Dog-sledding

As part of my Christmas present Linda got me an introductory dog-sledding lesson. While I don't necessarily want to become a professional dog-sledder, I was really looking forward to getting out in the snow with the dogs.

View Larger Map

I did have some reservations. We had watched a show on BBC where they were recreating the Scott trip to the north pole; the dogs in the show were only a small step away from being completely wild, and spent all their time fighting or chewing through their nylon traces.

Fortunately the dogs I had were a lot more friendly than that, although the handler made a point of telling me they should always be attached to a line, because otherwise they would run off and kill a sheep.

Anyway, the lady who ran the show was very nice, taking Linda and I for a ride in the sled before giving me some instruction and setting out for a run around the training track. It was great fun and it was amazing how strong the dogs were - I had three dogs on my sled, with one of them leading so really just two dogs were doing the pulling. Apparently they can run for 50km a day through the snow, in sub-zero temperatures.

Linda huddled behind a shed, very bravely trying to snap off a few photos and take video, but it was so cold her camera kept turning off.

After the training session we got invited back for another run with the dogs because they still had plenty of energy. It was snowing heavily all morning (which was just as well, because it has been unseasonably warm recently and the snow had been melting) and through the day we kept slipping into the local café for a restorative chocolat chaud at regular intervals.

We tossed up the idea of renting some snow shoes but the weather seemed a bit changeable so we went for the safer option of renting a little blue louge and blazing our own tobogganing trail down the surprisingly steep hill nearby.

After the early start and the cold, we were feeling quite worn out by all this and caught the little train back down the hill to Nyon and then home, where we spent the rest of the night immobile on the sofa, waiting to thaw.

Many thanks to Veronique Andersson of St-Cergue for the excellent session. Contact me for her details.

Paris: Part 8

Oh yes, there is one more part to our trip - our last day.

It was originally set aside as a shopping day, but apparently the French are even less flexible than the Swiss, at least when it comes to sales dates, which are rigidly controlled and would not start until after we had returned home. We still went shopping, but more in a theoretical sense than with any intention to actually spend money.

We took the metro to Galleries Lafayette, which is probably the most famous department store in Paris. We spent some time roaming the multi-floor, multi-building, shopping centre before it dawned on me that it was just another big shop and fatigue set in.

From there we headed off to Les Halles, a big neighbourhood filled with shops. We'd been there before at night, and it seemed quite exotic, but during the day it seemed a little seedy (another case of Paris looking better at night?) and our lack of motivation to spend money took the fun out of it a little. Even the sugar crêpes didn't help.

Instead, we made a mercy dash to the Christmas markets at Saint-Germain, where Linda had spotted some red sheepskin gloves days before, her cold hands having hardened her resolve. We got there with only minutes to spare before the store shut for good, and found a pair that fit perfectly resulting in a very happy Linda.

After we abandoned the plan of shopping, we ended up having quite a nice day, popping into pâtisseries to buy various lemon tarts and chocolate eclaires to sustain us for our train trip home.

We travelled back to our apartment to meet with the owner and pick up our luggage, and from their back to Gare de Lyon and our TGV home. The train ride went quickly, fuelled by the previously mentioned tarts and eclaires, and with our minds kept occupied by finally reading our Lonely Planet Paris. Better late than never?

Paris: Part 7

Tuesday would be recovery day, more because most of the major sites and shops were closed for the public holiday than because of our 'wild night out'.

We headed back out to the Latin Quarter for a French Revolution Walk run by Paris Walks.

This was very well run and filled a few pleasant hours taking us to a few places in Paris we probably wouldn't have stumbled on ourselves. Plus we actually learned something about French History!

Afterwards we filled up on crêpes for dinner, including one with chocolate and chantilly cream for desert which was delicious.

To complete the day we decided we couldn't be in Paris without climbing the Eiffel Tower. The weather was clear and we headed out, as planned, to go up the tower soon after dark before clouds lost altitude and covered the top of the tower.

When we got to the tower, however, we found the queue stretched pretty much the whole way around the base. We joined the queue and waited and waited, and it was freezing cold! It must have taken us hours for us to reach the lift to the second floor only to find there was a second, huge, queue to reach the top.

By the time we reached the top level of the tower the clouds had closed in and all we could see was an orange haze, with the occasional glimpse of the city below. At least it gave it something to giggle about.

More queueing to get back to the second level, where the view was much clearer. Linda bought some Eiffel Tower egg-cups for momentos and we joined one last queue to return to ground.

All up it must have taken us 4 hours to get up and back down from the tower, most of which was spent shivering in queues. Still, it is just one of those things you have to do.