Snow in the Alps

Last night I got back from a weekend away with the family in Evian (Yes, Evian, live young) where there was the best snow I have ever seen in my life. We took the sleeper train to Annecy on Friday night and got in at about 7am when it was just beginning to start snowing. Oh la la, il faisait froid! We had to wait in the station cafe until the car hire place opened at 9 when we started out on our adventure to Evian. The snow was getting thicker and thicker as we drove and we had to go really slowly. What should have been an hour and a half drive turned into a 5 hour drive. Bof. C'etait pas bon avec les enfants. Well actually, it wasn't that bad. Just that Mila is sometimes a bit difficult with me and this is always accentuated when we're in the car. She just won't talk to me. So I had to patiently put up with her ignoring me, subtly pushing me, and then just being plain rude by the end of it. And then just as we were about to reach the gîte we had to go back to buy some chains for the car because it was too dangerous to go any further. So it was a long long time in the car squished between two children and their car seats.

This was the start of the snow as we reached the lake at Evian:

We had gone to Evian for the 40th birthday of one of Romain's friends and there were 40 of us staying in a chalet in a village just above Evian. It was so beautiful, there was an incredible view out over the lake from the chalet. It was a typical alpine village, all wooden chalets, although it was a little strange because it was totally deserted-it is obviously a village/ski resort and so only busy in peak ski season.

On the Saturday evening we played a game where we all got into teams and had to ask David (the birthday boy) questions about himself and his life then had to mime out his responses and the other teams had to guess what part of his life we were talking about. It was really good fun although some of the mimes were a bit obscure! After dinner we did some celtic dancing which was fun, although it does get boring after the first few dances! Then we watched the birthday boy and his wife do a Tango. It was really beautiful. The actual tango wasn't particularly brilliant but their evident connection was really beautiful to see.

The next day we did lots of playing in the snow (it was so deep, over my knee!) and went down the mountainside through a Narnia-like forest on a sledge. Ha it was so fast! I've never known such good sledging! In the evening we played a version of Mafia (Bristol people you will know how good this game is, Hereford people I will explain it to you some time) called Loup-garrous - werewolf! It was so good, everybody really entered into the spirit of it and I got accused of being the murderer so many times, just because I was being quieter than everyone else!

It was a good weekend, a bit scary with so many French people but a few people in particular made a real effort to make me feel included so it wasn't too bad. We took the train back yesterday. First class no less! And today I have found myself a French penpal to force me to write more in French.