our time in alpe d’huez

on boxing day, we made the long journey by car to alpe d’huez, a ski resort in the french alps at grenoble. i didn’t drive and had the luxury of sitting at the back of the car for the whole journey, which took about 4 hours or so.

i got a tiny bit carsick towards the end of the ride, when we were going up the mountain. i was laying down and i smelled ulan. =S don’t think that helped with the car sickness. going up the mountain revealed such beautiful night scenery. all the cottages were lit up in orange lights. it made the place look like a little cosy, happy, peaceful town. we got a small apartment which we were lucky to find at the last minute.

when we woke up the next morning, we were greeted by an amazing sight! the weather was perfect for snow sports with its blue, cloudless skies and freshly fallen snow everywhere! it wasn’t snowing nor raining and it wasn’t too cold either. a couple of pictures of the view from our balcony:

henceforth, i would like to just post up some pictures of the place without saying much.

let me explain. there are three kinds of slopes – green, blue and red. green slopes are for beginners, blue ones are for the more advanced and red ones are for the really advanced. i stayed on the green ones the whole time i was there. once, i went onto a steeper green slope called “les poussins” and i kept falling and crashing and i got so scared that i cried. i crashed into some poles placed there for people to turn around at. *sobs* i was scared because the only way down that slope was to ski down and i wasn’t doing very well in that. i had a ski class the day before with some other tourist and we had gone to the exact same slope! weird. that night, we were invited to dinner with charlie’s family at their hotel.

anyway, the next day, we went to the swimming pool. it was an outdoor one and i just had to try going in it!

it was freezing! almost zero temperatures all around us! the pool was probably around 20 something degrees. i froze. the guys tried to convince me to get up out of the pool and into the snow so that when i returned to the pool, it would feel much better. i refused. in the end, xav carried me out of the water while hugo plonked snow onto me while i screamed like mad and had everyone else at the pool stare at us. i was soooo cold that i didn’t even feel the snow on my skin!

after that, we went to a cosy little salon de thé near our apartment to have some hot chocolate. i loved the interior of that cafe!

that night we went to take part in a poker tournament in the resort. anyone could join and we were lucky to be there in time to be the last three to be admitted onto the betting tables (hugo, xav and i). after us, there was no more vacancy. it was an interesting night! i played well, i think. i ended up 25th out of 92 people! i won a cap for that. xav was better. i think he was around the 14th position and he got a shirt.

here are some more pictures taken around the place:

i loved it at alpe d’huez! i don’t know if we’ll be back there again. some people got mobbed one night and chloe found out that alpe d’huez is apparently THE place for coke dealers. so hips. alright, i’m really tired out now. two entries in a row and when i’m sick!

i’ll write soon about paris in a bit, so stay tuned!