First Photos!

So this is the town we stayed in at Val Thorens, and virtually every mountain that is around it is skiable!














Jamon and Jerk posing... they do warn of cliffs in the area, but you will have to ask Jamon about that... DIRECTLY after we took this picture, Jamon did his best impersonation of the guy on the sign...












Jamon and Marek on a rocky ridge that had been all covered with snow the day before. What had been a great powder run was now wicked hard windpacked snow. and for some reason, we were the only ones skiing, it... hmmm.















The view from the top. About 10000 ft here, at the top of the tram. The terrain is just unbelievable, and you really can ski everything behind us!











Of course we hit the bars a few times... Jamon, Alex, Sabina, Antje and me. Antje was one of a group of 8 girls from Cologne, Germany that we met and I am going to try to visit her after the new year.












Another great European winter concoction gluwine (glow wine) which is heated spiced wine. Alex demonstrates the proper form for drinking it.















Any many more, but no time!!

To Germany

London was fantastic, Jamon and I travelled there on Thursday and left on Saturday evening. We stayed with Jamon's cousin John and his wife Mpho. They were very gracious hosts and I really enjoyed visiting various pubs and restaurants with them. Mpho is from South Africa and John has spent quite a lot of time there, so they gave me some really great tips for travelling around the country. In our trips to the pubs, we tried a ton of really great local beers and they were a huge improvement over the French beer. The Guiness was amazing! Head and shoulders better than any I have had in the US. Unfortunately we didn't have time to make it to Ireland to the Guiness factory, because that is supposed to be that much better yet. Jamon and I basically wandered around the city, hit a few pubs, and enjoyed a pretty relaxing few days. On Saturday, we had brunch at the Holly Branch, which is a pub that has been in operation since 1450 or something. Had traditional meat pies and great beers for brunch - my kind of grub!
We then flew back to Frankfurt and Jamon went home on Sunday morning. I took the train to Stutgart and am now visiting my aunt Susan, uncle John and family for Christmas. It has been a few years since I have seen them, so its very nice to spend the holidays here! I will eventally get around to posting some pictures but for now have a Happy Holiday to all!

Out of France

Well I survived the Frenchies, it was touch and go for a while, and I kinda broke one of their snowboards, so I am no longer welcome in the country... but the snow was great! The ski resorts at Val Thorens are rediculously huge. It is basically chairlifts in all directions accessing some of the craziest terrain I have ever seen. I thought Whistler Blackcomb was large, but that whole resort would fit into one of the three valleys in the area where we stayed. We had really great snow on Sunday and Monday, but then the wind picked up and it blew a lot of the fresh stuff away, so we had to work a little harder to find it, but it was still great!
There were lots of English at the boarderweek festival and they are absolutely crazy! Just picture men in borat style swimsuits and flipflops walking around at 10 degrees and you get the idea. Also, there is no getting kicked out for fighting, being naked, excessively drunk, etc so you can imagine how nuts it was. Besides all of that, the resort was great and we had a really great time going out to the clubs at night and carrying on.
I have now made it to London, and I will post some pictures later and give some more detail. Hope all is well!

On My Way!

This is it! finally here. Im dont feel even close to being ready, but I suppose there is a thing as over preparing. I have all the important stuff done (I hope) and I suppose anything else can be added later - right - like I have any room left in my pack!