Tignes

Fri 4 May
Please note we can't always publish these posts the day they're written due to lack of wi-fi. So I'll put the date at the top of the post so you'll know what day it was intended for!
Today we are on the train from Tignes to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. The trains took a bit of figuring out but that's another story.
Our two days in Tignes were excellent. The snow conditions were far better than we could have imagined. This week is the last week of the season and we were only expecting the glacial ski runs to be open (these runs have snow on them all year and are reopened later for summer skiing). However it's been an amazing end to the season and there was snow all the way down to the village, meaning we could ski in and out of our apartment building. It snowed the first two nights we were there. The second night it was a bit warmer and all the new snow was gone by the morning, but the first morning there was a good two to three inches of snow on exposed surfaces that hadn't already been walked or driven on.

The first day we spent most of the morning getting the rust off our skiing and snowboarding skills on an easy run near by. Before lunch we decided to try another longer run on the opposite side of the valley. It was hard. It was only marked as a blue run but it had some long, bumpy and steep bits that took a lot of work. Steep is OK if it's not too long and there's enough flat at the bottom that you can afford to get some decent speed up (which this one didn't have until the very bottom), and as long as it's not so bumpy that you risk your ski getting stuck in a rut or bump and sending you flying. It was also a cloudy day which really doesn't help with skiing on bumpy runs. Michelle stacked it half way down and twisted her knee, which meant I had thoughts of dislocated knees, medivacs and travel insurance going through my head as I stood there waiting with her to see how her knee was, melting in the sun that showed its face just long enough for the toughest run we did that day. Ugh. And then we had to get the rest of the way down the run, after which it was time to rip off the gloves, unzip the jacket and lie in the snow for fifteen minutes. André says he was awesome and ripped up on his snowboard, but he thought it was hard too.

Lunch was definitely a welcome break then, so Michelle and I had hot dogs (made with baguettes!) and André got a cheese burger and we shared fries.

 After lunch we went back to the easier run we'd done earlier that day till about 3 o'clock, another unexpected perk as we had read that late season skiing generally was only good until lunch time.

The second day was a lot of fun with no injuries, although Michelle's knee was still sore. We found another long blue run to do which was a really fun run to do. The snow was a little icy the second day, but I found I handled my skis better, probably because I am used to Australian snow which is often a bit icy! The run we did had a steep section also, and the ice made it a bit hard going, but it was a sunny day, there were no bumps, and there was a nice flat at the bottom of it to cruise across before the next downhill. The rest of the run was steep enough that we got some nice speed, no long flats to give André problems on his snowboard, and the snow was just soft enough that it made turning nice and easy and we could just swerve our way down the mountain. Probably the best skiing I've ever had.
It was a long run though, so tired us out, so after doing it a few times decided to get morning tea in the form of a banana and chocolate (not nutella!) crepe. After morning tea we decided to head up the glacier. We decided not to take our skis up as there are mainly red and black runs on the glacier and we didn't know how easy or hard the blue run down from it would be. If we weren't so tired we would have tried it anyway, but as I was tired and Michelle's knee was still giving her problems, we decided just to go up as foot passengers for the view.

 And it was a spectacular view. 3400 metres up (the top of the mountain is 3456m) and you're up with the clouds.

We played in the snow, took photos and André got dizzy from the altitude. Afterwards we had lunch (the best cheeseburger I've ever had) and returned to the run we did that morning. However by 3 pm it was slushy and super cut up. It took a lot more work than it had that morning, but we still got some good video of each other coming down the mountain.


So now (missing our bus from Tignes to Bourg St Maurice and having to get a taxi to get to our train on time) we're on our way to Lauterbrunnen via Lyon and Geneva.

These Gauls Are Crazy!

While in France we have noticed the French can do some things pretty weirdly. For instance, our hotel room here in Tignes does not have a toaster and to flush the toilet you don't push the button down, you pull it up. They also like mayonnaise on potato chips (as in fries) but I think I read that came from Belgium.

And the traffic in Paris! It's insane! The road rules are more like guidelines really, that is if they exist. Lanes don't exist on many roads, except to separate oncoming traffic, so you might have a road that is six lanes wide and only has two three-car-wide lanes marked, one going one way and one going the other, and the cars all going in one direction just fit in and push in wherever they can until about the last fifteen metres before an intersection where the individual lanes will be marked. The round-about around the Arc de Triomphe is the worst. Apparently there is a car crash on that round-about every half hour. And they have ketchup and mayonnaise in little single-serve paper packets like you get sugar in cafes in Australia. These gauls are crazy!

Paris Part II

After my last very condensed post about Paris I thought I should write some more about our stay there. The day after our big day out it was drizzly and basically not much good for doing anything except museums. However as the next day was forecast to be rainy too, André and Michelle decided we should save the museum for then. It wasn't too rainy so we headed up to Montmartre to see the Sacre Couer Basilica and Bohemian quarter of Paris.

Because it was rainy the view wasn't as great as it could have been, but we had a look at the inside of the basilica and also inadvertently stumbled across Place du Tertre, or artists' square (which I really wanted to see) where we bought some paintings.
If we had time and it wasn't so cold, I would have thought about getting a portrait done. We saw some being done and they were very good. Instead we went to get lunch in a little local pizzeria, with a live pianist (well, a late lunch, or early dinner, or big afternoon tea - it was about 4:30pm but we had a late start due to our big night the night before!). On our way out of Montmartre we stopped by to see the Moulin Rouge.

After Montmartre, we went to see Notre Dame. We didn't realise there would be a service on at the time, so while we were still allowed in to see the church, we couldn't go up the towers. We also saw some more artists selling their wares at little semi-permanent stalls along the river and bought some more paintings.

While in Paris we bought groceries so we could make our own breakfasts and some of our other meals, as we had a self-contained apartment.
This meant we could take sandwiches and fruit with us for lunch, and we had microwave meals one night, croissants another and toasted sandwiches another. Often we would buy something else at lunch time (as well as our sandwiches), so lunch was our biggest meal. This saved on buying expensive dinners out. We had two grocery stores very close to our place, a Monop' (a mini Monoprix) and a Franprix. Our landlord advised us the Franprix would be cheaper but we found the staff in the Monop' friendlier and they bag the groceries for you- at Franprix you have to do it yourself which can be a pain if you have a lot. The prices weren't much different anyway.
The following day actually turned out to be quite sunny, but I really wanted to see Musee d'Orsay so we went there anyway.

Musee d'Orsay is basically an art gallery which is most well-known for its collection of impressionist paintings, so we saw Monets, Toulouse-Lautrecs, Picassos, van Goughs, and works by many other famous artists. Van Gough's Starry Night is not housed  there, but we did see Monet's Giveny waterlily paintings.
We also tried to head up the Eiffel tower that day, but it was too windy and the top was closed. Instead we went to a nearby cafe where Michelle and André had a banana and nutella crepe (I don't like nutella!) and we shared a plate of macarons. I knew eating near the Eiffel tower would be expensive, but we realised how expensive later when we saw banana and nutella crepes being sold for 3.50 euros when we had paid about 9! Lesson learnt: do not eat near the Eiffel tower! As the wind did not die down, we headed up to Montmartre again as it was so sunny. The view was excellent and there were a few street performers about, and lots of crowds. Food in Montmartre is much cheaper, especially if you buy it from a take away stand/ hole-in-the-wall type outlet rather than a cafe or restaurant. That night for tea André's Salmon crepe was about 4 euros and Michelle's and my chicken baguettes were less than 3 euros each. This was only a street away from Sacre Couer, so if you go further away it probably gets cheaper again.
On our last full day in Paris the weather finally cooperated and we got to go up the Eiffel tower! We took the stairs up to the second level then the elevator to the top, which was cheaper and the line was shorter. We still queued for about an hour though. We also checked out an old castle in eastern Paris called Chateau de Vincennes. You can walk into the complex for free, but certain buildings within the complex charge for entry. We were there so close to closing that didn't bother going in to any of them and just admired them from the outside.
We have now left Paris and took the train this morning to Bourg St Maurice, then a bus up to Tignes where we will spend the next two days skiing and snowboarding! The snow cover is fantastic for the last week of the season (looks like an Australian snowfield in the middle of winter :P) but it has rained a little this afternoon, so hopefully it snows tonight!

Paris

Tonight is our fourth night in Paris - nearly the end if our stay here. It feels like it's gone faster than our time in London. That could be because our first full day in Paris was a very big one. We decided to start the day with a Sandeman's New Tour. Their general tours are free (they also offer specialised tours which they charge for) and the idea is you pay there guide what you think the tour was worth. As a result the guides put a lot of effort in, and the tour was a lot of fun.

 It's a three and a half hour walking tour, and we saw Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the exterior of the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe (from a distance), Place de la Concord (where many people including Marie Antoinette lost their heads), Champs Elysees, (possibly one of the most famous streets in the world), and many other historical bridges, squares, and execution sites. Our guide Jacqueline was a lot of fun, and also Australian.

After the tour she took those of us who wanted to a nearby restaurant to try some traditional French food. I was happy with a hot chocolate, but Michelle and André had frogs legs and snails.

 After most of the tour group broke up and went their separate ways, some of us decided to check out some of the other sights together. So we went to the Eiffel tower to get a close-up view, before checking out the Louvre. Pro tip - they no longer offer discounted entry after 6pm on Friday nights for over 25s. They do, however, still offer free entry for under 26s in that time slot.

We prioritised what we most wanted to see, and after 3 hours we were pretty over walking anyway and had seen what we most wanted to.

 If you were full of energy and had the time you could definitely spend a whole day there. We were not full of energy and didn't have the time. So we found a McDonalds for tea (we had seen McBaguettes advertised that we decided we had to try - they weren't much good) at about 9:30pm. We finished the night watching the light display on the Eiffel Tower and didn't get back to our apartment till after midnight. Like I said, a big day!

We are still recovering, (especially as I got a cold) so I will head off for bed now to cram as much in as possible tomorrow!