Day 1: UK --> Switz
With recent heavy snow in Scotland I was understandably nervous about making it over to Switzerland for Christmas with Mum and Dad. And even though the weather was clear I did have some flight dramas and spent a ‘fun filled’ eight hours at Edinburgh airport. The gist of it was we missed our slot into Geneva because our plane was late and had to re-fuel, then the plane crew ran out of workable hours, so we had to find another crew. We eventually took off around 16:00. It was snowing in Geneva/Lausanne when I arrived, but the plane landed ok. Mum and Dad were at the airport arrival gate, so It was nice to see them when I walked through. Drove back to Lausanne, and I got hit with a barrage of questions. A lot of them were about Kim! Sat down to a light meal and had an early night.
Day 2: Christmas day!
No stockings this year :( I think I might be a bit old for those now. Talked to the family on phone / skype back in NZ and Aus. We normally go to church before we open presents but we didn't this year for some reason. I did quite well with presents this year... From Mum and Dad I got a Cashmere Green jersey / Snowboarding gloves / tripod for camera. Megan - A nice slim brown wallet and Gav - NZ T-shirt. In the afternoon we caught a bus up to the top of Lausanne and went for a walk through a park, we took photos and threw snowballs. Dad and I climbed an amazing 35 metre wooden tower (Sauvabelin) That was based on drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. We walked back down the hill through the main part of town, past the cathedral and home. I was confused by the signs on all the buses because they were all going to Joyeaux Noel! Then I realised, that that was Merry Chistmas in French. Late Christmas day I really started to feel crap "severe man flu", I lost my appetite (only had two mouthfuls of Mum's delightful Christmas dinner) and I went to bed at 19:30 with 5 layers on and I was shivering.
Day 3: Boxing day
Was still feeling hot and cold but we decided there was no point sitting around feeling sorry for myself, so we went for a drive to Gruyere. A place famous for its cheese! It was beautiful clear crisp day (-5°C) and we visited the quaint village and its castle. The place looked amazing with the large snowy peaks in the background.
Next we went to the Cailler chocolate factory, we sat down for 'the best!' hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Magnific! Then we took a walk through / guided tour of the history of Cailler chocolates. There was also a real production process of Cailler chocolates, which I found especially interesting. And at the end was the best part of tour, the taste testing of all the different types chocolate. One interesting fact I learnt about chocolate is that the taste is also influenced by the shape of the chocolate.
Day 4:
Slow start to the day... Had a big sleep in. Originally I was going to head up the mountains today, but decided it would be best if I had another day's recovery. From my severe man flu! ;-). We were going to drive to Geneva and have a look around but the day slipped away so we decided to have a quiet day, playing cards and just chilling out. We did manage to go for a stroll along the Lausanne lake foreshore. By this stage Dad was starting to get sick! Mum believed the best medicine for flu was extended ‘happy hour’ which usually entailed imbibing copious quantities of mulled wine and or Winter Pims. The alcohol went hand in hand with the flu tablets, which probably heightened the effect of the alcohol.
Day 5:
Mountains here we come, we left about 8 a.m. it was snowing again! We went via Annecy and Albertville. Then we started heading up and up and up the Valley to Val Thorens. The trip took around 3 and a bit hours and we arrived just before midday. Met up with my friend Jon, and after a coffee with Mum and Dad said goodbye. I hired a board and boots for 3 days. The guy I hired the gear off thought he was some kind of French comedian! For the first day I just got a half day ski pass for the Val Thorens area. The conditions were pretty poor, with low visibility. It was snowing off and on. Regardless I spent 3 hours on the runs and had a good time. Afterwards I met up with everyone. (Becks / Amy / Dave Sutton / Steve / Mel and co.) Mostly engineers! Such Fun! The chalet accommodated 12 people. It had a large living / dining area as well as 6 rooms plus bathrooms. There was also a swimming pool. I slept on a fold out double couch. For the package which included flights, transfers, accommodation, food and catering and ski passes. They paid 900 pounds for a week. So I rolled up and crashed on the couch for a couple days. I didn't want to out stay my welcome ;) We all played Balderdash on the first night, the game where you make up the definitions of the words, great fun!
Day 6:
It was a picture perfect day and I bought a ski pass for the wider '3 valleys'. Cost about 90 Euros for 2 days. We set out and I immediately lost everyone. It was quite hard, because there were skiers and boarders everywhere. I eventually managed to track them down with the aid of a map and cell phone. The chairlifts and Gondola's were amazing, it sure beats the crappy ones in Scotland. However it was very very busy and there were often queues for the lifts. I had a few near misses with other skiers :-o ! Had lunch up the top of one of the highest peaks, lasagne and a couple of drinks cost me 21 euros! The afternoon was brilliant, super runs and the crowds thinned out!
End of the day we went for a quiet beer at this alpine pub, which played some good music. It was a weird concept getting there by snow board! That night we all went out for dinner at a French restaurant. We had Raclete and hot plate beef. Very French! We were so full of meat and cheese by the end of the night.
Home and bed, I was shattered after a big day.
Day 7:
Another great day weather wise. Last night I organised my bus down the mountain for 3 pm. So I got everyone cracking early and we went 3 valleys over to Corchevel. At midday I had to say goodbye to everyone and try and negotiate a route back to Val Thorens. I had quite a spectacular spill early on this day and I wacked my head (lucky I was wearing my helmet) But my confidence took a bit of a battering, and I boarded like a muppet for the rest of the day. Oh well. So I made it back by 2 pm. Changed. Ate. Dropped my hire gear off and headed to the bus station. The bus was 30 minutes late and I was afraid I wasn't going to make my connecting train at 16:42 at Moutier. I made my train with 4 minutes to spare, phew. The train which was actually a bus took me to Albertville where I met up with M+D and went the rest of the way home with them. Dad got confused with some of the french signs, but we made it home eventually. I then read all of Kim’s’ emails! Over about a gallon of tea!
Day 8: New Years Eve
Now Mum was sick! So we were all coughing and spluttering. Apparently flu season is in full swing in the UK. Maybe I had Swine flu?! New Years Eve was very low key. More Quiddler a bit of travel planning and some movies leading up to the ‘big’ count down. The highlight of the day was definitely the Haggis which Mum and Dad experienced for the first time at dinner. It went down well!
We tried to see the fireworks from the deck but couldn’t spot any. So we had made it to 2011
Day 9: New Years Day!
An early start considering it was about 1 a.m. I went to bed. After a minor mishap of almost forgetting my phone I made it to the train and to the airport on time.
Overall it was a great trip albiet slightly tainted by ‘the sickness’. I got in some good boarding time and it was great catching up with the parentals and seeing a little bit of Switzerland!
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