Saturday Markets





Every Saturday, Chamonix holds an open market in the city centre. It's an amazing place to go shopping for groceries, as the produce is local and extremely fresh. Big rolls of french cheeses, long and fat sausages, crepes, fish and prawns, bbq chickens, and every possible fruit you can imagine are splayed out over heaving tables. I've gone the past two weeks and am amazed each time I go. The only problem I have is communicating with the vendors when I want to buy something. Thankfully I've come to have two Canadians as friends and they step in to translate when I get stuck :)

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Mer De Glace









November 25, 2009
Yesterday was John's first day off in a week, so we decided, weather permitting, we'd go up and see the glacier. Thankfully it turned out to be a beautiful day with blue skies and the sun peeping out in intervals. The temperature outside was only 1 degree but didn't feel at all that cold. We walked up to the train station and bought our tickets for the Mer De Glace. The train would be leaving an hour later so we went down to a local restaurant for a couple of drinks while we waited.

The train ride up the mountain was amazing! At times it was incredibly steep but because the train had cog wheels it was able to grip firmly and keep trekking upwards. The higher we rose the more snow we saw! The train went up about 1093 meters so the conditions were right for there to be snow. Once we got off the train we took a walk down towards the glacier. The view from the top was beautiful! Having grown up in very warm states (Texas, New Mexico, and Florida) my experiences with snow have been limited so I am relishing the novelty of having it all around me here in France! Just give me a couple of months and I'll probably be crying for the beach again :)

We spent about an hour hiking around the valley and then made our way back to the station. There was a little cafe adjoining the train stop so we bought a hot chocolate and a baguette.
That night we went out with John's workmates for a Korean bbq which was very fun because you cooked your meat yourself at the table by holding it over a fire. yummy!

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Hockey Time!



November 21, 2009

<------ Me, Chelsea, & Geoff

On Saturday night we went out to the hockey rink to watch Chamonix play a team from Paris. I had never been to a hockey game before and I found it to be quite exciting. The men are phenomenal ice skaters and I can only imagine how much training they had to go through in order to skate as effortlessly as they do. Paris quickly took an early lead in the first half but after we came back from a 20 minute break Chamonix kicked ass! The score went from 1-3 in Paris' favour to 7-3.
It was sort of funny because the Paris team bench was in front of where we were sitting and the coach was none to happy as his team started losing to Chamonix. We saw him standing up on the bench shouting down to his players and waving his hands in their faces :) I guess he thought this approach would inspire the fighters within..... or not!
I had to leave to meet John a few minutes before the game ended but I had an exciting time and would definitely go to see another.

<------ The Paris coach not liking the results thus far

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Perth, Western Australia



Little Creatures Brewery
Fremantle, WA



On our way to Broome in January 2009 we stopped in Perth for a few days and stayed with John's sister Beth and her family. It was the first time I'd met the kids. Saturday afternoon was beautiful so we all took a day trip into Fremantle to visit the Little Creature's Brewery. It was an incredible brewery, very well laid out and open. Lunch was nice and we tried kangeroo skewers.. they were all right. a bit gritty. After lunch John, his niece Meaghan, and I took a speed boat ride around the bay! We ended up getting a bit wet :)

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New Year's Eve 2008 Darling Harbour


NYE in Sydney is a bit of a blur. I do know that is was John and my 1st anniversary and we went to James Squires Brewery down in the Harbour for lunch. Richie came with us so it wasn't a romantic date :) I made John wake up at 4 am to go stake out a spot in front of the Harbour Bridge but security told us it wasn't worth waiting for because they would do a sweep at noon and make everyone queue up again to go through check points. So a stakeout was not going to work. We decided instead to go to my old workplace, Hurricanes Grill, in Darling Harbour and watch the fireworks from the balcony upstairs. Andrew, my manger, and the owners were fine with a whole bunch of us coming. We ended up going to my friend Lucy's apartment for pre-drinks and jello shots and then made the walk through the harbour to Hurricanes. On the way we found a booth selling the angel light up halos you see us wearing in the photos and the boy's lightup glasses so those were promptly bought for all of us. WHAT A FUN NIGHT! I think our tab behind the bar ran up to $1000! The group of 8 of us bought bottle after bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne and Andy went behind the bar and poured us shots on the house! After the fireworks I think they closed the restaurant and we all danced in front of the bar :)


The downside of the night's celebration was that Richie, John, and I were booked to fly out of Sydney to Perth at 5 am that next morning. We were moving to Broome that next day so this was in part a goodbye celebration before we were to leave Syd. Needless to say we didn't sleep at all until the next day.

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Divine Monkey



When I first came out to Sydney to visit John in March of 2008 this is one of the first cafes he took me to. The Divine Monkey was just near the end of Glebe Point Road and served an all day breakfast. I remember that John ordered these two dishes to share: the pancake with rhubarb & banana yoghurt and then eggs benedict. These two brekkies became my absolute favorite!

When I decided to move back to Sydney on a working visa this was my first job. I have to say I HATED IT! I did not like the laid back approach to serving; most days weren't very busy so you would find yourself with nothing to do. I also had to be there by 7am and if you know me I am NOT a morning person. Plus the owner was a real character and I didn't like working with him. He'd stand over my shoulder at the till when regulars came in for their coffees and give me a hard time if I didn't immediately recognize them and give a discount. His name was Tony.. I didn't stay more than two months and soon after went to work at Hurricanes but this was where I worked when I first arrived.

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Images of my life in Sydney

Sydney will always hold a special place in my heart. It's where I found myself, spread my wings, and grew as a person. I navigated my way through the city by trial and error and experienced many things for the first time: sushi, alcohol, yum cha, living on my own, wine tasting etc. John and I grew as a couple in Sydney and took day trips in our little car to the Blue Mountains, the Northern Coastline, and the Hunter Valley. I developed a love for good food and found cuisines I had never before tasted: Greek, Thai, Indian, German, Spanish and Japanese. I was fortunate to work at a brilliant restaurant in Darling Harbour through which I met some amazing people. I sat in with John during some of his uni classes at Sydney University. Spent days down at Bondi Beach and watched the 2008 Pre- Beijing Australian Swimming trials. We cooked a honey baked ham for Christmas and spent New Year's Eve drinking Moet & Chandon champagne while watching the fireworks explode in Darling Harbour. John and I attended a Black Crowes and Keith Urban concert. I celebrated my 20th birthday in Sydney with John surprising me with tickets to the Phantom of the Opera..

I have truly had the best time of my life here and hope to one day return. It was an incredible place to live and explore!




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First Glimpses of Chamonix



Check out this view!! This is what John sees every morning when he looks out his window! incredible, huh? My view isn't so bad either..

So we flew into Geneva yesterday and one of the girls from Esprit was there to pick us up. It was about an hours drive over the border into France. The real ski snow won't come for a few weeks yet, but as you can see the mountain tops there's already snow up there. I'm bunking at a hostel about 10 minutes down the road from where John is staying. It's really great because I have a wonderful roomate who's Canadian and have already met a few other young people staying here too. The hostel is pretty much empty because we're in the middle of the end summer and the beginning of winter so people haven't started to arrive yet. they will soon!



Today was my first day in Chamonix and I have enjoyed spending most of the day outside walking around the town. For breakfast I went to the supermarket or Superu as they call it and bought a chocolate crossaint and then when J had his break we went into a pattiserrie and bought these amazing sweets. Mine was a raspberry custard tart and John got a chocolate eclair. soo good! I'm loving the bread and pastries here! yum!
John had training all day but had a break from 4-7 so I was able to see him then. It's going to be hard work for him but already he stands out as the best among the other chefs. The executive chef really likes him so hopefully he will get a placement in a nice resort. While he was working I went out with my new friends for a few drinks. We ended up going to this one called BardUp which had a fusball table, dart board and a pool table. I beat a Canadian guy from the hostel 3 times at fusball! I guess my days of playing against Jessica came in handy :P

I was at a loss with my computer today as it ran out of battery quite early this mornig and the charger was at John's place. But now I've got it and am ready to record my trip and day to day life. J's working again all day so won't see much of him but I think I might go look for a job. Hopefully the visa situation won't stand in my way :)

xx

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Candid Snap


I love this photo! I reconnected with a friend on facebook and she had this photo of me taken when the staff from Lustre hung out at our house for the afternoon. Granted, the quality of the photo isn't so great but I just look so happy. And at the time I know I was. It was a sunny beautiful Australian day spent sitting in the backyard of our Pipit Loop house with a few good friends drinking a few good drinks. life is good :)

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Packing for the Snow



I'M HEADING TO THE SKI SLOPES!

These past few days have been so surreal! John registered with a temp agency two days ago to find part time work while we were staying in Cornwall. Well the guy asked how John would feel about working at a ski destination during the winter. John was like if there is a job opening it's something I would consider. The next day a woman from Esprit called and offered John a job as a head chef in a chalet in Chamonix, France for five months. All he had to do was pass an interview & the executive chef would call him the next day.. Well John did great with the first call. The guy was an Aussie so he and John got on well, BUT the next time he called he started asking questions about how to prepare certain french dishes & John got flustered. Needless to say after hanging up J thought he had absolutely bombed the interview and didn't think the guy would call him again.. It was a little funny for me because John had never been rejected before and was moping around the living room.. I finally suggested we go out shopping to get him out of the house and get his mind off his failure.. While we were shopping John's mobile rang and it was the woman saying that if he still wanted the job the chef wanted him to come out anyway!

AND THE BEST PART IS THAT I CAN COME TOO! With his package he gets free accommodation, ski rentals, and a winter ski pass! My plan is to learn French and learn how to ski! I absolutely can't wait! we leave tomorrow and have sooo much to do before then. (and here I am blogging rather than getting it all together)

We've had to go shopping for winter ski wear and thankfully today we found a shop with amazing deals. thank goodness! as the picture shows we almost have all that we need.

until chamonix xx

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