Christmas in Grenoble, France

The trip started off on the wrong foot. Out flight was delayed for 7 hours, the airport was hot & stuffy and the smell of body odour was atrocious. The flight time from London to Grenoble was 1hr 10mins and the transfer to Les 2 Alpes was 2hrs!
Anyway, we arrived at 2am on Sunday morning and decided to go for a walk to check out the sites.

Les 2 Alpes is a ski resort in the French Isère County. The village sits at 1650m with lifts running to 3600m. My first day snowboarding was absolutely rubbish. The amount of face plants was uncountable. The next morning, I had never felt so much pain in my life. Every muscle and bone was aching, sprained wrists, whiplash, hamstring crams and more. My sister Eileen even managed to crack a rib and had to spend €400 on medical expenses.

My daily timetable would consist of 3 hours of snowboarding school, 5 hours charging down the mountain freeriding and then 8 hours of drinking to sooth the pain. After the 3rd day, I was engaging in blue runs that take 25 mins from top to bottom. I now have high regards for snowboarders; their sheer physical strength and stamina. Flying back to London was also a nightmare. Out flight was again delayed but this time only for 3 hours. France totally kicks ass, although Grenoble technically isn’t France since everyone spoke English. It gave me a taste of the Language and atmosphere; I am definitely looking forward to moving there in 2009.
Grenoble gallery can be viewed here

Smell the Cheese – 8.2 MB

Sam






Glimpse of the Village









mmm Cheese








Christmas Lunch








escargot








3200m booyah

Race of Champions, Wembly Stadium

I attended the Race of Champions with Noel and Gillies on Sunday. All the big names like Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Sebastien Loeb were competing. Lewis Hamilton also gave the audience a show in his McLaren F1. It was all show and no go since it was unable to get any traction. There was also stunts performed in a TVR, Evo 10, BMW Road Bike and motorcross bikes.
Sebastien Loeb ended up winning the overall competition, defeating David Coulthard in the finals. It was also the coldest night ever in London. All I was wearing were jeans and a hoddie; definitely experienced some shrinkage.
This last few days has been painful, coughing and sneezing.

On the good side, I have purchased all my snowboarding clothing for France and even a set of walkie talkies to communicate to others when I am carving up the powder. But seriously, I’m crap so have signed up for snowboarding lessons. I figured, since I’m going to be there for 6 days; may as well try to get good at it.
Race of Champions gallery can be viewed here

Race + Stall - 6.8 MB
McLaren F1 doing burnouts – 1.8 MB
Flying Motorbikes - 4.8 MB

Sam




Ford Focus WRC








KTM X-bow








Dune Buggy








McLaren F1









2 Wheel Evo 10

Interconnector Christmas Party

When the invites came around, the theme for the Christmas Party was 'Black and White'. It even stated 'wear anything as long as it is black or white'. So I went out and bought a nice black shirt along with a white fashion tie. I walked into the restaurant full of confidence. Little did I know that their interpretation of 'Black and White' actually meant black tie!

There I was, standing there, sleeves rolled up, unbuttoned collar with a flimsy tie. I felt like the Mona Lisa:

a) I looked good
b) Everyone was staring at me.

Every guy in the room was in a dinner suit and there I was, casual Joe sipping champange while trying not to make eye contact with the big bosses. The night ended at 1am as I was completely hammered, this is mainly due to the fact that I was mixing champagne, gin & tonic, beers, red wine, white wine and of course tequila.

2 more weeks before I'm off to France, woohoo

Funny Dancing - 3.4 MB

Sam




Pissed








Even more pissed