Skiing the Alps

Woke up early Friday (actually, an hour earlier than necessary) to go to the Train Station. Train to Gryon was quick and quiet. Once in Bex, we traveled to Gryon via Cog Train--it was exciting.

We checked into our Hostel around 10. They call it Chalet Martin. It was an enjoyable place that was packed with Australians (did anyone know that Friday was Australia Day?). We took the Cog Rail even further up to Villars and rented skis and hopped on a Gondola to the top of the mountain.

Skiing was decent enough. We were able to drink some Vin Chaud at the top of the mountain (hot wine). Shortly after, one of our group tore up her knee pretty bad and needed a bit of assistance from the SOS. That put a dent in our day. We left shortly after that and returned to the Hostel.

Dinner was Tuna, Nutella, and Bread. We hung out with the Aussies a bit and took an Australia Quiz (apparently Eliane Bettis was not the first person to say "Maybe the dingo ate your baby").

Next morning started with a train ride back to Bex and then to St. Maurice. We were searching for some Thermal Pools but the bus schedule was so screwy (very different than the normal, punctual buses of Switzerland) that we decided to hike up to a little Church on top of a cliff called Chapelle du Scex. Supposedly it was 1600 steps up to the Chapel on the edge of a cliff. Quite intimidating but very beautiful once we got to the top.


The climb back down was very scary. Ice was melting and crumbling down on top of us. Oh well.

After returning to the Hostel, we went out to dinner with a few chaps from Boston University (who are staying in Geneva as well). I had some Escargot with Zach and then a Thai Beef salad. Fun times. The rest is history--only providence can judge us from here.

A Beintôt