The Serious Smell of Summer!

1/ A Spring Lunch on the Deck

Ever since we arrived back in Araches, the weather has been sunny and balmy. The long hot summer days don't seem far away as we watch the last snow drifts melt away and the grass literally jump from the ground. Another lazy day today, getting through some of those little jobs we have neglected in the social whirl of the last two months!

We joined Marie, Louie, Diane and her friend Louise for lunch on the deck in the sunshine. Marie's youngest, Cami is here too, but she was visiting with friends today. After lunch, Marie and I settled into the deck chairs and it was extremely difficult to get motivated again as we soaked up the relaxing warmth of the sun.

2/ The "secret french custom" - eating fruit!

Apparantly there has been some misinformation given in my blog. Contrary to my earlier comments, after observing a sample of one - the Teste Family luncheon today, the french do eat fruit and vegetables. But I still stand by my original assertion...it's a private thing. You won't see any flagrant fruit or legume munching at restaurants or cafes.

After lunch, Marie was kind enough to ring UPS for us and check on the price of sending our ski bag to NZ. A positive bargain ...only E1700 Geneva to Queenstown. Marie was laughing after she hung up the phone. "It's a joke!" she said. "It would be cheaper for you to buy a seat on a normal flight for your ski bag!"

So it looks like our skis will be coming with us, after all. Plan B is to mail home all the other stuff we won't need. What a hassle. But on a brighter note, we heard from Drive Away Australia this morning and we don't need to have our car serviced! Thank goodness. Trying to explain in french to our local Peugeot dealer that we want an "unscheduled scheduled service" was too traumatic to contemplate....for everyone involved!

Eventually the sun went behind some clouds and it was time to rouse ourselves from the comfort of the deckchairs. Our welsh friends Gavin & Sue have gone back to Cardiff for a flying visit to their family. But they've left their wee doggy "Winston" with Rick and Liz. Winston is a delightful border collie. He loves a walk and so we thought we'd help R&L and share that responsibility. Winston is still very definitely a "boy" so we were a little shy about letting him off the lead lest he chase the girls or pick fights with other boys. We would hate to have to explain Winston's disappearance or injuries to his parents.

To end the day, we were back at Yoga with Antoinette after a 2 week absence during Dana's visit (we didn't have the energy) and our trip to Livigno last week. It's hard to tell, but we actually think she was pleased to see us. We're not sure why. We are the worst students in the class by far. And we have no idea what happens in the last third of each session which is dedicated to breathing. This evening she gave us a Chakra map...all in French. She handed it over to us very reverently. It's obviously important. Unfortunately, we have no idea what we do with it, but we'll have a go at translating it this week in the hope that we can at least try to make an intelligent comment next week. [That'll be interesting!].

Finally just before we were leaving Antoinette went to her car and asked if we wanted some leafy herb that she had been growing. Thrusting a great big bag of green leaves at us, Antoinette explained that it was a good substitute for garlic and onions. We couldn't catch what she called it, but graciously thanked her for the gift. I guess we'll have to try it in our salads and hope that there's no hallucinogenic reaction.

Aaah there's never a dull moment for the Oxleys in Araches!!

Day 2 with Dana. Knees on Fire!!

1/ Don't be fooled. Dana is not resting!

The cold wind of yesterday disappeared and we were able to show Dana some of the harder runs on our hill as the off piste softened throughout the day. She handled the steep bump runs with ease. Meanwhile, my knees were burning and my thighs screaming!! I'm pretty confidant Graeme was in equal discomfort as he suggested sternly that a coffee stop was mandatory today!

Dana's parents were enthusiastic skiers, and every weekend during the Czech winter she would travel to her Uncle's mountain chalet for skiing. Unfortunately for Dana, her husband, Tibor and their children do not share her passion for the sport. She has to work very hard to get them to go skiing with her. However, I suspect that this time with us will make Dana more determined than ever to do more skiing. If I know Dana, she will find a way to go skiing for at least one week each year. She has already been talking about doing some guiding for the Czech tourist company with whom she travelled here.

2/ Lunch at our favourite picnic spot

3/ Dana skiing gracefully

Again, it was just about last lift for the day when we were finally able to convince Dana to stop. A quick stop with Rick and Liz to introduce Dana, as always turned into a longer session and it was a late dinner by the time we made it back to Le Refuge.

As we observed when we were visiting with Dana in Slovakia, their family tends to eat early around 5 or 6 o'clock at the latest. Sometimes even earlier if they have been doing hard physical exercise. So poor old Dana was practically falling over with hunger by the time we finally had dinner prepared.

We talked about this different eating pattern and we agreed that the Kiwi way of eating is not really that good for you. By delaying dinner, you not only tend to snack on unhealthy nibbles like chips and nuts, but your body has no real time to properly digest the food before you go to bed. Dana is very health conscious and has a great figure to show for her strict adherence to diet and exercise. She is also diligent about stretching and showed me a few new stretches and exercises before dinner. She's quite an inspiration actually!!

Outside the weather is changing and it looks like we are going to get another dose of winter with heavy snow predicted for the next couple of days! Secretly I am praying for a rainy horrible day so that I can have a day off from skiing. How sad is that?

4/ Dana showing me some snew stretching exercises!

Les Contamines & the Yoga Continues...

"Look at that!!" But wait...there's more! A photo of Graeme pointing to a tenth of the total Les Contamines ski area.

Yum, Yum....Les Contamines. What a deliciously divine ski area! And we didn't even experience her in the best conditions. A windy and cloudy afternoon, followed a warm and sunny morning. As we mentioned yesterday, the weather is finally starting to change and while the Meteo is predicting snow, the temperatures have been increasing steadily every day. Fingers crossed, we'll get some of the snow that is currently crippling Britain.

Situated at the end of a valley running alongside the western flank of Mont Blanc, Les Contamines has amazing fall line, huge areas of ungroomed and, what looks like, endless touring!! Hmmm...our kinda hill! Definitely a place that we'll be coming back to!

2/A few Racer Kids too! This is an 8 year old doing 80kmph!!

3/ A view of the village from the access gondola

Les Contamines ("LC") also wins the award for the weirdest gondolas we've struck so far in Europe. They must have got their lift system from the Poma sale catalogue, either that, or LC was an experimental installation by Poma. Their gondola's are double sided and designed to take 6 midgets or 4 normal sized humans, or 2 rugby players. (Actually, strike that. The entrances are too narrow for a front row'er even if they squeezed in sideways!!). The shell is made of fibreglass and both the rear and front doors open & close on their own random timetable. An adventure in themselves, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to use these gondolas in a busy period when everyone is pushing and shoving. Maybe that's why they don't fit rugby players?

4/ "The experimental Gondolas at LC!!"

And finally our day ended with a chance meeting with a lovely frenchman, Daniel, who was trying to learn to telemark. As the clouds were rolling in and the visibility drove us further down the mountain, Daniel came over to say hello to us when we stopped half way down the run. It was day 2 on telemarks for Daniel and he was obviously looking for some pointers. "Voulez -vous venir avec nous?", I asked. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I hoped he understood that I meant we'd be happy to help him, rather than any other scary interpretation!

What ensued was an hilarious telemark lesson conducted in "franglish" as Daniel spoke no English and we no French. But somehow he got the drift and he followed Graeme down the slope 3 or 4 times. At least by the end of the afternoon, he had the downhill ski forward and his turns were looking less alpine and more "telemarky".

Daniel shouted us to a coffee afterwards and we learned that he was 55 and a strong alpine skier. He had spent all his life in the mountains, skiing and climbing and he now works as a Lift Engineer at a ski resort near Annecy. Didn't quite catch on where it was exactly. But we did get that he was separated from his wife, with 3 sons (30, 26 & 22). He skis all the year on the high glaciers at Tignes & Val d'Isere. He wanted to learn to telemark to keep his interest in skiing alive. (Some may think that telemarking has just the opposite affect! They are not called "Misery Sticks" for nothing!!).

A delightful man, we hope that we'll catch up with Daniel again when we return to the little gem that is Les Contamines!!

A Sensational Ski Tour #1

"So who's a happy girl then??"

Well, we have finally ventured seriously off-off piste today. Our first ski tour. C'est magnifique!Hopefully the first of many. We had spent 2 days investigating our proposed route off the north face of Flaine down into a gorgeous hanging valley to a charming Chalet / Gite situated on the frozen Lac Gers.

Two days earlier we had spied what we thought was a safe, low angle route down into the valley. Since this area also has no "rock crevasses" and after some further investigation of the weather & avalanche forecast we thought it would be a good tour to start with. Graeme had also dug a snow pit in the area on Monday and we ("actually I") checked the snow profile and our proposed route with the Flaine ski patrol before we started off. To complete the "safety-nerd" routine we let Liz know exactly where we were going so she could organise a search for the bodies if we were not back on time!! [Just kidding, Mum!].

"Nice!!"

What is it with blokes and asking for "information or directions"? Graeme was dead against me going to talk with the ski patrol at Flaine before we set off. My argument is the more information the better. I mean to say, it would be pretty incovenient if the Patrol were doing some avalanche control work in the area (ie., bombing) and we just wandered aimlessly into their path.

He kept predicting dire consequences - "they won't speak English, you won't understand what they are saying, they will tell us not to go, they'll just ignore you!!" "So?" was my reply. "Then we won't know any more than we do now." If the only risk is that they think I'm an idiot or they're rude to me, then that's their problem. I'd rather take the chance that they will provide us with some useful information. And so....it came to pass... that I had a lovely chat with a very cute French patroller who answered all my questions, reassured me that the snowpack was pretty stable especially on the low angle route we were proposing. And being typically French added "C'est tres important! Nous ne avons jamais cette conversation!!"

The Flaine backcountry is like TC touring. There were plenty of tracks down some seriously dodgy lines. While it is sometimes reassuring to see that people have been there before you, Graeme and I are not keen just to follow tracks blindly. I call it the "dumb and dumber" approach. Ie., a dumb person got away with it the first time and the dumber person follows them to their peril!!

Despite our conservative line, we still got some fresh tracks and the skiing was excellent. There was a rain crust at the lower altitudes but the snow was frost dried and light. Here's the film footage from today.

"Inside Chalet du Lac Gers"

But you just have to love ski touring in this country! At the end of our ski, we arrived at the most delightful chalet/gite you could imagine. Chalet du Lac Gers is something out of a fairytale. A converted old cow barn, it is filled with historical photos and memorabilia. It is set in a magical location that can be accessed by ordinary skiers from a long ski run called the Cascade. If you want to visit the Chalet, you make a call on a telephone from the track and the owners will arrive on a ski-do with tow ropes to take you back for lunch. We had seen this on a previous trip on the Cascade with the Teste Family.

Since we had arrived from the uphill side, we didn't need a tow. We were the earliest arrivals at the Chalet and ordered a coffee and hot chocolate. Sitting out on the sun-drenched deck we sipped our hot drinks while watching two Chamois cavort on the mountains above us. Idyllic!!We were secretly wishing that we could just settle in for a delicious lunch. But alas, we had a 3 - 4 hour skin back up the hill ahead of us and I had already packed our sandwiches. But next time.....

"The easy way to Chalet du Lac Gers"

We made excellent time back up the hill and arrived back in Flaine to call home to "Mother" aka Liz to say that she didn't have to start a search for us!

Then back to Le Refuge, a shower, change and quick bite to eat and then off to Cours de la Yoga. Yoga is proving to be quite random. Our instructress, Antoinette is having trouble finding a permanent location to hold her classes. This week, the day changed from Monday to Thursday and we had to drive 8km to a school in neighbouring village to attend our class. Next week the day and venue has changed again. But this time it's on Wednesday in our village, Araches, and we will be able to walk. All good. No new track suit pants for Graeme, though. I will just have to survive the lustful intentions of my fellow female classmates and remember that Graeme might actually benefit from the special attention he gets!! He is a long way from putting that left leg over the right shoulder. This is an important skill to learn, we have a long economy class flight home!!

More Rain!! But French & Yoga save the Day!!

1/ "Muesli" Liz's cute french kitten.

Much hand-wringing and moping from one Mr Graeme Oxley today. The rain has continued unabated today. "Aaah...there's not going to be any snow left!", he says. "Look Andy!" as he stands by the window (for the 12th time this morning). "It's washing down the road!". Hmmmmm ...thank goodness for the Ipod!!

Lots of french homework completed today. A good thing too, as Liz is back from her visit to the UK and we have our 2 hour lesson this afternoon.

Liz is a fantastic teacher. She prepares really well for every lesson and makes it fun. The time just flies by. As from today however, she no longer speaks to us in English (or at least 95% in French). However, when she is confronted with two completely cretinous blank faces, she has to relent and explain at least partly in English.

I am certainly getting better at blurting out a "semi" understandable sentence. My theory is ( much to Liz's horror!), don't worry about all those pesky, a's, aux's, la's, du's and les's etc, but just get those verbs, nouns and adjectives going. And if you don't know the french word just use the English one...but keep blundering on. They usually get the drift! More often than not, the person I am speaking to will concede and usually reply in english (really well, darn it!!). But my biggest problem is understanding the language when I receive a reply in French. Fortunately Graeme is much better at understanding the spoken language, but he is less confidant about speaking. As his mother describes the Oxley trait, "He's just like his father..afraid of his own voice!" I had hoped that watching copious quantities of French TV while we were sick might have helped me. Alas no!! (For the record, Graeme watched way more TV than me!!) Alors, Liz's new rules might help!

2/ Our lovely Liz with Muesli checking her work!!

The only other highlight today, was our first yoga lesson! Yes, you heard correctly! And moreover, it was Graeme's idea! Yes, I was surprised too. We are booked in for classes every Monday night, from 7 - 8pm. I had advised Antoinette our teacher - "Desole, mai mon mari et moi sommes debutantes. " I hoped she understood?

After french lessons, we "frocked up in our yoga garb", grabbed our yoga mats (aka known as foam sleeping mats that we picked up for E$4 each at Carrefours) and headed up the hill to gym. Quite a tricky exercise given the icy state of our driveway and the roads in general. Fortunately, Pepi Peugeot is unstoppable when we slip some chains on her!

Given the constraints of our severely limited wardrobe, and to give a very clear mental picture of what I mean by "yoga garb", let me explain further. Graeme chose to bring a Treble Cone branded windscreen ice-scraper and his ski waxing gear rather than a tracksuit. Consequently, the only pair of pants that's flexible enough for yoga was his long underwear! Now I'm not saying that he didn't look very striking in his form hugging stripey polyprop numbers... a bit like Rudolf Nureyev I thought! But unfortunately, Graeme was the only bloke in our yoga class and I couldn't help but notice that he was attracting quite a deal of extra attention from our lovely instructress Antoinette. She was very keen to help him get the stretch exactly right. All the other ladies also seemed very keen to help Graeme !

We will be buying Graeme tracksuit pants before next Monday night's lesson!!

And so ends a wet and soggy day in the French Alps. Please Lord, turn the temperature dial down, so all this grim rain turns to lovely snow!!