Hiking exploits, experimental cooking, general nerdery, and cat pictures.
Seriously. Do not call me Katy.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Back in the States
Dad has requested that I post something besides the picture of my laundry! And I will admit that I got busy the last week I was in France and didn't update here. Now I am back in the States (and back to my loooong commute) but I will be adding a few more notes and maybe even some pictures. I will most likely post-date though, so scroll back over the past few entries for the new stuff.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Downside
So the bad part about staying in a ski resort for a business trip.... When I go down for breakfast, everyone is dressed in ski clothes and about to hit the slopes, and I'm there in business casual and ready to drive to work. In the snow. Not fair! Of course, it's probably also not fair that work sent me to France to go skiing at all, so I won't complain too much.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Skiing in the French Alps
Today I got to go skiing in the French Alps! Olivier picked me up and we met up with Liliane (another coworker) and her boyfriend and brother, so there was a good group of us. We went to Flaine, which is part of le Grand Massif. We only skied Flaine - it was only one day and a cheaper ticket, but I am going to come back for a week of vacation and ski the whole Grand Massif sometime!
I wound up renting performance skis, Safine Infinitys. I'm not familiar with that brand, and Googling only seems to bring up foreign language websites, so I'm guessing it's a European brand? Anyway, the skis were FAST, much faster than I am used to skiing with, but I was able to control them pretty well. There were times my brain just gave in to going fast, and it was awesome, and other times when I tried to control the speed too much, and I definitely fought with them...which all leads me to think it's time for new skis of my own to practice with! My friend L would get along well with the group I skied with - they are all fast and I was definitely the poorest skier out of the group. The slopes over here are green-blue-red-black. I did not ski any blacks (I don't think....) but the reds are nice and steep - long stretches of steep, not just 50 m. They have "mile markers" at the edges of the slopes so you know how far it is to the bottom!
I wound up renting performance skis, Safine Infinitys. I'm not familiar with that brand, and Googling only seems to bring up foreign language websites, so I'm guessing it's a European brand? Anyway, the skis were FAST, much faster than I am used to skiing with, but I was able to control them pretty well. There were times my brain just gave in to going fast, and it was awesome, and other times when I tried to control the speed too much, and I definitely fought with them...which all leads me to think it's time for new skis of my own to practice with! My friend L would get along well with the group I skied with - they are all fast and I was definitely the poorest skier out of the group. The slopes over here are green-blue-red-black. I did not ski any blacks (I don't think....) but the reds are nice and steep - long stretches of steep, not just 50 m. They have "mile markers" at the edges of the slopes so you know how far it is to the bottom!
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| At the top of Flaine |
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| Looking across the top |
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| Stuck on a chairlift, time to pull out the camera! |
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| Tracks! |
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Photos, Saturday
More pictures!
At the top of Aiguille du Midi, height of 3842m. "Aiguille du Midi" means "needle of midday" because at noon, the sun is directly over the peak of the mountain when viewed from Chamonix. This also explains where there is so much sun glare in all my pictures....
The rounded peak at the very right of the frame is Mont Blanc, height of 4807m and the tallest peak in Western Europe.
Fernanda and Olivier (and a lot of sun glare!) Mont Blanc is the second peak on the left.
Olivier says this is called the "tooth of the mountain."
The very top of Aiguille du Midi, as seen from the observation deck at the top of the cable car. You can take an elevator to the top, but we were cold enough already! Maybe if I am back sometime in summer!
I am not positive, but I think you can see mountains in three countries in this picture: France, Italy, and Switzerland. It's hard to tell though, because despite what I learned from the maps in elementary school, the land does not change colors at the borders of countries!!
Looking from one observation deck to the other. We walked through a tunnel in the mountain to get from one to the other.
Mont Blanc is the rounded peak left of center.
Ready to make our descent from the midstation.
Back on the ground! Chamonix, which is still at 1000m elevation, but seemed so low and warm after being on the top!
At the top of Aiguille du Midi, height of 3842m. "Aiguille du Midi" means "needle of midday" because at noon, the sun is directly over the peak of the mountain when viewed from Chamonix. This also explains where there is so much sun glare in all my pictures....
The rounded peak at the very right of the frame is Mont Blanc, height of 4807m and the tallest peak in Western Europe.
Fernanda and Olivier (and a lot of sun glare!) Mont Blanc is the second peak on the left.
Olivier says this is called the "tooth of the mountain."
The very top of Aiguille du Midi, as seen from the observation deck at the top of the cable car. You can take an elevator to the top, but we were cold enough already! Maybe if I am back sometime in summer!
I am not positive, but I think you can see mountains in three countries in this picture: France, Italy, and Switzerland. It's hard to tell though, because despite what I learned from the maps in elementary school, the land does not change colors at the borders of countries!!
Looking from one observation deck to the other. We walked through a tunnel in the mountain to get from one to the other.
Mont Blanc is the rounded peak left of center.
Ready to make our descent from the midstation.
Back on the ground! Chamonix, which is still at 1000m elevation, but seemed so low and warm after being on the top!
Photos, week 1
A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Here are some from the first hotel. Le Relais du Mont Blanc, a bed-and-breakfast just outside Magland, France.
The inside of the hotel. The lobby and restaurant are decorated with old skis and climbing gear.
The mountain starts pretty much in the hotel's backyard, shear rockface.
Looking west-ish down the valley from the hotel, towards Magland, Cluses, and Thyez (where work is located). It is a 15-20 minute drive from here to work.
Looking east up the valley towards Chamonix - Mont Blanc.
The inside of the hotel. The lobby and restaurant are decorated with old skis and climbing gear.
The mountain starts pretty much in the hotel's backyard, shear rockface.
Looking west-ish down the valley from the hotel, towards Magland, Cluses, and Thyez (where work is located). It is a 15-20 minute drive from here to work.
Looking east up the valley towards Chamonix - Mont Blanc.
Valentine's Day in France
This was by far the best Valentine's Day I've had in a long time! Spent the day in Chamonix with Olivier and his wife Fernanda, who both work at the French office. We arrived around 11 AM and walked around the village a little bit. It is a quaint little alpine town/village, pretty much devoted to tourism, so very attractive and open to visitors. We had a snack at a patisserie; I had a raspberry and chocolate tart (mmmmm, delicious!) and hot tea to warm up. Walked around some more and then took the cable car from Chamonix up to the top of Aiguille du Midi.
The cable car goes up in two stages. Each stage takes about 10 minutes, and the cars hold ~40 people. I didn't have any problems with the height or vertigo, thankfully! The first stage is pretty easy and doesn't seem too steep. The second stage though...as you reach the top the cable car basically climbs up the rock face of the mountain. The face is at probably an 80 degree slope (you can see how steep from some of my pictures, but I think all of those are posted on my Facebook) and if I looked directly at the slope, my brain would start thinking we were going to go right into it. Needless to say, I kept looking down instead! At the top are two observation decks, one overlooking Chamonix and the other closer to Mont Blanc. Though clearly, you can see the mountain from both! There is also a small exhibit of how the Mont Blanc was first ascended, and how the cable car to Midi was built. We did not stay very long at the top because it was freezing! Not sure of the temp, but probably -20 or -30. You can see how bundled up I am, and by the time we left the top my fingers and toes were frozen. I'd love to go back sometime in the summer when it's a little more tolerable! Supposedly in the summer there is a restaurant/cafe at the top!
After we got back down to Chamonix, we had a late lunch at a restaurant that serves a traditional fondue. Apparently this is the region in which fondue originated, and the standard "recipe" is 250 g of cheese per person (1/2 lb) melted together with 1/2 glass of wine per person. We had French bread to dip, plus a patter of cold meats (ham, prosciutto, and a local sausage) and steamed potatoes. As an American, my mental image of fondue is Wonder Bread dipped in melted Velveeta, but this was delicious and incredibly filling. Finished dinner, I bought some souvenirs, and we headed back to drop me in Samöens.
In the evening I ate dinner at the hotel. They had a 5-course meal for Valentine's Day. 1: Squash (or maybe pumpkin?) soup. 2: oysters and crawfish (I ate the oysters, but if I'm going to eat something that LOOKS like a lobster, it's going to actually BE a lobster and have enough meat to be worth it!). 3: filet minion in mushroom sauce with gratinée potatoes and roasted tomatoes. 4: cheese course - they roll a cart up to your table with 8 or so different kinds of cheese and you pick out what you want (I have no idea what any of them were, but the one I had was pretty good!) 5: dessert. They had to make me a special dessert, because the planned one had pistachios in it. So instead I had a mini chocolate lava cake with a tiny little scoop of strawberry ice cream. Delicious!
The cable car goes up in two stages. Each stage takes about 10 minutes, and the cars hold ~40 people. I didn't have any problems with the height or vertigo, thankfully! The first stage is pretty easy and doesn't seem too steep. The second stage though...as you reach the top the cable car basically climbs up the rock face of the mountain. The face is at probably an 80 degree slope (you can see how steep from some of my pictures, but I think all of those are posted on my Facebook) and if I looked directly at the slope, my brain would start thinking we were going to go right into it. Needless to say, I kept looking down instead! At the top are two observation decks, one overlooking Chamonix and the other closer to Mont Blanc. Though clearly, you can see the mountain from both! There is also a small exhibit of how the Mont Blanc was first ascended, and how the cable car to Midi was built. We did not stay very long at the top because it was freezing! Not sure of the temp, but probably -20 or -30. You can see how bundled up I am, and by the time we left the top my fingers and toes were frozen. I'd love to go back sometime in the summer when it's a little more tolerable! Supposedly in the summer there is a restaurant/cafe at the top!
After we got back down to Chamonix, we had a late lunch at a restaurant that serves a traditional fondue. Apparently this is the region in which fondue originated, and the standard "recipe" is 250 g of cheese per person (1/2 lb) melted together with 1/2 glass of wine per person. We had French bread to dip, plus a patter of cold meats (ham, prosciutto, and a local sausage) and steamed potatoes. As an American, my mental image of fondue is Wonder Bread dipped in melted Velveeta, but this was delicious and incredibly filling. Finished dinner, I bought some souvenirs, and we headed back to drop me in Samöens.
In the evening I ate dinner at the hotel. They had a 5-course meal for Valentine's Day. 1: Squash (or maybe pumpkin?) soup. 2: oysters and crawfish (I ate the oysters, but if I'm going to eat something that LOOKS like a lobster, it's going to actually BE a lobster and have enough meat to be worth it!). 3: filet minion in mushroom sauce with gratinée potatoes and roasted tomatoes. 4: cheese course - they roll a cart up to your table with 8 or so different kinds of cheese and you pick out what you want (I have no idea what any of them were, but the one I had was pretty good!) 5: dessert. They had to make me a special dessert, because the planned one had pistachios in it. So instead I had a mini chocolate lava cake with a tiny little scoop of strawberry ice cream. Delicious!
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