Delinquent

So sorry that I've been a bit MIA. Things have been a bit crazy between work and my ever budding social life.

I met up with a bunch of Expats for St. Pat's last weekend. We went over to Covent Garden and enjoyed SEVERAL Guinesses. I truly believe the Guiness tastes better over here. It is much smoother than back in the US. In the evening, we wandered over to the Sports Cafe to catch some second round March Madness games. Watching the games over here just isn't as exciting as back home. The Sports Cafe not only featured the NCAA games but also Rugby and Cricket. It was weird not having the whole pub cheering over one game. Oh well, a new (and different) experience.

This weekend has been filled with all sorts of craziness. I went to a friends house to get my hair highlighted (a friend of hers works at a salon) where we proceeded to enjoy several coctails before hitting the Clapham High Street with our new hair. It was a riot. At 2am I realized I had missed the last tube and did the drunken shuffle home. I woke up at 10am Saturday feeling like TRASH. I had all sorts of errands to run but didn't make it outside until I met another friend to see "Wicked the musical" that evening. Great show! I loved the music, sets and story; I will have to buy the CD. Today was spent shopping near Clapham Junction and Putney High Street and trying to catch up on the errands I should have been doing yesterday. Now, I'm home and cold chilling for the evening. (We had daylight savings time today so I will be in bed before too long).

Back for more before you know it.
B-

Ski Pic

This is "zee techno bar" where we would meet for a drink (or two) and possibly my favorite site at Val. The techno was amazing and all zee crazy Euro fun boyz were a riot to watch.

This a picture of me at Val d'Isere. Please note the lack of trees (or anything green) and how hip I look on my snowboard.

(Did someone say "orange on a stick" with that darn helmet on?)

What a week...

Whew, I am exhausted. I returned to London late last night after a solid week of snowboarding in Val d'Isere, France. It was wonderful; not only are the French Alps simply beautiful but it was great to spend a week with old (and new) friends.

I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland last Saturday and was greeted by Brian and Pete, friends from Princeton, and other military friends of Pete's. After a 3 hour drive through the twisting switchbacks of the Alps, we arrived in Val. It is a beautiful little town surrounded by some of the most amazing views I've ever seen. Skiing in the Alps is different than in the US. You spend a lot of time traversing between runs (not fun for a snowboarder) and you spend your days above tree line. The open expanse of snow covered peaks and valleys was breathtaking.

I guess living in Colorado an hour away from the slopes has me a bit spoiled. In CO, you have two types of weather: snowy and sunny or sunny. Val isn't quite the same. Several days were extremely foggy to the point that one day you couldn't see beyond 5 feet in front of you. It was rather scary. I even went "off piste" into some large area where you shouldn't ski. I ended up crawling out on hands and knees with the help of a French family. With all that fog it was difficult to see where you were going OR know which way is up.

Probably one of my favorite events occurred after the hard day of skiing. There was one area that had a techno bar filled with people each day at 4pm. It was great to see "zee fun boys" tearing it up to some hard core techno music. I always made sure to get in a beer or two before heading all the way down.

Beyond the riding and drinking, I spent one day in the room with the flu and still have some recovery to go. It sucks being sick on vacation, but I wasn't about to let it keep me down.

This trip gave me the itch to keep on traveling. Now I just need to figure out how to fit work in somewhere. Ah well, I didn't come to Europe to sit in an office.

I have pictures from Val forthcoming, I will share in a bit. Peace!