Skiing in the Alps (Part 2)

We loved Les Houches so much, that we went back for our third and final day.  The weather cooperated nicely and gave us a gorgeous Christmas Day.  

A big thanks to my talented sports photographer and his backward skiing capabilities.

Donovan and I shared a plate of spaghetti and some red wine for Christmas dinner.  Not exactly traditional, but tasty nonetheless!  

A great way to wrap up 2011 and hopefully we'll be able to get in some more good skiing soon!

Skiing in the Alps (Part 1)

For our first day on the slopes, we headed to Argentiere, on the north side of the valley.  The weather was perfect...we were on the shady side of the mountain most of the day but it was still comfortably warm.  Also, it was a nice clear day, so the views from the top were incredible.  Can't beat skiing in the Alps!  Or snowboarding, in my case.

For our second day of playing in the snow, we moved to Les Houches at the opposite end of the valley.  This ski area is home to the famous Kandahar World Cup downhill race.  This year the race will be in the beginning of February, so we may head back to partake in the festivities.  

...to be continued in part two...

Snowy Chamonix

The drive from Switzerland to Chamonix was a bit of an adventure.  Since we were coming in to the valley from the French side (versus the Italian side) we had to drive over the mountain instead of through the tunnel.  This route turned out to be an exciting ride for us due to the large snowfall the night before.

We drove through several little villages that looked quite picturesque with all the snow.

And then we were stopped in a long line of cars waiting for them to clear the road.  Donovan likes to believe the road was closed due to an avalanche, but it was probably just a lot of snow.

A couple hours later, we were back on our way with a freshly-plowed road to drive on.

After the lovely drive we had a wonderful evening exploring downtown Chamonix and introducing ourselves to French food with a big pot of cheese fondue.  And then it was back to the hotel to rest up for our first day of skiing.  

Our Christmas Celebration

Hello again everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  Donovan and I are back home after a fabulous several days in Chamonix, France.  We had three good days of skiing/snowboarding, wandering around downtown, eating amazing overpriced food, and enjoying being in the mountains and snow.  I'm still going through the hundreds of pictures we took, but I will have some to share soon!

For now, here's a glimpse at our own little Christmas celebration.  We spent Christmas Day hitting the slopes, and dinner that night consisted of a baguette, salami, and cheese.  So once we got home we wanted to do something a little more special.  And after traveling for almost two weeks, it was really nice to be back in my own kitchen.

Donovan requested Potatoes Au Gratin and I was more than willing to indulge in some guilt-free creamy goodness.  If there's ever a time to cook with cream, it's Christmas.

And of course, Christmas dinner would not be complete without a ham.

To make it somewhat balanced, we added some green beans and called it a meal!

Donovan, you're at a 10.  We need you at a 6.

After our enthusiastic dinner, it was finally time to open gifts.

There's nothing better than tearing off the wrapping paper to discover a Crate & Barrel box (thanks Mom!).  Unless of course, you're opening a new pair of boots.  And especially if they pass the smell test.

My new boots didn't require a smell test.

And now I'm off to enjoy some delicious leftovers.  I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures of our skiing adventures!

Merry Christmas!

If we thought yesterdays snow was awesome, today was even more legit.

We woke up to a pretty decent snowstorm, although a few hours later it was back to blue skies.  Probably for the best, since we're driving five hours to Switzerland tomorrow, but this makes us excited for skiing soon!  

Like I said, tomorrow Donovan has his last check-up on his eyes, and then we leave Ramstein Air Base and head to Lake Geneva for a night.  Then it's on to Chamonix where we'll spend Christmas.  Unfortunately we won't have internet again until we're back home, so I'll be unable to blog again until after Christmas.  So expect plenty of pictures once we're home!  

In the meantime, we hope you all have a fabulous Christmas!  

a little snow

We're still here in Germany, and this morning we woke up to a dusting of snow.  It's not much, but it's still the first time we've seen fresh snow in awhile.

We've been taking it easy the last few days while Donovan's eyes heal up.  He still can't see perfectly, but he's feeling pretty much back to normal now.  We have a couple more days here until Donovan has his last appointment to make sure everything looks good, and then we're off to start our real vacation.  We're very excited to explore a couple more countries, as well as hopefully get some skiing/snowboarding in.  Can't wait to ski in the Alps!  

PRK complete!

Donovan's eyes have been successfully lasered!  The procedure went smoothly and he was in and out amazingly quickly.  He was only on the operating table for about four minutes.  In his own words, he describes the experience as "bzzzd, bzzzd, bzzzd, bz, bz bz, bzzzzzd."  He came out feeling great, thanks to the Valium and numbing solution, but unfortunately that wore off pretty shortly and the stinging sensation set in.

Poor guy.  Needless to say, we're spending the rest of the day taking it easy with the lights off.

Driving Through Northern Italy

Hello from Germany!  We're here at the lovely Ramstein Air Base ready for Donovan to have his eyes lasered tomorrow.  Yesterday was a long day of driving through the Alps to get here, but we had some fantastic scenery to look at.

Driving out of Vicenza, we noticed that the mountains even had some fresh snow.   We were worried there wouldn't be much snow for skiing, but hopefully this is a good sign!

Our drive took us through northern Italy and Austria before getting to Germany, so we saw a lot more snow.  The Italian Alps are gorgeous to drive through!

For lunch we stopped at a McDonalds right on the Austrian border.  Every time Donovan goes to Germany for training, he comes home raving about this particular McDonalds, and I finally got to see what he was so excited about.  It wasn't really the food, it is McDonalds after all, but rather the incredible view.

Best McDononalds I've ever been to!

I'll be sure to update you all tomorrow after Donovan's surgery to let you know how he's feeling!

A Little Holiday Baking and Christmas Plans

It's finally beginning to look a little like Christmas around here.  Although we could use a little snow.  Oh, and a tree.  But other than that we have the holiday spirit going strong.  The big project over the weekend was making Christmas treats to share with Donovan's platoon....roughly 40 guys.  I kept it simple with caramel corn, puppy chow, and cookies, but still, that's a lot of puppy chow!

And now, Donovan and I are getting ready to head to Germany tomorrow.  Donovan will be getting PRK done on his eyes so we'll be there for a little over a week.  We're very excited to see the area and check out some Christmas markets if we can.  Our time there also overlaps with block leave, so we're adding on some vacation days after Donovan gets his eyes zapped.  First stop is Lake Geneva in Switzerland for a night, then on to Chamonix where we'll spend Christmas.  We're hoping to do some skiing in Chamonix, but that will depend on how Donovan feels and if he can see anything.  Even without skiing, it will be a gorgeous place to spend Christmas.  We can't wait!

Istanbul Day 3 - the Basilica Cistern

For our last major site to see, we went to the Basilica Cistern.  The Cistern is an underground chamber the size of a cathedral that was initially used to provide water to the nearby palace.  The vaulted ceiling is held up by 336 marble columns, which have now been nicknamed the "forest of columns."  When walking inside, it does indeed feel like a column forest.

This turned out to be the highlight of everything we saw in Istanbul.  The water was filled with fish, which was a bit of a surprise.  Also attesting to the coolness factor, there was a James Bond movie filmed here.  Gotta love James Bond.  

Istanbul Day 2 - the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia

Our second day (or first full day) in Istanbul we hit up two of the more popular things to see...the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.  We got a fairly early start, mostly thanks to the call to prayer waking us up around 5:30, but after a few cups of Turkish tea we were ready to face the day.

From the outside, the Blue Mosque looks like all the other mosques in town.  It is referred to as "blue" because of the blue tiles used in the interior.  

Beautiful, but very hard to get decent pictures inside!  And while neither of us were overly impressed, it was still a neat experience to go inside a mosque.  We had to take off our shoes and the ladies were supposed to cover their hair with a scarf, although the latter wasn't enforced at all.  

Next up on the Turkey tour was Hagia Sophia, or Aya Sofya, depending on which language you want to go with.  This one was way more interesting, possibly because I studied it was back when in an art history class and at the time never thought I'd get to see it in person.  Hagia Sophia started out as a basilica, then became a mosque, and now is strictly a museum.  It is massive, and even though the outside is fairly unpretentious, the inside is stunning.

Once inside, we lamented not having a tripod for the zillionth time, but balancing the camera on the railings got us a few decent shots.  

Hagia Sophia is also home to some incredible gold mosaics.

And, it is also the proud owner of some viking graffiti.  Way to go vikings.

Sorry for the super blurry photo :(

And that was our day!  By this point we are absolutely in love with Istanbul, even though it's a little annoying to have someone trying to sell you a carpet on every corner.  All part of the experience!