Saturday, March 17, 2007
Courchavel, Wicked, and Spring
Seems my blog has been demoted to a once a month effort. I don’t know where all the time goes but I think I have been a little bit lazy lately, partly because all of the sudden I have pretty bad hay fever in London. I am still SO glad it is spring and now light at 6 and not dark till 6:30. YEA!
I went to the musical Wicked the week before I went to Courchavel and it was great. The young lady who plays Elphaba (the wicked witch) has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. You can tell she is really holding it back most of the time because when she turns up the volume and intensity, it is almost too much. The costumes, makeup, and staging were just too cool. The flying monkeys, the ones that always gave me nightmares as a kid watching the Wiz of Oz, were really great. The costumes when they first go to the Emerald City were my favourite. The story has little bits and clues to the movie but is not the same at all. Of course maybe you already knew that. I didn’t find myself walking out humming the tunes but I totally enjoyed the show.
Returned from skiing in Courchavel, France (French alps 2 hours from Geneva) last weekend. I spent a week in a ski in/ski out chalet on the La Tania side of the mountain. Courchavel is HUGE with tons of open bowl skiing. The snow was good and it snowed twice while I was there. I didn’t get my dream of a “real” powder day but the last day was pretty close. I did ski off piste most the day on the last day. I do love the way skiing is like riding a bike in that you can always go back to where you left off in terms of ability. I was mostly limited by my endurance and I was exhausted at the end of each day.
The chalet is the way to go. We had two chalet hosts that laid out breakfast and would make you hot breakfast items if you wanted each day. When we returned from skiing there was always “tea” ready to be enjoyed with a fresh cake and other snacks. Each night we had a huge dinner. The food was great and the wine was flowing. The chalet hosts, young Scot and English couple, have one night off when you go out to dinner. I loved coming home from skiing all day and knowing I didn’t have to go anywhere except upstairs to the dinner table. That was really great!
Courchavel is in the Savoire area of the French alps which actually used to be its own country. It has a very strong Swiss influence with heavy emphasis on cheese and potatoes in the local cuisine. There is a local cheese called Beaufort that is absolutely delicious and not like you would think of a French cheese at all. It is a hard cheese with a Swiss likeness but more robust and a rather nutty flavour. It melts very nicely in an omelet which I had for lunch on the mountain more than once. YUM!
I achieved my goal of skiing, eating, and drinking wine…in that order…and not much else. A very nice way to spend a way of holiday time.
Spring has sprung in London and I saw a street lined with Saucer Magnolias in full bloom the other day. This week was spectacular with clear blue skies and warm temps. It is supposed to get cold again today.
The spring equinox is only a week away. I had the good fortune of seeing the total eclipse of the moon the night before I went to Courchavel. It is called the blood moon because the moon looks red and it had special meaning to the ancient Celts. It is rarely seen in the UK due to cloud cover but on that night the sky was perfectly clear and lunar eclipse was a big red ball in the sky. Good stuff.
Cheers!
I went to the musical Wicked the week before I went to Courchavel and it was great. The young lady who plays Elphaba (the wicked witch) has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. You can tell she is really holding it back most of the time because when she turns up the volume and intensity, it is almost too much. The costumes, makeup, and staging were just too cool. The flying monkeys, the ones that always gave me nightmares as a kid watching the Wiz of Oz, were really great. The costumes when they first go to the Emerald City were my favourite. The story has little bits and clues to the movie but is not the same at all. Of course maybe you already knew that. I didn’t find myself walking out humming the tunes but I totally enjoyed the show.
Returned from skiing in Courchavel, France (French alps 2 hours from Geneva) last weekend. I spent a week in a ski in/ski out chalet on the La Tania side of the mountain. Courchavel is HUGE with tons of open bowl skiing. The snow was good and it snowed twice while I was there. I didn’t get my dream of a “real” powder day but the last day was pretty close. I did ski off piste most the day on the last day. I do love the way skiing is like riding a bike in that you can always go back to where you left off in terms of ability. I was mostly limited by my endurance and I was exhausted at the end of each day.
The chalet is the way to go. We had two chalet hosts that laid out breakfast and would make you hot breakfast items if you wanted each day. When we returned from skiing there was always “tea” ready to be enjoyed with a fresh cake and other snacks. Each night we had a huge dinner. The food was great and the wine was flowing. The chalet hosts, young Scot and English couple, have one night off when you go out to dinner. I loved coming home from skiing all day and knowing I didn’t have to go anywhere except upstairs to the dinner table. That was really great!
Courchavel is in the Savoire area of the French alps which actually used to be its own country. It has a very strong Swiss influence with heavy emphasis on cheese and potatoes in the local cuisine. There is a local cheese called Beaufort that is absolutely delicious and not like you would think of a French cheese at all. It is a hard cheese with a Swiss likeness but more robust and a rather nutty flavour. It melts very nicely in an omelet which I had for lunch on the mountain more than once. YUM!
I achieved my goal of skiing, eating, and drinking wine…in that order…and not much else. A very nice way to spend a way of holiday time.
Spring has sprung in London and I saw a street lined with Saucer Magnolias in full bloom the other day. This week was spectacular with clear blue skies and warm temps. It is supposed to get cold again today.
The spring equinox is only a week away. I had the good fortune of seeing the total eclipse of the moon the night before I went to Courchavel. It is called the blood moon because the moon looks red and it had special meaning to the ancient Celts. It is rarely seen in the UK due to cloud cover but on that night the sky was perfectly clear and lunar eclipse was a big red ball in the sky. Good stuff.
Cheers!
# posted by Joy and Blues @ 8:01 am 
