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Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Brussels for Brianos - "Enterment du vie du garcon"


Well Brussels it was and via Aer Lingus to Brussels Airport and not Chareloi, the 10 intrepid associates of "The Shadow" ventured forth to do our duty and bury his life as a boy, Colm, Marko, Rocky, Ray, Rob, Alain, Joe, Eamo et moi. The weather was very warm and humid 31 and 33 degrees. The Hotel could have benefited with air-con! and they stole my football...
Saturday was dipping our big toes into the city, and psyching ourselves up for the football match, which was postponed til after 8 due to weather conditions.
Saturday Evening apres some food we introduced Briano to some of the female population of the city and quite cosmopolitan it was, also some of the boys were introduced to black russians and the games began.
Sunday, was another hot and humid day, a cultural day of sightseeing and a bus trip, where we found out the architectural splendour of the city was mostly copied by Leopold from one of his foreign trips to France or Italy. After catching the some of the Hurling match on tv we had an evening meal in a Mexican establishment. Initially a quite nite was on the cards and after a libation in a bar we lost 1/2 the batalion, the rest again went on and against the odds had some sport with the brussel-folk(and many other nationalities) til breakfast!
Monday with some officers down, more cultural ventures to the Atomium and the some shopping before the long journey home..
Thanks Colm for the organising, thanks Rocky for the tee-shirts and thanks brian for the excuse for the trip.

Oh and Belgium was a new country for me to visit!


create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Skiing in Serre Chevalier, France 2007


Well ryanair-ed it to Tornio/Turin in italy and got a hired bus to deposit us in Serre Chevalier France.
After some misgivings about the lack of snow we were rewarded by our choice of venue with ample snow on the mounts and runs we were on, granted as the day went on some runs got moguly and slushy but thanks to some snow the friday before we went and indeed on the monday(very interesting to ski in) we were blessed with good conditions.
I would say my skiing peeked on the tuesday and I was quite lethargic on the wednesday and for the rest of the week, I think my skiing has improved and I tested myself more then in previous years.
The part of serre chevlaier we were in Chantamerle was very french and very quiet - the next hub up in Villeneuve was much more party like but still quite dormant I would say. I found the people very friendly and managed many an communication exchange en francais. Whilst 2 of my traveling companions had a bad experience in one restaurant, for the rest of the time it was excellent especially in "Le Kitz"
As a resort i would say it is good for the intermediate or advanced skier and definitely not for the novice skier. The long black run Luc Alpand tested knees and edurance as you had to negotiate this to get home of an evening and then it was very cut up slushy and heavy, it the morning it was crispy and icy and much better.

The route home via Brancon to Grenoble on train was a long way back but pleasant enough with nice alipine scenery