Say it Frenchy

We got back from France last Saturday after a week of skiing. Those in attendance: Myself, Gwen, Pete, Libby, Brian (Pete's Brother), Betsy (family friend of the Hennings), and one George R. Mount IV (Eagle Fan).

Many of you have already seen Gwen's post on the subject, and since time is short this week, (a busy week of work for me followed by more traveling here shortly - to the States), I'm finding that I'm in a work-man like mode of just getting this post done. Which is too bad, because the week was fun, and probably deserves a lengthier and more thought out post, but oh well. We'll see what happens in the lines of text below.

This trip was one of those classic travel stories where the actual vacation part was fun, but the traveling to and fro were quite nightmarish. George flew uneventfully into Frankfurt on Friday, and we caravanned down toward the Alps with Pete and Libby the following day, having to stop in Geneva to pick up Brian and Betsy. After several traffic jams and delays, and even a missed flight (due to weather), we all finally united at the Geneva airport (though Brian's skis were missing) late that Saturday already several hours off schedule. The traffic to Val D' Sere wasn't bad AFTER Geneva, but we got turned around and lost a couple of times on the French highways and I think it was at least 9 pm before we even rolled into town. Then Pete had to jump a series of hurdles for us to get our apartment key (since we arrived after 7 pm, there was a lengthy key obtaining process, mostly involving us finding a piece of paper, which led to another place, which led to another paper, which led to a map, and then to a key...and so on - it was comical).

Finally we got our keys and found the apartment - we offloaded the cars and then Pete and I went to park them. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. Pete and I parking two cars in a crowded ski village with icy roads and minimal parking took AT LEAST an hour - and both of our cars were on empty with the only gas station in the village closed for the night. By the end of the ordeal Pete's car was parked illegally and Gwen's was parked just about in Italy. Upon walking back to the apartment, Pete and I requested stiff drinks and decided never to speak of parking the cars again.

After that, things went great (minus the return trip, which we also won't speak of). The apartment was sweet, the company was good, the snow levels were solid (and we got hit once while there even), and things were generally wicked fun. We brought Guitar Hero (version 1 and 2) and just about every day started, ended, and middled with rousing sessions of two player battles (and later co-ops). Even the non-video game players were drawn to the game, as is par for the course (I'm learning) with Guitar Hero.

Despite our daily exercise on the slopes, it wasn't the healthiest week in the world with both massive food intake and excessive alcohol use. At times, it felt like we were back in college as both Asshole and Quarters were played on various nights.

Some of the other highlights:

-The food in France is normally quite divine, and ordinarily far superior to German food, but this time it didn't hold up, likely owing to the fact that Val D' Sere is mostly a ski resort town with a captive audience and no incentive to keep multiple gourmet restaurants around. That said, we did have a couple of good meals and the grocery store had an excellent selection of cheeses which we feasted upon daily in between sets of Guitar Hero.

-And speaking of France, half the fun we had during the week was in mocking France, and of course the French (and the language), either by imitating the accent or by laughing with the snobby "Haw, Haw Haw" French-style laugh. Its always good fun to be American Idiots (Tm). And what were they gonna do about it, surrender?

-One of the best things about this trip was the re-unification of the Stup-Mount-Taint (Pete) team which hadn't happened since residency ended. The old stories came out, the jokes came flying, laughter was plentiful and we basically had a blast.

-At one of our meals, the listing of "Cock in Red Wine Sauce" was labeled as an entree and I simply couldn't resist. I ordered it, not so much because I was in the mood for poultry, but mostly because I just couldn't let the chance slip by to make about a thousand immature "cock" jokes over the course of a two hour meal. And most people reading this can imagine just how far I took this joke over the course of the meal (and some might say the next several days). I could drop some examples, but its probably best if we just move on.

-On Thursday, we hired a guide to take us through the back country of the mountain and get some untouched "lines". This turned out to be a great move. Our guide was from Boston, but had lived in France for the past fifteen years, and was a good resource of information about all sorts of things (the mountain, the culture, etc). The snow was great, as was the scenery. It was definitely worth the expense. The only down-side was that I was the only snowboarder and lots of the connection points from run to run involved significant taxiing or traversing. But overall it was a great day in the relatively untouched wilderness.

-One of the most amusing things about this mountain was the on-mountain Apres (after ski) scene, which featured several techno bars on the mountain. One place in particular, near the mid-mountain, was the best of all. After coasting over a flat, you'd come over a ridge and the bass would hit you first. Seconds later, the bumping lodge became visible and the techno was in full effect. Most hilarious was that by the end of the day there were Funboys (Tm) there who had shown up JUST for the after-party (i.e had taken the gondola up at about 3 pm). They had shoes and nice clothes on - it was hilarious. Libby was good enough to capture footage of some of this scene, which I'll post below and is worth checking out. There will be pics as well.


And finally a list of one-liners, quotes and such, mostly to remind the people who were there:

-"I am Peter Henning. I am on the Mount-ain..."

-"Argh, I'm a Pilot"

-Euroherd

-Tractor Beam

-Brian stuck at the Gondola

-From an Actual Conversation on the Phone:

French person: "Bonjour... (followed by more French Greeting)"

Me: "Ah, yes - Bonjour...uh...Parlez-vous anglais?"

French Person: (slight pause) "Non"

Me: "Um...OK....well, uh, I guess we're done here....good bye!" (Hangs up).



And now - the pics!




The Big Three


George Schools the Slopes


Brian stuck in the gondola line after the rest of us get through


Jumping Jackasses


Action Libby





Brian Schools a Turn


Brian is the tiny dot in the middle amidst the ugly scenery



Henning Boys


Pete and Libby slopeside


Pete gets X-treme!!!



And now, prepare for a Funboy Special. These guys were all over this techno bar. There were three main players (pictured). Check out how they play off each other (in a classic Funboy Triangle Maneuver) in the video. Hilarious.



Funboy 1


Funboy 2




Funboy 3


This video is gold: