Journal

Tibet (Day 9) – Lhasa to Drikung 29 June 2009

We left Lhasa around 11 am in a 9-seater van (with Lester and I in the back, and we learned the shocks are completely shot!).

One thing I have not yet mentioned is that the boom town of Lhasa has a very strange and mysterious traffic flow system. Many busy 4-way intersections have great lights, but one of the MAIN 3-way intersections at the heart of the city has NO streetlight, and it is LITERALLY every vehicle AND pedestrian or bicyclist for itself, going in every direction imaginable. In addition, there are almost no horns heard, and it is as if drivers have a sixth sense for other vehicles or pedestrians. It is quite amazing how people drive – not just here, but everywhere in China we have been. On a two-lane road, everyone drives in the *center* in order to leave room for pilgrims, bicyclists, and motorcycle carts on both sides, and weaves continually around slow and between oncoming traffic. On a four-lane road, usually the outside lanes are blocked by parked traffic, and it is quite common to for vehicles to move all the way over to a far, oncoming lane!! We see vehicles coming straight at us all the time – I am astonished that we have yet to witness an accident, and wonder what the vehicular death rates are. (more…)

Lhasa (Day 8) – the Jokhang, Barkhor, and a birthday picnic! 28 June 2009

jokhang Today’s wanderings took us to the nearby Jokhang temple, the most sacred site for Tibetans…we passed by here Friday night after dinner at Dorje’s, and were fascinated by the pilgrims performing ‘kora’ – pilgrimage circuits around the temple. They come from all walks of life, though most are in traditional Tibetan dress, and of all ages, many, many of them carrying and twirling beautiful, ancient hand-held prayer wheels. Some may come here on pilgrimage from hundreds of miles, prostrating every step of the way. Walking slowly through the temple, it is clearly still quite ‘alive’, and even more beautiful than the Potala, with literally hundreds of exquisite icons. (more…)

Lhasa (Day 7) – Potala Palace & Sera Monastery 27 June 2009

potalaToday we toured the Potala Palace – the seat of Tibet’s government and home of the Dalai Lama from its construction in the 17th century until 1959. What an incredible structure. It literally dominates the city, built on a hill in the center of the valley, and rises from the valley floor with imposing but graceful white- and red-washed walls. It is massive, quite beautiful, and very exotic. We climbed the hundreds of stairs on the front outside, and were allowed to take pictures anywhere outside. Once we entered the palace, no more photographs were allowed. Every surface, from floor to ceiling, is incredibly intricate, with finely filigreed molding and trim and brocades that are almost hard to believe, and the colors are vibrant and primary. Red does dominate, but the ceiling is yellow with bright blue beams, and green and gold are everywhere. The number of Buddha and bodhisattva and lama icons is mind-boggling. (more…)

Hello from Lhasa! (elev. 12,000′ / 3650m) 26 June 2009

(Did I mention that we are now grandparents?! -grins- )

tour group with buddhaI CAN’T BELIEVE that I forgot to ask for a south-side window seat on the airplane, with an Everest-view possibility, but it didn’t matter anyway, because it was socked in with clouds. Can you imagine?…it would have been nearly at window level! We did see several impressive peaks (> 7000m/23,000′) that were marked on the China Air map, and the Tibetan terrain is incredibly rugged – FAR more so than I had imagined. I think of a ‘plateau’ as flat – so wrong. (more…)

Chengdu: Pandas, pandas everywhere…and the Leshan Buddha 25 June 2009

bicyclesWe took it easy on Wednesday (103 degrees in Beijing), enjoying the idea of being grandparents and checking my iPhone frequently, hoping for more photos and stories! After meeting a business acquaintance in the morning, we packed and headed for the airport for our flight to Chengdu, in Sichuan province, an industrial city of over 10 million in the center of the agricultural belt of China. We were met by our tour guide for the next day, Andy, and one of our Tibet Tour group, Frank. (more…)

WE ARE GRANDPARENTS!!! 23 June 2009

Welcome to the world, Talia!!!!! Congratulations, Aren and Steph!!

Beijing’s Summer Palace, Forbidden City & Temple of Heaven – in 95 degrees! 23 June 2009

A whirlwind day, all while grinning and wondering if we would become grandparents, and checking my text messages about once an hour in anticipation… LOL!
long corridor
Liu picked us up at 8:30 am, and after a 30″ unscheduled stop at Olympic Village to see the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, we spent about 4 hours wandering around the beautiful grounds of the Summer Palace, then stopped for tea in a traditional tea house, and noodles for lunch in a noodle house. Then still terribly hot, we just drove around Tian’anmen Square, but did spend several hours walking through most of the Forbidden City, finishing up with the Temple of Heaven.

WHEW – tons of walking, brain and eyeball beauty overload – what a day! To the left is ONE of the 200+ photos I took today…of the Summer Palace’s Long Corridor built for the Dowager Empress Cixi so she would not be exposed to sun getting from the dock to the palace. It is 728 meters long, winds around the lake, and has over 8,000 paintings of scenes from Chinese folklore!

Beijing: “Let me take your temperature!” 22 June 2009

Yep – we are here, in Beijing, CHINA!

But not without humorous hiccups already… After flying for 13 hours, straight over the North Pole, Russia and Ulan Bataar, we landed and were relegated to a remote corner of the huge international airport, and not exactly close any terminal. Just before landing, as the crew handed out a second health card form everyone had to complete, we were given some hint (I don’t recall what exactly) that we may not be able to get off the plane immediately, and we were thinking about the planeload of students recently held in a hotel for a week… (We had even commented on the fair number of folks wearing surgical masks, including the three American college-age girls behind us.)

Sure enough, as soon as we landed we were told, graciously, “Please stay in your seats everyone – a team of white-suited people will be boarding to take everyone’s temperature. They will put a gun to your forehead (at THIS point everyone on board laughed nervously!), and shoot an infrared beam aimed at your forehead.” And on they came – young, slender, efficient technicians, about 20 of them dressed literally head to toe in white, complete with hoods, booties, gloves, and full face masks, carrying a bag and ‘guns’ – it felt like being inside the movie ET! (more…)

We have a new son! 15 November 2008

A&GTo our great delight, Andrea and Greg got married on November 8th. The bride was beautiful of course, as was the entire event, and most of our extended family came from far and wide… from Boise, Seattle, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Lander (WY), Rochester, Melbourne (FL), Belgrade, Jubilee Pocket (Queensland, Australia), and London – we missed L&Ldancingonly a precious few of our favorite ladies and one son-in-law. Lisa did an *amazing* job taking charge of ALL the flower arrangements (under Andrea’s artistic guidance :)). The ceremony and music, all selected by Andrea and sung by Carmina (she is a member), was exquisite. And at the reception, we made good on our dance lessons to the live tunes of Andrea and Greg’s favorite – the Tom Cunningham [swing dance] Orchestra… here is Lester’s proof! –> Lester’s photos are here in my album, but the best photos can be found at their own website here.

Bali — an exotic study in contrasts 20 September 2008

bungalowsOn our arrival in Indonesia (nearly 4 weeks ago!), we had 2 nights and one whole day in Bali, then we had 4 more days at the end of our dive trip. Our delightful lodging for both stays, Puri Saraswati Bungalows (found by Mel), is in the town of Ubud in the low volcanic foothills about 1.5 hours from Denpasar where the airport is located. Right in the center of Ubud, a town that is the traditional art center of the island, this place with its ornate carved and marble rooms used to be guest bungalows for the royal family, built in the 70s. Part of the compound includes a royal family temple and lotus pond, which is now also the exquisite view from the Lotus Café next door – all in all a really lovely, lush area. Here is a link to Map of Bali (more…)

More Diving in Paradise…Wakatobi Dive Resort 12 September 2008

When we arrived at the resort from the Pelagian for the next 10 days of our trip, Lyn and I kept saying to each other “this place is a paradise!” The sea and sky are SO blue, the sand SO soft and white, and the palm trees of all types were gently swaying in the constant breeze. resort from jetty bar with MelThe charming bungalows and buildings are all grass-roofed, and the main “Longhouse” is very open to the air, with rolling bamboo shutters that can be lowered for shade or rain protection. The temperature was a pretty constant 82-85F, with low humidity, so it was quite delightful all the time. The resort is located on a corner of the island of Tomia (wa-ka-TO-bi), so it feels at several points like the sea is on 3 sides of you. The “House Reef”, protected from all fishing for about 10 years now, is right off the front step of the resort beyond the delicate seagrass, and is now famous to divers around the world for its beauty, diversity, and sheer abundance of sea life. The owner and founder, Swiss Lorenz Mader, has been working alongside the government, local people and villages on the nearby islands to stop all destructive fishing, and the resort has been voted #1 in several eco-categories by numerous organizations. (more…)

Pelagian Live-Aboard: Wakatobi, Indonesia 6 September 2008

Getting There

We are actually on land now, at the resort – it is hard to believe we have been diving now for 16 days, non-stop. Deni on Waka III(Actually, I stopped yesterday – took the ENTIRE day off to give my sore ear, and overloaded eyes and brain, a break – and to get this posted!) And these are LONG dives – 70 minutes or more, all of them. The Pelagian never actually docks AT the Wakatobi Resort – it is too shallow, so it docks about 2-3 miles away around the corner. When we returned to the resort from our 11 days on board, a water taxi picked up Deni (right), our dive guide from the Pelagian, who returned on this resort dive boat to collect us. On this kind of boat is where we are now spending lots of our time!

But to back up just a bit… (more…)

Shrouded Mt Rainier with Patricia & Bobby 8 August 2008

Mt RainierThe day after Katie & Scott’s wedding, Pat and Bob and I drove the 50 or so miles to Mt. Rainier and camped at White River Campground. We got there around 3:30pm, after getting side-tracked at the ‘mother ship’ REI store!! Wow…what a place, complete with a climbing rock and mountain bike testing trail landscaped with hills, a creek and waterfall, and completely tree-hidden. Bob got his first rain shell, and Pat and I got some cool Mt. Rainier maps. Driving down, we got a few peeks of the mountain through the clouds, which I had not seen since I arrived. (more…)

Katie & Scott…married at last! 8 August 2008

happy coupleIt was a simply lovely wedding – only 2 blocks from their house in Seattle, in beautiful Ravenna Park. Such a perfect setting for these two – it couldn’t have been more appropriate. The ceremony started with Katie’s walk across the meadow, then words from each parent. We then walked down a path to where vows were exchanged on a huge meditation rock deep in the forest (to which Scott built stairs for Katie!). The reception was in the lush green picnic area surrounded by tall trees; so elegant with linens, huge vases of flowers, and a cupcake wedding cake! (Helen and Bobby got lost in the woods coming back from the rock, and it took them about 30 minutes to find their way back!) Katie was radiant all day and evening, and what a delight it was to finally meet Scott! After the reception, many retired to their house for the after-party with beer and left-overs and dancing – some until the wee hours of the morning :). Enjoy these photos!…I wish I had taken some of the preparations yesterday…like Kate with her cell phone to her ear in one hand, carrying a folding table with Sarah (her matron of honor) in the other hand, and her bump sticking out. CONGRATULATIONS to you both!!!

Regatta! 13 July 2008

Our girls have both joined the DCSRC rowing club, Carynand their first [sprint] regatta was on Sunday! That was a blast…except that Andrea was unable to row, having found her back in bad pain just a few days before. But their coach was able to find a replacement, and the Women’s Novice 4 won!! I didn’t get that movie clip, but here are a few more fun ones (COMING HERE REAL SOON!). Caryn also rowed in the Mixed 8, and they lost…oh well!

Tales from a new diver…21 dives later (Part 1) 30 June 2008

new diverI miss the Beautiful Bonaire reefs already. I guess you can tell, since I did TWENTY-ONE DIVES on my very first six-day trip, I like scuba!

Background: As some of you may know, I dived in 2000 in Hawaii with Lester, and while he had found *his* sport, it spooked me. And while he has since become Master-Diver certified and finished over 350 dives, I kept saying “not yet, not yet…I’ll go up in the mountains and you can go down in the ocean.” But an amazing invitation came along last year, to go diving for a month in Indonesia this August with two other couples, and he asked me if I would consider trying it again. Taking a deep breath, I said yes! (more…)

Hilma Hooker…DEEP! (Part 2) 29 June 2008

So! Wednesday morning – I have now done 10 dives, the deepest to 50 feet; while I am ‘certified’ to go to 130 feet, I am only ‘trained’ to go to 60 feet so far – a distinction PADI encourages. Lester and I were having breakfast with Andrea and Caryn and Mel (Ellie’s husband and their instructor). The girls were working toward Advanced Open Water certification, which involves 5 dives. Mel was going over the “Knowledge Review” for their next dive, a deep dive to the wreck of Hilma Hooker – a 235-foot long steel-hulled freighter sunk in 1984. (Here is the very interesting history of this boat.) HHThe Hooker sits on its side in about 100 of water at the bow and 90 feet at the stern. Lester and I had developed a plan for us to dive to 60 feet – where the upper edge of the deck rests, and he shared that plan with Mel just before breakfast. (more…)

Underwater Nav – neither squid nor screwups nor photographers will get in my way! (Part 3) 28 June 2008

This was my 3rd Advanced Open Water dive (yes, they gently urged me to move right along), and was hilarious. As some of you know, I fancy myself a very good map and road navigator, though I have never worked with a compass. On this dive, Ellie briefed me ahead of time, I would do three things:
• measure my ‘kick-cycle’ (KC) distance – how far I travel with two fin-kicks by counting my KCs while swimming over a fixed 100-foot line,
• navigate a straight course out and back, once using the compass and once using ‘natural nav’ (the surroundings), and
• navigate a 100-foot square using the compass.

buddy dock Lester volunteered to be my dive buddy, so Ellie “didn’t have to do all the swimming with me”. We did this dive just off the Buddy Dock at the edge of Buddy Reef, mostly over sandy bottom in about 10-12 feet of water. ———>

Exercise One – kick-cycle distance: So, into the water we go, and Ellie fixes the line and heads off unreeling it, having asked me to 1) wait until she gets out a ways, and also 2) not to ‘start’ right at the end of the line, but to ‘move back and get up to speed’ and start counting as I swim over the start of the line. So, I did that, and off I went, dutifully counting, and sort of peripherally noticing that Lester seemed to be a ways back, following slowly. When I got back, Ellie asked how many KCs I counted, and then wrote on her slate “not a race!”

Exercise Two – navigate a straight line out and back: So now Ellie wrote on her sketch board (which is very grainy), ‘100 KC, 150 degrees.’ Then she signaled to wait, erased it, and wrote what I thought was ‘150 KCs’. I thought to myself – wow, that is about 400 feet! She is testing me…but okay, no problem – piece of cake! (On the dock, she had reminded me to “ become one with my compass” (hold it firmly directly in front of me keeping the lubber line in line with my body using both hands), and also to look around occasionally while I was doing this, so I could swim it again using ‘natural nav’ – just landmarks, no compass.) So I set my compass, and started off…

After about 10 KCs, I realized this was *not* such a piece of cake. As I was careful to be ‘one with my compass’ and keep the needle squarely pointed North (this is harder than you might think underwater), count my kick-cycles, and look around, I also found myself scraping the sandy bottom. So then I was trying to also reach my inflator button on the left even though it is best to hold the compass with BOTH hands…I found it very tricky and rather incongruous, and started laughing into my regulator. You know…like patting your head while rubbing your stomach – underwater while kicking, counting, watching, etc, etc! (Note to non-divers: at shallow depths, scorpion fishit’s a little difficult to maintain a constant depth, especially if you are new at this, plus when we first descended, I had forgotten to firmly establish my neutral buoyancy by adjusting the air in my vest.) It was tiring, but I got to 150 KCs, and stopped to turn around, and I saw Lester coming slowly after me. Then I happened to look down, and right beneath me not 2 feet away in the sand were two scorpion fish about 7 inches long (left), moving slightly so we could see their colorful side feet-fins.

I also goofed up using the compass on my return, but found Ellie anyway, waving to Caryn snorkeling on the surface on my way back. When I got back, Ellie wrote on her slate “I lost you at about 65 feet! 50 KC?” So I signaled to her ‘oh, well – got my workout!’ (patting my lungs) The natural nav portion was no problem.

Exercise Three – navigate a square: Ellie had told me I would do right turns, and would find myself heading out over the reef into deep water, so to now also watch my depth (now we are into serious multi-tasking), and we had also worked out my headings. So I took off, swam my 100 feet (38 KCs), and then adjusted my bezel to the new heading. However, I forgot to re-orient the needle, and instead just swam along the lubber line. I [sort of] realized I hadn’t made a 90-degree turn, but kept going and did my 100 feet. I turned the bezel to the next new heading…and did the same thing! This time I really noticed that I wasn’t out over deep blue water as expected, but sort of over the edge of the reef, and realized that I had really messed it up, so I just ‘felt’ my way back to Ellie. I approached her from her back left, as she was just hanging nonchalantly in about 8 feet of water, holding her knees and sitting on nothing, waiting for me to come toward her out of the ‘blue’. She didn’t see me, so I tapped her on the arm and shook my head slowly; she shook hers slowly in return! Then she wrote “try again”.

This time I nailed it, BUT, I was so determined, and so ‘one with my compass’ that when I literally bumped into a photographer who was **in MY line of direction**, I just pushed him out of the way!! (Then I gave a sheepish ‘ok’ sign.) Terribly rude, but funny too – Lester saw me do it. When we got out of the water, he tattled on my pushing the poor photographer, so Ellie asked me “what would you do if it was a coral head in the way?!”

Then Caryn and Jeremy came over and said “did you see the squid?” When I said no, they laughed and said “wow – you were going so fast you blew right through a pod of squid, and they didn’t even move – they must have known you weren’t interested in them!” And then Lester said, “Ellie, I’m not racing HER in the water!” So Jim, I guess my cycling legs were just pumping away, ticking that fast cadence!

As I was saying earlier, my hands were sore, and my whole left arm, actually, from becoming one with (gripping) my compass!

A Few Odds and Ends Diving Tidbits (Part 4) 27 June 2008

squidMonday evening (Day 3), Lester and I and his frequent dive buddy Jack went diving off Buddy Dock and swam about 200 feet down the shoreline over the sand to just hang in about 10’ of water watching a beautiful pod of 30+ squid! They are so cool – they just gently motor forward and reverse, waving their lovely gossamer skirts. I didn’t see them change color, but felt like maybe they were checking me out in my bright-colored top, to see if I might be food.

Tuesday afternoon I finally noticed these tiny fascinating creatures called ‘sand blennies’ (related to Ellie’s favorites, the yellow-headed jawfish) in the shallows darting around just above the sand…what I suddenly realized is that when you get too close, they just disappear…into the sand!

I think my favorite fish is the trunkfish (photo up there in Part 1) – a cute, small boxy creature white with black spots, a long snout, and whirring side rudder fins. They do a ‘reverse hoovering’ maneuver, blowing sand to look for food. Later in the week I finally saw a juvenile trunkfish – it was a black ball about ¼ inch in diameter, with yellow spots. So tiny and so cute!

Here is a link to download Lester’s really cool video of a leatherback turtle that played with our group for about 20 minutes on the surface at the end of a dive. turtleIt was so curious that Ellie was convinced he has been fed by people – it is common for boat divers to throw finished-snack watermelon rinds into the water between dives; the fish love them. Ellie and I were first to the surface at the end of the dive, and the turtle played with the two of us for at least 10 minutes even before Lester started filming (see it here between us?). After the turtle swam away and then came back up to me 3 times, Danielo, the captain, finally said “Linda, I think you’d better get out – I am afraid he is going to try to bite your arm!” (thinking I was watermelon in my bright diveskin…) So Ellie and I are not in this video, but Greg is the first person you see gently reaching to touch his shell!

Diving at the Salt Pier was one of my three top favorites – swimming around and between the tall, angled pylons (most about 2 feet in diameter) that were covered with coral and swarming with fish (below). salt pier More even than most sites, it feels like an other-worldly environment.

Ellie and I also did a night dive as part of my Advanced Open Water series – it was weird! Unnerving, because you can’t see as easily where you are in the water, but when you shine your [required] light on the coral, it is beautiful, and so many different things are out at night, the colors so vivid in the beam of bright light.

Last Day in Bonaire :( (Part 5) 26 June 2008

octopusLester and I did a dawn dive on our last dive-day, just the two of us (very romantic), and saw a beautiful spotted moray eel, about 5-6 inches in diameter and 4 feet long, curling among the coral heads and holes hunting for food – it was so cool to watch and follow it down the reef to about 55 feet. Then we went back to look for the squid, but instead found an octopus in his den (hole in a rock)! He had apparently finished breakfast (garbage around his den), and probably wished we would just go away and let him sleep. But we hung around for about 10 minutes just watching, and as Lester circled one way around him and I another, his head would come up further out of the hole (above) and each of his eyes would be following one of us – so funny.

On one of our dives during the week I swam with a porcupine fish for about 20 yards (a really funky and cute fish with a very human-like face Lester calls ‘ET’).

rappelOur last boat dive was to a site called Rappel – the most beautiful coral landscape I have seen so far, and my favorite. It is so-named because its discoverers had to throw in their gear from the top of a 50-foot cliff, then rappel down into the water (and then drift out to the next beach). The cliff continues down into the water for about another 12-15 feet, with shallow caves along the wall carved by the sea, then gently angles down and flattens somewhat at only about 25-30 feet. The coral formations are amazing – pinnacles and mounds and ridges of exquisite shapes and types. I am so looking forward to going back there.

Our very last dive of the trip was back off the dock at Buddy Reef – Mel showed us no less than four of the exotic and *very* odd-looking green and yellow frogfish, frogfish all of them moving so we could see their cute little fan-feet, and a seahorse, also gracefully swim-hopping from branch to branch. And then we returned to the octopus den again, and *I found* (no easy task) the now-sleeping creature again!, which I will call Rosie because in the daylight we can see that its color is a beautiful rose pink. I hope s/he is there when we return; what a great way to finish our Bonaire dives.

I am now comfortable with diving down deeper to see something, with using my breath control to float up and over a coral head and back down, and just hanging in the water, enjoying the view. I realized that so far, I seem to slightly enjoy the big picture more – the underwater landscape and the formations, while Lester enjoys the fish. But that may change! I also keep saying I don’t want to carry a camera to take pictures, but getting videos might be fun.

smileySo now I am also ADVANCED Open Water certified (and ‘trained’ to 100 feet) – thanks to Mel and Ellie – woohoo!! Yes, I have discovered I love diving (credits to a very patient hubby and a really great instructor); and no, I don’t wish I had done it sooner – I was ready now!

PS – When we got home, Jim and Irena had left me a birthday present, wrapped in some old smiley face wrapping paper, and Irena, in true red-headed wild-woman fashion, had decorated it so aptly!!

Synopsis – Skiing the French Alps! via Belgrade and driving across Italy 26 March 2008

For those of you who aren’t sure you want to read all of the juicy details of the trip, here is a brief overview of how our trip turned out:

Belgrade: Sunday-Thursday, just hanging out while Jim worked and Irena recovered from a very bad cold, visiting family and friends, and driving and GPS-ing a couple of Jim’s favorite cycling routes (THAT was fun!).

Drive to the Alps: Thursday I visited 3 new countries (Croatia and Slovenia and Italy) and we made it to Venice and spent the evening exploring there; Friday we stopped in Verona to visit Romeo and Juliet’s famous balcony, then made it to Torino; Friday it took us an hour to find our way out of Torino, and we arrived in Val d’Isere around 4pm.

Sun: First day on the slopes – very difficult heavy snow for me, but AMAZING views.
Mon: Second day – absolutely miserable! Zero visibility.
Tue: Beautiful! Rode THROUGH the mountain and skied on top of the world.
Wed: Tricked by Irena to start the day on a black; fell later in the day & nearly lost my pants!
Thu: Fantastic day of skiing (my last); visited the Keyhole rock.
Fri: Blizzard conditions – Irena is tackled by a snowdrift.

Grande MotteHead home: Saturday, Jim & Irena drove me to the notable and lovely village of Annecy to drop me off and drive back to yet another Alps resort for another 7 days of skiing. I wandered around the old city, then caught the 2-hour train to Lyon early Sunday morning for my flight home via Munich.
_________________

funiculaireI can now definitely recommend, from personal experience, skiing (or snowshoeing, sis) in the French Alps. Since Irena asked me, it seems a good idea to put this here: For me the very BEST of our ski trip was the spectacular beauty of the mountains, and skiing the Grande Motte (above).

Here we are…tired, happy skiers on the amazing funiculaire 🙂 —->

PS – Check back soon – I plan to add links to some Google Earth GPS track files of two days of skiing, and two of Jim’s most difficult cycling routes that you can download.

Annecy to Lyon to home 23 March 2008

Just unbelievable. (Now, for the necessary feeling and effect, imagine hearing those two words as Irena would say them – in her accent with a totally disgusted tone of voice.)

The elevator in the hotel was not working when I had to leave at 5:30am this morning, so I had to drag my 100 bloody lbs of stupid luggage down 4 flights of useless stairs. And there does not appear to be an elevator in the train station, so I had to do it again down two flights, then of course lift it up onto the train itself. Damn straight I’ve lost 5 pounds this morning already!!! (And believe me, these are NOT the expletives I used when I FIRST drafted this blog!) annecy hotel

It *was* a lovely rooftop dormer room, though – slanted ceiling just above my head with a skylight that opens, black-painted rafters, a wider-than-US-standard single bed, a big window with venetian blinds that opens in the largish bathroom, and once again, fine attention to detail throughout. cyclist on lake path Annecy is indeed a lovely old city (thanks, Darryl, for the suggestion!) – nestled between not-so-high alps on a huge lake. What tickled me most is the two-directional bike paths, cyclists painted often in bright green, and I could see them even from the train as I went through Aix-les-Bain, another famous Tour location.bike path

Sometime last week, Irena and I were commenting and laughing about how we do not exist for all the young men…they only have eyes for their ‘own’, and if anyone ever does seem to notice us, it is only the ‘old’ guys. Well, I experienced that in spades this morning! As I was dragging my luggage down the platform toward the train, this OLD French guy that I passed, complete with beret and not bad looking but short and about age 65-70, whistled at me, gave me a thumbs up, and clapped (what, that I was pulling my own luggage?), and I heard the word ‘belle’ – sure made me laugh, and feel good!

Today is Easter Sunday, and now I am rolling (sitting backward) along the edge of a wide hilly valley between alps, steep hills to one side and flat land to the other, but cannot yet really see mountains because the sun is not quite up, and the fog and clouds are heavy. It snowed last night in this region, and everything is frosted with white – green grass and pink cherry blossoms sort of glow beneath the snow in this soft 7am light. I can just barely see the outline of peaks and ridges, and solid banks of snowfields or glaciers. Much of the countryside outside Annecy reminded me of Pennsylvania so far – very hilly with deep steep river cuts, but now it is flatter. There is a tree everywhere that looks like reindeer antlers.

For several now-funny moments, I was queasy with mild panic when at one train stop, after sitting for about 10 minutes, we started going forward, back the way we came! I began to wonder if I was supposed to change trains, and contemplated asking my neighboring passengers…”Bonjour! Parlais vous Anglais? Are we still headed for Lyon??” But then the train made a wide turn back in the direction we were headed, and now I am riding forward. Then, when I arrived in Lyon, again I had to go to the information desk… “Bonjour! Je parle Francais, mais un petit peu (in my best French accent, smiling)…switching to English: Where do I catch the Satobus (shuttle bus??), and can I get a ticket on board?” And now the phrase “Zut alors!” pops into my head…anyone remember what that means? BTW, Irena gave me such shit this week about my [lack of] French! But it WAS hilarious; I would leave a shop and say ‘Bonjour’, or enter a shop and say ‘Au revoir’ – just couldn’t get it right. They say it takes two months to recall a language you have learned, but I doubt that even 5 years of HS French, with NO chance to practice except in singing, really ever qualified me as a French speaker.

Leaving Val d’Isere 22 March 2008

Irena called this “Transfer Day” – when everyone leaves the ski resort and new folks arrive…pure chaos! I now call it “Swear-at-the-Corolla Day”.

condo view 2aThe snow has slowed a bit, and the roads appear to have been largely cleared. We again awoke to the sound of avalanche cannon going off around us. But our car problems have not yet been solved. We have a fairly new Toyota Corolla, with an after-market alarm, and found out when our cute (*I* think) Frenchie ‘Maxim’ came and tried to jump start it this morning, that the alarm key was not working – the alarm went off, so the car could not be started. So I went out and found a new battery. (And asked AGAIN about the postbox, and was pointed AGAIN to the yellow box, to which I said “That’s not for dog poop?” and she laughed! But I didn’t go look, yet.)

Then we spent about an hour trying to get the key fob to work again, and calling Belgrade to find out what to do, only to learn that we had to get the alarm key to work, then attach the cables and wait 10 seconds while the alarm goes off, then press the key and wait for 4 beeps. No brainer, right? So Jim finally got the key fob working – found out it had a bad contact. skis on car It took about 3.5 hours total, and lots of dirt on the hands and ski pants, to get the car started, with the help of some Macedonians that Irena had spotted earlier in the week and had said, we should ask them for help…isn’t that funny how that worked out?

Problem solved, right? Well, when they started the car in Annecy to leave me, the alarm went off again, so they went through another hour’s round of calls to the agency, wrangling with them to get them another car, to no avail. But they made it to back Val Thorens where they will ski this week (which is, incidentally, TWICE the SIZE of Val d’Isere/Espace Killy!!). Sounds like it was an uneventful trip, except that due to all the delays, they missed out on the indoor parking. 🙁

chateau I walked for about 3 hours around the old part of the city, which sits at and on the base of a ridge that comes down into the city center. The cobblestone streets are lined with lovely yellow-paned hanging lanterns, very hilly and narrow, with the buildings again painted in rich sunny colors like in Italy, and covered in vines (and now I recall that we *are* very close to the Mediterranean). vines and mountain Even the roof tiles are artfully done in wave and swirl patterns. I waited too long to have dinner, and was not able to have fondue in the restaurant (L’Etage) on the nearby walking street that the hotel clerk recommended, but I found a charming creperie and had a cheese and bacon crepe with salad on top (very savory – hi Abby!) with a glass of the house red. The decor of the place, and the city, made me think of Joan of Arc – stone pillars, low ceilings, rafters. And of course, I bought two French pastries – for dessert and breakfast. 🙂

Val – Last Day to Ski…Blizzard! 21 March 2008

What a wild day this has been! Snow began falling steadily at about midnight last night. When we woke up, there was at least a foot and a half of new snow on the ground, and it has been BUCKETING down and blowing clouds and drifts everywhere since. I had already decided unless the weather was clear and bright, I was not going out.

kissingBut the lovebirds did go out (just have to include this sunny-day photo here) – around 10am, and I later trudged through the blowing snow to mail some postcards (see funny story below) and do some shopping, while part of my heart was whispering ‘oh, I wish I was in this beautiful new snow’, but WHOOOOEEEEE, am I glad I didn’t go!

I bought the perfect ski goggles on sale… which reminded me, Irena told us the funniest thing about one of our ski buddies from my last trip here to ski: Mika, our wonderful cook and NON-stop skier in Kopaonik, does not wear goggles – he claims he cannot hear. (He also doesn’t wear gloves OR anything on his head, ever, regardless of the weather conditions.) I saw Mika and Duki (who both looked fantastic – younger in fact, than I remembered them) in Belgrade – it was great to see them. And I was very sad Voja could not join us, so I missed seeing him – maybe next time, Voja!!

And just now as I am writing this (it is about 1:30pm) Jim walks into the pub covered in snow and says…. “GEEEZZZ are YOU glad you didn’t go with US this morning!!” Their short ski day began auspiciously: As they were walking to the bus in their ski boots and carrying their skis (down a one-block hill), Irena slipped on the deepening snow and fell on her bum! Anyway, they caught the shuttle bus down the valley a ways (which we have all done several times) to take the gondola. When they got to the top and skied the short run from Val over to Tignes, visibility was less than 10 feet and the wind felt like about 40 knots!!! From there they took the chairlift – in the howling wind – to Touvier on the Tignes side (our meeting spot all three times), and at that point they decided to go back home. This photo is from Monday, which was not NEARLY as bad. snowy They also learned that the wind was so high the Aeroski Gondola that goes up to that same peak from another direction was closed due to the wind! The run back to the road and bus from there is easy but LONG – about 3.5k. Vis was still about 1-2 meters, and snow and sky were indistinguishable.

So Jim says to Irena “You go in front, Love, and I’ll follow you so I don’t lose sight of you!” And Irena says “Where is the run?” Jim says “Just go straight, I can see the poles.” (HE says that was the ONLY thing visible – the blue pole markers running down each side of every ski run – see above photo with much better viz.) So Irena takes off, makes one turn, and falls flat on her arse! Neither can figure out what has happened. She asks Jim to help her get up, so he skis over to her and suddenly realizes why she wiped out – because, invisible to them, 3m away, was an invisible 5-foot high drift of snow that she ploughed into, and like a wall of cold marshmallow, bounced her back! They had been alone on the slopes, but 4 other guys showed up, and visibility did begin to improve to about 100m. But the whole trip home was in 2 feet of snow from overnight, and the wind continued.

Anyway, we left the pub and crossed the street, watching a snow-vacuum street cleaner following close behind a dump truck and spraying the snow ahead of him into the truck – they were NOT connected, and were having to maintain an even speed, not always successfully. We shopped a little more, and then went over and sat in the crepes cafe for lunch (remember that Serbs, when skiing, eat lunch at 5pm and dinner at 10pm) and had beer, salad, and cheese fondue with perfectly LOUSY, RUDE service. But we got drunk and enjoyed sharing many old growing-up stories with Irena. When we finally headed home after our last stop, the storm had become a blizzard, with us swearing our way up the hill into the wind. It is now after 9 pm, and we just walked BACK down the hill to the internet cafe in this maelstrom – are we crazy, or what?!!

Some more funny stories: On the way, I was walking behind this tall skinny tall guy in a baby blue snowsuit with a baby pink ski headband on, and OVER his snowsuit he was wearing matching tiny pink thong panties!!! Everyone that passed him was swivel-headed looking at him!! On the way back home again, Irena wanted to mail those dang postcards we have been carrying around, and i told her what one of the shop owners had told me…the bright yellow box just across the street. So she slid over there, and came back a few minutes later saying that is for dog shit!!! LOL! So, is that just French humor, or did we miss the *real* yellow postbox?

condo view 1bAfter we got back from the internet cafe, we finished the day with a dinner of Jim’s ‘Arlene Willoughby’ pancakes with melted Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, jam, and the milk and white chocolate ‘nutella’ stuff, and wine… I think this was to prepare us for our drive out of here tomorrow in the chaos of the blizzard, in a car with a currently-dead battery…the adventure continues!

But ah, it has been such a lovely week of skiing in FRANCE! I will sure miss this view from the condo.

Val Skiing – [Pen]Ultimate Day 20 March 2008

trainIt is windy today – we can see the snow blowing off the peaks above (just like you can see on Mt. Everest!!), and Jim & Irena have gone early again to ski the blacks. I will meet them in Tignes at 1pm…maybe – if it is not snowy and blowy. If it is, I think I will just enjoy the day to myself, working on this blog and my photos.

Okay, so I did go up to ski…rode another tram today that went through the mountain (left)…so cool. I kept struggling with my ‘I-don’t-want-to-ski’ attitude even after my solitary long easy run to meet up, and even through delicious chips (French fries) and chocolate tart (like a brownie in a pie crust) when we met, but after the second run, on a beautifully prepared black (yeah, another BLACK!), it was fantastic; best day of skiing I’ve had in years. Irena & keyholeWe went over to this keyhole area Jim and Irena had been to on Tuesday before I joined them, and the scenery is just spectacular. Irena took a face down spill earlier today in the powder below the keyhole – here she is, not so bad for the experience! Too bad I missed it…NOT. It was, they BOTH said, terrifyingly steep! But I had my own less-exotic heart-pumper here… when approaching the lift gate, I was a bit slow, and Jim and Irena’s gate opened before I got there, and then closed so quickly before I could go through. However, in the confusion, I had to have been leaning on it, because the gate opened and I slid through onto one of those freaky lift carpets, which propelled me forward and at the same time, to my astonishment (and deep embarrassment), the chair lift suddenly banged my bum sideways and managed to scoop me up, *quite* ungracefully. Luckily I didn’t fall, and there was no drop-off, but boy did I feel stupid! I even joked, as we approached the top, that the lift operators at the bottom had probably radioed ahead to warn their cohorts to keep an eye on the chubby old gal in the orange parka! But in spite of that, today was my favorite day of skiing of the week – great snow, clear weather, horizon-wide views, strong legs.

This place (Val d’Isere and Tignes) is absolutely huge… the scope of the skiable area is just mind-boggling to me. PDF Map of L’Espace Killy There are 135 slopes (and 2 glaciers) and 90 lifts, with over 300 kilometers of runs! But what I find so fun and fantastic is that skiers and boarders go *everywhere*! tracks everywhereThe terrain, called “espace Killy” after Jean Claude Killy – a famous Olympic skier when Patricia and I were skiing teens, is huge, and as we rode the lifts up to peaks, across the flanks and over the ridges, it is breathtaking, with braided tracks on nearly every patch of snow and kind of terrain, via lifts, or on their own two legs. We have seen folks hiking up above the top of lifts to the very peaks, hiking UP the mountain on skis (eschewing the lift!) and then skiing down, tracks in near vertical chutes off rocky peaks, and clear evidence of skiers/boarder jumping off lifts to get the highest, steepest terrain. If you click on this photo to enlarge it you can see the tracks.

Our flat is comfortable – it has big window that opens wide, a nice small balcony with a great view of the mountains up-valley, and funky Mediterranean posters, but it is quite small (for the price), and not very well outfitted for a ski condo…for example, only 3 hooks for hanging ski stuff in the place (sleeps 4), and no place to dry things except for a very small heater – strange. We have never gotten the DVD player to work, and the agency (in the village) has not been helpful.

condo living roomWe are about 1/4 mile from the main lifts here in town (which means a LONG walk in our ski boots up the road AND of course, a long walk home!), then a short flat distance to ski over to one of about 6 lifts at the base of the two peaks and around a big wide beginners field (the size of 2 football fields) in the center of the village. We can also walk about 2 blocks to catch a bus that will take us up or down-valley. But the valley is very narrow so all buildings are surrounded by steep ridges, so it is quite beautiful! I discovered yesterday that if you stretch out against the wall on my bed/couch below the living room window, you can open the window and have a huge mirror view of the whole upper valley mountains – fantastic!!