Christmas Season Commences

On Saturday evening just after I finished dinner I was invited to another dinner by my roommate. I decided to go. I helped with some of the preparation for dinner. This involved various things like pinching raviolis or tearing up bits of cabbage. To begin with everyone else there was Chinese but afterwards some of their French friends showed up. The dinner was absolutely excellent.

All the food was just fantastic and actually had that good homemade feel to it. I ate more than enough and then some more. I eventually had to just refuse more food because I had way too much. It was not easy eating two dinners back to back.

After dinner well hung at and talked for awhile. I got invited to go on a hike the next day. None of the Chinese folks were interested in going but I sure was. So that's what I did, went on another hike.

The next day I met up and we had to pound on the door for about ten minutes to get our other friend to wake up. Eventually we were on our way towards the mountains. The hike was another brilliant day. There was a lot of ice and mud going up the trail but all around it was really beautiful.

At one point we saw a Chamoix, a mountain antelope that frequently hangs out in the Alps. By the time we made it to the top it was pretty cold and winding. A perfect place for lunch! So that's where we ate lunch. On top of the world.

Afterwards we slid our way down the mountain and made it mack to the car. On the ride home we stopped by a castle. The castle itself was pretty neat looking for the outside but we were unable to go inside. At least it was cool to know that there is a castle just 30km from Chambery. For the rest of the ride home I slept and drooled all over my sweatshirt. I guess I was pretty tired.

...

Yesterday I did a whole lot of laundry. I basically washed most of the clothes that I have. This involved me wearing my huge hiking backpack filled with laundry as well as my suitcase. For those of you that think laundry is expensive you have not lived in France. When I do laundry I never dry my clothes because it costs dollar for every 5-10 minutes. Or something like that, I don't remember exactly besides deciding that it was way to expensive.

Just to wash my clothes I forked over the equivalent to $16, I'd say I would have to triple this price if I paid for the driers as well. So I packed the heavy wet clothes back into my luggage and headed towards my destination, the cave.

That evening I spent some time with my super awesome Japanese friend we walked around the Chambery Christmas market that started this weekend. They basically set up a mini Christmas village right in the Center of town were you can shop for Christmas gifts. You can even visit Santa, or as the the French like to call him, Christmas Daddy.