We had a couple of hours between our arrival at Geneva Airport and Al
picking us up, so we caught a bus into town. We had a brief from Julie
on how to 'do' the city in such a short time. We trawled the main
shopping streets, walked down to the lake (disappointingly the famous
waterspout was turned off) and raced through the old town to find what Julie
had promised was the world's longest bench! Back to the airport, where
we met up with Al who took us back to their out-of-town house. Here,
plans for the weekend were made and we tried on apparel suitable for the
snowy conditions - the first there had been that season.
Geneva's position as a Swiss city
bordered on three sides by France means that the easiest access to the
surrounding mountains was to cross the border. On Saturday morning we
headed south into the French Alps, where Al and Julie bravely attempted to
teach us the rudiments of skiing - neither of us having ever tried the sport
before. Limited progress was made before we let our hosts head off
towards the pistes for the more experienced skiers. In the meantime,
we took a cable car up to where a perfect view of Mont Blanc was
complemented by a freezing cold beer. But even as the sun set behind
the Alps, the ski boots were being exchanged for sledges and other
sliding devices, the size of which turned out to be in inverse relation to
their ability to create adrenalin.
For Sunday brunch we drove back to a
theatre cafe the centre of Geneva. After a quick dash back to the lakeside
(the waterspout was now working), we headed back to the French border.
Today however the direction was north into the French Jura range of
mountains. The first of today's sports involved us going up in a ski
lift and then putting tennis rackets (or similar) on our feet for a troll
around on the rapidly melting snow. The inelegant means of getting
around was however made up for the views over Geneva to the Alps.
Back down the cable car, Al drove us
against the early evening traffic further into the mountains to an
impossibly pretty resort in a valley. First stop was the ice skating
rink. While Al and Julie had done this a few times in the five years
since the moved to this part of the world, neither of us had worn ice-skates
since a couple of childhood attempts. Steve however seemed to have
kept some of the knack but Phil -whose childhood had preceded Steve's by (a
couple of) years - never got far from the handrail!
The day's excitement was far from over
however. Another few minutes further up a mountain, and Al
pulled the car into the side of the road. Julie makes a call on her mobile and, a
minute later, from over a nearby mound of snow out of the darkness roars...
a Skidoo!!! We climbed aboard, and the journey - a minute or two of
speeding blindly into the dark - dropped us at a mountain-side
restaurant, otherwise inaccessible during the Winter months. Simple
mountain food and plentiful local wine (plus some complementary eau-de-vie -
served with snow!) made the return journey on the skidoo even less easy on
the stomach! |
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