Or some other such cyber sign to say we are 'on holiday'. Actually we've gone skiing. For 4 days.
Take two. After our mildest Macedonian week in 60 yrs with NO SNOW, we decided to try another Balkan country beginning with M - Monte Negro (where the men are all incrdeibly tall. Taller than my 6ft 3 husband) Now how does that happen? How does a whole nation get tall??
So we drove for 5 hrs through non stop rain (it's been the wettest winter ever in Albania too) into Monte Negro where it continued to rain. My husband's mutterings grew louder as we progressed. Let's just say he was 'not a happy bunny'. He is in fact a 'ski bunny' (if men can be such things) Mad as mad can be about it. So things were not looking good.
Was this to be our second wash out ski trip? In the year when everyone everywhere had excessive snow except the Balkan elbow of Europe?
The Good News: by the time we got to 1450m there was snow, & the tiny resort was operating (ie half the lifts were open, that wd be 3 then, 1 of which is the pull rope for baby skiers......) We got the wettest I have ever got skiing. We skiied in rain which was a 1st for me. At the top it turned into snow.
More Good News: the restaurant serves those really thick hot chocolates which are like mousse, ubiquitous in Albania & the children love them.
Other Good News: the resort had been developed & had one of those zooty tooty 6 seater zippy chairlifts which whisk you up in minimal time & eliminate the usual Balkan frostbite hazard. We felt almost "European" (in an almost Val d'Isere kind of way. Only not quite)....
Bad News: it's the law in Monte Negro always to drive with your lights on . All the time. Guess who left the lights on all day, resulting in flat battery (as we discovered back at our car wet through & very cold?) No, not me, my husband. Suffice to say I was not a happy bunny.
Good News: We had jump leads under our seat & an empty, rather lost looking coach still in the car park for some reason, (as we were the last punters to leave the ski resort), attempted to jump start us to no avail.
Best news of all: the only other car in the car park was a Lada. The guy arrived with a cable & hooked our heavy tank of a 4x4 to his little Lada & pulled us across the car park & we successfuly bump started it.
Resolution. I will never be rude about Ladas again. I will endeavour not to be rude about my husband's absent-mindedness. After all he was VERY excited to see the snow....
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6 comments:
There are all sorts of floods in montenegro so do be careful! We've had loads of snow this winter, so bizarre that you should be so close and have such a different climate. I'm longing to go to Montenegro, people say that it is amazing. Very beautiful.
Should you ever venture this far, it is the law to always have your lights on in Bosnia as well. You get used to it after a bit, there are only so many times you can run the battery flat before learning in a Pavlov dogs type way.
Have a great time. x
Skiing in rain? Crikey, that's a new one on me too! Glad you got the car started!
I still have the rain jacket I had to buy years ago (and I am really talking YEARS ago, as in 18 or so) when my brother and I went skiing in the rain. Another resort starting with 'M': Megeve (cannot do accents here, sorry).
Well done all of you for enjoying yourselves despite everything.
LCM x
I skied in the rain once in Morzine. I have never been so wet...sounds as if you had a great time though. ( I love those speedy chairlifts).
The 'lights on during the day' rule seems to be becoming the norm in many countries; I think I'm right in saying both Italy and Norway have it. Over here, it is recommended and in fact you get a reduction in insurance if you have daylight running lights.
In our car here, the light on the dashboard comes on to tell you your headlamps are off. That took a while to get used to.
Glad you got some skiing in.
Greetings from Cyprus,
Enjoyed reading the Albania experience, Regards
http://anewlifeincyprus.blogspot.com/
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