Day 28: Sunday, February 13, 2011

Ice skating in Val d' Aosta!

Today, we all woke up around 9:30, grabbed some breakfast, then checked out of the hotel.  Luckily they had a place for us to keep our bags, so we didn't have to lug them around all day!  We all headed to a big pavilion to go ice skating!  There were girls there practicing for a competition, and they literally put all of us to shame.  Once again, these girls were so young!  They looked like they were 6 years old.  And they were out there doing hundreds of twirls, leaps, tricks, etc.  They are so into winter sports there!

Afterward, we all got lunch at a pizzeria.  We all ordered our own "personal pans," however, personal pans in Italy are somewhat nonexistent, (see below).  After lunch, we shopped around a bit, then caught the bus home.  On the way home, we weren't quite as lucky as far as getting an empty bus.  Thankfully, I managed to sleep most of the way home (per usual).

Personal pan pizza's, Italian style..

After we got home, I unpacked, then went to bed pretty early.  I was exhausted from this weekend, which was an absolute blast.  I loved the town, the scenery, the little restaurants, and most of all, the skiing.  I could have spent a week there!      

Day 27: Saturday, February 12, 2011

Getting our equipment on!

Today, we woke up around 8:30, ate some breakfast, then headed to the mountains.  We went to the rental shop, picked up our equipment, then we were off!  There were 10 of us on the trip, and we pretty much reached every end of the spectrum as far as levels of skiing go.  Some people had never skied before, and others had been skiing since they could walk.  So when we got to the lift, seven of the 10 girls decided to start on the Bunny Slope.  After all, we were in the Alps, which is some of the best skiing in the world, they didn't want to be overwhelmed!  However, two of the girls were very experienced and decided to head right up the mountain!  So naturally, because I never think I need to start with the basics, I decided to go with the girls who had been skiing since they could walk.

The first sign I saw after getting to the top
of the mountain...

Keep in mind, I have been skiing twice in my life.  Once, I was 10, and then last winter at Ski Liberty in West Virginia; which is pretty much a rolling hill in comparison to The Alps.  So the three of us headed up the mountain!  On the ski lift, I noticed the slopes looked incredibly difficult...way beyond my level!  I immediately began to regret my decision to go with them!  Upon exiting the ski lift, this was the first sign I saw: (see left).  I can't say I was exactly reassured!  However, once we got started, I was totally fine!  I used my technique that I picked up last winter at Ski Liberty: shoot down the mountain as fast as I can with zero control whatsoever...and for some reason, it seemed to work!  I get to the bottom so quickly, but I rarely fall!  The other girls tried to teach me some tips, but I wasn't catching on very well.  So I just stuck with what I knew :)  And it was a blast, we all had so much fun.  We would ski down one slope, then take the lift two stops higher...so we kept getting higher and higher!  We just had to sit down and take in the scenery at some points!  When you're skiing you don't really get to enjoy it because you're looking down the whole time!  So when we got to the tippy top, we just took in the entire panoramic view, and it was breathtaking.

Just gazing out

Lexia, Amanda, and I

After taking in the scenery for a bit, I turned around, and the other two girls I was with...were GONE.  I had absolutely no idea where they went.  It is SO easy to get lost on those mountains.  At every ski lift stop, there are about 15 different outlets you can go down!  So I had to just pick one, and of course, I didn't pick the right one!  So while I was lost, skiing by myself in The Alps, I was also totally mistaken about the color codes of the mountains.  I was under the impression that the green arrows indicated the easiest slopes, red arrows indicated medium level slopes, and black arrows indicated the hardest level.  Well, as I learned later that day, green arrows actually have nothing to do with the level of the slope, it only indicates that there is a ski lift at the bottom of that run.  So my rationale of following the green arrows towards the easiest slopes couldn't have been more wrong.  So, later that night when we were looking at the map trying to figure out where I was when I was lost, we realized that as I was following the green arrows, it turns out I was actually going down black diamonds, and in fact, skied to France...classic mix-up!  Thank God I brought my Blackberry when we went skiing though!  I was able to text one of the girls and meet up with them, however, it took forever to find them!  The mountains are so big, and none of us really knew where we were, so I was lost for about 2 hours before finding someone!

Emily, Kannetha, Dawn, and I at the top!

After I found them though, we met up with the other girls who started at the Bunny Slope, and we all went down the slopes together for a little.  Together of course, being a very loose term!  It was more like we started together, then some raced to the bottom, other went horizontal down the mountain, others tumbled the whole way down, one got tired of tumbling, took her skis off and walked down the mountain, and then we all met again at the bottom. It was an absolute blast being altogether though.  I loved it :)

Emily and I before heading down the mountain

The girls <3

Just taking it all in!

View of Val d' Aosta from the mountains

The crazy thing about these slopes, is no one EVER falls!  (Except for us, that is!)  I felt like when I went skiing last winter, I didn't think twice when I saw somebody fall...not here!  Whenever one of us would fall, eight people would rush over and be like "ARE YOU OK???" We're like, "YES, we're fine!!" They were all so friendly, but I think they were flabbergasted by our lack of skills.  It might have something to do with the fact that there were literally 3 year old children on the mountains, going down the black diamonds.  They start skiing when they can walk.  Some of the kids went up to my knees, and they were out there skiing by themselves.  It absolutely blew my mind.  

Eating lunch on the mountain

After we all did a couple runs "together," we decided to grab some food.  It was so cool to me that all over the mountains, there were little "villages," with restaurants, ski shops, pizzerias, bars, etc.  They were everywhere, it was very convenient!  And at all the little villages, you could rent chairs, and people were everywhere sunbathing!!  And I mean everywhere, hundreds and hundreds of people laying out!  We all grabbed some hamburgers and beers, and got a table.  We all had so much fun together!  I absolutely loved this whole day.

After lunch, some of the girls were totally pooped, so they decided to call it a day!  It was about 3:30, and the lifts close at 4:30, so me and three other girls decided to do a couple more runs!  We went all the way to the tip-top again, and then skied down the whole mountain.  We found this trail that was a level Red, with a couple Black sections, that went all the way down, so we decided to give it a whirl!  And I'm so glad we did!  It was a skinny little trail that was practically empty, and we all flew down the whole thing!

After the slopes closed, we all showered then went out to dinner!  Once again, it was paid for, so we had a huge meal!  I ordered a local crepe as my first course, and it was absolutely delicious!  (See below)  It was also one of the girls 22nd birthday, we Jonathan went out earlier that day and bought a cake for the servers to bring out for dessert!   

My local crepe, it was delicious!

Amanda and her flaming birthday cake!

Afterwards, the 10 of went to local bar and got a drink, then called it a night!  We were all so exhausted from the day!  

Day 26: Friday, February 11, 2011

Val d' Aosta from the city's center

This morning we woke up bright and early to head to the Alps.  We had to met at the Red Line Metro at 7am, so it was a very early start!  From there, we caught a charter bus that took us to Val d' Aosta, a ski town at the bottom the mountains.  The town is in a little corner tucked between the Italian Alps, the French Alps, and the Swiss Alps.  And it is absolutely beautiful; the scenery was stunning.  (But more on that later!)

Emily and I in Val d' Aosta

The bus ride was 3 and 1/2 hours long, and when we got there, the weather couldn't have been more beautiful!  It was sunny with bight, crisp blue skies, and fresh mountain air; it was fabulous!  We dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and decided to explore a bit!  It was an adorable town, with cobble stone streets everywhere, skinny little roads, and friendly locals.  But the best part was, you could gaze up and see the towering mountains in the sky, no matter which way you looked.  The Alps were so incredibly high, it was hard to believe we were going to be skiing down them the next day!  When we made it to the peak of the little town, there was a big, open circular area that you could gaze out from.  The view was absolutely surreal.  We were 100% surrounded by snow peaked mountains!  We all walked around a bit, then we headed to the ski rental place to get sized up!  Jonathan said the rental place is chaotic on Saturday mornings, so wanted to do everything today today, so we could just hit the slopes first thing in the morning on Saturday!

In the center of Val d' Aosta

Afterward, we all got lunch.  And when we do things that are program-inclusive, we eat very, very well.  They paid for all of our meals while we were there, so we had fabulous food the entire time!  We went to this adorable little restaurant near the peak of the town, and ate until we couldn't put one more morsel of food in our mouths.  We ordered appetizers, and wine, and first courses, and second courses, and dessert, and it was almost an overwhelming amount of food!  For starters, the servers brought out two huge platters of meats, cheeses, breads, and crackers...and naturally, we all just went to town.  Then they brought out three different kinds of pasta dishes; and they were the biggest bowls of pasta I have ever seen.  We didn't even make a dent on the portions they gave us.  Then we all ordered some more wine and cappuccino's, then tiramisu for dessert :)  I have become obsessed with tiramisu...which is not a good thing!

After lunch, we went tubing!  However, there was a slight mix-up with the research when it came to this aspect of the trip, because the park we went to was literally for little, little kids.  There were moon bounces and obstacle courses made for children!  And we could barley fit in the tubes/sleds!  But, we decided to go with the flow!  And it was absolutely hilarious watching all of us epically crash the sleds into fences because we are way too big for them.  I literally took down a three poles of fence as I crashed into it...opps! :)

Monte Bianco.  The highest point in Europe. Look how unbelievably clear the
skies are.  It actually looks fake.

Like I said, we literally couldn't see anything at first!

Difficult to see - but there were thermal baths everywhere!

That night, we had a very interesting experience.  Jonathon took us all to Le Terme di Pre St Didier, which was like a resort of thermal baths.  The place was absolutely humongous...and it was like a maze.  We all wore our bathing suits, and when we checked in, they gave us robes and flip flops.  After we got changed, we followed the crowd towards the thermal baths.  At first it was so steamy we couldn't see anything...we just had to walk into the water and feel our way through.  Suddenly, we were outside in a huge hot tub that was surrounded by the Alps on all sides.  There were dozens of hot tubs all interconnected throughout the resorts land.  There were igloos on the ground next to us, snow peaked mountains towering in the skies above us, and us in bathing suits sitting in thermal baths!  It was such a cool evening.

After we were all pruned up from the baths, we went inside to get dinner!  And it was bizarre, everyone was still in their robes!  And there was tranquil music playing, so it was very relaxing!  And even though, like most Apertivo's, the food was not very good and the spread was so random, it was still a really neat experience.  There is just nothing like that in the United States, so it was so different than anything any of us have ever done!  

Some of the girls waiting for dinner

Getting some wine and champagne

Everyone eating dinner in their robes!

After the thermal baths, we all walked around town again for a little bit!  There were still Christmas lights hung and evergreen framing doorways, it was so strange!  I was like "IT'S FEBRUARY!"  But I guess in a small little mountain town where it's always snowy and cold, you can get away with keeping Christmas decorations up year round!  We all went back to our hotel and called it an early night.  We couldn't wait to wake up and ski! :)