Tiff's 2026 Winter Olympic Italian adventure

Travel day today. We checked out of the apartment which has felt like home, walked down the 5 flights of stairs (that we will not miss 😂) and walked to the bus station. An easy ride for 2.5hrs through spectacular snowy mountain scenery, dipping into France before finishing in Geneva, Switzerland.  We walked to our b&b on the lake to drop our bags and then walked to the Red Cross museum, via the United Nations headquarters.  The museum is informative, sobering and demonstrates the valuable work the Red Cross have been doing internationally since the late 1800's. We then caught the bus to see the Reformation wall which recognises the key leaders in the reformation movement such as Luther, Calvin etc. A wander up the former city walls to the old town, with cobbled streets, flags flying and cafes and restaurants starting to fill.  We found a cosy Chicken (Poulet) restaurant for dinner and added in desserts too.  Tried remembering to say Merci instead of gracie 😂...

Our last hurrah🚠⛷️ on the slopes and what a beauty it was.  Our biggest kms skied in a day (70kms) and another sunshiny day.  Rainy, cold and snowy weather forecast for the next week here and so we were truly blessed with 7 consecutive days of sunshine for our skiing🎉 I love my stats..   Total kms  on the slopes- 419.92kms Downhill skiing kms - 250.7kms Lifts and gondolas - 170kms Last night in Italy and so we went back to the restaurant we went to on the first night for some home style Italian food. A month in Italy has been everything I could have hoped for, exploring cities, volunteering at the Winter Olympics, seeing the Opening ceremony, skiing for 7 days in the Italian Alps,  eating pizza, pasta, Italian treats and all with great company.. Now to Geneva, Switzerland tomorrow for a few days before heading home. 🇮🇹 Arrivederci Italy 🇮🇹

Today we mixed it up. Our ski pass allowed one day to be used at partner slopes. We caught the local bus for the 1hr ride to Mont Blanc, Courmayeur ski field. The bus drops you at a Cable car stop for the ride across the valley in a 120 person cable car. This series of mountains are a different ski experience and we set off to explore. We ended up skiing black runs as well as the intermediate runs. I had my eye on a 20 person cable car to the top of the mountain. Tim not so keen and so I headed off myself. The views to Mont Blanc and the surrounding mountains were mind blowing. I then realised I was at the top of a steep long ski 😂😂. So, the only way is down and off I went for an exhilarating downhill ski. It seems I talked it up enough for Tim to overcome the cable car heights issue and we both went up for a brilliant ski. A day with perfect weather and surrounded by remarkable beauty again...

Fog in the valley this morning but it cleared to another magnificent day. Quiet on the slopes today and so our longest lift wait time would have been 3-4 mins. Pure joy skiing such long runs. Another 65km day on fabulous snow. It seems that the 70’s/80’s onesie skisuit us back in Europe and I don't know if they are original or you can now buy them again 😂 The slopes have about 95% skiers and 5% snow boarders and most of them are British.   We brought our skis down the mountain in the Gondola tonight as our ski pass gives us one day at a different resort and so will catch the bus in the morning. Dinner with Andy and Narelle tonight at a traditional Trattoria, and they now head to Spain to finish their holiday 😊. It's been so lovely to have shared an Olympic volunteer experience with them (even though they were Milan based).

Well, Italian Alps delivered another beautiful sunshiny day. We headed up the mountain on the gondola and had such a fun morning skiing some new runs. The slopes were quieter on a week day and so hardly any wait time on the ski lifts🎉 We chatted to some Brits and Belgium folks while having lunch.  Everyone saying that this ski field is one of the best with so many runs and breathtaking views. We have found it amazing and a 3 day pass here costs less than 1 day in Australia! Andy and Narelle joined us for the arvo and we had such a great time skiing.  We decided to have a drink after our last run. IiThey headed for the gondola to go back down the mountain and we headed to the ski hire place to put our gear in the drying room and collect our shoes and then to the gondola.  We arrived to find it shut! Another couple also standing there looking at the sign that said it closed at 5.30pm 😳 (the weekend was till 10pm ...

A bluebird day to make skiing in the Italian Alps even more special.  Andy and Narelle skied today too and the 4 of us had a brilliant day enjoying the long ski runs, extensive network of runs and 360 degree mountain views.  Tim and I skied till the last lift again and so managed to ski an incredible 64kms 😂😂. Wow!  

Tim and I queued up to get our ski tickets this morning with thousands of others enjoying a long weekend 😂  then joined the queue for the gondola to the top of the mountain.   Can't believe we were starting a days skiing in the Italian Alps. We had such a fun day and ended up skiing 38kms on this large skifield. Views to nearby mountains in Switzerland including Mont Blanc.  Such a joy to ski with Tim as we are similarly skilled, adventurous and up for a full day on the slopes.  We had a traditional hot lunch at a mountain restaurant and we caught the last gondola up before they closed and the sun was starting to set for our last run. Long queues for the gondola back to the carpark and so we opted for a beer with sunset views over the Alps. What an amazing day! 🎉

Road trip day. We left behind our snowy mountain Olympics venue village and headed south. The road winds through terraced apple orchards and vineyards perched on the side of the mountains. They were easier to make out with snow on the ground. The snow continued almost to Lake Como. We stopped at a cafe along the way and the lady said it was very unusual to have snow that far down the valley! What a treat for us. Our route took us on the outskirts of Milan and Andy did an excellent job of navigating extensive road systems with flyovers and multi lanes everywhere. Had some fun when we chose the wrong lane at the tollbooth and Narelle was able to use her Italian language skills to talk to the microphone and we were on our way again… till the next booth 😂😂. Worked out in the end but gee, would be tougher without any language skills! We arrived to the outskirts of Turin and onto the ring road and th...