THE ALPS!!!!!!

So for being only an hour or so away from the Alps, it sure took me a long time to GET to them. And I need to go back immediately! A group of us finally got our shit together and registered for a ski trip to L'Alpe d'Huez with this organization called SkiMania. For 40 euros, they'll drive you in a bus from the center of the city to one of 5 or 6 ski areas within 3 hours of Lyon, give you a snack, provide the lift ticket, and even show a movie on the way back. Rentals from their contact store in Lyon are less than 20 euros so it's a pretty incredible deal. Especially when you see the RIDICULOUS mountains and realize that you're IN THE ALPS!

I can't even begin to describe how amazingly breathtaking the mountains were so the pictures will have to do the work, although I promise it's even better than the pictures. It was just an incredible day. 

We went to get our rental stuff on Friday, and it was pretty hilarious to cart it through Lyon on the metro. 

Then I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to get to the bus by 6:30 where I met Sara, Patrick, Ben, Greg, Greg's friend from London who was visiting and two other people who we didn't actually realize were going on the same trip. Most of our bus passed out on the 2 1/2 hour ride. 

But Sara, Patrick, and I took approximately 8,000 pictures just from the bus window.

They gave us ski maps and our little lift tickets, which are actually magnetic cards that you just put in your chest pocket and that are automatically read by machines you pass to get on the lifts. So much better than the ridiculous ticket system in the U.S. Then they let us loose on the slopes with a dire warning about how the bus wouldn't wait for anyone so we'd better be back by 4:30 ON THE DOT. And off we went. 

It wasn't the clearest day ever, but it was warm and the snow was perfect since France has been getting dumped on this year. Plus, there were barely any lines anywhere since L'Alpe d'Huez is ridiculously ginormous. We saw maybe 1/10 of the 149 miles of skiable area. Sara and I were the only snowboarders, and it was only her 5th time so we headed to the easy slopes to ease in.

Plus, we wanted to see Greg try out skis for the first time ever, which was predictably hilarious. :) After finally finding him and his friend and stopping for an amazing little picnic of bread, saucisson, cheese, and coffee (all of which Greg had brought with him in his backpack!), all 8 of us headed up to the very top of ski area: Pic Blanc at 3,330 meters. In spite of the clouds, we were all still blown away by the view. 

Apparently, on a clear day, you can see 1/5 of France! I'll just have to keep going back until it's clear, I guess... :) Only one of us was brave enough to ski down from there since they were seriously steep black diamonds and it was already late in the day. The rest of us took the gondola back down to a lower level and went from there. Call me a chicken, but I'm already scheduled for one hospitalization and am definitely not looking for any more!

We made it back to the bus with plenty of time (the place was so huge that we gave ourselves more than enough time to somehow navigate back) and proceeded to buy the boulangerie out of baguettes for the ride home to Lyon. Then we had a little feast on the bus and passed out.

So yeah, the snow was amazing (only two ice spots the entire day), the mountains were incredible (I kept almost wiping out every time I looked up and noticed them all over again), the crowds were nonexistent, and the price was perfect. I seriously may never ski in New England again.