Around 3ish we arrived into Les Houches, our new home for the next 7 days. Les Houches is about 8 minutes from Chamonix. We were all so happy to finally arrive. Little did we know things were just about to get interesting.
The road to our chalet was quite steep & extremely narrow so much so that only one car could go through at a time. As we started to drove up the hill the car tires started to spin and we quickly realized there was NO way we were making it up this hill. There was too much ice/snow on the road that our car had no traction. But I was in a car full of men so they refused to believe the car couldn't make it up the hill and continued to try again & again. Backwards... forwards... going slow... going fast. After many failed attempts they finally accepted the fact that our car was NOT going up this hill. We also had no idea how far up the chalet was located. I kept laughing & thinking, "This is not happening. What are we going to do now?"
- Option #1... Get out of the car and walk up the hill with everything packed in the trunk.
- Option #2... Find a gas station/car shop and buy snow chains.
Option #1 was completely out of the question. So we decided to try and find a place to buy snow chains. Now this is Europe, not all stores are open at 4 on a Saturday afternoon. And everything is closed on Sundays. So we were a bit stressed about finding these snow chains. The Chamonix tourist office was super helpful and gave us some store suggestions along with directions. We quickly texted our friends who at that moment were on a flight to Geneva so they could be sure to ask the car rental for snow chains.
We found the auto supply shop without much fuss and S went in to find the chains. Now I know pretty much nothing about snow chains. I've never had to use them even during our winter trips to Austria & Germany. And I learned how to drive in Southern Ca. so snow chains is definitely not my area of expertise. I didn't realize chains come in different sizes & designs and of course I had no idea how to put them on. About 15 mins later, S comes out of the store with a big yellow box. Yeah, they had our size! We're set. S later told us they only had one set of chains available in our size so our choices were completely limited. S also said that he saw a sign that indicated the chains were 20Euros... well when he got to the register he discovered it wasn't 20 Euros but 200 Euros. For chains?! I have no idea how much chains normally cost but I find it hard to believe they're close to $300 dollars. But oh well. What were our alternatives. Here are the guys putting the chains on. Thank goodness R knew how to put them on!
Once we had the chains on, the car went up the hill without any fuss. When we arrived at the house I wasn't sure if the owner or property manager was going to meet us. I had sent them a text earlier in the day giving them our estimated time of arrival but because they didn't speak any English I wasn't sure how we were going to obtain the keys to the chalet.
Did I mention the contract was all in French too. We had a friend translate the document so we knew what we were signing & when I never received the signed contract we again had to have a friend call them and find out what was going on. I couldn't help thinking, "Are we being scammed? Is the chalet going to be the same one we viewed on the internet? What am I going to do if it's a total shack and I have 4 friends flying in from the US for this trip." Talk about being a little stressed out.
Anyway... when we pulled into the chalet's driveway a neighbor walked up to us and gave us the house keys. He spoke no English so all I said was my last name and he gave me the key. Once we walked into the house we were like little kids exploring every inch of the chalet trying to decide who would take which room and commenting on how nice the place looked.
All the rooms were very charming and the kitchen was great. I was so happy to see that everything was exactly as shown online. Typical chalet... everything was made out of wood. Super cozy and you really felt like it was a home. Two of the rooms had secret rooms at the top that were only accessible with a ladder. Once inside the rooms you could completely lock yourself in. It was really cool! One even had little heart peep holes. It was such a great surprise to find these rooms. Lil' C was in heaven. Each of us went into the secret room to play games with him. He loved it.
While we were unloading the car, the owner's property manager's daughter's boyfriend (did you get all that) came over to explain how everything in the house worked. I almost didn't let him into the house because when I opened the door he couldn't really explain to me in English who he was or why he was there. It's funny now that I look back on it. Even though the owners stated that English is spoken on their website it was a complete lie. lol! They basically just grabbed anyone they knew who spoke a little English and had them call us or come over when we had questions. Crazy.
We spent the rest of the day going grocery shopping and relaxing. None of us were in the mood to cook or go out so we order pizza from a little place in town.
The following day, we walked around Chamonix, ate a great lunch, and played in the snow. I also contacted Evolution I to enroll Lil' C & I in ski Ecole for the week.
In the evening, we went to the local ski shop in town & rented our equipment so we'd be all set for Monday morning. The guy that measured us for our ski equipment was this total snowboard 50ish year old dude with this crazy goatee. He had a real quirky sense of humor too. When I asked him if it was possible to return my ski equipment early if I decided not to ski the whole week he said, "Sure. So if you break your legs tomorrow you bring your skis back tomorrow. No problem." Gee, thanks for the load of confidence! lol! You know the superstitious side of me was wondering if he knew something I didn't.
Our Baltimore friends arrived in the late afternoon. It was great seeing them. Unfortunately, the airline lost two of their bags. And of course those were the two bags that had all their ski equipment. We all felt for them. The airline strung them along for almost two days saying they had found their bags and someone was on their way. When the bags didn't show up the airlines acted like they had no idea where the bags were located. One day they'd said, "Your bags here" and then someone else would say "I think your luggage is in Paris". We were beginning to think these bags were history either that or for sure we'd spot someone skiing with J's ski gear. After two days they gave up and bought some ski wear and rented the rest. The bags showed up a day after they bought everything.
Sunday night we celebrated Steve's birthday and R made a wonderful dinner followed by a delicious pastry cake we bought at the local boulangerie. It was a great first day!