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Sara and Gabe the wonder dog
Gabe is the most beautiful dog in the world and has a great life. He loves skiing especially off pisteWow - Verbier is like no other place I have ever been. Everyone who lives here describes it as living in the bubble as it is not real life.
It is a beautiful ski resort about 1.5 hours from Geneva and is only 1 hour from Italy and I think 2 hours from France.
In Switzerland 3 languages are spoken - French, Swis German and Italian. This is the French speaking part.
I was coming here to meet a great friend of mine called Sara. She is Swedish but has lived here for almost 16 years. We met in Thailand 6 years ago when I was on my way to Australia and developed a really strong friendship straight away. It is a unique friendship in that we are never a part of each others life on a daily basis but just spend chunks of time together.
She came to see me in Sydney 7 months after we met in Thailand while she was still travelling, then the following year we met up again in Thailand (some of you will remember me being there that time as I arrived the day before Tsunami hit), then she came out
to see me again in Australia in Nov 07 and now here I am seeing her in Verbier. Everything she had said about it could not have prepared me.
I arrived just as a big snow storm had hit and there was over a meter of snow everywhere. On the roofs of the chalets and cars and in the villages. She lives in an apartment that is only 18 square meters but we were lucky that one of her many jobs includes looking after dogs and the owners of a luxury 3 storey challet had said that we could stay there to dog sit for over a week. After staying in hostels for months this was amazing and had we been paying for this it would literally have cost thousands of dollars a week.
You may remember that I damaged my achilles heel in Peru. I thought it would have healed by now but unfortunately it hadn't. I was told that I am only allowed to walk on the flat or down hill. This is really difficult in a ski resort in the mountains where everything is uphill. So I had initially planned on being here for about
3 weeks and thought I would leave a champion skier but it was not to be. That did not matter though as there is still lots to do.
What really freaked me out (not really being experienced with ski resorts) is how hot it can be. One day I lay on the balcony in my bikini while I was surrounded by snow.
I enjoyed hanging out with dogs! In my normal life I do not really get to spend time with dogs (apart from Nic's dog) and it was lovely having the opportunity to spend all day everyday with different dogs. Although I was not allowed to walk up hill we could take the cable car up into the mountains and walk up there and could walk down into the valley. The scenery is out of this world.
I did choose Switzerland of all of the places in the world to have medical treatment for my ankle. I was sent for an MRI scan in Martigny and as a result the doctor put my leg in a cast for 5 days. Have you every tried getting up steep hills on crutches?? Funny though the hills were hard
but I did manage to go out and dance on one leg for hours one night.
The party scene in Verbier is what makes this place so crazy. As I was there at the end of season there was a different party on everynight and they are often fancy dress. We went to bad taste parties, pink & white parties, black & white parties and many many more. People just don't stop.
I had to extend my time there due to my stupid leg (woe is me!) but by the end I had to stop with the parties. Even I knew that enough was enough!! So I spent my last 5 days there as a t-totaler.
Amazing place and I am really glad I got to spend so much time there because had I only been there for a week I could not have understood the true feel of the place!!
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