Les Gets

So I spent this weekend in Les Gets with Simon's parents, workin on my English slang, my English humor and my English Appetite. We arrived Saturday afternoon and walked around a little bit, had dinner with Simon's parents and then headed down to the local pretend Irish pub run by an Englishman full of French people, weird. got up late the next day and went for a hike. Had another amazing dinner before heading home again. I took over 250 photos this weekend, so if you want to see more, just ask. but these are the best.

This is the chalet from the road as you arriveThis is the 3 story chalet, the appartments are cozy and open right to the slopes, the lines above are for a gondola and the chair behind is a six pack.

This is a lake close to the chalet, the buildings on the other side are apparently a school, not a bad place.This is the view from the "porch" the gondola tower and runsThis is the six pack as the sun goes down and the clouds creep up to town for the night, the clouds move in and out of the valley all day, it's like a tide and depending on the temps above and below, the clouds move up and down, into or out of the valley.This is the view at nightThis is Monte Clary, the hill on the other side of the valley, more on Monte Clary laterThis is just home everything looks in the morning with the fog and everythingAnd this is the gondola tower, with all the morning fog and a little bit of backlighting

Same thing but a exposed a little better
Went to put my camera way but i ran into myself
despite the warm looking photos, it was not warm, actually quite chilly with the wind
Every meal was like this, except when it was really cold
Soaking in the evening rays, trying to get warm
This is just as we left, the fog creeping up the valley, the sun setting and the stars starting to show, hopefully those chairs will move soon

All in all a very stellar weekend, got to spend some time relaxing taking lots of photos, walking around in the frosty grass, and drinking tea and saying cheeky.

Thanks to Dorothy, John and Bobo

ze rock and roll

Never thought i would be so stoked to hear a horrible old french man with long hair and leather pants singing iron maiden, acdc, lots of Sting and the Police, Ozzy Osbourne, and a little bit of U2.

heers to french men who really can't sing in english, but make you feel at home anyway.

Sante.

Day 1, Tignes

FINALLY!!! the first day of the season, i haven't started the season this late since i left Idaho. So yesterday Simon and i went from Chambery to Tignes, google maps link here. It's usually a two hour drive, we got a little lost and spent some time sightseeing the street signs in Moutiers. got there eventually around 10, got our gear together and shredded until 2:45.

A little info on Tignes, it's like France's hood, so it is a glacier, there was lots of skier racers, and a small public park, but there was some fresh. you had to upload just like hood, up to the higher part of the mountain which was glacier, however you uploaded on a Funiculaire, which is like an underground tram, uphill rail car, very cool, very spaceagey. up at the glacier location there was a 60 person tram, a 3 pack chair, a 4 person, and about 6 t-bars. HERE is some info on Tignes, look in the top right for the button to make it English.

Simon at the lodge at the upper area, after taking the funiculaire, doing an impromptu wax scraping.

This is the lower Tram house, the glacire is just behind the Tram, the top of the 4 pack is on the left. the Tram went up to 3,500m which is 11,300 ft. and this is one of the highest resorts in france. This is the 4 pack and a view of the surrounding range.

This is the 45 on the right, looking down at another rail and a multi-table on the leftPicking up where above left off, the multi table on the right, the park continues to the left. The park was up high on the glacier, 6 tabletops from 5 to 45 ft., a spine, a big down rail, a flat-down rail, 2 flat rails and a flat box of death, semi-soft conditions=FUN DAY!!!

Best part!!! ROPE TOW PARK!!!! ha ha aha aha NO LINES!!! tons of lapsThis is my shred mate, Simon we had a blast, carving and slashing and riding t-bars together, which if you haven't done it before is a very intimate affair. if you have personal space issues, don't ride a t-bar.

Yours truly, front nose, thanks for the hat parker! wasn't really on form with the jumps, i was scurbbing all my cork 5's and nothing was workin, so this is all you get today. i promise you all crail photos soon.

All in all a fun day, there was enough fresh snow to make some "pow" turns, and all the racer kids were too hyped on the sweet groomers and gates to notice that the rest of the mountain was in good shape. and a little time in the park, tryin to learn words like "dropping", "switch", "hey old skier guy stop shavin the lips!!!" and "get your kid out of here or i'll spray him!" in French. Will be headed up more next weekend and will be posting more photos.

Halloween

So Halloween was pretty rad, my costume was a little last minute, but it won me 16€ so i'm stoked. i'll try and keep this post fairly PG, kind of hard.Alexi as Men In Black, My Pirate outfit complete with Grog, and Simon(i'm surprised he didn't he was fully committed), and Lee as a SpaceCowboy
Sharing my grog with my wench
I cannot take credit for this, and let everyone know that anytime i think of pirates I think of Land Pirate Sam and Fordeaux, and all of t-ride, Scally Mobs for life
Borrowed salim's mustache, which doubled as a unibrow
i did a quick costume change and went hippie for a minute with matilda

more pirates, more wenches, more grog

Around Town

So I realized there are no photos of me around Chambery and most of them are of where i am, not moi-meme, cause i don't take myspace photos that often. so i've searched out a few from friends and here they are.

hiding on the wrong side of the camera
for some reason i look angry, but i swear i'm not
Anna and I walking through the streets of Chambery, this is pretty average
One of many dinners at Simon & Sarah's, L to R Adoline(Fr), Rieko(Jap), Anna(Swed), Hilde(Nor), Moi, Alexi(Fr), Leslie(Us), Sarah(IRA, not really, but close enough), and Simon's behind the Cam
Leslie, Simon and I
Lean back, do the rocking chair

Anna's kitchen

Jean Jacques Rouseau

We went to Chez Jean Jacques Rouseau, if you don't know, he was a french revolutionary and philosophy writer, who apparently lived in chambery for a little bit, but when we got there we realized it was only like 8 years of his life, so whatever. cool house though, good hike, not a bad afternoon.

little gate looking through the courtyard to the house
little orchard with a bench overlooking the city

Anna gettin all stoked

the courtyard and surrounding woods

the small vineyard on the property, more for show than anything else
there was a cool little room with a bunch of quotes from famous people about Rouseau

this is the courtyard from the house, with chambery and the mountains in the background,

this little cool walkway thing

same cool little walkway thing

Anna in Rouseau's bed, there was a second mini room up top for kids and servants, pretty rad the outside of the house, not huge, not small, just right
this is Israel, he and his cousin Salim viennent de Mexique, he liked this quote

Urban #2

Got a picture of the second urban spot i've found, this one's on the way to campus everyday, and with a little bit of work, looks a little interesting. i think it's about 4 flat 15.
trim back the bushes a bit, and hope for snow.

what do you think?