Written in the TGV between Annecy & Paris
I am now on a 3h30 TGV trip from Annecy to Paris-Gare de Lyon, comfortably seated. The kids are plugged into their MP3 players, and can’t wait for the bar to open so that they can get our coffees:) Paul is sorting out photos and videos on his IPad – aren’t we lucky Oscar just took a ‘Seagull ??? Video’ in Annecy, known otherwise as the ‘Little Venice of the Alps’ – that was all worth it!!
This is the first leg of our return. From there on, we will go to Paris to catch the plane to Bahrain tomorrow morning. We just received a text from Gulf Air on our mobiles saying that we can already check in (and choose our seats) electronically if we wish to.
Backtracking
Our ski experience went well. We did manage to ski for two days under very good climatic conditions. The second day, we started a bit later at 9:30 am, a bit later in order not to get the morning bitter cold, and we were lucky to have lots of sun until 4.00 pm when the temperature started to seriously go down.
Now both children can go down the slopes – in Pistes Vertes (the easiest level), and they could sample this wonderful feeling of ‘you and the mountain with NO WALL’, nothing, you and the mountain!!! Oscar would know no fear – this does not mean he did not fall, he did, and thanks God his skis had been loosely adjusted so that they would detach easily in case of fall, of which he had MANY. He could not be bothered waiting or helping out ‘the more cautious bunch’ so he decreed he should ‘ski on his own’ because ‘he had been born in a family of idiots’ (thats Us !!!)
(read – a family who cannot ski fast enough for him).
The following day, we rented a sledge with brakes, steering wheel, etc for 4 euros (for 4 hours) and took it to an ‘Espace Luge’ (sledge area). The children really loved that part. Paul and I sat on the chairs in a Cafe de Montagne, opposite the Espace Luge and we sipped some ‘vin chaud’ (warm wine).
That evening, we decided to treat ourselves and eat diner in the hotel – we had tried saving some money eating out the other days after the Paris unexpected last minute hotel expenses. For the entrée, the children and I had some leek and potatoe soup (we needed the vitamins) while Paul chose poached eggs on soft toast (pain de mie) covered by a burgundy sauce with onions and mountain red berries. For the main, the kids had spaghetti Bolognaise, I had some ‘Fish of the Mountain’ (lakes) with a grapefruit & Savoy wine sauce, and Paul had some Raclette (Mountain cheese melted on potatoes and Mountain smoked hams). We did not get any desert.
So this is the end of the ‘European Part’ of the journey. I received an email from Geetha in Kerala telling me how excited she was about our imminent arrival, India is calling ! ... and my heart is leaning FORWARD.
