a dream vacation in the Alps

Nicolas tried to organize a European skiing adventure for us for months. He spent endless amount of time checking out options, calculating costs, even booking a chalet for a week during Christmas vacations only to cancel when instead of the snow, rain came down with full force. And when we pretty much gave up on the idea of skiing in the Alps, the skiing Gods have smiled upon us. A good friend of Nic's aunt and uncle offered us their apartment in Montchavin for a weekend of winter fun! And not just any apartment! But a place in a cutest little skiing village, just 50 m away from a ski lift and with perfect tobogganing hills just outside the back door!

We arrived at Montchavin late in the evening and decided to take it easy the next day, explore the village and the tobogganing hills, rent our skiing gear and get mentally ready for the skiing fun. We were not quite sure how this skiing en famille will go this year. Last year we finished the season with Camille finally going down the bunny hills without a leash, but her success at turning and plow-stoping had more to do with luck than comprehension. But apparently a year for a 5yr old is a long enough time to go from 'luck' to 'skill' and after a few runs on the bunny hills she was a 'natural' skier. We quickly let go of the idea of sticking the girls in skiing classes so we could have some time for actual skiing, and hit the slopes en famille for the first time. 

The next few days were a dream skiing vacation. We would take a few lifts up in the morning, have lunch at the Belle Plagne village on top and then slowly make our way down to Montchavin, finishing our skiing around 4pm. 

The parents would then collapse on a couch, (mama popping ibuprofen like candy to stop the 'screaming' knee joints) and the youngsters would grab the sleds and spent the next 2 hours on the tobogganing hill!!

Where did the energy and the enthusiasm come from? - we wondered. Was it the snow and winter deprivation that the girls suffered in Paris? Was it the incredible beauty of the mountains surrounding us? Or was it the never experienced novelty of playing in the snow and not having your eyeballs freezing? heck, even being able to take off your hat and unzip your jacket because you know, it was not the -345C that the girls are used to but the mild -2C! 

To my astonishment the energy and enthusiasm never withered! Every morning they got up ready to strap on the skis. Camille kept making incredible progress, at the end going down some blue trails all on her own with just a few falls. We could hear her muttering under her breath as she was going down in a zigzag fashion across the slopes: "un petit plus, un petit plus, un petit plus eeeet je tourne. un petit plus, un petit plus, un petit plus eeeeeeet je tourne". Emilia kept discovering and enjoying "petits chemines dans les bois". And the parents kept taking in the beauty of it all: the incredible mountains, the sun, the snow, the skiing in the clouds, the stops for chocolat chaud, and the two happy girls on skis.

"kto rozlał to mleko??" - "qui a renversé ce lait??"

We left a day earlier than planned as it started to rain. One thing we were certain of: it will be very hard to go back to Quebec skiing after this Alpine experience.