22-Jan-06

Ok, so here’s the spelling correction, we went to Cervinia (pronounced chur-vain-ya). It was a very spur of the moment trip and I didn’t even know who exactly was going to be there until we got to the bus station before we left. In all nine of us went, it was absolutely awesome and exactly what I needed.

On Friday we left for Aosta, which is about 1.5 hrs north of Torino and we did a little sight seeing. The game plan was to tour a few of castles that Aosta Valley is known for, but our time was not abundant enough to see much more than the lovely little city. Aosta is kind of like how I had Torino pictured in my mind before I had arrived. It’s definitely got some years to it, but it’s clean and the mountains are very close. After a three-hour tour, we headed to the bus station and caught a half hour bus to Chatillon.

The bus ride was rough. There were a ton of people and we ended up being some of the last people on. My friend Kevin who was seated in the isle across from me was sitting with a guy who looked like he was in rough shape. About 10 minutes into the 30-minute ride, he started shouting something in Italian on this crowded bus. Kevin, obviously concerned, turned to the few of us sitting around him and asked what he was saying. We had no idea but a girl sitting behind us translated that he was drunk and might throw up. Kevin was extremely concerned at the thought of this and kindly asked the girl to quickly relay to him any words that sounded like “get out of the way.”

In Chatillon we hooked up with the final bus of the day to Cervinia and made the hour and a half journey up the mountain through a never-ending passage of switchbacks. We had set up a hotel while waiting for the bus and called to have them pick us up from the stop once we got there. Hotel Furggen was absolutely adorable and they treated us like royalty. They offered free transportation into the small village (the hotel was located a little way up the mountainside) and back if it was before 11:30pm. We headed down to grab some food and made our way to a gelateria before heading back up and hitting the hay.

In the morning we ate our complimentary breakfast and hit the slopes. It took us a little longer than I wanted for us to make it out onto the hill, but it was worth it all. The views were amazing and everything was just awesome. We bought the pass that would allow us to ride in both Italy and Switzerland, which was completely worth it. We spent most of the day in Switzerland, which turned out to be the best riding and headed back towards Italy at the end of the day. When we rode in Italy I felt like I really was riding on top of a glacier. I think I would have done better with ice skates but it was still an awesome experience. We made it back almost exactly to our mountainside hotel and then rested up before hitting the small town once again.

We took the recommendation of our super awesome hotel dude and headed down to another awesome restaurant and then made our way to the discoteca which coincidently belonged to a guy that we rode the bus to Cervinia with. The place had live music, which was absolutely amazing, and the atmosphere was incredible. A few of us called it quits early, but I stayed out to hear the rest of the band and enjoy the evening.

This morning we got up and started the journey back to Torino. I met a guy at the bus station who was totally awesome and we pretty much talked through the whole trip. A psychologist from Liverpool, Scotland who just started snowboarding. It was completely great. Once we got back it was a little disappointing to be out of the snow and back into the smoggy haze of the city. But it’s only four more days until my next weekend.