V and Z....days 2 and 3 of 07-08

Last weekend ended with me coming home from Germany on Turkey day...lucky enough I had Friday off to sort some things out. I dropped KK off at the office and then headed to get my winter tires on, food shop, get some poles, and just chill on Friday. That night we adventured to the new outlets and hooked up with some gear. KK and I now have a one-in-one out policy, so we came home and had to put a bag together for donation. We hooked up with some cool gear and I got a nice new jacket from Marc Ecko Cut and Sewn.
Saturday rolled around and it was off to ski. We were meeting J and Verbier for a little piste riding. The weather was very cloudy at the bottome, but turned out to be a great day...here is the evidence..the crew:

First lift:

KK:


J:


Views:


The day eneded with a beer with some another friend PeterK and a decision to stay in the Valais and ski Saturday....this was the adventure.
As KK and I left Verbier we formulated a plan to check out Orvonnaz. After a quick stop to get some local wine at the "caves" in the Valais we headed up the 29 switch-bakc road up to village. This was not very successful. Most of the hotels were closed and the hot springs were packed. After a few minutes we decided we would head back down and check out Sion. We got to Sion, which is a very cute town, but for some reason we couldn't find a hotel even somewhat close to downtown...these Swiss ;-)Strike two...so with a few options left I knew Crans Montana would have hotels...maybe ;-) We arrived in the town and I used my best French to find two of the open hotels in town. I guess it us just early season and everything is still closed. We stopped at the open hotel and they were full....except on HUGE apartment. Sick of driving we decided..screw it. This place was huge..and I mean huge. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitched, backyard, living room....but most important it was some where to sleep. So after a nap that last a little too long we found the town was closed except the Chinese restauarant literally in the same building. Chinese in CH it was:

Overall the hotel was fine and in the am we decided to head to Zinal. This place is not very well know and I hope it satys that way! The day was great and so was the snow and views:






G:

The day ended with a walk through town collecting brochure of the cute hotels and thinking on how great this place will be in January....tops on my new list ;-) Last but not least....KK heard there was going to be Finnish...yes like in Finland...X-Mas singing at a Lutheran church in the Old Town. So after arriving back from Z we checked it out...and yes it was in Finnish.

It was cool through...crazy kids, crazy Fins, and a nice vibe. We returned home not ready to go back to work on Monday but feeling blessed for the great life we share together. As always more to come this week. L, G