Blogs and waffles

Saturday, our last day on the mountain, dawned. 'What shall we do today?' I asked Ian. 'Let's have a lazy day' he replied. We waved the kids off after breakfast and retired to our room to rest. Unfortunately, Pascal was in a hurry to get cleaned up, and he kicked us out almost immediately. As we hadnt shopped enough we set off to town and did some more, then returned to the room to rest. This gave me time to catch up on this blog, which took us to lunchtime. We wandered over to the French side again, and found a cheap and cheerful cafe overlooking the slopes. Luckily for me they did Vin Chaud, my favourite, and something I hadn't had yet on this holiday. I also went for a croque Monsieur, we were in France after all.  We were having such a nice lunch that we decided to finish with a Waffle, so we shared a lovely caramel one. It was just like being in Mablethorpe. 

Vin Chaud and me

Lingering over lunch

As it was now Saturday afternoon we wandered over to Paddys Irish bar in the hopes the football would be on. It was! Arsenal v Liverpool. The audience consisted of us too, both supporting Arsenal, a group of Germans, and a Liverpool fan who ended up crying into his beer as they lost 4-1. We returned to the hotel to find Vicky back from the slopes having had a good final day. The others arrived not long after. They had braved the black run with the sign 'experts only' at the top, and also had a go at jumping at the ski park. 

Chris before setting off on his intrepid adventure

Happy at having survived

There were still the suntan problems 

though

We wandered round to the Marseilles for the last time and amused ourselves by watching the Andorran traffic wardens putting tickets on cars outside the window, despite attempts to bribe then with a box of vegetables. One last drink in the bar, giant shorts dispensed by pascal for old times sake, and we were all off to bed. It would be a very early start tomorrow.

Lazy days of winter

'What shall we do today?' Said Ian the next morning. 'We could take a bus somewhere?' I mulled that over for all of five seconds. Taking a bus somewhere would bring us to a different Andorran town, a town that would have just shops. We would be going shopping. We had been shopping in Pas already. I don't  like shopping. Ian dosent like shopping. 'Lets have a lazy day'. Ian was all for that. 

We joined the kids for breakfast.  Sunburn had been a problem for them all. Vickys face was getting worse as the days passed. Most of it just peeling, but her cheek and chin had holes in them that were getting bigger by the day. Imagine, if you will, a zombie gradually deteriorating. Chris was getting concerned that if she drank anything it would come out of one of them. At least they should clear up before she goes back to uni in a few weeks time. Kathys was a little more discreet, a bright red band across her forehead that was mostly coveted by hair. Chris's was just the bit underneath his nose between his nostrils. Clearly reflection if the sun off the snow. Vicky was going with them in the morning, and we decided to meet at the same restaurant as yesterday for lunch. 

We read for a bit then left the room so Pascal could clean. Pascal appears to do everything in this hotel. He speaks no English at all. Only French, much to kathys delight, as she can converse with him. He is there at breakfast, he serves in the terrace during the day, and in the bar at night. If there is any trouble at night, or you have lost your key, your room, or you are too drunk, you call Pascal. 

'Lets go over to the French side' I said. 'Ok, said Ian, 'but I have been already'. The French side is across the slopes from our hotel, so called because just over a little stream is France. 

The French side

We wandered across, down an alleyway between restaurants, where Ian had warned me all the dogs do their business, (he was not wrong), to a little bridge. 'Cross over and you are in France' he said. So I did. 

Me in France

France

Well that was fun. We tiptoed back through the piles of dog poo into Andorra, and wandered round the town again. Shopping in Pas de la Casa is such fun. I did find the Jimmy Choo perfume I had been looking for though. We then purchased a coffee at a nice portacabin and sat in the sun watching the slopes. 

After that we hiked up the windy road to meet the kids at the alloted restaurant. More dog poo to be avoided. They were already awaiting us so we chose a table and ordered. Chris had gone for the 'big man' special. The nice lady at the till explained that if you were buying a full dinner (Chris), a salad (me and Ian), chips (me and Ian), a drink (all), and a cake (ok then!), it would be just 18€. So we got the 'free' cake and the rest and sat to enjoy our meal. 'Seems cheap' said Ian looking at the receipt. '38€ the lot.' We examined it carefully and found she had forgotten the 'big man' meal. We had been overcharged by 0.5€ for additional cheese though. We decided to overlook that. 'Who wants coffee?' I asked the group at large some time later. That turned out to be a schoolgirl error. I joined the queue with half a dozen people in front of me not expecting too long a wait. Unfortunately, all the people in front had some kind of tickets. These tickets all seemed to involve the one guy who was serving having to go into the kitchen, make something from scratch, then return with it. This happened with every person. Luckily, after no more than a fifteen minute wait, and with the queue behind me stretching out of the door and down the mountain, someone from the back spotted a problem and came out to help serve. He took his time putting on his blue rubber gloves before smilingly asking what I would like. 'Five coffees please'. 'Just coffee? Come around here'. Amongst much tutting from the three people still waiting for their specially prepared ticket meals I sailed past. Just another minute or so later he had removed his blue rubber gloves and was ready to go. He just had to wait a few more minutes while the barrel technician changed the barrel on the soft drink machine, which was right behind the coffee machine meaning both couldn't be used at once. 'Five espressos?' Said my man. 'No, cafe au lait.' 'Cafe au lait?'  'Yes, cafe au lait'. And we were off. The machine was going, coffee was pouring. Great. A few minutes later I had a tray in front of me with five espressos on it. I scratched my head. Was it worth it? I pictured the faces of the others when I showed up with espresso.  'Milk please' I asked pleadingly. He looked at me as if I had crawled from under a rock. A few ticket people sidled past me to the till. 'You want milk? In all of them?'  Give the man credit, he recovered from my heathen notion quickly and sloshed a bit of milk in each one. Knowing that was all I was going to get I handed over my money. Not twenty five minutes later we were all sitting down to tiny cups of extra strong coffee with a splash of milk. 

View from the big man cafe

Ian and I left the skiers to their planned afternoons, Vicky with Julie and the rest black runs, and set off back down the windy road. We had a good laugh watching a man trying to negotiate the kiddy slalom. He kept on spinning round till he was facing backward then falling over. He did keep on trying however. Back at the hotel We bathed and went down to sit on the terrace. We both ordered giant gin and tonics, then I opened my I-pad to follow the Rotherham game. More of that in a rival blog. 

Chris, Kathy and Alex arrived a little time later, hot and bothered and in need of a drink. 

Gin and tonic on the terrace

Julie had told Vicky that they would be finishing a little early to have a drink and award certificates, so Alex walked up to join them and give her a hand with her skis. Kathy wanted someone to go with her to buy sweets for work, so I ended up on yet another, mercifully short, shopping trip. As we met before tea, Vicky awarded me with my very own certificate. God bless the lovely Julie. After tea we played charades for a while before Vicky and Alex decided to go and look for the Mojito vouchers they had won at the quiz. They hunted high and low for ages but could not find them. Despite that, and because the Mojito bar was just next door, and Mojito Alex's favourite drink, they decided to go anyway. Only to find it closed!  Bad luck. After a couple of Pascals giant glasses of spirits it was time for bed. Last day tomorrow. 

Fear

Vicky and I had decided to ski with the others for the morning, so we breakfasted and headed out. I wanted to do a few easy runs so we started with some blues before going to the top of the mountain on the four man. The red that Julie had forced us to ice skate on was still really icy but I put on my game face and skidded down. We then skiied around that area for a bit, once again taking the button lift with the bend in it. No fallers either. It was then time to cross back over into Pas to meet Ian for lunch. That was when the trouble began. We took a four man right up to the top, the same way Julie had taken us the day before. As we exited right on top of the ridge I began to feel The Fear. The wind was gusting, and there were lots of other skiers. I then made the mistake of looking down. My god it was steep, and high. The Fear began to take hold. We needed to get down a steep, icy, extremely busy little slope or I would be stuck on the mountain forever.  I set off and somehow, a few near misses with other people later, I had made it down the first bit. I was now firmly in The Fears grip. The others cajoled me down the road we needed to take. What had seemed easy the day before seemed almost impossible today. My legs were like jelly. What seemed like hours later we arrived at the designated restaurant. Half way down that terrible run I had decided not to go to the lesson. I had also decided that I had given skiing a good go and now was maybe the time to retire. The Fear had defeated me. 'Would you like to go swimming with me?' Said Ian. 'I would love to' I replied. 

Vickys was not such a wimp, she was going to the lesson, but she made me go with her to tell Julie that I had chickened out. 

After waving her off, Ian and I set off for the pool. He had already scoped it out so knew the way in to the brand new giant sports centre. 

We purchased our tickets and our manditory swim caps, pink for me and green for him. Then we wandered through the cavernous empty building looking for the changing rooms. They were as enormous, and empty, as the rest of the place. We wandered down more wide open corridors before finding the empty pool. But what a view! Huge panoramic windows gazed over snow topped mountains. It must be one if the most scenic, and least used, pools anywhere. We both swam a good few lengths in our own private lanes, in our own private pool, before moving on to our private jacuzzi. Out of view of the pool itself, just in case it got busy, with an even better view of the peaks, we soaked in the hot bubbly water. Shame they weren't serving piña coladas. We left the way we had entered, alone again. 

We were back in time to cross to the slope and meet Vicky from her lesson. She was buzzing. Julie had taken them off piste and on a black run. 'Do you think Jackie will come tomorrow?' She had asked. 'Very unlikely' was Vickys reply. Once again it was tea, a quick game of cards, and bed. All this skiing is really hard work! 

Moguls are not easy!

Vicky had decided to have a morning off as well, so we breakfasted, saw the rest off, then along with Ian we went shopping again. We bought what we needed, along with some giant sandwiches, then lunched in our room. 

The ski class was down to five when we met Julie, and she took us up the four man that leads to the other valley, Grau Roag. The red down the other side was very busy, but when she set off calling 'follow me' we all did, like lemmings. The side of the run she led us to was very quiet, mainly because it was sheet ice. I was trying to remember all she had told us, but it turned out to be just a battle for survival, at every turn I seemed to slip and lose control. How I got down I will never know. At the bottom Julie explained that she has taken us that way deliberately so that if we ever got on steep ice we would know what to do. Thanks Julie! After that the lesson was mostly a doddle, and included a go at a slalom (a very small flat one). Vicky was best in group, I was worst as I kept getting going too fast ( for me) and had to slow down. 

A doddle until we came back up to the summit that is, and started on a nasty red back down into Pas. Did I say moguls are easy? Not these ones. The run was long, steep, and very bumpy. I still managed to just about get down in one piece though. 

After a well deserved bath we met for pre dinner drinks where the others told us of their day. Ian had had a lazy day reading in the room. Chris, Kathy and Alex had reached the furthest connecting resort of El Tarter. Kathy sent me a photo she had taken the day before, so here it is to brighten the blog. 

We ate, played pointless, then I had to retire due to exhaustion.