My Birthday...Skiing at Chamrousse

For my birthday Deb took me skiing in the Alps. Caught a tram and then a bus. We rented skis and spent the day on the slopes. Blue skies, great snow, good runs but the most crowded lift lines I have ever experienced (with the French sense of personal space, our skis were touching or overlapping. Leave a couple inches between you and the next person and somebody scoots in on you). A friend said the crowds aren't typical, I was just experiencing the start of school holidays, but the crowding in the lift lines is normale. Overall, though, I'd say it was a thumbs up.

I think I'm spoiled having the Canadian Rockies and uncrowded Castle so close to home. I will love going back to no lift lines or at least space between skiers.

Another week, another greve...

We've been settling in well. All the electronics are up and functioning (Internet, Apple TV, Netflix...). Now we aren't limited to the few Disney shows they run in real time in France, like Austin and Ali or Shake it up Chicago, but we can access most of the Disney channel programs from the past!

I've been doing a bit of work -- journal reviews and writing. Deb has been working the last few days of the sales. She's been quite motivated.

We got our second day of snow on Monday.  It looked like this...

This made for a slow trip to David's school (what is normally a 10 minute bus ride was 25 minutes.  Add the the tram and that was 45 minutes there, slower than walking.  I walked home in 40).

There was no school today (Tuesday). France has proposed half days on Wednesday for next year (currently there's no elementary school on Wednesdays). So teachers called for a strike today. There was a brief demonstration outside our place today that disrupted the tram for about 15 minutes.  I was gone but Deb and David couldn't tell if the demonstration was for or against the changes.  Oh, the mysteries of life in France...

That means that this week David will only have school on Monday and Thursday and ski on Friday.

Fancy food!

Deb and I have been enjoying our lunches and Saturday date nights out. The food here is not just tasty, it's beautiful.