Flaine (France) - 19th to 28th of December 2008

We were up extremely early on the 19th to get out to Gatwick airport for our flight to Geneva. We spent a rather low key afternoon walking around Geneva's old town and waterfront and Ange climbed the Cathedral's tower (Warren had already done this when he was in Geneva in September).

Saturday the 20th we were picked up from our hostel at 1pm for the hour and a half minvan trip southeast over the French border to Flaine. Flaine is 1600m up the alps and is a "ski in ski out" resort where the chair lifts were within about 50m from our hotel. This is our hotel from the top of the beginner slope:After picking up our snowboards on Sunday morning, we spent the week boarding during the days and partying during the nights. We had lessons for a few hours everyday so by the end of the week Warren was coming down the slopes from the very top (900m above the resort).

Christmas day we had a bit of a sleep in after a pretty big night (the main Christmas celebrations in France are on the 24th), exchanged some secret santa presents and then hit the slopes in the afternoon.

On Saturday the 27th we had a few hours boarding in the morning before we had to drop our boards back, check out, and get back to Geneva. We had a quick walk around Geneva before an early night for our flight back to London early on the 28th. An absolutely amazing experience and we are both looking forward to boarding again soon!

December in London - 2008

The chilly air seems to bring out ice skating rinks all over London, so on Monday the 1st after work and a nice dinner we went along to Somerset House in the centre of town and strapped on some skates. Absolutely freezing but great fun!

Given we weren't going to be spending Christmas day with Warren's sister Carolyn and her fiance Glenn, we went over to their place for a Sunday roast on the 7th. We swapped some secret santa pressies, ate heaps and played some games - good times!

On Thursday the 11th we had another Christmas dinner, this time with our friends Nicola and Candice.On Sunday the 14th we went up to Wembley in North London for the Race of Champions. It's a car racing event inside the stadium where they put down two tracks side by side and two drivers battle it out in identical cars. Unfortunately Warren's hero Michael Schumacher couldn't pull off the win, instead WRC champ Sabastian Loeb took out the main event. Again rediculously cold sitting in the stands for a few hours!On Tuesday the 16th we again met up with Carolyn and Glenn to say Merry Christmas and to hand out our pressies from our families that had arrived from NZ. Beforehand Ange and I walked down Oxford Street to check out the Christmas lights.

Ange had her Christmas party on Wednesday the 17th and Warren had his on the 18th, so it was a busy month before heading off to France for Christmas early on the 19th...