03.18.06
Skiing in Sauze D’Oulx
It’s been a while since I went skiing with Nikolai in the Italian resort of Sauze D’Oulx (the accepted pronunciation of which, we eventually discovered, is something like “Sawzh Dooks” or sometimes “Sawzeh Ducks”), so it’s about time I wrote a little more about our trip.
We arrived the week before the 2006 Winter Olympics kicked off. Everywhere we went was buzzing with activity as various officials ran to-and-fro, carrying out last-minute checks and preparations (and giving the airport a fresh coat of paint). Once the bus got us from Turin airport up into the mountains everything seemed a bit more peaceful. I guess most of the tourists had decided the week would be so busy prior to the olympics.
Normally Sauze is part of what’s known as la vialattea (the “Milky Way”), a massive ski area spanning several mountains and ski resorts. Unfortunately, since several of the resorts were hosting Olympic events, much of this area was closed. Sauze D’Oulx was hosting the freestyle skiing event, however this was on a seperate slope from the main ones so our skiing wasn’t affected too much in that area.
On the Monday and Tuesday of our week there we were also graced by the presence of Top of the Pops, who happened to be filming their latest show in the resort that very week. Bands on the show that week included West Life, Craig David, and Nizlopi (who we actually had dinner in the same restaurant as that same night, although we didn’t realise who they were until later on). Well, it would have been exciting if we were about 10 years younger and female.
So anyway after a good week of skiing we returned to England the day after the Olympic opening ceremony. Photos are in the gallery! Oh yeah! Looking at that gallery reminded me of one other thing. We got to the airport on our way out to Italy when I decided I should check to make sure I have a spare video tape, in order to record our adventure. So I got the camera out and turned it on, and NOTHING HAPPENED! Argh! So I wasn’t able to record anything all week. I had a look on the Internet when I got back, and it turns out that Sony had produced a faulty batch of C.C.D.s around the time I bought the camera. Thankfully they were all too happy to repair the camera free of charge! Yay 4 Sony! Once again they have shown me that, despite some mistakes in the past, they are a pretty decent company (then again, they’re also a VERY large company, so I doubt this feeling of goodwill would apply to every division…). So I now have my camera back and in working order.
All’s well that ends well!