Yodeleheehooooo!

The hills are alive with the sound of wheezing as we climb up to 3226 metres in the French Alps. Okay, let's not exaggerate, we didn't climb the mountain of Aiguille Rouge - we took 4 ski lifts and climbed a bit, but still it was pretty frigging high, took our breath away quite literally with its thin oxygen levels, and had an awesome view of France, Italy and Switzerland, looking straight across to Mont Blanc.

We have just spent a week in Les Arcs at Arc 1800 (1800 metres high obviously, duh!) at our English friend Paul Irwin's ski apartment. He never goes there in summer so we were not sure what to expect as he couldn't tell us. Not to worry, the studio apartment was cute and comfy - straight out of 1974 and never renovated, with plenty of pine and a definite Brady Bunch 70s kitsch feel - bright green kitchen and flame orange fibreglass bathroom anyone??

But the real star of the show was the Alps. Amazing views, pine tree covered slopes, vertical green meadows, how now brown cows with giant bells, and a new species we discovered - THE ALPINE DORK.

The Alpine Dork is almost invariably French, wears super long shorts (really they should be called longs) brand new hiking boots fresh out of the box, nerdy spectacles, is paste white, reed thin, and has Nordic walking poles to help them walk - even though they rarely go further than the supermarket in Les Arcs. Hilarious.

We also discovered another creature that is an Alpine favourite - the Marmotte. No, we are not making this up. Marmottes are like a mountain prairie dog or woodchuck - they live in the meadows from 1000 to about 3000+ metres, eat grasses and wildflowers, and are chubby, furry and cute when they pop down their burrow. You can spot them from the lifts as you drift over the meadows and Miles even managed to get a photo - not an easy task. It is much easier to spot an Alpine Dork.


We enjoyed the mountain air (always tinged with cigarettes courtesy of our chain smoking French neighbours), the stunning Mont Blanc views, the hiking, the hot chocolates, the wildflowers, and most of all the Marmottes.

We are now at Aix Les Bains, where we have stopped on the way back down from the mountains for two nights. We just spent the whole day today at the thermal baths and are completely water logged and crinkly. It was great floating in the thermal pools, and wearing the obligatory swim cap - so chic.

Next stop, Prague. So be sure to Czech back with us soon - GROAN. C'mon, who can resist a Czech pun??? : )