The trip began with Kevin getting in to Paris on the 19th of March. Brendan and his friend Anne were already in Paris and Chris Geib and Adam Ware also got in that day and that night they all went to see Widespread at The Chesterfield. I got in the next morning at the same time as Christine so I got to hang out with Cyril and his roomate Didier for a while. Then, I got whizzed around Paris on the back of Cyril's scooter which was a pretty crazy experience and an interesting way to see Paris. As far scooters and motorcycles go in Paris, there are NO rules.
Then Kevin and I took the train to Grenoble to meet up with Brendan, who had to go back earlier that day. We missed one train and slept through an important transfer in Lyon so we didn't get in until very late. The next day we hung out in the wonderful city of Grenoble and then rented a little car and whipped the thing around Grenoble and its sidewalks for a while before we went up to Chamonix to do some skiing with some of Brendan's buddies from school.
In Chamonix we stayed in the upper valley in the small, small town of
Argentière. Our hotel was called La Couronne and our bar was called
The Office. After one night at The Office we all vowed to return and live there as soon as we can.
In Chamonix, the huge mountain range is split up into several separate ski
areas. We skied the first day at La Flégère and the snow
kinda sucked but we had a blast anyway.
The second day in Argentière, Kevin and I got up early and checked
out downtown Chamonix where we got some little old lady to take our
picture and where I found the sticker-photo machine that we all fell in
love with. We skied that day at Les Grands Montets which was much better.
There's not much I can say to accurately describe skiing in those Alps. Its
just the most beautiful place.
We were going to leave that night and ski somewhere else but it started
snowing in the afternoon and that pretty much made the decision for us. We
stayed and decided to join Brendan's buddies the next day skiing with a
guide.
Tuesday, March 24. We woke up to several inches of accumulated snow on our
porch and skied the most amazing day of powder in my life. Our guide
Frederique worked us pretty good. He also informed us that the french word
for powder is, "le poudre." The snow was deep and fluffy and I
thought I had died and gone to heaven.
That night we said goodbye to the wonderful people at both The Office and
La Couronne and headed back to Grenoble.
The next day was spent relaxing in Grenoble and then we gave back our Volkswagen POLO and took the trains to Paris. We, of course, missed the direct train that would have got us to Paris in time for that night's Widespread show which was too bad because Kevin had to fly out early the next morning. We eventually made it to the airport to send Kevin off and then got into the Widespread Panic groove.
We saw Widespread's last three nights of shows at this tiny bar with Chris
and Adam who had stayed in Paris the whole time. All I can say about those
shows is that they were the most fun I have ever had. The band would
finish playing at about 2am and we wouldn't leave that place until they
kicked us all out at 5:30am. The concierge at our hotel just loved us...
No, I'm serious, he really did.
Eventually, the dream was over and I found myself back in this country. It was a whirlwind 10 days for me and I will never forget it. Hopefully the ten rolls of film I snapped off during that time will help to share the experience.
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