Sun and ice

Once again the weather was perfect for skiing. Another 8.30 breakfast and Another stolen table. The skiers headed off and I snuggled under. Vicky returned before lunch so I walked along to meet her at the bottom of Jandri 1. Yesterday, on my travels I had spotted a nice looking bar just at the bottom of Jandri so we made our way there for lunch. The sun was beating down on us as we took an outside table. Good job we’d creamed up. We both struggled up onto the high stools, and one of my gloves jumped onto the floor. I struggled down again, picked it up, removed my coat, hat, scarf and jumper, and fought my way up once more. Just as my whole package of clothes slid off. Sigh. Another mountaineering effort down, then back up, aaaand we were in position. Whew! Veggie tarteflette was on the menu, much to vickys delight. "We could share one" I said, as we had both had a big breakfast. She got a feral gleam in her eye. "No chance. The ones dad and Chris had yesterday were only small." Ok. I ordered a club sandwich and a merlot. "So club sandwich and Milk" repeated the waitress. Yorkshire And French obviously dosent mix. Vicky came to my rescue once again with her southern softie tones. The food was lovely, although vicky did leave half a tarteflette. And bread. And salad. Where is Alex and his enormous appetite when you need him. 

Lunch on the terrace. Note the size of the meal vicky is hoarding.

Everything in the foreground is vickys

Fed (some more than others) and watered we wandered over to Jandri 1, "come this way pietons and jump the queue" and ascended to the halfway spot. Straight through the ski school rope this time, we are walkers, stand aside, and onto Jandri 2. Vicky pointed out all the horrid, nasty runs TWPAMJ had forced her onto earlier. The one in the zone tranquil looked particularly gruesome. Bodies littered the bumps from top to bottom as skiers and boarders alike fell like ninepins. At the top,of Jandri 2 we headed across to our destination, the ice caves. €5.50 each got us a ticket and we ducked inside. The hill is hollowed out and filled with ice sculptures. It’s amazing.

On top of the world, again

Ice caves

An ice dragon

Inside the caves 

After that we hotfooted it to the cafe for a large hot chocolate with cream. We got a great table outside right on the edge of the patio from where we could view the skiers, and in particular a woman with her partner who was making heavy weather of it. We watched as she oh so slowly made her way to a bend in the run, where we knew the gentle blue that she was having trouble with became much, much steeper. Poor lass. We mosied on back to the Gondola which soared over the run. There she was. Snow plough position, facing downhill. At a standstill. As we moved away she started off, then went down in a heap. We worried that she would never get down, as she had to go via zone tranquil. She may still be there. 

Back at the hotel we had afternoon tea, bathed, and yatzeed. Vicky got two yatzees and 100 point bonus. She is now in the lead, closely followed by me. Alex has had a monumental collapse, he has complained that vicky has sucked the luck right out of him. 

During dinner TWPCMA told us their tales of deeds done. Chris and Alex had once more skied the Valley of the Giants, for old times sake. "It’s not the same as it used to be" they both lamented. "The moguls are so tiny now". Kathy had found herself on a chairlift with a French guy who, despite having loads of room, invaded her space in an alarming manner. No one reported a fall. The discussion then turned to the relative merits and downside to each of the Fast and Furious films. 

After tea it was time for the weekly Neilsson quiz. Ian named us TWPA, fitting I thought. The quiz master pointed out that, as it’s only a bit of fun, he dosent limit team sizes, but the team of 14 was pushing it a bit. Questions were on general knowledge, sport, food and drink, and music. The most head scratching of them was, where does gold first originate from? What does this mean? Unfortunately French Fake Terry gave no more information. We seemed to do quite well on the music round, with a few seconds of a song intro being played and an artist and title required. In the end we were joint winners with the team of 14! We got a voucher for a bottle of prosecco at tea tomorrow. Hurray. 

And gold? Scotland of course.

Man of the day

The quizmaster, a Neilsson guy I hadnt seen before. The answer to a question about which living artist has just sold a painting for the most money was David Hockney. As he gave it he mentioned that Hockney is his great uncle. Afterwards Ian asked him if he has any paintings. "Yes" he replied. "I have a painting of me when I was younger in my loft."!