A week ago Friday I hauled my luggage from my NEW APARTMENT to the train station, and on to Flo's house. Before I continue with my epic week, I have to share my new flat!
Two weeks ago I moved from my tiny little kitchen-less room with that tiny kiddie bed and funky toilet seat to a apartment in "downtown" Donaueschingen.
Three main improvements:
- I FINALLY have a kitchen
- I no longer have a bed only big enough for a 10-year-old
- I'm now 5 minutes from the train station and 15 from work instead of 20 and 30 minutes, respectively
One downgrade:
- Toilet seat is not an amazing work of art
So here it is:
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| No longer living out of a toaster oven |
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| The dining table and one of two decks |
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| Full-size bed! |
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| "Living room" at the foot of my bed, and the second deck |
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| Oldschool bathroom |
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| Plain, yellow-coloured toilet. Serious downgrade |
I'm stoked.
Anyway, back to the week.
I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, hopped in the car, met up with the second car, and took to the road for 9 hours. En route, the GPS tried to guide the car over a footbridge. Obviously that was a problem, so two of those hours were spent backtracking and getting lost in small-town France.
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| Some puffball mountain seen en route |
After driving up a ridonculous mountain road, we arrived at the town of St. Sorlin d'Arves. It was raining. Heartily.
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| Fog and rain. Ruh Roh. |
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| A rather uninviting hotel patio |
Fingers crossed that it would mean snow higher on the mountain, we made dinner and dug into the copious (though insufficient) amounts of alcohol we brought along.
KabinenParty! - this was the soundtrack of our trip, and the video is shockingly/hilariously bad
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| Tortellini 'Splosion |
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Waking up early on Sunday morning (well, most of us at least), we drank our tea and coffee and ate our delicious croissants and French baguettes.
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| Flo's Tiny Teacup and Maylin's Indestructible Nokia |
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| David sound asleep and hungover as hell |
The rain had abated as we got on the chairlift, and we were carried up into the fog. It socked in the massive ski resort of Les Sybelles quite completely.
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| Fogggg |
The skiing in the morning was so-so, with decent snow but limited visibility. By the afternoon, however, the sun had burned through the fog and the skies cleared up. This meant the discovery of what the rain 1000m below had left us:
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| Tout était en français |
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| We still found our way to the good stuff |
After a fantastic afternoon of shredding in the boot-deep powder, we took a sunny seat at a bar on the mountain
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| Flo, Luca, Matzele, Maylin, Urs, and David enjoying beers in the sun |
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A much quieter night ensued, and we woke up on Monday morning to the same procedure: A german breakfast (cold meat and cheese) complemented by French baguettes and croissants.
We rode the two lifts up to the peak and were greeted with a gorgeous day and massive swaths of untouched snow.
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| The boarders on the way to the top |
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| Luca dropping in |
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| No caption necessary, but I added one anyway |
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| Les Sybelles in shrouded in wisps of cotton. Or clouds, if you want to be picky |
The afternoon got very warm, and many of the good runs were getting tracked out (this is a day and a half after the last snowfall, remember). We decided to take a quick 10-minute hike for some fresh stuff. It was t-shirt (or no-shirt, in my case) weather, so we camped out at the top for a while and enjoyed the sun before dropping in.
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| Goofing around on a gorgeous day |
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| Well worth the short hike |
That night Flo cooked up some fleishkase*** (translation: meatcheese) and eggs. Fleishkase*** was apparently developed by monks who weren't allowed to eat meat, so they disguised it as cheese. Brilliant, if you ask me.
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| Approved |
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Tuesday was amazing. The snow was mediocre at best, having melted on Monday and frozen overnight. We woke up and hit the slopes as usual - though this time we headed to the "Fun Park" to hit some French booters. Seeing as it was a warm, clear day, I brought my good camera with me.
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| The daily German-French brekkie, complete with coffee in soup bowls |
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| The morning crew of kids getting ready to hit the slopes |
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| Flo in the Fun Park |
Flo and I met up with the others for an unreal lunch on the slopes. Setting up camp on a knoll with a breathtaking view of the valley, we cracked some beers, lit the grill, and cooked some sausages.
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| Doing things right |
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| Yep. |
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And yes. Lunch dunn gud.
This was the view we enjoyed from our little camp:
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| A rather green valley |
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| Les Sybelles on a clearer day |
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| The French Alps, with new snow rolling in |
It was absolute bliss until the rough weather rolled in, but we left in style.
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| Corked |
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| Luca pre-tumble |
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| Luca post-tumble |
The bad weather wasn't great for the barbecue, but it meant amazing things for Wednesday!
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With 30+ cm of fresh snow, I left my good camera in the room on Wednesday and left for the first ride up the lift. The mountain was nearly empty, being a Wednesday in early April. The conditions were sublime (though avalanche danger was high), and we spent the entire day skiing the untouched stuff!
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| Yours truly |
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| Most tracks on the hill were ours |
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| A little bit of our playground |
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| Yesterday's Picnic Spot |
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| Looking back on yet another amazing run |
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| Nothing to complain about on a day like this |
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| The kids going for a rip |
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| 3 Skiers, 3 Tracks |
After a full 9 hours of skiing, we set up our makeshift bar in the room and had a few drinks.
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| A bed on its side makes a great bar. Just don't spill |
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The clouds decided to come back for Thursday, and visibility was so-so. My knees also decided to bail out on me, so I only skied for an hour. There was still fresh snow aplenty, but with poor weather and the snow getting heavy, I didn't feel too bad about taking a day off.
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| Bleh Weather |
We took a walk into town to check out a few ski shops, and saw a pair of Ferarris:
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| Unfortunately, 3500 euros is a bit out of my price range |
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| Delicious French sausage stall, we bought three. Sausages, not stalls. |
After arriving back at the cabin, we opened some Polish vodka and tiny French beers, and partied until 2am.
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| Matzele with a mean flow, and Flo in the background |
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| Helmethead Contest Winner |
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After waking up at 8 a.m. to ski, Friday greeted us with wet weather and thick fog. We cruised the groomers slowly and with copious amounts of vertigo, and called it a day after 2 hours on the hill.
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| More Bleh Weather |
Though the original plan was to stay until Saturday, we packed up on Friday and hit the road. Being Friday the 13th, we promptly hit a massive traffic jam. Making the best of the situation, we cracked some beers and played hackie sack on the Autobahn.
We stopped for dinner at a strip mall somewhere in France, which had a KFC and McDonald's. I walked into KFC and decided that 8 euros for a piece of deep-fried chicken in a bun was too much. I walked into McDonald's and decided that 8 euros for a Big Mac meal was too much. I walked to the back of the car and decided that 0 euros for a hollowed-out baguette filled with granola was just right.
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| Back to the open road |
At 1:30 a.m., we arrived back in Löffingen and went to the bar 'till 3. After a few drinks, we said our goodbyes and parted ways.
The week was an amazing way to end what I expected to be a non-existent ski season!
