New year's eve in Italy can be both exciting and dangerous, as we discovered last night... (although here in Florence it's not quite as bad as Naples!) People let off fireworks and bangers, which is fine as long as you are well away from them! For some strange reason we decide to drive into the city and go up Piazzale Michelangelo, the square above Florence with a bird's eye view of the whole city. The trouble is so do hundreds of other people, some of whom indiscriminantly start throwing bangers on the floor right amongst the crowds!!! So we quickly escape and drive back home to safety. They're showing the three Tenors in China on T.V. and out of our window we can see the sky all lit up! The fireworks go on well into the night... much better and safer!We get about three hours sleep as we have a new Year's day date with Tuscany's top Ski resort, Abetone. Now there's a new one on me, I didn't realise you could ski in Tuscany!
Alarm call is for 5.30 am and we meet up with some friends in Florence and make the 80 mile drive high into the Apuan Alps to the North west of Florence. Suffice to say it's our first time skiing, as winter holidays never really appealed all the time I was living in England! We book a lesson for 2.00pm, which gives us time to have a go on our own first... mmm, not such a good idea, it's much, much more difficult than it looks, even on the beginners slope, which feels more like Mt Blanc!
I just about make it down to the bottom in an hour, after falling over many times and it seems as if most of Tuscany is here looking on, decked out in all the gear of course. I must be the only one here without salopettes, proper ski gloves, jacket and hat! but hey, the sun is out and at least I'm having a go! We have some lunch and wait for our lesson..Our instructor is 'George Clooney lookalike', Marco. Fortunately he has the teaching skills to match his looks! He doesn't speak English and our Italian after only 2 months is still at a very basic stage, but we only have four phrases to remember... spazza neve (snow plough) niente braccie, (no arms) curva destra and curva sinistra. (right and left turn) He takes us down about 3 times in the hour's lesson and I'm away! Afterwards I go down another half a dozen times on my own, great fun and what a way to spend January 1st! I didn't think the New Year would go down hill so fast!
(Original journal entry 1/1/02)
3 comments:
No broken bones Lee I'm impressed, I think if I went skiing i'd probably break all my bones and for some unknown reason my wife thinks we should go skiing.
Lee surely a night in drinking Lady Grey Tea,would have been the best place to be when the mad Italians are playing with their fireworks.
You never forget the first time ... skiing that is!
On my first skiing trip, we had a German skiing instructor with a drink problem who fancied himself as a bit of a George Clooney. Needless to say, the lessons with him were a bit of a disaster!
Even though I was 34, it was still a bit of a shock to the system Joe, but glad I tried it! A bit strange with all these 5-year-old kids whizzing past you! Snowboarding at 41 was a bit more tricky though... drinking tea or Champagne is a lot safer than being outside with all those crazy people, I agree!
Anonymous! Whooo... mysterious. I think you might nneed a google account to register your name or become a follower? Alternatively you can sign your name at the end of the comment! Mmm, Germans and alcohol, not a good mix! Did you ever try skiing again?
Thanks for the comments guys!
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