Salve Sestriere

It was a rather sociable week in the lead up to our holiday. I enjoyed (in chronological order) our weekend in Applecross, from which we returned on Monday evening, then a lovely evening out with Jackie, Caroline and Alex. There followed a Book Club evening at Elaine's, a trip to the Citz to see RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Jamie and Caroline, and on Friday evening we went to Rasoi for a delicious curry with Heather and Ewan. It was all great fun, but what with work being busy it was also a bit hectic! 

So Saturday was a sensibly quiet day of errands and packing, which meant we were well prepared for our journey today.

We also took Tom and Ruby to the cattery on Saturday - but first we had to catch them! They knew fine what we were up to and kept hiding. After finally being put into the cat carrier they somehow managed to burst out, shoulder to shoulder, and dashed upstairs! James caught Tom and Alasdair had to retrieve Ruby from under our bed. It was hilarious although we did feel bad about taking them away from their beloved home and garden. They miaowed loudly all the way to the cattery and Tom also panted which I presume was a sign of stress, poor wee thing. 

Anyway, here we are in Sestriere in Italy! The hotel is lovely and is right beside the slopes so we can ski to and from the door. The good news is that there is still plenty of snow even though it is the last week of the season. The bad news is that it was very foggy today and the forecast is grey and snowy for the next few days. We picked up our skis at about 3 pm and explored the town a bit. It's not the prettiest village, with 70s architecture comprising lots of concrete, but there are plenty of nice wee restaurants and shops if we feel the need - I do like a wander around a continental supermarket! 

Despite dozing on the plane and on the bus journey I'm still tired, so I'm about to get ready for an early night (it's an hour later here, so it's nearly 10 p.m.) so that I will be refreshed and ready for skiing tomorrow morning.