Skiing in Switzerland

This week was full of more "firsts" for myself and Ron. We travelled to mainland Europe, we saw the Swiss Alps, skied and snowboarded and took a train through the Switzerland countryside all for the first time. It was an absolutely breathtaking and scenic way to spend our Valentines Day, and we're excited to share all of it with you now! 

​On Sunday we took a flight from Newcastle to Geneva, where we were submerged into a completely unfamiliar world. As we've only ever been in predominantly English speaking places before, it was quite different to see signs and hear announcements in another language! Because Geneva is in western Switzerland, the primary language was French (however there's also a lot of German in the country). We followed the crowds & signs out of the arrival gate and down to the train station. Everything went surprisingly smoothly considering the circumstances! We took a train from Geneva airport along the beautiful Lake Geneva shore to Martigny (pronounced 'martin-ee').

In Martigny, we switched trains and headed to nearby Les Marecottes (pronounced 'Le Merry-cot'), a small ski village tucked up in the Swiss Alps. This train actually went straight up into the mountains, at a nearly 45-degree angle, which was such a cool experience! Les Marecottes is such a cozy little village, and the buildings were all so beautiful that we had to take lots of photos! 

We arrived in the village and checked into our lodge, the Hotel Aux Mille Etoiles (pronounced 'mill-eh-twah"), which was an absolutely perfect mountain setting for our trip! The inside of our room felt like a cozy cottage with wood panelling. 

The gondola lift and ski equipment rental store were both right next door to our lodge, so we were able to get started right away. Ron's not a fan of heights, so he wasn't too happy about the lift... but nonetheless we rode up each morning to the higher mountain village of La Creusaz, which had absolutely stunning 360-degree views of the mountaintops! The weather was also very mild for our trip; the air was still with very little wind, even on top of the mountain! And we did not see a single cloud in the blue sky during our whole stay. 

And then there was the skiing! We started off a bit rough on Monday, but quickly learned our slope legs. I chose to only ski, while Ron decided to learn snowboarding. We found out that these slopes are actually more intermediate-to-advanced level, so we were pretty proud of how well we did as beginners! We had one brief panicked moment where Ron slid off the edge of a narrow trail, and I thought I'd lost him! He'd actually sunk straight into the snowbank beside the trail, so he popped right back up a moment later with his goofy grin. We both had our share of wipeouts, but luckily were able to walk away without any injuries!

On Monday night we had some traditional Swiss dinner at the lodge; potatoes with pickles & onions and a melted cheese topping. We were told the cheese was made in that very village! And then on Tuesday night, for our Valentine's Day dinner, we enjoyed a heart-shaped baked mushroom appetizer, some very tender veal with veggies, and a fluffy passionfruit mousse for dessert. At least, that's what we were told it was! The menu was all in French :) Everything was fantastic, although we should probably also mention that food prices in Switzerland are quite high! It was a good thing we had brought meals to eat in our room for the other nights. 

Despite some bruises (and perhaps bruised egos), we made it home safe and sound eager to take another mountain trip again soon. We also brought home a few new French phrases that we needed to learn, as so many people we encountered didn't speak much English: 

Désolé je ne parle pas français = Sorry I don't speak French
Parlez vous English? = Do you speak English?
Merci = thank you
Bonjour = hello
Cafe = coffee
Gare = train station

Needless to say, we will be taking some language classes before our next international trip!