Sunday 6th January
It has been a big disappointment to me not to be able to post even a single photo using this stupid Internet connection - and it cost me £25 for a week, which would be expensive even for a decent connection. This one drops out every few minutes, necessitating constant re-logins with a password that looks a bit like a Polish word - it's a string of consonants without a single vowel, and I have very little hope of remembering it.
This morning we woke at 10.30! We must have been completely exhausted. As there was no food at all, Paul made a quick trip to the supermarket for breakfast food while I was 'showering'. (shower head fixed half way up the wall over the bath, about shoulder height on me. No shower curtain. No bathmats in towel pack - supplement €9 you recall) He could not find any bread - there is supposed to be a separate bakery, which he could not find either.
He bought some part-baked bread which you have to finish in the oven. We have no oven. We have what is supposed to be a combination oven/microwave with no instructions, so I made an educated guess. Not educated enough! Can you imagine what a loaf of French bread microwaved for 10 minutes might look like? Neither could I, but I know now! It looks a bit brown but otherwise OK on the outside, but is dark brown and has the consistency of a stick inside.
We had coffee and cereal and a slice of ready-sliced bread which he had bought as a fall back, also a pain au chocolate - he found a pack of those, though we don't intend to eat many such things for breakfast - we are too fat already.
We found a few other problems. There's nothing quite as satisfying as a good moan! There are no big cups, so if you want a proper cup of tea or coffee, you have to use a bowl - but I suppose that's the proper French way. You don't need a cup handle if you have your coffee luke-warm. The filter coffee maker delivers luke-warm coffee (that's why we have an insulated cafetière at home.) Here, we will have to heat it up in the microwave (as long as it's not too hot that you can't pick up the bowl. If you want to pick up the bowl, the coffee needs to be luke-warm. This feels quite circular...)
The safe is locked shut and we couldn't open it. We later discovered this was because you have to pay extra to use the safe. We didn't know where our ski locker was, but have now found it. It is locked up at 7 every night, which is why we couldn't find it yesterday. There was hot water in the morning, but there doesn't seem to be any in the afternoon or evening. And you only seem to find these problems when Reception is closed. It's usually closed. And we have just noticed that the TV controller is supplied without batteries. But my main moan at present is that I paid through the nose for a really crap Internet connection, which is too flaky even to post one photograph.
I've just tried again, with a photo of the wonderful view from our balcony, but no joy. I might try again with a single photo and no text.
After breakfast, we made a list of food and staples we needed and made a proper trip to the Supermarket, staggering back with full bags. Then we consulted the resort map and found the bakery, and bought some bread. We didn't feel like lunch, so we had a wander about to look at the pistes and lifts, and got hold of a piste map so we could see where there might be suitable easy pistes for me. I wasn't feeling too confident, as it has been a wonderful sunny day so the snow is melting and it is quite icy and slippery underfoot.
In the end, as it was after 2 by then, I didn't go out. Paul took a trip up the hill and skied a lot of the pistes and trails so as to find something which wouldn't freak me out completely. There are very few black runs to satisfy Paul, so he intends to devote this holiday to my skiing, before going off by himself to have a proper ski holiday. And I spent my afternoon getting this blog up-to-date.
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