Today has been more of a relaxing day. We all left the house around 10:45 and headed to the actual town of St. Bourg Maurice to shop and tour. There are many cute little shops and even true French bakeries and butchers. Great atmosphere!
After the town we headed to our second trip to the Super U, another crazy and busy day at the grocerie store (as Dad said, U.S stores are dying for this kind of business) This time was a little easier getting around for the Landers' and Reeves', we all knew what we wanted and were able to find it much easier, without having too many people run into us!
Lunch was yummy sandwiches and soup and then off to either nap or walk. Paul and Erin hadn't slept well the night before, so they stayed around to take a nap/read while the rest of us went on a walk around the Chalet and the river surrounding the house. It was a beautiful river, again the water was unbelievably clear. It was a greenish blue color and you could see straight to the bottom. We stayed around looking at all the smooth rocks and beautiful scenery and then continued on our way. While on our walk we made a real snowman!! ...well I guess it would actually be a snow woman! haha. IT was great.
Around 5 p.m. we left to go to a nearby ski slope, Mont Chavin La Coche, to watch the Descent Flambeaux--which was so much different from anything I'd ever seen. The Descent Falmbeaux happens on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve on most of the ski slopes here. It is where all the ski instructors for the ski slope go to the top of a slope and all ski down, while holding torches, in formations. So neat!
We just finished dinner, and we are all stuffed!! We had fondue, it was delicious. We had chicken and steak fondue, then cheese fondue with peppers, mushrooms, bread, and potatoes and then finished with fruit and pound cake in chocolate fondue. I know, your mouth is watering. It was scrumptious!
Now we are going to watch a movie and await the coming of the new year, hopefully at midnight we will get to see all the slopes let off fire works from the house!
Happy New Year, I know you all have several hours until you reach it, but we will be bringing it in in the next few hours for France.
¬dana
new facts:
-most of the music played wherever we go, is the same stuff we here on our regular radio stations--in ENGLISH
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Where do I begin?
It is hard to know where to start with everything we've done, three days has gone by soo fast but yet we've done so much it has also felt like weeks. We are still having tons of fun and continue to learn more about France and the culture...especially through our dinner wine teachings! :)
Monday...
Monday was the second ski day, and Paul and Mom's first real day skiing off the bunny slopes. We packed up and left in the morning and all got our ski passes for the day (Erin and I got pedestrian passes so we could ride some of the lifts up the mtn.) Then we rode the venicular (sort of like Marta...except packed in like sardines and going straight up a mountain!) to 1600 meters in "Les Arcs." There, Paul, Mom, Dad, Sylvia and Neil started their first slope and Erin and I walked around the hotels and shopping in the area. Very beautiful views-TONS of pictures. We got to see the group skiing down and everyone did a great job. We then caught a bus (Dad and Neil didn't, they skied to the next stop) and rode to 1800 meters. There we ate our sandwiches we'd packed and got a little rest. We then all rode in a "bubble lift" all the way up to 2600 meters (figure that out in feet..it is really high and VERY COLD) It was so amazing. From there you could see the tallest mountain peak in all of Europre, Mount Blanc (also a pretty good beer!) Mount Blanc is partly in France and partly in Italy, so we could see both countries from this peak. We felt on top of the world. After some pictures, Paul and Mom decided it may have been a little high for them to ski on their second day of skiing, so they rode the bubble back to 1800 with Erin and I, while Sylvia, Neil and Dad skied all the way back to 1600 from the peak. Then we all met up and headed home. GREAT DAY, followed with a great dinner and great wine!
Tuesday--My favorite!
Tuesday was the girls day for some morning fun. Neil dropped all the girls off at 1950 where we met Danny, our husky sleigh driver!! We also got to meet, 11 beautiful huskies and got to go on a two-hour ride with eight of them. My favorites were Echa and Kincek (no idea if that is how you spell their names) who were the lead dogs. All four girls got to ride in the sleigh together as the dogs pulled us and Danny. We have so many wonderful, and funny, stories from these two hours. You will have to hear first hand from one of us to get each of our favorite moments. Including falling over in the sleigh (supposably Danny's first time of this happening- and don't worry no one, including Erin and little Logan were hurt) and watching some of the dogs act up just because they were so excited to be our running around.Danny told us many intersting facts about dog sledding and about his dogs and what each of their parts were in pulling the sled. It was a beautiful tour, and so much fun. We have plenty of pictures from this adventure too, which I'm sure will spur more memories and stories for us to share with you.
Hopefully, once we return home we can upload some pictures, but for right now the internet acts up on us and can hardly get on to type this!
The guys came to pick us up from there and we went shopping in the town of 1950. Beautiful town. Very cute and colorful, lots of shops and restaurants. If you were staying in this area, you could basically pick up your skiis at the door and ski to anywhere in town. It was in this area that we did a little hiking on the slopes to have some lunch. We ate at Les Chalets de l' Arc. A wonderful resturant in which we all tried somewhat traditional French food, it was scrumptious! When we got out of lunch we hiked back down, in EXTREME cold (at least to us Georgians!) but all of it was of course worth it.
On Tuesday we also got our first taste of a French supermarket, but at a very crowded time. We went to the Super U and got some groceries to make chili and more sandwiches for the rest of the week. This grocerie store was so strange to us, but the amount of good wine, cheese and chocolate was not disappointing!
Wednesday...
We left the house today around 10:30 a.m. and drove to Annecy, another town in France, that is a little over an hour away from Sylvia and Neil's house (the Chalet Fairclough). The town was so beautiful and luckily we did not miss the market that was visiting in town. Annecy is built around a glacier lake, you wouldn't believe how clear the water is, so it looks a little like what I'm assuming Venice would look like. Here we got to do lots of shopping and eat at a very good pizzeria, yes there is pizza everywhere! It was a very cold day, in fact it started sleeting/snowing while we were eating and when we were leaving. There are shops for everything in town, real leather, a butcher, many many chocolate shops, gifts, jewelry, seafood, ski shops, basically anything you can think of. All of these shops are set in these beautiful and antique houses all set around this river and lake. It was truly beautiful.
On the way home we stopped at Sylvia's favorite store, very much like Ikea but all with really nice wood. We all got some pretty nice gifts and other things while there. Probably my favorite shop. I would buy everything, if only I was able to get it home without spending a fortune!
Tonight, along with our wine lesson, we got our first real cheese tasting! Wow, I would be so fat if i lived here. I would be eating cheese all day. To say the least we all liked the cheese (except Erin, who couldn't have any because it was not pasturized)
I am sure I left out many details, and don't get mad if I did. I am sure we each have our own memories, but right now I'm full on dinner and cheese and having to rethink all the wonderful memories is hard to do. Tomorrow we will be on for more adventures. I think we will be staying around the house some, to rest for the long night of New Years Eve. But we will also be going on a walk around St. Bourg Maurice and the river that runs through it, as well as the town to do a little shopping. Hopefully I will get a chance to update on New Years Day. But I wish you all a very fun and SAFE New years Eve!!
¬Dana
more random findings of mine:
-French people really are not all that nice..ha
- I can catch on to some french words, but everytime someone talks to me in French, even if I know how to respond back, I respond in Spanish for some reason.
-It is cold!
-Celcius really does make more sense!
-There are a lot of round-a-bouts
Monday...
Monday was the second ski day, and Paul and Mom's first real day skiing off the bunny slopes. We packed up and left in the morning and all got our ski passes for the day (Erin and I got pedestrian passes so we could ride some of the lifts up the mtn.) Then we rode the venicular (sort of like Marta...except packed in like sardines and going straight up a mountain!) to 1600 meters in "Les Arcs." There, Paul, Mom, Dad, Sylvia and Neil started their first slope and Erin and I walked around the hotels and shopping in the area. Very beautiful views-TONS of pictures. We got to see the group skiing down and everyone did a great job. We then caught a bus (Dad and Neil didn't, they skied to the next stop) and rode to 1800 meters. There we ate our sandwiches we'd packed and got a little rest. We then all rode in a "bubble lift" all the way up to 2600 meters (figure that out in feet..it is really high and VERY COLD) It was so amazing. From there you could see the tallest mountain peak in all of Europre, Mount Blanc (also a pretty good beer!) Mount Blanc is partly in France and partly in Italy, so we could see both countries from this peak. We felt on top of the world. After some pictures, Paul and Mom decided it may have been a little high for them to ski on their second day of skiing, so they rode the bubble back to 1800 with Erin and I, while Sylvia, Neil and Dad skied all the way back to 1600 from the peak. Then we all met up and headed home. GREAT DAY, followed with a great dinner and great wine!
Tuesday--My favorite!
Tuesday was the girls day for some morning fun. Neil dropped all the girls off at 1950 where we met Danny, our husky sleigh driver!! We also got to meet, 11 beautiful huskies and got to go on a two-hour ride with eight of them. My favorites were Echa and Kincek (no idea if that is how you spell their names) who were the lead dogs. All four girls got to ride in the sleigh together as the dogs pulled us and Danny. We have so many wonderful, and funny, stories from these two hours. You will have to hear first hand from one of us to get each of our favorite moments. Including falling over in the sleigh (supposably Danny's first time of this happening- and don't worry no one, including Erin and little Logan were hurt) and watching some of the dogs act up just because they were so excited to be our running around.Danny told us many intersting facts about dog sledding and about his dogs and what each of their parts were in pulling the sled. It was a beautiful tour, and so much fun. We have plenty of pictures from this adventure too, which I'm sure will spur more memories and stories for us to share with you.
Hopefully, once we return home we can upload some pictures, but for right now the internet acts up on us and can hardly get on to type this!
The guys came to pick us up from there and we went shopping in the town of 1950. Beautiful town. Very cute and colorful, lots of shops and restaurants. If you were staying in this area, you could basically pick up your skiis at the door and ski to anywhere in town. It was in this area that we did a little hiking on the slopes to have some lunch. We ate at Les Chalets de l' Arc. A wonderful resturant in which we all tried somewhat traditional French food, it was scrumptious! When we got out of lunch we hiked back down, in EXTREME cold (at least to us Georgians!) but all of it was of course worth it.
On Tuesday we also got our first taste of a French supermarket, but at a very crowded time. We went to the Super U and got some groceries to make chili and more sandwiches for the rest of the week. This grocerie store was so strange to us, but the amount of good wine, cheese and chocolate was not disappointing!
Wednesday...
We left the house today around 10:30 a.m. and drove to Annecy, another town in France, that is a little over an hour away from Sylvia and Neil's house (the Chalet Fairclough). The town was so beautiful and luckily we did not miss the market that was visiting in town. Annecy is built around a glacier lake, you wouldn't believe how clear the water is, so it looks a little like what I'm assuming Venice would look like. Here we got to do lots of shopping and eat at a very good pizzeria, yes there is pizza everywhere! It was a very cold day, in fact it started sleeting/snowing while we were eating and when we were leaving. There are shops for everything in town, real leather, a butcher, many many chocolate shops, gifts, jewelry, seafood, ski shops, basically anything you can think of. All of these shops are set in these beautiful and antique houses all set around this river and lake. It was truly beautiful.
On the way home we stopped at Sylvia's favorite store, very much like Ikea but all with really nice wood. We all got some pretty nice gifts and other things while there. Probably my favorite shop. I would buy everything, if only I was able to get it home without spending a fortune!
Tonight, along with our wine lesson, we got our first real cheese tasting! Wow, I would be so fat if i lived here. I would be eating cheese all day. To say the least we all liked the cheese (except Erin, who couldn't have any because it was not pasturized)
I am sure I left out many details, and don't get mad if I did. I am sure we each have our own memories, but right now I'm full on dinner and cheese and having to rethink all the wonderful memories is hard to do. Tomorrow we will be on for more adventures. I think we will be staying around the house some, to rest for the long night of New Years Eve. But we will also be going on a walk around St. Bourg Maurice and the river that runs through it, as well as the town to do a little shopping. Hopefully I will get a chance to update on New Years Day. But I wish you all a very fun and SAFE New years Eve!!
¬Dana
more random findings of mine:
-French people really are not all that nice..ha
- I can catch on to some french words, but everytime someone talks to me in French, even if I know how to respond back, I respond in Spanish for some reason.
-It is cold!
-Celcius really does make more sense!
-There are a lot of round-a-bouts
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Bonjour!
We made it!!
The plane rides were good, we all got only about 2-3 hours of sleep that night but still they were good. We didn't end up going into Paris. There were no lockers or anything to keep our bags in, so we decided to check our bags so we could look around without lugging our suitcases around Paris, but by the time we figured out where we were supposed to go and how long it would take us to get into Paris, we decided we better play it safe and stay at the airport. So, we waited six hours in the Paris airport, a not very interesting Paris airport, but time went by a lot faster then expected and we are here now!!
Beautiful does not even describe this place. Sylvia and Neil's house is so beautiful and has such an amazing view. We are all settled in to our own little areas and it already feels like home. The Landers and Reeves may not be coming back! ...Just kidding, but serisouly this place is beautiful. Don't worry everyone is taking plenty of pictures!
The weather is not all that bad, but there is snow...REAL snow, everywhere. We saw houses with about two feet of snow on theirs roof...i'm not sure i've ever seen over six inches of real snow in my life!! IT's awesome.
Today was a very good day. Dad, Mom, Paul and Neil got up and went to get fitted for their skiis, helmets and poles in the morning, then Sylvia drove them to the Mtn and later came back and got Erin and I. Paul and Mom had their two hour ski lessons today, and they had so much fun. David (pronounced Da-vid) was their ski teacher and he spoke english and was apparently a really good teacher, they are excited to go out again tomorrow and hit the blue slopes. Dad and Neil skied for 4-5 hours going all over the place. While everyone else was skiing, Sylvia, Erin and I got to do a little touring of the snow and take lots of pictures of the scenery. After ski school, we met up with Paul and Mom, and hung around the ski lodge for awhile before heading back. All in all a very good day.
Tomorrow, the plan is ski again. Sylvia is going with everyone this time so Erin and I are going to be getting pedestrian passes while will let us ride up on the mtns and be able to look around and shop at all the different spots on the mountain! It's gonna be a fun day!
interesting findings:
light switches are pretty different in france
flushing the toliet is different in every location
there are mcdonalds and the big mac is still number 1
a lot of people actually do speak English here, which is very helpful...but a lot don't as well
¬dana
The plane rides were good, we all got only about 2-3 hours of sleep that night but still they were good. We didn't end up going into Paris. There were no lockers or anything to keep our bags in, so we decided to check our bags so we could look around without lugging our suitcases around Paris, but by the time we figured out where we were supposed to go and how long it would take us to get into Paris, we decided we better play it safe and stay at the airport. So, we waited six hours in the Paris airport, a not very interesting Paris airport, but time went by a lot faster then expected and we are here now!!
Beautiful does not even describe this place. Sylvia and Neil's house is so beautiful and has such an amazing view. We are all settled in to our own little areas and it already feels like home. The Landers and Reeves may not be coming back! ...Just kidding, but serisouly this place is beautiful. Don't worry everyone is taking plenty of pictures!
The weather is not all that bad, but there is snow...REAL snow, everywhere. We saw houses with about two feet of snow on theirs roof...i'm not sure i've ever seen over six inches of real snow in my life!! IT's awesome.
Today was a very good day. Dad, Mom, Paul and Neil got up and went to get fitted for their skiis, helmets and poles in the morning, then Sylvia drove them to the Mtn and later came back and got Erin and I. Paul and Mom had their two hour ski lessons today, and they had so much fun. David (pronounced Da-vid) was their ski teacher and he spoke english and was apparently a really good teacher, they are excited to go out again tomorrow and hit the blue slopes. Dad and Neil skied for 4-5 hours going all over the place. While everyone else was skiing, Sylvia, Erin and I got to do a little touring of the snow and take lots of pictures of the scenery. After ski school, we met up with Paul and Mom, and hung around the ski lodge for awhile before heading back. All in all a very good day.
Tomorrow, the plan is ski again. Sylvia is going with everyone this time so Erin and I are going to be getting pedestrian passes while will let us ride up on the mtns and be able to look around and shop at all the different spots on the mountain! It's gonna be a fun day!
interesting findings:
light switches are pretty different in france
flushing the toliet is different in every location
there are mcdonalds and the big mac is still number 1
a lot of people actually do speak English here, which is very helpful...but a lot don't as well
¬dana
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas!
We're all packed. All only in carry-on bags!! It was not easy but we did it. We may have had to sit on them to get them closed, but they are zipped and being packed in the car as I'm typing!!
Looks like we might get to see Paris! We were only going to have a short layover but plans have changed and looks like we will be in Paris for about 5 hours, so a train ride through Paris is the plan. I'm soo excited
Merry Christmas everyone!
~Dana
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Anticipation
We leave for France in a little less than FOUR days.., thats 95 hours! As of 8:50 p.m. on Christmas Day; Mom, Dad, Paul, Erin ( little Logan too) and I will be on our way to France (weather and flight time permitting of course, fingers crossed). We will be visiting Sylvia and Neil and exploring God's beautiful work in the French Alps.
Dad asked me to set up this site so that we can let everyone know what's going on while we are away. I'm sure Sylvia has tons of adventures already planned and we know you all want to hear about them! :) . This is just an easy way for everyone to keep tabs on the Landers' (and Reeves') family while on our Christmas Vacation. Now don't get upset if we don't update all that often, we have been warned that the internet is slow, but we will try to update several times through our visit, hopefully allowing each of us, or at least most of us a chance to say a little something!
Let the countdown till we arrive begin!!
~Dana
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