Our favourite Bar for Grand Marnier hot chocolate after skiing
Just after leaving Val d' Isere
Snowing in Val d' Isere.
Larissa and I after she had given me the lesson.
Val d' Isere
Larissa and I after she had given me the lesson.
Val d' Isere
Ready for action.
Nursary Slope
Check out the snow on the car!
The infamous chains.
Josh waiting to go on the nursary slope for a practice run.
My first day skiing.
Breakfast in the hotel.
Check out the snow! This was at the snow show.
Nursary Slope
Check out the snow on the car!
The infamous chains.
Josh waiting to go on the nursary slope for a practice run.
My first day skiing.
Breakfast in the hotel.
Check out the snow! This was at the snow show.
The holiday did not start well – it took us 8 hours to drive from Turin, Italy to Val d’Isere! We started out great – had purchased a Tom Tom that included Europe and it told us 2.5hrs – no problems! After 1.5 hours we realized that the little Fiat Punto was struggle on the treacherous icy roads – eventually we arrived at a snow blocked road – no way around it so we searched on Tom Tom for another route – we drove back the way we had come for an hour then drove all the way around! Lets not forget the amount of toll roads – first one 1.20 the second 3.6 and the third 41.2 euros! On the ascent up to the resort the police where pulling cars over to put chains on – us included – lets just note we have never done this before, no one was there to help – so 40 min later in the hail Josh had them on – who knows if they where correct so we continued up the hill at a crawl. When we finally arrived – it was now dark and we circled the buildings 5 times (for an hour) before we where able to find the hotel! This was a result of a diversion and contradictory directions from 4 different police officers and the hotel! The hotel was nice and we checked in and went out for a meal After walking for about an hour (because everywhere was booked out) we found a lovely place and had beef fondue so much fun – hot oil to cook your beef in and lovely sauces and salad. We collapsed into bed finally! The following day we hired skis and I had my first ski lesson on day two! Josh practiced with the snowboard. We had another great meal with a group of friends (Steve, Larissa, Tim, Simon) for New Years, at a very French restaurant where you cooked your beef on a mini coal BBQ on your table. We welcomed in the New Year at the restaurant before heading to a pub for a few hours of live music and dancing. Skiing continued the next day, Josh up on the mountain and me practicing with Larissa. In the evening we saw a freestyle ski show and the ski instructors skied down the Olympic slope with fire lanterns (over 100 of them) it looked amazing – it was also snowing the pictures don’t do the beauty justice. Despite the effort to get here the place is beautiful and it’s full of French culture which is so very interesting (although a significant amount language difficulty for us has been experienced)! Also on the plus side is how mostly it’s only been – 5C so it feels so much warmer than Lapland! I had my second official ski lesson on the second – it was excellent, I went down my first Piste with the instructor! Josh was up on the mountain boarding – I went up for my first Piste and it was freezing with a wind chill of -27C – the instructor had to stop and get me to rub my nose as it had gone all white and started to freeze! We left at 11am on the 3rd and had a quick and easy trip back which meant we spent a lovely few hours looking around Turin before heading back to the UK! What an amazing break!
