A Swiss Wonderland

Trip Start Dec 28, 2009
1
5
Trip End Jan 17, 2010


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Flag of Switzerland  , Vaud,
Saturday, January 9, 2010

WOW the Swiss are efficient! We first discovered this when we saw a countdown for when our baggage would arrive out of the carousel.  We then boarded a train from Zurich to Villars with a couple changes in between. This took us through a winter wonderland, with snow everywhere with iced vines and trees sparking in the sunlight.  Both Col and I were a bit nervous about our first taste of this 'all inclusive package', as we have never tried this before, but this was to be a holiday of firsts.  It was snowing when we arrived and we were very pleased to find out that our hotel was right near the station.  Our home for the next 7 days was to be at Club Med Villas-sur-Ollon, in a superb old Palace.  We were given our ribbons which would be our ‘in’ for everything on offer for the next week and shown our room.  After organizing our ski lessons, passes and skis we headed off to the bar (a place we would come to know very well in the next few days). 

Fortune had us go to the orientation meeting (another first, as this is something I would normally shun) we were divided up into our various languages and our advisor was Vicky, a lovely English girl
Wendy Skiing Day 2
Wendy Skiing Day 2
.  We had dinner with her and a few more drinks in the bar, along with the line dancing, which we would soon realise was a staple at the resort. 

After breakfast on our second day, we met with our group, the number one group, the beginners group.  We were quite a diverse bunch with two Frenchies, an Israeli, two Belgium girls, an Italian, a Spanish girl and us.  Our instructor was to be Cedric, an eccentric character with a bristling moustache and a passionate love of the local, white wine.  Our first day of skiing included the basics, how to put them on, how to walk in a circle, how to snow plough, and of course, how not to look bested by a 4 year-old.  We only made it to the slopes on the second day of skiing and after that our days were rather similar, wake-up, have breakfast (the only meal we managed to eat in moderation), meet Cedric, go up the mountain, ski, have a mid-morning glass of wine, ski, have a couple drinks and lunch on the slopes, ski, have a couple drinks back at the hotel, steam room, sauna and swim, nap, have some drinks in the bar, dinner, watch a show or play poker (I won), some more drinks and then normal and line dancing in the bar. 

On the last skiing day we had with Cedric we managed to go down our first blue slope (Fabiano, Col and I).  It was a slope I remember looking at on the first day in the mountains and thinking that here was no way I could manage to survive a trip down it.  On the Friday we met up with Patricia and Dieter on the slopes (Dieter pulling me up off the slope, in fact).  This proved to be superb, I skied slowly with Patricia and Col tried to keep up with Dieter.  Col actually managed a red slope with some coaxing.  Our last morning saw us exploring the town of Villars, a place we will return to!         

       
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