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Published: February 5th 2007
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We have just awakened late after arriving back from our first European ski adventure last night. We spent three days skiing (Miranda) and snowboarding (Adam) down the family-friendly slopes of Idre Fjäll, a large ski field (by Australian standards, but small by European standards if you evesdrop over the conversations of seasoned skiers) around 6 hours by public transport from Uppsala. As has been the norm for our trip so far, what should have been a straight forward trip to the ski resort turned into a protracted and sometimes stressful adventure. It started off with an early rise around 6:30am to be ready for the journey´s start at 7:30 with a local bus ride to Uppsala train station. We started by missing the bus by 10 seconds as it wizzed past us and refused to stop at our frantic waving. We managed to make it to the station and onto the train with no further dramas. A pleasant 3 hour trip to Morä ensued, which involved a fantastic trip around a large frozen lake. Quite spectacular, surrounded by snow-covered, pine-tree containing hills. However, from Mora train station we took a little walk, not by choice but through not being able to
read the bus timetable, to the bus station. A 10 minute walk in a partially aimless direction, guided only by vague gesticulations of a Swedish gentleman. However, Mora did turn out to be quite a quaint town with a cobblestone-covered main street. Anyway, we needed to stretch our legs before getting onto another bus to take us to Idre. After winding our way up through gentle inclines and increasing wilderness the bus arrived at Idre, outside a big sign proclaiming the Fjäll. Here, we decided to follow a few other passengers and alight from the bus, only to discover that this was not indeed the site where the connecting bus was to pick us up and ferry us up the mountain to the ski resort. It was merely a drop-off site around 500 m from the actual pickup site (the Konsum). So, after directions from a publican, we strolled down the road and found that we had missed the connecting bus. After several fruitless attempts to gather information from the tourist information centre and the supermarket, who all provided us with false information and could not even read a timetable correctly or determine which direction the actual Fjäll was, we
asked a bus driver for info, who told us the bus stop for the Fjäll was a further 500 m down the road. However the next bus was not for another 3 hours (by this time it was around 3:30 and we had already done some supermarket shopping). It was also starting to get dark and Miranda was getting quite frozen, so we walked to the Shell service station near the turnoff to the Fjäll, enquired about a taxi, got told it would take around 40 min and cost 170 SEK for a 5 min ride up the mountain!. So we decided to hitch and luckily, a Danish School Teacher picked us up immediately in his mini van and ferried us up the mountain.
So we made it, a mere 9 hours after beginning our journey. It must sound like we are shit and incompetent travellers, in that we cannot even safely negotiate our way through a mostly english-proficient country. How will we go in Italy or France! Time will tell. Once there, we found our modest lodgings, where again we were on a fold-out couch, explored our surroundings and sat down to microwave-cooked frozen pizza (Miranda´s choice) and
a few drinks. Classy. Next day was an early start and the beginning of the fun. Purchased our lift-passes, rented our equipment, and hit the slopes by 9:30. After struggling to find our feet on the snow for an hour or so we decided to take the chairlift and try some Green (the easiest) slopes. We just happened to pick the hardest Green slope and the longest run in the resort down which Miranda became stuck, through fear and a dud ski binding. After a lot of coersion, Miranda eventually made it down the slope and thus began 3 days of fun in barely minus conditions and great weather. We did all the green slopes, some blue and I did some red slopes. The park also had a Snowboard park, with a cool half-pipe, which was amazing to ride down although it is quite scary how quickly you pick up speed and how icy it is near the top. Great fun. Doesnt generally hurt as much as a skateboard ramp. Spent nights licking our wounds and having a few drinks. Also went to Dantes pizza place for a great all-u-can-eat Italian night. All in all, the scenery was breathtaking, especially
on clear afternoons or early mornings when the sun rises over the mountain. We had a great weekend, arriving back in Uppsala mostly injury free having both gained some more skill on the slopes! Can't wait to go skiing and boarding again! Let the obsession begin.
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Jade
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Watch out for the raw fish!
Hello there lovelies! As always, you people are taking some mean shots on those cameras of yours (looks like the TAFE course only enhanced your natural abilities). Excuse the suck-up, but you are on the other side of the world, so a little flattery literally goes a long way. You made me chuckle Adam when expressing your dismay at seemingly not being able to communicate in a mostly English proficient country. I was reminiscing with Damien about this very conundrum, and our only advise to you is watch out for raw fish in Northern Italian sea-side villages like Camogli, where upon ordering a "filet' of tuna, it was presented to us raw! Yep, one steak-sized piece of sushi! So there's a trap for young players. As long as you have your phrase books though, you should be pretty right. Keep blogging! We're loving it over here! Lots of love Jade xoxo