Skiing in Chamonix, France

picture taken on the chair lift

 Jacob and I have been major slackers on this site. Sorry. And I've decided to just write it just like I am the one writing it, since Jacob (ahem) refuses to actually help write.

So here I am, Christina, and here's what we did two weeks ago.

Because I packed all our winter and ski wear into our already bulging bags when we came to Libya, I was determined to use them. So Jacob and I planned a ski trip. We decided on Chamonix, France because a) we had heard it's a really great ski resort, b) it's France, and c) we've never been there before.

So it was set. We booked this trip through our travel agent, which doesn't seem all that strange, except that they only take cash. So we had to pull oodles of money out of the ATM over a course of few days, and then I had to carry around over 2000 LYD in my purse for a few days. It felt very strange to hand over such a wad of cash. It also didn't help that one of the ATMs we went to only gave us tens, so we had about 1000 LYD in tens...that's thick.

Anyway, so we actually flew to Geneva, Switzerland, and then we were going to catch a bus over to Chamonix, France. I was really excited because I thought I would get more stamps in my passport. So wrong. Because Switzerland is so open, they don't even have any passport control or passport stamps. And because we drove across the border, we didn't even get French stamps. Major bummer.

But back to the point: skiing. This was my first time on actual skis (I had done snowboarding before with my best friend Anna), so it was a learning experience.

Chamonix is a ski resort town which is within public bus distance to seven different mountains. The first day, we didn't know where to go, so we just hopped on a bus and went. First mistake. Then we got on two successive gondolas without really checking the map of ski runs. Second mistake. As a result, we ended up at 2700 m (8900 ft) with nothing but reds and blacks to get back down. Let me remind you that I had never downhilled skied before. So I had to learn on a two-mile red run with some very steep parts how to ski. There were lots of falls, lots skis, and tears, but we eventually made it down. I won't even tell you how long it took. It's that embarrassing. That day wasn't the best.

But the second day was much better. We picked a mountain with some good blue runs, and I was able to actually learn how to maneuver the skis a bit, and we actually had some fun. We explored the mountain more and got to go on exponentially more runs than the previous day.

The last day was just a half day for us, we only had the morning because we had to catch a plane back to Tripoli in the afternoon. We went back to the mountain from the day before, which worked out quite nice. Now it had snowed almost all day the day before and was continuing to snow that day. As result, we had to wait around a little at the beginning because there was some risk of avalanche. We heard some big booms and later realized that they were setting off some explosives to make the risk lower. That was exciting. But not as exciting as skiing in knee deep powder. It was crazy and fun. There were plenty of times when we couldn't see our skis at all! And of course, on this day of snowing, snowing, snowing, that's the day we decided to bring the camera with us. So bear with me as I share some pictures.

from the top of our "blue" mountain

another one

another picture taken from the chair lift

us in the town center

the river that caused the valley known as Chamonix

church covered in snow in the town

us waiting in line while they blow up the mountain

a look down the mountain

We had a lot of fun, and we've decided that we would like to make skiing a semi-regular thing. But as it's so expensive, we'll just have to see.

Futbol with the Locals

Jacob has had the pleasure of playing soccer once a week with some of his fellow colleagues against another company comprised of Egyptians and Libyans.

The game is only for men, so Christina sat on the side and took pictures and video of the event.

Check it out, and you can feel like you were there.

And here's the team.

And for some action, check out the video below.

Our Italy Trip Chronologically II: San Marco Church

Our next stop was the San Marco Church, one of many churches we would viist.

The inside was pretty ornate, just check out the altar and the ceiling.

Yes, that's the ceiling.

Lots of giant paintings adorn the walls. Too bad it's so dark in there. It's really hard to get a decent picture with little to no light.

And here's the body (or maybe a statue of a body) of a bishop we can't remember the name of.

Not too many pictures here, but just keeping you in the know.

More soon!

Our Italy Trip Chronologically: Duomo Museum

The very first thing we did after arriving the night before was go to the Duomo Museum. We were actually trying to get into the Duomo itself, but it wasn't open yet and we later found out that it wasn't open to the public that day. But in our wanderings, we found this museum which turned out to be one we had on our list.

So check out what we saw.

We saw lots of statues.

This was a giant lecturn for either a massive Bible or a massive hymnal.

Feed the baby!

This is a bronze representation of the beheading of John the Baptist. It was prtty large; probably 12 feet tall and 15 feet long (these are Jacob's estimates so  you can blame him if it's wrong.)

This is Michelangelo's Pieta, which, if you don't know the history is pretty interesting. It's an unfinished work by Michelangelo depicting the moving of Jesus's body off of the cross by Nicodemus, Mary, and Mary Magdelene. But apparently while he was making it, it wasn't turning out the way he wanted and he got angry and broke off a few pieces. But most of it was preserved and about half of it is done. It was really interesting to see an unfished statue, getting the idea of how it was formed. And apparently, Michelangelo gave his face to Nicodemus, so we got to see a glimpse of what the artist looked like, too.

This is a pretty scary representation of Mary Magdelene. We think she had to be a bit more attractive if she was a prostitute. But that's just us.

And his is amazing. This is made up of tiny tiny tiny pieces to make a mosaic. It was absolutely ridiculous!

They had a magnifying glass up to this one which showed the little pieces better. We tried to get a picture of that, but this was the best we could do. You just don't understand till you see it.

And this is a colored statue. Most of them were only one color, so this was interesting that it was painted.

And that was our visit to the Duomo Museum. We later found out that the finger of John the Baptist was at this museum, but we don't remember seeing the thing. This was a pretty good museum, lots of interesting things and not too large that it loses your interest.  So it was a good first stop.

More to come soon!

We're in Italy!

So we're in Italy, Florence to be exact. And we are loving it!

We got here on the 24th and will be here until the 31st. It has been and is going to continue to be a blast, and we'll try to put up pictures soon.

Decisions, Decisions

There are some definite plusses for taking this assignment in Libya.

1. We get more paid time off.

2. We are closer than ever to some amazing destinations.

Now we just have to decide where to go.

Our first trip is going to be for our birthdays and we are going to Italy. That's already been decided, but we have to choose where to go in Italy and what to do. We definitely want to see Florence for a few days, but what do you think? Where else should we go. We're thinking of taking a week for this first trip.

We also have to plan where we should go for Christmas time. It's basically the same price to go to Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt, Dublin, Athens, Madrid, and Brussels. So where to go, where to go? Any advice?

Spider Ant, Spider Ant, Does Whatever a Spider Ant Does!

Wondering what a spider ant is?

This is a spider ant.

The picture doesn't really do it justice, but they are at least four times the size of a regular ant and at least twice as fast. And they have really long legs. Their tails kind of stick up in the air, so Jacob calls them Scorpion Ants.

But no matter what you call it, they're weird, and kind of freaky. Neither of us had ever seen this kind of ant before. Just one more experience in Libya.