Levanna Tignes

... the week but on Saturday we leave for St Anton - apparently it's an 8 hour drive so up at 6AM.... when we get there we get to go to our permanent accommodation - we're living with the other couple and apparently our appartment has en suite bathrooms and a washing machine so sounds pretty good to us!

attached a couple of pics showing the view from our window when we arrived and the view now...

speak to you all soon!

Gemma and Dave

... out from lack of oxygen I was able to gather myself and enjoy some really amazing views along with a packed lunch. After the mountain trek we went into the small ski town and enjoyed some of our "favorite brewage and enjoyed the surroundings" (per request of prof. Delmar).

Heading to Rome and Barcelona next week, another post should follow shortly after.

We're approaching the final week of this "bi-mester." The work load is getting steadily heavier and I combat it by ...

... into MacD's and decided a big mac meal for 6 euros would hit
the spot. This was a very unique McDonalds, done up in
mountaineering theme and was located out of the way, as for 2 ½
visits to Chamonix, I did not know it was there. After lunch I
wandered around town for a bit as it started to brighten. Back to
the room to read and ready for dinner, although I was not hungry
after the meal at the arches. I headed out for dinner, still not
hungry and after seeing a ...

... for
one night on the front end and one night on the back end of the trip.
We spent three days in Majorca and had a great time. The weather
was good for two days and then it rained for the last day and the day
we left. We stayed at a hotel right on the beach and had a great
balcony that overlooked the beach. We took a boat trip to the other
side of the island and a beach that was very relaxing. Barcelona is
a very happening city and we took a open deck bus ...

... I guess we will be looking out for it at home! They already have Xmas stuff out in the Aldi store so Dan has picked up some Pfeffernuss and I have got some of the spiced biscuits..I am going to have to write to Clairol and a few other companies to complain about the hair colour range at home...everywhere here they have shades of the haircolour I prefer..might have to bring some home!
More traffic holdup going towards Bern, someone lost some gravel over the 100km freeway ...

... poorly marked. Half the streets in Europe are so narrow anyways; they all look like one ways. So this car pulls up behind up and blocks us in, sweet, it’s the cops. They tell us we went up a one way.... So we honestly tell them it was a mistake and we're trying to turn around. Then they ask us where we are coming from and how much have we had to drink? Here we go... We had 1 big bottle of beer each 2 hours ago, then split ...

... one of which was obviously our target. With lots of sign language, some French mixed with German, we got the idea over, and landed the photo. But we couldn't persuade him to do the handcuffs, so we didn't push our luck.

We crossed the border into France shortly afterwards and travelled along the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard (which, for some reason, google maps won't recognise as a road, although it shows it as a walking route!), and found ...

As we were next to the Alps, we decided to go trekking around Chamonix for a couple of days, and get some fresh mountain air. Nats felt at home as the place we stayed in Chamonix was the exact same as where she stayed 4 years ago when she came skiing here!!

We were very lucky wih the weather on the first day, and the views over the mountain range was magnificent. We walked from Vallorcine up to the lac ...

... and boasts stomach tingling whiskey laced mulled wine, and a castle on the water. Back around the lake to the French side, headed through Evian - drank from the source!! then headed south down to Chamonix. Massive ski resort.... and joined the que for the Mont Blanc tunnel. After half an hour waiting, we entered for the 20 min trip under the border! Out into Italy, missed our turn off so ended up driving under more mountains on the Italian motorways. Crazy. After 20 minutes ...

The reason I went to France was to go skiing at chamonix/Mont Blanc, which i did and it was fantastic and i will be doing again very soon before i get tied up.. while i was there i did the world famous ski run Valley de blanche you ski over a glacier. which is amazing, the veiws you get on theis run are spectacular. definately take a camera.
to start this run however you take a gondola up to the summit of Aguille de medie (i'm unsure of the correct ...