Val d'Isère

Val d'Isère was gorgeous today, certainly worth waking up at 6:00am to get to. We spent most of the day on the glacier (at over 3,000 meters altitude) where there was about 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow. Since it's April, there weren't many tourists and we took lots of runs where we didn't see other people and had fresh lines. At the bottom of the glacier is the "Col de l'Iseran," which is the highest paved mountain pass in the Alps. Of course, since it is at 2,700 meters, it is closed in the winter time. It's only a two minute walk from the gondola, so we went to see it and have lunch. This is the 19th century chapel at the pass, which you can see is still buried in snow at this late date of April 6th. It was so pretty with it's bell tower and slate roof, and on the front side of it is a ground-to-peak sized statue of the Virgin Mary built into the bell tower. And the sun was out, so I was able to get a nice photo. In the afternoon, we skied to the other side of the resort in search of La Folie Douce. When we arrived, it was crawling with people and there wasn't a free seat to be had in or outside. They were having a live show by a jazz group, complete with singing and dancing. So we squeezed our way to the bar, ordered drinks, and watched the show, just to be able to say we've had beers at the fabled Folie Douce. A fu day all in all; now off to Sophie and Guillaume's for supper.