Italy 3

The top of the mountain

During breakfast this morning, everyone was talking about what we were going to do today. The original plan was for me to go skiing with Erik and Erika, but Barca said people were saying the weather was bad on the slopes. So my options were to go skiing with them anyway, go cross country skiing with Barca and her parents this morning and then into town, or just stay at the hotel.  At first I was going to go cross country, but then I decided that I’m probably going to only be in the Alps this one time, so I went downhill skiing.

Halfway up the hill...

These hills are crazy huge! Like, the one run from the top to the bottom is about 5 kms, I think.  But that was black (expert). I only went on blue runs today (beginner), because I haven’t skied a lot lately. I have only been once this year, and like once last year, and I don’t even know before that. But not a lot since we moved to Holton. So I’m a little rusty. Hence the easy runs.  One of the many things I like about skiing on huge hills…the lifts. You take off your skis, and they sit in this little thingy on the side of the lift. And then like 6 people can fit in the lift. And it had a floor, so your feet aren’t just dangling there, which is a major plus.

One of the runs

Oops, I need to back up. So I went skiing with Erik and Erika, and two other people from our group here. They all had skis already. Erika went with me to the rental place. And then I got my lift ticket. The lift tickets here are electronic. So you just put it in a pocket, and when you get to the lift, you put it near the sensor, and it lets you through. Very smooth.  So we had to carry all our gear to the lift, get it in and go. As we were going up, I was just thinking “How on earth am I going to get back down? I really must be crazy.” When I thought we were near the top, Erik said to me, “No, we are not getting off here. We are going all the way to the top.” Um…wasn’t this the top?? Nope. We were only halfway up. When we finally got to the top, it was amazing. We were on the very summit of the mountain. And up there, you could ski down in any direction you wanted to. There were restaurants and I think some stores, too, there. All at the top. We started on the easy hill, for me. We did that run 3 times, and then we took a break. We had a snack at the top of the hill. How crazy is that? After our break, we did one more run on that trail, and then Erika and I went on a different easy one, and the others went on a little harder one. Erika and I ended up doing 3 runs on that one, I think.  I had a few mantras that I was repeating. Mainly, “Oh shoot, slow down slow down!” but also, “Ohmigawd, this hill is huge!” And then when I was doing better, “I’m no Jacob Mitchell, but I’m holding my own.” That last one was usually followed by “oh shoot” but still. (For those of you who don’t know,  Jake is my friend that is a really amazing skier. The last time I remember skiing in Michigan was with him, his mom and sister, and Jack. Which is why I was comparing myself to him. And compared to him, I suck.)

Then we met up with everyone else. They decided to take the black trail all the way to the bottom. And that is the only trail that goes all the way to the bottom, I think. So I just rode the lift back down today. Actually, a lot of people were riding the lift back down. Like most people who had little kids, or older people. And me. I might attempt that run another day, but it’s 5 kms, and it’s black. So…not today, because I was really tired after all that skiing. We all met at the bottom. I returned my skis while I waited for them. Then we went back to the hotel.

I started writing this then. When I was in the middle of this, Barca and I decided to go down to the sauna. (Which is why this might be slightly more random than usual.) At the sauna, oh dear. Can you say AWKWARD? A few of the adults with our group were there…naked, of course! (I’m laughing at that because in the brochure about the hotel, it describes the different saunas. And in each description, “naked, of course!” Which I find amusing.) But I really didn’t need to see people that I know, and will be having dinner with, naked. Ick. (Yes, I am a prude.) But today Barca and I showered between each sauna, which we didn’t do yesterday. Although, we did it so one of us was showering while the other was holding up a towel to create a makeshift shower curtain, and having eyes tightly shut. So we did 2 times in this one that we don’t know the name of. But it was like a cave, and very nice. Then we went in the herbal sauna, which I don’t think smells all that appealing…After that, Barca wanted to go study, but I wanted to do the cave one again, so I actually put aside my prudeish-ness a little, and took a shower without anyone holding up a towel. Mind you, I faced the wall the entire time, so people would have to work at looking at me, but still. So after my last sauna, I went into the resting room where Barca was. I found the one book there that was in English, and started reading that. It’s actually pretty good. I was only in there for like a half an hour, so I’m only on like page 55. But I will hopefully finish it this week. Then I came back up to our room, and now I’m waiting for dinner.