Behind with my blog

I had such a busy three weeks in Europe I did not have time to blog. I have been back for a week in Canada desperately jet lagged, sneezing and coughing with work to do. Slowly but surely I am returning to my normal health and vigor.

Our first stop was Geneva where Fred, Alison,(university friends) Clive and I piled into a hired car and headed to Chamonix with magnificent views of Mont Blanc and 11 kilometers through the bowels of the mountain to Italy! I was amazed at the audacity of the plan, a tunnel through the highest mountain in Europe. After a short drive down the valley towards Asota we turned sharp right up a gazillion bends to the Little Saint Bernard Pass scattered with centuries military remains. A short drive from the pass found us in La Rosiere a French ski resort and Alison's brothers ski chalet. Perched high on a mountain side with distant views over waves of mountains to the west.

We spent 6 days hiking over the mountains, passes, through ancient villages and golden larches. Spectacular.

Clive and I picked up another hired car and headed to Solden, Austria and the first world cup GS of the season to "cheer on or cheer up" our daughter Shona and 4 of her teammates.

We were shocked to drive back over the Little St Bernard Pass to Italy to find that there was about 2 inches of ice on the road and our tyres were definitely not winter tyres. We had to abort our plan of driving over more passes through Switzerland to Austria and headed to the Autostrada to Milan and then north to Austria. This was easy although cars zipped past us at probably 200 k per hour!

What fun to find Lake Garda with a lovely little Italian village by the lake side very romantic and beautiful. The road along the lake side blew us away. The Italians sure like their tunnels! Any excuse. Incredible.

After a pleasant stop we headed over a high pass, 2558 metre to Solden. Well the road climbed up an alpine valley with green field, picturesque chalets, higher and higher until we could see it soaring vertically above us on a steep snow slope then it disappeared into a tunnel and through to Austria.

By the time we arrived in Solden my brain was fried with French, Italian and then German all in 24 hours.
To be continued shortly I promise.