Allison's Wonderland

Our last morning in Venice couldn't have been more perfect. Jen and I were exhausted the night before (just view the terrible picture) but we were ready to hit the town again bright and early in the morning. The sun was shining the birds were chirping and no sign of Creeper Creeps. :) We were all packed and ready to go. Fortunately for us we packed light and since checkout was at 11 and our train was leaving at 11:50 we decided to carry all of our crap with us. We each only had a back pack so it wasn't too awful. Our breakfast consisted of the usual and we had a nice little table mate who was Austrian and a Photographer. He spoke pretty decent English so I figured I'd try and make a friend. He was very kind, and he also talked just like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Austrians. :)

Jen and I checked out of the hotel and headed to the water taxis. We definitely made sure to hop on Route 1 this time in order to go the entire way down the canal to San Marco's Square. We're learning little travelers. Once I got on the boat there was this Indian man sitting in the front of the boat by himself were Jen and I were. The minute we got there he asked my name, where I was from, what I was doing in Venice, where I was staying...etc. He. Creeped. Me. Out. Strangers don't normally do that. You work your way into a conversation. Ya gotta be suave! He then wanted me to take a picture with him, or of him, or something. I tried to ignore because I wanted to see the sights of the canal from the canal! I thought he was going to go all the way to San Marco's but thank goodness he didn't. WHEW!



Once we got off the boat we headed straight for the bell tower. Yesterday the line was out the wazoo but Jen and I got there around 9 and didn't have to wait hardly at all. We paid the 8 Euros to go to the top and in the mean time we met a lovely couple from Stratford-Upon-Avon. If you don't know where that is, it is the supposed home of Mr. William Shakespeare in the exotic country of the United Kingdom. So cool! I loved their little British accents. The view from the top was absolutely breath taking and I would pay the 8 Euros all over again to see that view. That was the absolute end of my money though. I think I may have had 40 cents. I don't like being without cash, but what's a girl to do? Jen and I did't have much time to spend in San Marco's as we had to catch our train to Milano, from Milano to Savona, and then Savona to Mondovi. It cost us about 56 Euro but thankfully we paid for that yesterday. I knew I was going to run out of money! We had to switch trains twice.Yuck. I was paranoid we would miss the first one and then that would throw the whole day off. The Milan train station was absolutely gigantic. I'm surprised we didn't get lost, but I really am getting better at this traveling thing. We video recorded fake commercials to past the time on the train, and let me say we got some gems. Renato was kind enough to pick us up from the train station, otherwise who knows how we would've gotten home.



My last day with Jen, my friend Anne picked us up and we went and saw the sights of Mondovi. The sights of Mondovi can probably take you two hours tops so it was perfect. We of course had to stop and get a coffee and brioche. We also went to the upper town of Mondovi where there's a gorgeous view. Anne and Jen got yelled at because they went in this church that was under obvious renovation. I think they're just rule breakers. I stayed outside like a good girl, but the guy that yelled at them kind of yelled at me too even though I wasn't doing anything wrong. Afterwards, we got some shopping done in Mondovicino which is pretty much an Outlet mall. Jen bought a shirt which was a good souvenir. We also visited the Lindt Outlet which is always a sweet treat. I don't think any of us actually bought anything, but whatever. The smell is good anyway. We got lunch at a little cafe and then it was time to say bye to Jen. Poor little thing, we had to drop her off at the train station at 4:00 when her flight didn't leave until 7:15 am the next Friday morning. There was no other way of getting her there, so she had to sit in the airport locked inside for awhile. I was kind of worried about her, but she made it out okay. She's a tough little cookie. It was a wonderful visit and I still can't believe that she actually came!!! It was so good to see a familiar face in such an unfamiliar world! :)

Day two in Venice.

Well not really since most of our day yesterday was spent on the train. Jen and I woke up pretty early and headed downstairs for some breakfast. No sign of Creeper Creep. WHEW! I had myself a croissant, Nutella, Orange Juice and another croissant with cheese. YUM! The reviews on Trip Advisor complained that the breakfast was terrible, but honestly I thought it was good. Jen and I both pocketed a croissant for later that afternoon. This was the tradition of Whitney, Jess and I on my first visit to Europe. Just a cheap little snack. We’re smart travelers like that.  We headed to the water taxi which supposedly goes down the Grand Canal and jumped on the first boat to San Marco Piazza. After a few minutes, I realized we had gotten on the wrong boat. I think it was just all the excitement that got me confused. This boat did not go down the Grand Canal, but instead went around by all the industrial buildings. Oh well. We met a nice couple from Manchester, and I chatted it up with them. I love English people. Especially in a country where they mostly speak Italian. Once we arrived in San Marco’s, Jen and I were completely in awe. There were people absolutely everywhere, but like I said before the energy in the place was out of this world! We each got our picture with this guy who was totally dressed up head to toe. I think he might have been American, because after I got my picture he said “Thank You” in a non Italian, or British accent. San Marco’s is absolutely amazing. Jen and I braved the line in to Basilica San Marco and were again in Awe.I think that is one word to describe our whole trip. Just pure and simple “Awe”. This church was gold and black and had onion shaped domes like the famous church in Russia. So cool. Once we were finished with our 15 minute tour of the church we headed out to the main square. Like I said there were people everywhere, but I think the pigeons may have outnumbered people. I absolutely HATE pigeons. They’re just gross birds. Yucky.



We wanted to go the bell tower, but the line for that place was out the wazzoo. So we decided against it. We pulled out our Lonely Planet Italy guide and decided on the Walking Tour of Venice. We crossed probably about 60 bridges in total because the canals are everywhere. I have never been to a more unique city. There are no cars allowed because there are no streets. Only narrow walkways and narrow canals. Many of the canals do not allow motorized boats. Just the little Gondolas. The only way to get around is to walk or take a boat. Jen and I walked over Ponte deAccademia and arrived at another church. We decided on a snack break there as it was about 1:00 and we pulled out our croissants and Nutella. Perfection. While we were at the end of the little island we saw this big grass/wooden bull being pulled out into the Grand Canal. Come to find out they were going to burn it on the last night of Carnevale which was today. We so wanted to see that. We walked along the streets a little further and decided to grab some Gelato at Da Nico’s. A recommendation from Lonely Planet. I decided on Tiramisu and Jen got Cookies and Cream. We wanted to sit on the dock overlooking the Island of Lido but when we sat at one of the restaurant's tables where we ordered, we were quickly instructed that there was a Service Charge to sit. AKA RENT. Whatever…so we got up and sat down on the concrete where it was free. REBELS!

We walked all over the place and I will say there were many times where we got lost. Our Manchester friends instructed us that we HAD to get lost in Venice. Not a problem. It was fun though. In all our wandering I found two awesome pins and two way cool masks for cheap. Jen also found some, so getting lost was definitely a good idea. We saw San Rocco’s Chiesa, and Chiesa etc. We saw LOTs of churches. They’re everywhere here. We finally made it to Rialto bridge which was our ending destination. It was stunning. There were people ALL over the bridge, but there were people all over everywhere. I liked it though because it made you feel pretty safe. I found this awesome store on the San Marco side of the bridge that had amazing jewelry for a decent price. I bought myself a bracelet. I needed a good souvenir just for me! Jen and I were getting super hungry and super tired. We probably walked a total of about 4 miles. On our way we had to take picks and some drunken guy wanted to get in our picture. He reeked! He also tried to do the side boob grab while in the photo and neither Jen or I let that one fly. Weirdo. Jen and I both had pizza on the brain. We found a little restaurant close to our hotel that didn’t charge you to sit and the Pizza guys were pretty cute and flirty. Guess what the specialty pizza was for the day? Pizza with Hotdogs and French fries on top. Yuck. Did not try that. We headed back to our room and guess who we ran into in the lobby? Creeper Creeps. SCAYEE!! We booked it to our room. We each had a little nap and freshened up for the night. We wanted to experience the Carnevale night to its fullest. Little did we know what was in store.

We started our night walk to San Marco’s square. Everyone was running around in costume and just totally nuts and drunk. Jen and I were totally sporting our new masks and wore them pretty much all day and all throughout dinner. We found a cozy little restaurant named La Venezia. It would’ve been really romantic if I hadn’t of been with Jen and was with a guy. HAHA….but Jen will just have to do. We both ordered the special which was Lasagna, Chicken and veggies. It was really pretty good. I liked it. I was again, NOT impressed with the service. I felt like we were a huge burden and since we weren’t some old couple they treated us like little kids. Venice, you do not rank very high on the world’s friendliest cities. Just saying. After our three course dinner we headed outside to make the trek to San Marco’s. By this time it was about 10:30 at night and I don’t think I realized how nuts it was going to get. We started walking and then our walking group became a mob. We made it to this square where it was absolutely nuts. It looked like a movie. People were everywhere dressed in masks. I grabbed hold of my pepper spray super quick just in case. If anything had happened, how would I explain it? “Umm…officer it was the guy with the mask?” Yeah. We make it to the square and I immediately grab Jen’s hand. It seriously was like a war zone. People were throwing wine bottles and beer bottles. One grazed my foot, but thankfully didn’t break. I turn Jen towards me and ask her if she really wanted to go see the burning of the bull. We both were like, umm…nope. Not if it costs us our lives. HAHA….so we started to head back. It was nuts just trying to cross the Piazza. Like I said. War zone. We were really close to the University too, so it was a bunch of University students who were nuts. Last night of Carnevale so I guess they had to either go big, or go home. Jen and I were gonna skip. Maybe if I had been in a bigger group of people I would’ve tried to go all the way to San Marco’s, but it just didn’t seem worth it.


We didn’t want to go straight back to our Hotel either because that would’ve been super lame, so we set out to none other then Casino de Venezia. We had free tickets so why not? The place was high security. We had to check in, they had to take our picture and no cameras or coats allowed. I felt completely out of my element. We went up the second floor where there were a bunch of high rollers who were wearing tuxedos and looking quite serious. The floor was pretty much completely silent as people gambled their money away. I’d be serious too. Jen and I walked around and took in the sights. After about 10 minutes we were bored so we left. Not big gamblers here. At this point it was about midnight so we made our way back to our hotel. No Creeper Creep in sight. Thank goodness. Ahh…bed never felt so good. We were a pair of worn out little gills!

You know how I was talking about not having a car creates many a problem? Well it almost made Jen and I miss the opportunity to go to where???? VENICE!! But guess what? We’re going!! We wanted to leave Sunday, but after careful consideration, and talking to quite a few people, there was not a way for us to get down the mountain from Prato Nevoso to the train station in Mondovi. So we decided to go Monday. We booked a hotel and had everything set. Jess Berg, one of the other Au Pairs has a car her family has allowed her to use and she agreed to take us to the station for 10 Euros. Sweet! After talking to Jess Sunday night though, the idea of her taking us sounded less and less likely. She wouldn’t be able to drive in the snow, and they were calling for snow that night. Also some idiot likes to park their car right behind hers in the parking garage so that she can’t get it out. So if that stupid car wasn’t there and if it didn’t snow then she could. That was too many ifs for me. I was starting to get really doubtful we would be able to make it down the mountain to catch our train at 09:05 am. So I had to find another means of reliable transportation. I messaged Anne on FB reluctantly because she was so kind to take me to the station before. I just didn’t want to keep asking her though. But I messaged her anyway. We were desperate.

After sitting and worrying for about an hour I decided to go upstairs and talk to Simona about the situation. Mattia has had a bad fever over the weekend and Simona’s parents are in town so I didn’t want to worry her with my problems. After talking to her she tells me the best news ever! She has to go to Cuneo in the morning for a meeting about a program that she’s heading up! Jen and I had a ride!! I was so happy. We actually were able to make the 07:42 train straight to Torino. That meant we had more time to explore. Even better news. Once we got to Torino Jen and I headed to a bar, got a Brioche and a Marracchino. My favorite. I think Jen liked it too. Afterwards we headed to Piazza San Carlo and went inside Chiesa Santa Cristina which was going through some serious restoration. It was pretty nonetheless and they had a beautiful painting of John the Baptist on the wall. Of course every church in Italy is covered in marble and this one was no exception.

After our little field trip, we headed back to Porta Nuova to catch our 49 Euro train to Venice. Yes! It was a Eurostar so it was pretty fast. Not like the terrible regional trains that stop at every single stop. We were able to just chill and relax on the train because it was a straight shot from Torino to Venezia Santa Lucia. Plus the bathrooms were free which was sweet! Who knew you had to pay to pee? I kind of think that’s rude. I was a little nervous about our accommodations when we arrived in Venice because I got the hotel room for 60 Euro’s on Priceline and all the reviews on Trip Advisor were WAAY negative. But it was only 60 euros a night which wa cheaper than one of the Hostels. Weird right?

We pulled into Venice at 03:40 pm not really knowing what to expect. When we got off the train there were stores with Masks everywhere. I mean it is Carnevale so I guess that is pretty normal. When we walked out of the train station we were greeted by the Grand Canal. It was absolutely beautiful. Even though the day was dreary it was still breathtaking. We headed out to find our Hotel which was called Universal & Nord. We turned the corner and there it was. Even if it was going to be crappy it was in an awesome location. Surprisingly the hotel wasn’t that bad. The guy who greeted us gave us a map and was super friendly. There was no elevator so we had to lug our bags up five flights of stairs. At least we packed light and each of us only had a backpack. You know, just backpacking our way across Italy. We got to our room where we had three beds and the room was boiling hot. I was about to die, but it was okay. We set out to see the sights and find some eats and maybe a souvenir or two along the way. The streets were way crowded and there was this amazing energy in the air. It was Carnevale in VENICE! I still can’t get over the fact that we were there. We walked and were accosted by many a vendor to buy their masks or their trinkets. Jen made me laugh because she asked one of the vendors if the mask was made of porcelain and he just looked at her like she was an idiot and answered, “Ceramic”. I mean it was only 1 euro so ya know…Jen found some seriously cool masks but I was holding out for something cheaper and better. By the time we were done shopping, the two of us were absolutely starved.

In Italy they don’t really eat dinner till around 8:30, but we were getting hungry at about 5:30. We walked around trying to find the perfect restaurant and ended up going to the first one we had passed, where the guy was super flirtatious. In all our walking we were hit on about three different times. Not trying to brag or anything, but itwas just so incredibly Italian. The restaurant boasted that there were seats on the Grand Canal, but we got stuck sitting in the front of the building with no view at all. The name of the place was Trattoria Povoledo and the guy who waited on us had some SERIOUS issues. He was pretty stinking rude. One nice thing about Italy is you don’t have to tip and even in the States where tipping is a HUGE deal, I would not have tipped thisguy. Jen got the spinach Gnocchi and I got the special which was some Pasta and Meat. Come to find out the meat was fried chicken and French fries. Oh how utterly Italian. Can’t you hear my sarcasm? I was kind of mad, but it was only 13 Euro which was better than most of the other prices. Jen’s food was out of this world though. She let me have a bite. What a good little friend.

Once we got the bill we figured out why you don’t have to tip. There’s a service charge of 2 Euro a piece just to sit at the table. I guess it’s kind of like rent. We had to pay to rent the table for an hour. I wonder what would’ve happened if we would’ve just stood? I’ll have to try that next time. After dinner we walked around some more and I bought myself a couple of pins. Gotta make my map look good ya know? Jen was also craving some gelato, so we had to satisfy that craving right away! Afterwards, we decided to just head back to the hotel and get some much needed shut eye considering we both knew we would have a long day tomorrow. We wanted to grab our computers and head down to the lobby for some internet because that was the only place you could get it. That’s when we ran into Creeper Creep. We were walking to our room and we passed this really shady dark looking guy with headphones in. After we passed him, he just stopped and stared to see which way we would turn. There was a mirror ahead of us so I could see everything the dude was doing. I grabbed Jen and told her our room was right when really it was left. She gave me a weird look and was like, “Its this way.” But I tugged her the other. I don’t want no Creeper Creep knowing where our room is! Dodged that bullet. Needless to say we did not go back down to the lobby and get on the internet. It was shower and then bed for this gill at like 10:00 at night. I’m turning into a little old bit!! Couldn't wait for the adventures to be had for the last day of Carnevale!

CARNEVALE!!! Its that’s time of year. Carnevale is a Venetian holiday which has spread throughout Italy. It’s kind of like Halloween where everybody dresses up, but without the spooky ghosts and witches. It’s less dark. My problem was coming up with an outfit. Jen had an awesome mask that she picked up in Colorado before she left, but I was stuck with zero, zip, nada. Me and some of the other Au Pairs decided we wanted to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that idea fell flat when we couldn’t find any costumes at all. We looked for gold dresses and green tights for about a week and found zilch. In the afternoon on Friday, Jen and I went walking around Villanova and I found this awesome mask for only 4.90. But Italians are like Mexicans in the fact that they have a siesta type thing. The shop was closed from 12:00-3:30. I’m not sure how anybody can run a business that way, but they do it here. So I didn’t get my mask because we had to pick up Mattia from school and I didn’t want to make him walk all that way with me just for a silly mask. Oh well. Saturday was the actual Carnevale holiday and Jen and I made our way up to Prato on Friday night with the Nonne and Mattia.

Saturday Jen and I decided to go snowboarding and skiing. Jen boarding and me on skis. I was hoping we would be able to borrow a snowboard for her, but that didn’t happen so Jen had to rent. We had a rough morning just with the fact we had to carry all my ski stuff down the hill to the bottom. Once we got there, I couldn’t get my skis on. Also we didn't have an ID for Jen to rent the snowboard, so the lady was so kin and just wrote our names on a piece of paper after I told her I was Simona's Nanny. The line for the lift pass was absolutely horrendous and then the line to get on the ski lift took us about 30 minutes just to get through. In all the madness of trying to get on the ski lift (if you’ve read my previous blog you’ll know just how much I love ski lifts) I lost a pole and the guy coming behind me had to get it for me. I have a problem getting on ski lifts and Jen has a problem getting off. Once we got to the top of the hill Jen kinda did a face plant and in trying to get her balance she grabs me making me almost fall down with her. Serious rough morning. All we wanted to do was ski/snowboard!!! Finally made it on the slope. Jen was having a little bit of difficulty with boarding just because she hadn’t done it in about two years. So I went down ahead and waited for her at the bottom. Once she made her way down her knees were really bothering her due to the incident in West Side Story several years ago, so we decided to take a break and grab some coffee and a brioche. Always a good idea.

Once we were finished, the line for the ski lift wasn’t too bad. I was feeling confident so I decided to do a more difficult run and meet Jen at the bottom again. Not sure how good of an idea that was. I was tooling along doing pretty good and then the slope got pretty steep and again I hit a big patch of fluffy snow. I seriously lost control of my legs and just started flying. My right ski somehow ended up over my left ski and I started going towards the edge where there’s just a drop off. So I tried to swerve back right. At this point I’m going super fast with one ski over the other and low and behold there’s like a 6 year old kid just up ahead. So I swerve left to try and miss him, but to no avail I side swipe the poor guy. I think I might have gotten him with my pole too. YIPES! Now I’m concerned about a kid I just knocked over meanwhile I’m still out of control. That’s when I hit another patch of fluffy snow and instead of the skis crossing over each other, they just fly right over my head. I wiped out like I had never done before. I wish I could’ve seen myself because I know I would’ve been pointing and laughing. I ate snow, which kind of tasted good because I was seriously thirsty. Once I finally stopped rolling, I looked back to see if the kid was alright. He seemed to be fine with no broken bones or anything. The kid's Dad was helping him up from the ground and giving me dirty looks. I kept yelling back, “Is he okay? Is he okay?” and then I just kept getting the looks. Oh well… the kid skied down to the bottom just fine. Once I got myself up, I was all twisted and I fell over again. I think that may be the last time I attempt that slope. I felt like the biggest idiot ever. Looked for Jen at the bottom because I thought she probably made it down before me. It was a beautiful day for skiing so I definitely could not complain. There was just WAY too many people out.

Once I got to the bottom after my terrible wipe out I look up at the other slope to see if Jen's coming down. I see her pink pants coming and I wave to her so she sees me. She's coming in pretty fast and starts going left toward the ski lift. She almost hits a guy standing in line, but she sits on her butt to avoid a collision. That's when she breaks the bindings of her rental snow board. Like I said, BAD morning. Haha...I'm really glad we went though and both of us had a good time. So worth it! The lady at the rental shop was super nice and didn't charge Jen extra or anything. Later that evening Jen and I got all dressed up and went and danced it all out. It was a really fun night and surprisingly there were not very many people dressed up. Glad I didn’t wear Simona’s Minnie outfit or Mattia’s Pirate Wig!!

You know what the problem is with being an Au Pair? You don’t have a car. One thing I miss from home is my little Toyota Yaris named Scuttle. I absolutely despise not being able to just jump in my car and go. Here I’m constantly having to rely on other people and it is difficult for me to do.

Besides that fact, little Jen has come to see me!! We found her a ticket from Denver, Colorado to Turin, Italy for only $589 bucks! She said if I could find her a ticket under 600 dollars she would come and guess what? I did! She booked it and now I had to go get her little butt from the airport. This is where the problem of not having a car comes in. Jen was arriving in Torino at 11:25 in the morning on the 16th. Simona had to work and take Mattia to school so she could not take me to the train station. So I phoned my friend Anne. Luckily, she was able to get me to the station at 8:40 in the morning. Unfortunately for me, I missed the 8:45 train and had to get on the 09:05 which didn’t leave me that much time. The train ride was about an hour and a half and I still had to catch a bus from who knows where to the airport. I mapped everything out the night before so I was seriously prepared, but sometimes you can’t plan for everything. I got off the train and was in a world I had never been in before. I was under the impression that you could take the metro into the airport station. Wrong idea. I bought my ticket for 1.50 went through the little ticket booth and stood there looking lost. I had written out the night before questions I might need to ask in Italian. I’m a smart girl! One being “Where do I get a train to the airport?” I found a nice little lady who in so many words told me that the Metro doesn’t go to the airport and she directed me to Saracchia Street or something like that to catch a bus. Then once I got there, I was lost again. So I asked a semi-nice looking Asian girl who when I asked her if she was going to the airport, gave me a look of death. I don’t know what she thought of me, but I’m sure I didn’t smell or anything. Maybe Torino is one of those places where people don’t talk to each other like in New York City. Whatevers. I then asked another woman and she pointed around the corner. Grazie little lady. So I got around the corner and guess what? Lost again. Where the heck was the bus to the airport? UGH! I then decided to go through the line of buses and ask every bus driver if they’re the bus to the airport.

Finally after bus number 3, I get a “SI”! Meaning “Yes this is the bus to the airport”. I wanted to hug the bald little bus driver. When I went to give him my ticket I had purchased at the Metro station he then told me that it was not the right ticket. I had to buy a different one. Oh crap waste of 1.50! He pointed in the direction of this coffee bar to buy one. So I got off the bus and ran fast to the bar because the guy told me I only had cinque minuti (5 Minutes). The lady there was the absolute rudest person I think I’ve met in Italy so far besides the lady who works at the Post Office in Villanova. She was on the phone the whole time and didn’t even acknowledge my presence. I started getting panicky because I thought she was going to ignore me for the next five minutes meaning my bus would leave without me. So I got up my big girl gumption and was like, “Hey you woman! Sell me a ticket!” Now it didn’t go quite like that, but that’s what I wanted to say. She sold me one and I jumped on the bus to get my gill. I got to the airport at 11:45 when Jen’s plane was supposed to arrive at 11:25. I waited for about 20 minutes with no sign of Jen. Then I got a call on my phone and guess who it was?!? Jennifer Gill! She was upstairs, and I was down. No wonder we missed each other. HA! I found her and gave her a big huge bear hug and we of course had to talk about life. We had an hour bus ride and an hour and half train ride so we were set. Lala was gracious enough to get us from the train station in Mondovi so we didn’t have to get on yet another bus. Grazie LALA!! Oh and I also was able to buy a Torino pin in the train station! SWEET! My total pin count is now up to 3. My map will be looking good when I get home! Can't wait for the next adventure Jen and I will go on!

Whoever invented Ski boots is a Sado-Masochist. Meaning a person who derives gratification by inflicting or receiving pain. Ski boots are seriously a nightmare and trying to walk up or down stairs in those things is awful. It took me about 20 minutes to get the silly things on and when I was done, it felt like I didn't have feet because my blood was no longer flowing to that region of my body. Anyway, I decided to go skiing yesterday because the morning was absolutely beautiful. Not too cold, blue skies, and the sun was shining. I get my boots on, which Valeria was so wonderful to let me borrow, and then grab my skis from the closet downstairs, which Simona let me borrow. I'm just a bum I guess.

I walk outside of the garage of our building and this is what I find. It's snowing, there is fog all over the mountain and it's freezing cold. Now I have a choice to make. Go back inside to the warm building and haul all of my stuff up to my apartment, or get on the slope. So, I decide to ski. Now I haven't been on skis in about three years so I was a tad bit rusty. I round the first little corner, hit a patch of really fluffy snow and fall over. My face was frozen and I just sat on the slope for like 5 minutes pondering the choice I had just made. Well there was no turning back now unless I wanted to ski to the road and walk back up in the ski boots that I love so much. So I get my bum up and ski to the bottom. Grab a pass for two hours, and head to the ski lift. I don't know what it is about the ski lift, but it always makes me nervous. I think it stems from the fact that when I first went skiing at like 12 years old I had a bad experience where I fell right in front of the seat and the guy had to turn off the lift for me. Everybody was pointing and laughing, and it was just an all around humiliating experience. Needless to say they always make me a tad bit nervous.

So I get up to where you enter the little area and I wait for the little gate to open. Well I'm not fast enough on the uptake so I kind of get stuck in between the gate opening and closing. I wiggle my way through it and almost get hit by one of the chairs. The guy operating the chair lift just looks at me and rolls his eyes like I'm the biggest idiot he's ever seen. I ended up getting a seat and I did not fall, so I was proud. I only went down like 3 or 4 times because I was freezing. I didn't have the little protective goggles. Only sun glasses and the wind was whipping my eyes so hard that tears were just streaming from my eyes. I had a good little time though with just me and myself. It was a bummer though because I had to pay an extra 5 euro for the lift pass and once you return it you get the 5 euro back. Well we live at the top of the hill so I wasn't about to return that pass and then walk home. Not sure if I'll see that five euro again. :(