Monday, January 29, 2007

First Snow, First Ski - St Anton, Austria

Last week Mark and I flew out of London for our first ever trip to the snow to ski, well to attempt to learn to ski, and to see snow - for the first time!!! We had been planning it for a while with my friend Charlotte from work and Danni (who could not come along in the end) and we were very excited.

The final crew was Charlotte, her boyfriend Kris, his best friend Aleks and his girlfriend Skye. Charlotte is an expert skier (having followed the snow for the past 8 years) as is Skye, though Kris, Aleks and Charlotte were all snowboarding for the trip - then there was us, little beginners with no skiing experience at all. When we arrived we saw snow for the first time and that was just a thrill already, even better when we saw it in broad daylight the next day - just sooo pretty.

We all met at Victoria station, took the train to Gatwick then after checking and having a drink in the bar we boarded our 1 hour charter flight to Friedrichshafen in Germany. The flight wasn't very long but since it was around 4pm and still light, we could see where we were and we flew over Stuttgart in Germany, along with some really pretty countryside. Germany is lovely from the air, they are quite a green country, like Austria, and take pride in protecting the environment with lots of green clumps of pine forests all around their farmland areas.

Friedrichshafen is a tiny modern airport (think Canberra but sooo much nicer) that links to quite a few of the surrounding ski resorts, including St Moritz. Our ski company, SkiVal, then put us all in buses to take us on our hour ride up to St Anton, to the mountains and to the snow.

On the way up we first glimpsed snow on the ground at a petrol station, and then when we finally arrived at St Anton the whole town was covered in snow. It wouldn't have been more lovely, unless it was actually snowing at the time.

On the first 2 days, we both signed up for beginners skiing lessons and we nearly missed the first day, as we were still on London time, when Austria is 1 hour ahead. It was a mad stressful rush, especially since I had never worn ski boots before, let alone have to try to run in them to get to the lesson, that and carry ski's, whilst being super rugged up from the cold. Good thing our brilliant chalet was only a 2 minute walk (in normal shoes though) to the lift and ski school.

That was a great couple of days, learning how to stand in skis, put them on, walk around in them, ski with and without poles. It was all so new and skiing is such hard work. It goes against everything you'd think of being on the side of a mountain, for instance you have to lean down the mountain. Now I don't know how many of you have skied before, but if your standing on a hill and you start to fall, you are not going to lean down towards the bottom of the hill. Well you see that is exactly what you do when you ski, and the sooner you get this the easier it is.

By the 3rd day, we figured it was time to have a try at skiing by ourselves, as our instructor had said we'd only continue to learn the same techniques staying in his group. We had a few goes on the learner slope, which was up a little button lift (you basically hold on to a pole with what looks like a big button on the end of it). However, Mark had really sore shins (turned out he needed to change his boots) and as it was such a gorgeous, bright sunny day we decided to do a little bit of tourist work and rest our weary legs.

We took 3 lifts up, first the brand new (only opened this season) Galzig gondala lift, then the Valluga cable car style lift (scary right between two mountains and they just jam people in) then up further still on a tiny little 3 person gondala. We went all the way to the top, 2,811m up, up and up, where the mountains are just an endless ocean of icecream cones and the snow is like fluffy soft cotton balls to the touch, so now I know why they call it powder. It was so pretty and so cold. I took so many pictures as I just thought it looked so stunning, so cold, soothing and peaceful.

That night we all went out to a bar called the Funky Chicken with a couple of guys from the chalet too, Charlotte and Alex (they are a couple and they were working together at our Chalet for the season), was quite good, really busy and there was a queue to get in (crazy people it was so cold) when we left around midnight. All the chalet staff have days off on Thursday, so Charlotte and Alex stayed out for a late one.

On the next day we went up to the town of Lech to try skiing up there as we were told the runs were nice with lots of fresh snow. Lech is one of the hang outs for the rich and famous, so there were lots of ladies going about in posh matching ski outfits. It was very pretty.

Lech was where Mark and I first attempted a proper ski run, and let me tell you it was soo scary. Charlotte was helping us for a bit, which was great as i seriously would not have made it to the bottom if she hadn't have, though I really don't think we were quite ready regardless. I just couldn't get over the steepness, and when you ski to an edge and you have to creep up right to very edge before you can see the slope below, its pretty scary.

However, we made it to the bottom - in about 2 hours - which is really quite crap, but you gotta learn somehow. We had lunch in a cute little pub near the bottom with lovely views over Lech. We should have left it at that and started apres ski (drinks after skiing) earlier, but we thought we should go and have a practice on some nursery slopes.

What a nightmare that was, they were out of the way and hard to get to, then when we got up there it was super icy snow, really crusty on top, but really deep. This basically means hard to ski on and damn near impossible to walk down as you sink with snow up to your knees. So I nearly got stuck up there. However, when I saw a stream of 5 year olds in ski school come past me, I decided that I was going to get down and somehow (I seem to have blocked that memory from my head) I did. Was such an exhausting day!!

That night Mark and I went out to dinner on our own at a great little place called Hax'n Stubn and the food was lovely. Very authentic Austrian.

The next day was Friday and guess what it snowed. Yippee. I was in the chalets dinning room having breakfast and promptly ran outside to stand in the snow. Hey what can I say, I am a crazy Australian who'd never seen snow before and Mark came out with me. That day we had a bit of a practice on quite a nice little nursery slope, to get our confidence up - very important in skiing.

We met up with "Chalet Charlotte" for lunch and then headed up to do a couple of blue runs on Galzig, she is a beginner, but she has done some of those runs before so it was nice to go with someone who was learning too. It was snowing while we were doing the runs and it was just so cold, very windy too, I took my gloves off for a few minutes and could feel frost bite attempting to kick in, but it clearly shows the ski gear and gloves do actually make a massive difference.

We did 2 runs up there, the first one was quite short, but took us about 45 minutes. Then the next one took us from Galzig right back down to Nasserein, which is the run lift right back by our chalet. It took us a couple of hours and it was quite varied, hard to start with, but there were some easier bits too. The worst bit was where the run crossed over and was part of a red run, annoying as it didn't look to be the case on the map.


This would have been fine (its a mental thing), but it was so moggolly (ski term for bumpy, not sure on the spelling). This mainly because it was towards the end of the day and with all the higher slopes closed due to really windy weather, everyone was using the lower slopes. So the snow had taken a severe beating and was really slushy and lumpy. We had fun though, despite the fact that at some point that day I landed really hard and ended up with a bruise the size of my hand on my leg. Ouch.

Mark and I had a private lesson on Saturday morning, as we thought it would help to consolidate what we had learnt and I just needed to get my head around the techniques. Mark is not heaps better than me, but he was more confident so found it easier to get down than i did. The lesson was great, we went up to one of the higher runs called Kapall with the instructor, so he could get a feel for where we were at and he gave me loads of tips. Main one that worked for me was to say over and over in my head "down the mountain, down the mountain". It just a crazy concept, but you know what it worked.

After our lesson we did that same run again during which I narrowly avoided serious injury by a runaway snowboard (so dangerous) and then we went to try one of the runs we had done on the Friday. We did it in 15 minutes this time as opposed to the original 45 minutes. I was well impressed with my efforts. Next we took a lift from there and skied down to the next town across the mountain St Christoph. That was a great run and I was soo much happier after that - we rewarded ourselves with some sour apple shnapps for apres ski!!!

The next morning was our last day, with us leaving just after lunchtime, but we wanted to do a bit more skiing. It was hard to get up as it had been a long week and the night before we were up late playing cards and drinking more schnapps. We decided we'd do one more run and did the No. 1 run down so that we could stop at the Krazy Kangaruh bar for a hot chocolate on the way down.

That was all we had time for and by 1pm we were saying goodbye to the guys at the chalet and boarding our transfer bus to go back down the mountain to Friedrichshafen for our short flight back to London.

We had a great time, despite the aches, pains and bruises. Skiing is such hard work, but we got back and we were both keen to go again - maybe in France next time.

Gampen - Lisa and Mark
First night, first snow ball (or rather ice ball)
Our chalet - Reselehof (built in 1400's)
Mark first day ski lunch - Sonegg Cafe
Mark Skiing Day 1
Lisa skiing - Day 2
St Christoph from the slopes
Gampen Deck chairs

Skiing with Charlotte
On run 36 at Lech
Mark and Lisa on run 24
View to Valluga cable car (tiny dot)
Lisa up at Valluga
Valluga view
The Krazy Kangaruh Bar from the lift
A carriage in Lech, fancy travel
View from lunch at Lech
Lech river
Mark after epic ski run in Lech

View down to St Anton
Gampen Lodge
Little children skiers, all better than me
All farewells :-)

Friday, January 26, 2007

Snow......in London

On Wednesday morning it seemed like a normal cold winters day, then I got a text from Anne (my Aunt) telling me it was snowing in "boring Goring" (Goring by Sea). I was just about to write back lucky her, but I thought to look outside first.


(West Hampstead - street)

I nearly peed my pants with excitment (I am easily amused). I was so excited I screamed down to Mark to come up and see the white world that outside our front door had become. He however was still in the shower, so I had no one to show...but it was amazing and those of you who got texts from me will know how excited I was to see snow.









(Snow on plants outside front door, note it was far more impressive being there)


Now we are spoilt, a week in the snow in St Anton and then to come back and get snow in London. I took a few photos, and there is one below that Anne sent me of it actually snowing.


It caused the regular amount of chaos around London, slow trains, no buses, dire straits on the motorways. As you can see from the photo of the front page of the paper from below the entire transport system of London colapsed after "an inch of snow". Totally hopeless!! My train took 45 minutes to get to work, as opposed to 30min, so I was actually luckier than most. Mark had no troubles either.


Oh, and note that the paper states "More blizzards tonite", please, god give me strength. The Canadians - Julie (Mum) and Mark - would just laugh their heads off, especially coming from St John, where the snow is practically up to your neck the entire winter.

Hilliarous.



(My Station)



However, it was pretty, but it did not last, it was gone by lunchtime - sigh!. A bonus however was that this morning, no snow, but while I was walking to the station it started to snow and did so for about 10minutes.

Hey its better than nothing and now I can say I saw snow in London and have been snowed on in London.




(The Paper - ha!)



(Annes house in Goring by Sea - its impressive if its snowing down there though as its right on the coast)

Monday, January 22, 2007

Snow Patrol

Just before Christmas, Mark and I were keen to go and see the band Snow Patrol. I strongly recommend them, they are really good and their current album is Eyes Open.

If you think you don't know them and love the tv show Grey's Anatomy, Snow Patrol's song Chocolate (on their album Final Straw)was the theme song for the final episode in the 2nd series.

Anyway we were lucky to get tickets as both shows at Wembley Arena were sold out and when we got there even the touts were running around trying to get tickets. They eventually found us two tickets, so yeah, we got in.
It was a good show and we had standing tickets so managed to get nice and close to the front, always important. So here are some pictures from the show.






Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Say hello to Amy Isabel

On 15th January, little Amy Isabel Lodge had a speedy but safe arrival into the world. She was born at 7:11am weighing in at 9lb 8oz and 52cms, she was so fast mum, Michelle didn't even get a chance at the drugs.

We wish much happiness to our dear friends, Brett and Michelle. I am sure big sister Kate, who turned 1 year old on 13th January will be very happy with her new little sister.

Much love....Lisa and Mark xxxxx :-)

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Welcome Callum Robert....

A very happy start to the New Year with our lovely friends Megan and Grant announcing the safe and long awaited arrival of baby Callum.

Callum arrived on 10th January (around 10 days overcooked), weighing in at 8lb 14oz and 53cm long.

Mum and Dad sure look happy that he is here and we are thrilled too, we cannot wait to meet him.

Lots of Love, Lisa and Mark :-)

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Guess where!






















And Finally the answers to those questions -

1. The Tower of London
2. Wimbledon
3. Trooping of the Colours
4. Hampton Court Palace
5. Notting Hill Carnival
6. The Tate
7. Madame Tussuads
8. Royal Observatory
9. Hyde Park
10. Brick Lane

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

New Years Eve

Photos from New Years Eve.....we were meant to go to a fancy dress party, but time got the better of us and it just wasn't happening. So Michael was going to Brixton and we trailed along with him and some of his friends.

First we were to meet up at the station, including a quick cuddle, which Michael and I have dubbed "the leg hug". Don't ask but its fun.

Then we were due to catch up with Ahmed in Clapham, but the hyper boy was already out of there when we got there, in fact he was already walking down the road when we ran into them!!!

So we plonked ourself (not this was after several attempts at finding the place Ahmed had been in, where he had assured us free entry and free drinkies had our names all over them - do we believe him....well who knows) in a local Clapham pub for while, and took advantage of the cheap drinks and friendly barmen, who were only to happy to double up our drinks free of charge.

Then it was onto the club , where a haze of champagne cocktails and 3 rooms of dancing saw us into the New Year - Michael also made a new friend - the pole. Was a hillarious night.




An English Christmas

This year for Xmas we were along way from home, but that didn't stop us from having a family Xmas. Down at Goring by Sea (its about 40 minutes out of Brighton) we were staying with my Auntie Anne, who lives with her friend Alison and her fiance Dan. We were also joined at Xmas by Willow (Annes dog), Piper (a visiting Springer Spaniel), Dharma (an elderly lady Cocker Spaniel) and adorable Waffle, a 4 month old female tri-colour Cocker Spaniel). They were all so lovely and they all got more presents than us, mainly because they got gifts from Alison, Anne, their owners as well as from the cat next door!

On our first night we went to see the Worthing Theatre's production of Peter Pan, which was actually quite funny and there were even circus performaers in it, with a ribbon climbing girl, who was Tinkerbell and another girl who performed with hulla hoops. Not quite what you would expect but its what actors and performers do in the off season. Oh and Neighbours star Patrick Harvey was in it too, not that I would have noticed if the program hadn't have said.

Christmas eve allowed us to have a big sleep in, squeeze in a bit of last minute food shopping, though we had enough to feed 10 armys, but you can never be sure. That night we caught up with Annes friends Ruth and Kenan, then headed in to Brighton with them to a comedy show at Komedia. There was only one guy that was really funny and he was a New Zealander, so much for English comics!!
Kenan, Ruth, Lisa and Mark outside the Brighton Pavillion.
Mark and I in Brigton after the Comedy Show







Anne - Master Chef at work















On Xmas, bright and early (well lets just go for early, because it certainly was not bright) we "skyped" home and called home in funny xmas hats - a reindeer and a turkey hat (no pics....just far to embarassing!).

Then we had a champagne breaky, with "bucks fizz" - champagne with OJ - smoked salmon and scambled eggs. We opened our pressies gradually over the day, watched Xmas televison, then had our full lamb roast lunch with all the trimmings, including yorkshire puddings and mint sauce around 3pm. Plus there was more champagne and cider.

Xmas cake and puddings came out about 6pm, and we were well and truly stuffed after all that food. I tried to stay awake, but fell asleep watching Harry Potter on telly (at about 7pm that is), so Anne got a game out. It's a traditional Stratton Xmas thing to do though and it was mainly to keep us awake. The game was called Double Quick and its basically Scrabble on steriods - lots of fun.

The next day after discovering that the shops (well some of them) are open on boxing day, we headed into Brighton for some post Xmas sales shopping. We didn't go silly, but we had a great day, which was finished off nicely with a visit from Ruth and Kenan who came over to help us finish off all the Xmas food and drink winter Pimms (hot with apple juice).

"The Xmas Dinner"
Mark and Waffle (with Piper)
Xmas aftermath

The puppy dogs;
Piper (the tough boy dog)
Waffle (note she hardly sat still so it was a miracle that I even got this pic)
Willow being attacked by the evil (ha) Waffle