For the New Year I was invited by Israel to join him and two friends and go to the French Alps for a ski vacation. I've never done this before. Was always scared I would break something and was also afraid of being terribly cold. Israel convinced me this is something worth doing and I figured, why not? I like mountains, I like sports, if I manage to deal with the cold, this can be fun. Deep in my sixth year in Europe I finally did it....We did some preliminary buying of ski pants and socks and set out on New Year's Day for Geneva by train. In Geneva we picked up the other two friends and continued by car to Annecy where we spent the night at the Ibis hotel (clean and friendly hotel, excellent buffet breakfast). Annecy is a very pretty town which in the past was the capital of the region (an area held by the house of Savoy, which were the rulers of Italy until the end of the 2nd World War). A river runs through it, which is always a nice thing in towns and cities and it opens onto the Lake of Annecy. Beautiful.
From Annecy we continued to Moutiers and stayed also there at an Ibis hotel (not as nice as the one in Annecy, but still quite acceptable, with a beautiful view of the mountains in the breakfast room). We went to try the waters at Le Grand SPA des Alpes at Brides les Bains, an expensive spa catering to rich Russians, Italians and French. It has a nice outdoor jacuzzi which we tried -it was lovely. It was a clear evening and we could see the moon and Venus. Israel said though that because of dipping in it he and another in our group got bad colds. I don't know if it's good to have your head frozen and the rest of you immersed in hot water... The place also has a hamam and various steam baths. Very relaxing and enjoyable. For dinner we went to the excellent Le Coq Rouge restaurant. A typical family owned place serving local delicacies and great cheeses for dessert (although we also had "regular" desserts...). 
and then we went to La Tania, which is a small village not far from Courchevel for the skiing (the picture opening the post and the one here on the left are from there). We had a nice apartment right near the beginners ring... in the center of the village. This year is a very good year for skiers - lots of snow (which goes however with VERY cold weather). and, you're asking yourself, did she ski??? She did.... I was taken to the ski equipment store and the guy there sized me up and then gave me my boots, skis and poles for the next three days (why only three days? Because I had to go back to Milan...). I then marched to the next place - the ski school to sign up to the débutant (beginner) classes.
My, was I a beginner.... I had one private lesson and two lessons with a group of about 6. The key phrases we heard these days were - ski parallel, snow plow.... ski parallel snow plow... Imagine this being said with a deep French accent and a weary voice by the ski trainers who were wondering to themselves what possessed us poor souls who decided at this late point in our life that we need to learn to ski.... I kept falling ALL of the time (which everyone says is natural) and was terribly envious of the little children around me who took to the business like fish to water. Because they are small their center of gravity is much lower and so they don't fall so much, and, they're not afraid, which makes everything so much easier for them, compared with us clumsy adults, who have developed instincts which work exactly opposite to what is needed to keep upright on the skis....
How does skiing work? for those unfamiliar with the sport (like me) - first, you've got to figure out how to put on those heavy, uncomfortable boots and then put them and yourself on the skis.... (notice the concentration in the left picture, and the weird stance in the right picture but the triumphant grin....)
Then, you climb up the little hill (I'm actually skipping a bit, the next stage after getting on the skis is managing to somehow wobble from place to place without falling over and learning the basics, but in the name of brevity I'm sparing you the boring parts...) - 
Some of us (like me...) manage to fall off this little lift (I was trying to pull up the zipper of the coat, lost my grip and promptly fell off) and then, after a few clumsy attempts to get hold of another pole, have to climb up the hill walking in the heavy boots (although, as Israel pointed out, it probably would have made more sense at this point to go back down and start again....) -
Then, once you've reached the top of the little hill, you look up to make sure no kamikaze (more experienced) skiers are facing your way and you cautiously start coming down the hill (by the way, what I'm trying to do in these pictures is the famous "snow plow") -
As you're going down you have to relax, pick your head up and look where you're going, put pressure on your left leg when you want to go right and on your right leg when you want to go left, and try not to go too fast (as if you actually have control over this) so you can stop at the bottom of the little hill.... All against your better instincts, which means that about 90% of the time you end up falling in the snow.... and then you start again. During this exercise you discover muscles you didn't know you have. Surprisingly, I wasn't cold, even though it was about -4 most of the time during the day. Probably the effort and the warm clothes made it possible for me to bear the cold.
I don't have a picture of me falling, but trust me, I fell, many times, although Israel claimed (rather gallantly, I thought) that I was actually not too bad, for a beginner. A guy in my beginners group pointed out that it's hard being used to doing things well and suddenly be in a situation where you're so clumsy... Still, I enjoyed myself tremendously. Definitely something I'd like to try again.
Below, you can see pictures of Israel and me, and on the right, Philipa, Israel and Ribak near our apartment. They, of course, went zooming down all the mountains in the vicinity, which I understand are great. I wonder what they're like in the summer?!
In the evening you rest your weary muscles -
and prepare your well deserved dinner. Israel devised a great way to cut onions....
and then you start on your way back to Milan (Courchevel is actually not that far from Italy, quite close to the border between the countries, but it took me 12 (!) hours to get back. In the pictures below, waiting for a bus that never came, I was still not too frozen.
Later on, waiting for 40 min. for another bus i got rather cold as the Brits would say, couldn't really feel my toes.... on the way from Chambery to Geneva they suddenly announced that the train couldn't get into the station in Geneva and were getting us prepared for a long wait. Somehow, though, we arrived in time for me to catch the train to Milan. Arriving back, I discovered that it had snowed quite heavily in the north of Italy and in Milan - which is rare (the Milan bit). The traffic in the city was moving very slowly and went on moving even slower the next day when more snow fell... I ended up walking to work the next day because no tram came and there was no way I could drive the car to work - the roads were covered with snow and like in Jerusalem - they were not really prepared for this here.
I had my camera with me on this walk and here are some pictures I took during my small hike to work, the dog in the picture on the bottom right planted himself in the snow and wouldn't move, his owner said he doesn't like to go out generally but he seems to like the snow...:
Going home that same day was a bigger endeavour since the snow had turned into ice in some places and in other places there were huge puddles to negotiate. I was standing at some point on a small hill of snow at the curb trying to figure out how I'd jump over a puddle and not break my head landing on some ice on the other side when an old man looked at me and said - this is what we get for voting for Moratti (the city's mayor)....
I'll leave you with a picture of two trams in the snow in Milan.... Hope you liked my descriptions of winter in Europe. Hope you're warm wherever you are.
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