Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Internet is FREE in the Hotel but SLOW! I will add some photos when I get a chance, for now the story is a good start!

DAY 1 – December 27th 2009
After the whirlwind that was 4 days in Toronto – it was time to repack and head ‘up north’. We flew with a new-ish airline company called Porter. It leaves off a tiny little island in the middle of the lake – only just big enough for a small plane to take off from and you need to get the Ferry across!

Because we were heading into Montreal we started to practice our French! Quebec is a French speaking state. French is their first language here so everything is written in French, everyone speaks French and only if you are very lucky is there some English around… Par les vous English?

Sam and Amanda’s flat mate Oli picked us up and drove us up to Mount Tremblant. The drive was amazing! When you go skiing in Australia you have to drive up a huge mountain, pay a stupidly large amount of money to enter a National Park, stop halfway up to put chains on (Go Team Matt and Barry – still the fastest team there every was!)… you get the picture. When you go skiing in Canada you just drive down the road, you already have winter tyers on and just park at any number of chairlifts along the side of the road and go skiing. However, as easy as this sounds we were heading somewhere a little bit more fancy.

Mount Tremblant – This place has been voted the Best place to Ski on the Eastern side of North America for about the last 15 years (It helps that there actually are no other ski resorts on the Eastern side of North America but we will just let it slide.) This place is BEAUTIFUL! The pictures speak for them selves…

PICTURES OF MT TREMBLANT TO COME

The one sad thing about this place is that this is the resort where Natasha Richardson (Liam Neeson’s wife) tragically died after a skiing accident. I wasn’t reminding you of her work in the Walt Disney classic – The Parent Trap… I was actually wanting to draw attention to her fantastic portrayal of Sally Bowles in the Sam Mendes 2000 Broadway Revival of Cabaret. This production was what the Australian one was based on which had some influence on ours… That is why it is worth mentioning Natasha Richardson.

Natasha Richardson Singing MAYBE THIS TIME

After arriving in the mountain, we decided to do some exploring, find out where our Dinner was going to be and pick up our skis which we had rented. In North America – you do not HIRE skis – you RENT them. You HIRE people to work for you and you RENT objects… The Chicagoians were a little confused when I mentioned that I already had my ski hire sorted…

After the hard day we had had so far (1 hour plane ride, 1 hour car ride, explore the village…) we decided to start what would become an evening ritual… our Spa and Sauna…

PHOTOS OF SPA TO COME

We managed to survive on Wheet-a-bix (cheap imitation) and Toast and Vegemite (the three of us managed to consume a whole tube in only 5 days!) for breakfast and just a cup of soup for lunch all very cheap option so we lashed out a little bit on dinner each night. Sam and arranged with the concierge to book some restaurants for us each night. With so many choices on the mountain it would have been annoying for us to have gone through and decided on one so Shaun did the hard work for us!

Dinner on night 1 was at an Italian restaurant. The food was alright but the service wasn’t that great. It is customary to tip about 15% in North America – due to the average service I think the tip may have been between 9% and 10%. Mr Chai didn’t want to be frowned upon as leaving a small tip so I paid for this one… As we left the restaurant the waiter said “Merci, Bon Soir” to Amanda, “Merci, Bon Soir” to Sam and just smiled at me… oh well crappy service = crappy tip!

PHOTO OF OUR ROOM FROM ITALIAN RESTAURANT TO COME

DAY 2 – December 28th 2009
It was our first day on the snow. I hadn’t been skiing for 2 and a half years so it took a while to get my snow legs back but I sorted it out in the end! Sam and Amanda had the advantage of skiing in Japan last Christmas / New Year so were a little bit ahead of me (that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!).

The snow is totally different to Australia. Even though I have been skiing maybe 5 or 6 times in all different conditions I wasn’t prepared for this: Real Powder, Long Ski Trails, Snowboarders who can ACTUALLY snow board and EVERYONE is really really REALLY good! At least we looked the part…

PHOTO OF US ON SKI LIFT TO COME

As we headed up the ski lift we discovered how long some of the runs actually were. The average was about 2km but we did find one that was over 6km long… it was a Marathon! Especially the first time on the first day when we kind of missed the turn off for the easy green trail and found the hard green / blue trail. (Another point of difference between Australian skiing and Canadian Skiing – the “easiest route” green is about the same as our normal green – the blue back home is about the same as some of their green runs… I didn’t try any black runs so can’t really comment but you can figure it out for yourself!

I had 4 stacks on the first day – the last one was a big one which included my beanie, ski’s and poles sprawled out all over the trail. I guess stacks like this are why everyone was wearing helmets – except the crazy Australians!

CRAZY AUSTRALIAN PHOTO TO COME

After a hard day of skiing it was off to the Spa and Sauna as part of our ritual, upstairs for a pre-dinner drink while we waited for the shower to be free (the actual trend that occurred was Amanda and Matt would spend longer in the Sauna to allow Sam optimal bathroom time – he even wore a beanie everywhere so didn’t need to do his hair but still managed to take the longest in the bathroom!)

Dinner tonight was at a BEAUTIFUL French restaurant. I can not begin to explain how good it was but the photos speak for them selves…

PHOTOS OF AMAZING FRENCH DINNER TO COME

We also called back home to our friend Chris to wish him a Happy Birthday.

Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the company, maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was the wine… but to me this is one of those nights I will remember for the rest of my life. It was just an amazing and wonderful experience with great food, beautiful wine and amazing friends! AND to top it off – SNOW! IT started snowing out side and didn’t stop all night!

DAY 3 – December 29th 2009
I ask you – what do you consider cold? Standing in the Freezer section of the supermarket trying to decide which cheese is the lowest in fat? Or maybe walking into a cold room at a bottle shop? Maybe running out to the car in winter without a jumper to get something you left there? Jumping into a pool at midnight in Stanthorpe in the middle of winter after just spending the previous couple of hours in a hot tub that was cooking at a nice 40oC? How does -25oC NOT INCLUDING THE WIND CHILL FACTOR OF 35km/ph WINDS SOUND TO YOU? That was what we had to deal with on our second day of skiing. Any part of your skin that was exposed would start to burn!

Today was the day we explored the North side of the mountain a little bit more. This side was a bit more protected from the wind. Although I has survived the first day of skiing with just wearing my sunglasses, today saw the need to buy goggles (Unfortunately the ones from School Ski Trip in 2001 had finally perished… The sunglasses just weren’t going to cut it today.

SOME GENERAL SKI PHOTOS TO COME

We were brave and did go back after lunch – although many didn’t, we braved it. We knew what would be waiting for us when we got back to the hotel! A hot spa and sauna. The new experience in the spa tonight was frozen hair! With a little bit of water in your hair, the outside temperature was so cold that our hair actually froze. Now we have all seen the cartoons where hair breaks off when it freezes – well it doesn’t, it is all a lie! I have been using hair product in my hair for a while now but nothing sets as rock hard as this ice! Even Amanda had a frozen pony tail!

Dinner tonight was at a great Steak house called “Bulls Eye”. Here my almost 3 week craving for Garlic bread was solved and everyone was relived. I think Sam and Amanda were sick of me reading the appetisers searching for Garlic bread only to be let down again and again and again – and to make it better – CHEESY GARLIC BREAD – and the people rejoiced!

PHOTOS OF DINNER @ BULLS EYE TO COME

DAY 4 – December 30th 2009 - New Years Eve Eve
Oli (Sam and Amanda’s flat mate) was spending the holidays with his family in Quebec so today he brought his brother Simo up for some snow and skiing fun. The skiing was so much more pleasant today without the cold winds. The disadvantage we had today was the cloud cover – it was really thick and you really couldn’t see more than about 10 metres in front of you. Some sections were so thick that your visibility became about 5mThe mountain is so huge and there are so many trails and lifts and then and offshoot here and an offshoot there you could easily get lost. The good thing with skiing though is that if you do get lost there is one simple way out – DOWN!

Oli and Simo didn’t quite understand when we told them to bring their ‘togs’ to join us in the Spa so they went and spent some time with family who were close while we ritual-ed and then headed to Fat Marti’s for dinner. Oven roasted chicken wings are something I would recommend to anyone travelling to Tremblant!

PHOTOS OF FAT MARTI DINNER TO COME

An earlish night tonight to prepare for the New Years Eve festivities AND I had to be up early to Skype into the New Years Eve parties back home! Although before bed Sam, Amanda and I got into a deep discussion of great events of the last decade – all the TV shows were having their own but we wanted to try and thing of some more Australian things.

DAY 5 – December 31st 2009 - New Years Eve
The sacrifices I make! I got up early (8:00am) and braved the outside cold and checked in with the two parties I would have been at if I was at home. The Kee household was first – with a full room (including an awake Hunter) it was so good to Skype in and say hi to everyone. Then it was to the festivities at The Nutley household. It felt strange because it was almost midnight, everyone was in short and t-shirts. I was just waking up and was in my winter warmest… HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today was probably the nicest day to be on the snow. Great visibility, some fresh snow falling, no wind, bearable temperatures – it was lovely!

SOME MORE GENERAL SKIING PHOTOS TO COME

I was starting to get a really sore though – four days in a row of serious skiing. The last time I went skiing with Sam I came home with a partial dislocation in my thumb and shoulder – I was NOT going to let it happen this time! Sam on the other hand was looking to be a bit fancy and do a little jump – only to discover is was fresh snow and a bush underneath.

Of course there was the last spa and sauna - a fantastic new ritual! Does anywhere in Bright have a spa and Sauna???

New Years Eve dinner was at the restaurant of the hotel we were staying at. This was the first meal where we actually had fluent French speakers with us (Oli and Simo) but was the first time our orders had been stuffed up!

It was then upstairs for a New Years Bubbles as we weren’t sure what we could consume at the street party.

PHOTO OF OLI LEARNING ABOUT TYPEWRITERS TO COME

PHOTO OF CHEERS TO NEW YEARS TO COME

It was snowing and I was in Canada for New Years!!!!! I was very excited! And then to top it off there was Fireworks on the Snow. The light bounces off the snow and also reflects in the sky from all the snow flakes that are falling. This is another one of those nights that I will never forget. Bon Annee!

Some of us partied on until about 2:30am

PHOTO OF THE PARTY PEOPLE TO COME LATER

Others like Sam and Oli decided that it was better to go to sleep at about 12:45am BORING!

DAY 6 – January 1st 2010
Today was our last day on the mountain. I was up early and decided to take a walk around Tremblant one last time. There had been some fresh snow so I headed into the village for some final photos.

SOME MORE MOUNTAIN PHOTOS TO COME

We all then packed into the car and headed back to Oli’s parents place. Although we were getting the train back to Toronto, we had a couple of hours in between so went and met Oli’s parents. They welcomed us with hot drinks and provided a yum snack for the train ride home. I was convinced to play their piano – if only to stop Sam singing Baby Elephant Walk!!!!!!!!! It was good to play considering it had almost been three weeks since I had last played.

A 4 hour train ride later and we were back in Toronto – just long enough to do one load of washing and sleep the night before another early start. A train ride to spend the weekend at Niagara!