January & February 2015c
1st Ski Day! Sunny and cold and we could have done with a bit more snow - but it was still amazing. Gressoney, Italia 30 dicembre 2014 |
| 2015 is off to an amazing start. We love to ring in the new year with a ski day but there has been no new snow in the Alps...however a little too much snow for a trek. It's sunny and freezing in Milan and since we have never been to Cinque Terre we decided to visit and do the hike. It was such a perfect, lovely, unseasonably balmy gorgeous day on the coast. Like bit of summer in the middle of winter. December sun is magical. We lost the light so didn't make it to all 5 of the villages another time... . Monterossa al Mare | Vernazze | Corniglia | Cinque Terre, Italia 2 gennaio 2015 |
| . . When in Rome... You can't come to Liguria and not have trofie al pesto and crisp local white wine BluMarlin Cafe, Vernazze |
| . . Skiing with a selfie stick #silly |
| . Just cause we had never been before. Lugano, Switzerland 10 gennaio 2015 |
| . . Still not enough snow in the Alps and we had an appointment with the builder for the vacay house project and we needed to restock Drocco wine/ visit Elisa & Robby and it ended up being such a fun wine and cheese weekend. We had a lovely bottle of Nebbiolo and a huge cheese plate at L'Alternativa in Spigno Monferrato. Saturday first stop Drocco vineyard in Alba to say hi and buy wine. We had been to Barolo many years ago and this time we visited Marchesi cantina - had lovely cheese and barolo and a tour. Then we went o La Morra and had more cheese and barolo. It was heavenly. #deathbycheese Ski vacay Grindewald - hooray! Alba | La Morra | Barolo, Italy 17 gennaio 2015 |
| .Finally SNOW in the Alps! We hadn't been to Madesimo in a few years - it's can be super cold and crowded. But it wasn't crowded or too cold and it was sunny. PERFECT. Except Joe's ski popped off at the beginning of a lift so that was a silly kerfuffle trying to recover it. And then some dick stole my super darling all white Rossignol ski poles. Got new ones, but I am on the look out and if I find the person who has my old ones, even if it is a 9 year old, I will take them out. Madesimo, Italy 31 gennaio 2015 |
| . And it snowed and snowed. Hooray! Getting to the back side of Madesimo is like spotting a unicorn. The gondola only runs - every other weekend when the moon is full and there isn't an avalanche risk. I exaggerate, but in all the years we have lived in Italy, I have never been over there for that very reason. Finally, the stars were aligned, the gondola line wasn't going on for days and we went...and I never wanted to come back. The runs were wide and amazing but everyone was off piste - which just gave us more room to ski and carve! It's a huge, open, south facing, bowl. We couldn't resist and went off piste too. A lot of pictures, not posted, of us ass over tea kettle in powder. It was fun until you tried to get up or put your skis back on. :D It felt like heaven. Feb: Grindewald for ski vacay. March: Bracknell for work and I get to see Kerry, hooray! Sofia Bulgaria- Q time with our leadership team Val di Lei :: Madesimo, Italy 7 February2015 |