But What Do I Know? My Favorite Posts Of 2012

I listed the top viewed posts of 2012, but thought I would post a list of my favorite posts of 2012 too.

1. Duomo’s Rooftop, A Sculpture Garden In The Sky – I just like the pictures.
2. Dubai’s River, It’s Other Waterfront – I liked how different Dubai was from Geneva and loved its mix of cultures.  While you can see cool skyscrapers lots of places, there aren’t many where you can see the old wood dhows and the people from all over the world who trade on Dubai’s waterfront.
3. Millennium Trilogy Walking Tour Of Stieg Larsson’s Stockholm – Part Two – I loved The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Men Who Hate Women in Swedish).  When we went to Stockholm, I toured the sites mentioned in the books.  Most of them were in the super-cool Sodermalm neighborhood.
4. Mohawks Welcome But Not Required At The Groezrock Festival– We love live music and a European Music Festival is something to experience.  This one had a great lineup and was well worth the resulting fatigue (better described as exhaustion).
5. The Toblerone Line, One Sweet Barrier– We looked all over Switzerland for this puppy.  Once we found it, we couldn’t stop seeing it places (Reichenbach Falls, near Thun, etc.).
6. Why I Love Running– One of my favorite things.
7. Weingut Otto Laubsenstein – Fantastic people + fantastic wine = unforgettable time.
8. It Wasn’t Premeditated, Our Hike Up Rochers-de-Naye – A reader suggestion and one of the best views in Switzerland.  If you’re not up for hours of hiking straight uphill, you can always take the train there.
9. The Shock Of Your Life – Culture Shock – I tried to keep it real.
10. Les Contamines – Although we’ve done a lot of skiing, this was one of our favorite days because we spent it with wonderful fr

Les Contamines

Late one night, a group of us decided to ski the next day.  When you make plans late at night for the next day, sometimes (shockingly) they aren’t well thought out.  As we would be a large group of all levels, we decided to go to Les Contamines. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a good choice and a great day.

We chose it because:

• It is close to Geneva.
• It is not crowded.  There are rarely any lift queues.
• As it is at the back-end of a valley, it is less traveled.  It has a reputation for having a calm, laid back atmosphere.
• It is a small, relatively unspoiled town.  There’s no trendy après-ski or clubs.  In fact, there isn’t much nightlife.  As a result, it is calmer.
• Fewer people means snow stays untracked longer.  Who doesn’t love unskied powder?
• It offers a wide variety of terrain for all levels.  We had a diverse group and there were pistes to suit everyone.
• The prices are reasonable.
• When the weather is clear, it has a wonderful view of Mt. Blanc.  Heck, when the weather is clear, it has wonderful views.  Period.  Contamines is known for its beautiful mountain panoramas.

Oh yeah.  It wouldn’t be a skiing post if I didn’t do something stupid.  This time it yielded a cool photo.  While I was lying with my face in the snow, I got my camera out and snapped a pic to show you the view from down there.

Related articles

• Courmayeur (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
• Mt. Blanc, The Tallest Mountain In The Alps (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
• The News From Geneva (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
• Snow Report Geneva (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)

Les Incompetents Vol. 8 – Inappropriate Attire For The Slopes

We are going skiing in Italy this weekend.  After our first time skiing here, it became clear that I could use a lot of practice and more than a few lessons.  Last week, Hokie, Wildcat and I snuck out of Geneva on a weekday for a lesson.  We wanted to take advantage of the quieter, less chaotic slopes to get some badly-needed practice.

Thanks to The Huges’ for documenting stupidity on the slopes.  I suppose these folks from Mammoth Mountain were embarrassed by their attire too.

Although you see people walking around Geneva in ski attire, I didn’t put my ski pants on over my tights until we arrived.  I was afraid of roasting and waited to don my ski pants until we arrived.

We rent our skis and keep our other gear in a giant bag filled with ski accoutrements like helmets, gloves,   etc.   To make it a bit smaller, I removed his things and left them in a pile on the hall floor.   When we arrived at Les Contamines, I threw on my pants.  At least I thought they were my pants.  They weren’t they were his.  There is more than a foot and at least 90 pounds between us.  My children’s 12-14 ski pants are a much better size for me than his giant man pants.

At that point, there was nothing to do but make the best of it.  I tightened the waist and rolled them up at both ends.  Let’s just say that while it was a great day on the slopes, I looked like the biggest nincompoop out there.  Oh, well.  It wasn’t the first time and it probably won’t have been the last.

In fact, I didn’t have to wait long to embarrass myself.   Check me out in the photo below.

P.S.  It is a really good thing that I took the lesson because I clearly needed practice with the equipment.  I fell off the tow rope.  Cut me some slack, it was my first time.  I also caused the chair lift to stop when I saw a giant precipice and alps 20 feet after decent from the chair lift and gawked instead of scooting my tuckus forward.