Gotta love public transportation

...Sometimes. Today, I had an afternoon training at the piste l'ours. The base of the telecabine is about 40 switchbacks from Sion. I checked the bus schedule and it read that the bus came daily at 4:15 PM to bring skiers down to Sion. Come 4:15... nothing. 4:30... uh oh. The only place in Switzerland where buses are late is Montreux (refer to above post), so I knew that this meant trouble. After tracking down the last person left at the mountain, the liftie shutting down for the night, I was relieved to find out that he lived near Sion and would give me a lift. I think I'd still be walking down the 40 switchbacks if it weren't for him. Whew, that was close!

From one tourist town...

To another! After leaving the traffic jams of Steamboat behind me, I was looking forward to a nice Swiss mountain village, complete with maybe a cow or two. Instead from now until Christmas in Montreux is the Marche de Noel, AKA the Christmas fair. I like wandering through the stalls, but when bus drivers aren't used to being ten minutes late, you get some serious road rage! At the left you can see a giant vat of rosti (breakfast potatoes) and soup. Every night, they refill both multiple times. That is A LOT of rosti eaters!

I'm just cool like that!

A rainy training can be fun too!

Action packed day!

Today I trained again at the piste l'ours, so after waking up at the butt crack of dawn, catching the train and skiing hard, I took a ride with Bastien, so I could do my skis at his house. After finishing the edges of one ski and halfway through the other, Bastien let out an exclamation of "merde!" I won't tell you all the bloody details, but the hospital report read 8 cm of cut skin in the thumb. So, after not touching a steering wheel in two months, I got to drive Bastien's brand new Audi to the hospital for nine stitches... scary! Finally finished with the hospital visit and my skis, I got to take the 9:00 PM train back to Montreux. I think I might just sleep in tomorrow :).

Boy, did I miss the sun

Today, I trained at the piste l'ours (bears) and not only could I see the ground beneath my feet, but it was sunny!! Also, I got to try out my new Uvex goggles for the year (notice the red white and blue!). Apparently, after the world cups in France, all the WC Alpine guys come and train here on the water injected snow. It was grrrrrreat!

Bisquits!

So I came to Neuchatel to walk the streets and admire the beautiful architecture. Well I got there and it was so cold that we decided making christmas cookies was a better idea! Next time, I'll take a picture of the castle!

POW

C'est genial! Today it snowed two feet in town! I figured the best way to enjoy it would be to make the first tele turns ever on the road! We'll see what happens tomorrow when I have to walk down this road to get to school!