Single mum goes skiing

With her kids I might add. Too simple otherwise!

On the spur of the moment I booked a room and went straight to Val Louron after school on Tuesday. Wednesday there is no school, so we had one day for skiing. The alarm clock went off at 8 AM and 10 AM sharp we were ready to start (get dressed, have breakfast, pay the room, buy tickets for the lifts and rent some equipment - trust me, the two hours passed quickly!).

The sun was blazing.... the sky was blue.... the mountains at their best!

Besides a few incidents (Bjorn got something in his eyes when he fell of a lift, us walking up a hill since we didn't manage to get up in that same lift but still kept trying....) we had a wonderful day.

Lunch on the terrace looking out over the other skiers was not bad either... and even after we had given back the equipment the kids played in the snow... they are not used to snow, it shows....

Val Louron, a small family station

View from the terrace with the "rug" lift in the back. So you can actually have coffee and supervise the kids...

To the left the lift that gave us problems (tire-fesses). They have a small kids version but it was closed...

Bjorn crying, his left eye is red. Probably he got snow in it when he fell off the lift.

Ski school participants

Our apartment hotel next to the slopes.

After-rugby-dinner in Bayonne

After the Bayonne team had won against cup leader team Toulouse, you can imagine the festivities in Bayonne on a Saturday night.... we had a beer at Aviron Bayonnais, another at a bar in Petit Bayonne before settling down for dinner at Ttipia, a cidrerie. I've already written about my love for these places (Txotx to you!) - a perfect cosy yummy winter activity!!!!!

Rue Cordeliers, Petit Bayonne

Drinks before dinner.... (don't know the name of this place)

Structure detail from Ttipia

Here's the cidre! A help-yourself-system that I have never seen before in a cidrerie.

Glimpses from the San Sebastian Carnaval

I didn't even know they had a carnaval in San Sebastian and here we walk into it after the rugby game. Seemed to be a real big thing and very family oriented - I saw lots of children dressed up! So cute!

San Sebastian is one of my favorite spots. Always animated, even in the middle of winter.

Still some daylight, we are moving towards the old centre

Here you see some beautiful buildings, in the back the carnaval procession and trees in bloom and of course a young man on a bike!

The lady is making churros.... freshly fried and hot with some sugar... fat and sugar!

I turned around to look at them and they offered to pose... see the dog?!

Twelve degrees and still the cafés and terraces are full... love it!

Danceres in the procession

The photo is bad but this was the cutest and fluffiest baby chicken I've ever seen...

More rugby in San Sebastian!

I'm not really much into looking at sports events. Football games, hockey, rugby. Not really interested. At all.

So maybe it's surprising to hear that I looked forward to a rugby game in San Sebastian. Bayonne - Toulouse. But what I enjoy is not the game in itself, it's about everything around, the atmosphere, being with our friends, having a beer in the sun before the game and feeling the excitement all around! This time I took the train from Hendaye (for the first time), a train that stops at the arena. Excellent! Only problem was that we were not the only ones with the same idea... so we bought sandwiches and had them while we were queuing.

The arena was full so there were more than 32 000 persons to assist the game... huge! And having Bayonne win didn't make things worse either....

Waiting for the train...

Note how good he looks with his blue and white outfit... (the Bayonne team colors)

Some live music before the game starts.

Great outfit!! (Spanish police)

Pottoka, the Bayonne team mascot.