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| Paris In Sites Newsletter Direct From France Edited by Linda Thalman Travel & Leisure Articles |
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Merbibel France - March 2004
From Paris to the Ski Slopes of the 3 Valleys By Linda Thalman
In mid-March we had a week of the most extraordinary powder snow 'hors piste' skiing I've
ever had in my life... and I've been on skies since I was 4 years old!
You couldn't even see the tips of your skies while sitting on the chair lift, let
along figure out where the runs were.
Should we ski left, right or center?
As only the French can do, we had to take a black piste (the most difficult) to get to a
red piste (slightly less difficult) to find our way back to our studio in Méribel-Mottaret.
The green and blue runs were much further down and were we glad to get to them on our
wobbling legs in the fog!
Oh my gosh - am I going to ski down slopes so steep in deep powder snow?
I did - in one piece - but with a few falls covered in snow from ski goggles to boots.
Tuesday was more powder snow, perfecting our skills and then came Wednesday.
We had to climb, carrying our skies and poles (well, truthfully, Cédric carried my skies half the way),
up, up, up and up - way off the beaten path.
And then down, down, down through mush, ice, powder, crusty snow, more powder and
and few kilometers of nearly flat valley skiing in the most beautiful setting.
I wasn't sure I was going to make it after a fall that pulled a muscle, but thanks to
Cédric's encouragement and patience, I did.
Restaurant: Bateau Ivre - Courchevel
Our table looked out over the Alps in Courchevel on a splendidly sunny day.
Pierre started with sea urchins on a bed of sea salt and topped with a crème de coquillage, followed
by tender lamb with an anchovy dip and a chocolate dessert with passion fruit.
I chose the Saint-Jacques with 5 salad greens for my main course and had a melt-in-your-mouth pear with honey and
lemon sauce for dessert.
We shared a half bottle of white Condrieu 2002 La Loge - Jean Michel Gerin and a red Margaux 1996 from the
Château Marquis de Mons. Heavenly.
The service was perfection as was the beautiful presentation and taste for each dish we had
including the mise en bouche and the mousse d'epinard with a shrimp emulsion.
Lunch lasted from 13:30 to 16:30 and it was a most memorable way to remember our skiing holiday in
the "3 Valleys" of Courchevel, Meribel and Val Thorens.
Bateau Ivre - Hôtel Pomme de Pin
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We warmed up on Saturday afternoon and Sunday in the densest fog I've seen in a long time.
We signed up for ski lessons in Group 3 with the Ecole de Ski Méribel and
on Monday the real fun began: skiing in powder!
We've taken many a ski class in France, but our week in Méribel with Cédric Gorrand stands out as
the best ski teacher we've ever had. And our ski class group of 10 people were just delightful.
We'd planned to have lunch at the Bateau Ivre for about a year - and what a delight.
General Information
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Linda Thalman
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Email – Linda@wfi.fr
Web Address – http://www.parisinsites.com/
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