed the gallery especially the impressionist painters. I was surprised at some of the Degas, Sisley and Manet's which I liked when I wasn't really expecting to. Not as impressed with the Rodin sculptures as I was expecting to be although there were some other outstanding sculptures whose artists I can't remember. There were definitely no photographs allowed in Musee D'Orsay, the gallery guards making frequent use of Frances favourite expressing, 'Non!' and don't miss the gallic '!'. The gallery didn't only contain paintings and sculpture but had exhibitions of furniture which were really beautifully made and highlighted the distinction between France (Developed) and South Africa (Developing) where a table, for instance, would be of purely of utilitarian value in South Africa whereas in France it is of both utilitarian and aesthetic value. The graceful curves of the legs and table tops add nothing to the utility of the piece but everything to the aesthetics.

I met up with Caron, Kim and Sage in the shadow of the Eiffel tower looking forward to the trip to the top. As it turned out, the top was closed due to ice so I still have not made it to the top of the eiffel tower. Although this was quite disappointing the views from the second deck were still quite amazing.

Looking up to the top of the eiffel from the second deck.

And of course we had to have some happy family snaps for posterity.


We had made arrangements to meet Hennie and Dierdre for the evening but Sage was having tantrums and I wasn't feeling that great so we decided to slit from Kirsten and Carl who went on to have what sounds like a great evening while we went home and had pizza and some wine for supper. I really would have liked to have been with Carl and Hennie wandering around the Latin Quarter puffing on cigars and enjoying the ambiance but it was not to be. I spent the evening in a semi delirious state while a fever raged, dropping in and out of consciousness. Not the best manner in which to spend new years evening, particularly given the location and the alternative but I would rather be sick now and well for the skiing, all things be told.

Having taken our leave we walked across the bridge towards the Tracadero metro past stacks of police having their supper inside their vans, I don't quite know what they were there for but there were stacks of them. I shot this from near trocadero looking back towards la tour eiffel and while I was shooting this sage ran off in a huff and sat down about 10m away and before we knew it two policwomen were talking to her and admonishing us for letting her get so far away. 'They take them very quickly here' was what they said so maybe the film 'Taken' is not so far from what actually and currently happens. Pretty scary.

This was taken just before we got off the metro, Sage was trying her very best drop dead look which she is learning quite quickly from her cousin Megan.

Disneyland with Caron and Sage

So while Kim and Roland went gallery and art hunting, Sage and I and the van der Riets ambled out to EuroDisney on the train. Mostly according to plan but the train/entry ticket that we wanted to get was unavailable so we had to buy the entry pass once we got to Disneyland .....The van der Merwe's were to join us at the station but were running a couple of minutes late so......





Once at the Park, we separated - Sage and I off to FantasyLand and the others to higher level stuff .... On the way to FantasyLand, we met up with one of Ratatoiulle's mates -



We then did the Mad Hatters teacups, the Carousel







before spending a large amount of time standing in the queue for Peter Pan's flight which Sage seems to enjoy and wanted to do again but for the queue .... I spent most of that ride holding onto a piece of clothing as Sage was leaning so far out of the car that I was sure that she would either fall out or bang her head on something.

We then went to have lunch in Toad Hall ... very crowded as it was rather cold and nasty breeze blowing. After lunch it was off the Curiosity Labyrinth and into and around and into the castle...





We then wandered around the Sleeping Beauty Castle ... Sage wanted to get to the top of the caste but we couldn't find a way up.



Then we went to to AdventureLand.... pirates etc... We wandered through caves and rocks





and Robinson Crusoe tree house before heading off to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was supposed to scary for the youngsters but not for Sage - she loved it so we did it again. After which I insisted on coffee which was accepted by Sage as long as she could have hot chocolate.. She wanted to carry on but it was getting dark and I wanted to go home ... the queues were still rather long, to say the least, so we started home to be caught up in the Parade ....



then we headed home ... a long day for me but Sage was still going strong. Tomorrow is my day off....