Ski trip - Davos Day One

We're finally back from our ski trip to Davos, the one we started planning last year, the one that was mentioned in one of my very first posts on this blog. Well, it was exciting and dramatic ans so this may end up being the longest blog I've ever written. Or maybe it'll be a blog in two or three parts. Or maybe I'll get smart and finally blog brief. I think the best place to start is with the pictures.

We were booked on the7:05 flight from London, Luton to Zurich. Apparently ski-peeps are very familiar with this horror flight. It's early in the morning which is good but the problem is you have to be up and cracking at, well, the crack of dawn. We got up just after 4am after a hot and sleepless night. When we arrived at the airport, we walked through the revolving doors right beside Sameer's classmate Wiebke, who was on the same flight. So lala-lala-laa. Breakfast (divine cheese, roast beef, and salad sandwiches ala Lamiese), buying of earplugs and travel pillows and then more tossing and turning on a turbulent flight. We landed, walked towards the baggage conveyor thingy and through the window Sameer spotted Patrick, his Swiss classmate who had arranged the whole trip. Sameer and Wiebke dash for the window, waving and shouting "Patrick, Patrick!" Not that he could hear them through the glass. Also, random Swiss people who were also waiting there had that look on their faces, that "Huh? Me?" look. Anyway, it was a bit anticlimactic coz we had to wait and wait for the bags.

Anyway, we got them, said our helloes, hopped into Patrick's car, and went to pick up his fiance Florence. Then they took us on a scenic drive through Zurich, which even in gloomy winter was gorgeous. After ten minutes I turned to Sameer and said "That's it, we're back here in the summer!"

The city has this old, European feel to it though it is very modern also. It's built gentle hills around Lake Zurich (summer temperature of the water - 24 degrees!) and the River Limmat. Now, a couple weeks ago Sameer was talking about the muddy Thames and I said "Honey, all city rivers are muddy and brown like that". Well, I was wrong. The lake is blue and so is the river. When you drive over a bridge across the river, you look down and see the stones on the riverbed! I didn't get any good pictures coz we were moving and it just wasn't possible but really, Zurich. Wow. We have to go back!

So we drove, for about two hours. After we left the town we started to see snow on the sides of the roads, on trees and on mountain tops. It was a long drive until we got to Klosters, which we've only heard of because that's where the British Royal Family used to ski. And then we got to Davos.

According to Patrick Davos is not the cutest Swiss town, it's quite built up but it's relatively cheap, and there's lots to do in the evenings, which is why he picked it for the trip. So there we were driving around on the right side of the road (freaky) down these one way roads (to prevent congestion) between square, blockish buildings. We couldn't check in yet because it wasn't yet three so we decided to get our ski gear sorted out and go for a walk.

The ski shop was quite cool. Flippin expensive I must say, with all the googles, glasses, socks, gloves, hats, headbands, skis, poles, and boots. But we decided to go cheapo. Fortunately, we just needed to get the skis, poles, and boots. I lost my hat a few weeks ago so I needed a new one that covered my ears and I got a white and pink one. For gloves, I decided to just use my woolly mits. No way was I paying 60 Franks for gloves I was never going to wear again! Besides, it wasn't that cold.

Here's a picture of Sameer standing in a pile of snow with his gear. The boots are like those ice skates you rent at the ice rink, with the snappy clips on the front except they are about twice the size and three times as heavy. And uncomfortable, oh boy. Also, note how Sameer is carrying his skis. That's how you do it, over the shoulder with most of the weight behind you. Again, heavy and uncomfortable.

After we got the skis and boots, we went back to the hotel and put them in the "Ski Raum" - a room with racks and shelves where you can store your skis instead of taking them into the hotel with you. That would be really messy I think, with snow slush going everywhere. Of course it means you have to come downstairs on your socks, or take you boots upstairs with you, then clomp downstairs like Robocop to fetch your skis. (I'm not even kidding about the Robocop thing - seriously!)

Anyway, then we went for our walk, which was great because we got to see what the slopes looked like and got to actually get down into the snow. Here's me, with Florence on the left, and Wiebke and Brett (a friend of another MBA person) behind me on the right. Sameer is taking the picture. We went a bit mental I must say. But what can you do. Neither Sameer nor I had seen snow before, much less walked around in it and played with it!

So I think that's the end of part one, because after that we just met up with the rest of the MBA people who arrived and we went for dinner. Here are a few random pics we also took that afternoon.



This is a view of one of the slopes where they teach beginners and little, little kids. In the bottom left corner you can see a mum pulling her two little ones on a traditional wooden sled popular in this area.



This is Patrick showing me and Sameer an icicle that he'd pulled off from under a little bridge over a stream we walked past. As you can see, it was long and very sharp!



And one final picture. This one is of the area slightly away from the town. Apparently, in the spring, when all the snow melts, farmers bring their cows up to the mountains to graze, so there are lots of little barns and farming related buildings on the outskirts here.

And that's pretty much it for day one.