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:<\/p>\n
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!).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Sun: First day on the slopes – very difficult heavy snow for me, but AMAZING views.
\nMon: Second day – absolutely miserable! Zero visibility.
\nTue: Beautiful! Rode THROUGH the mountain and skied on top of the world.
\nWed: Tricked by Irena to start the day on a black; fell later in the day & nearly lost my pants!
\nThu: Fantastic day of skiing (my last); visited the Keyhole rock.
\nFri: Blizzard conditions – Irena is tackled by a snowdrift.<\/p>\n
![\"Grande](\"http:\/\/albums.lindystravels.com\/Serbia-Italy-FRANCE-Mar2008\/SerbiaFranceMar08_ValdIsere_IMG_0401.thumb.jpg\")
<\/a>Head 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.![\"funiculaire\"](\"http:\/\/albums.lindystravels.com\/Serbia-Italy-FRANCE-Mar2008\/SerbiaFranceMar08_ValdIsere_IMG_0309.thumb.jpg\")
<\/a>I 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). <\/p>\n