It’s time for a week of skiing! I grew up in Philly where there are no mountains and no good slopes for hundreds of miles, so I don’t know much about winter ski breaks. My husband, however, who grow up in Paris and spent his winter ski weeks in the Alps along with millions of other European children, is just about to pee his pants with excitement. One of the first things he did when we decided to move to Italy was find out when the kids had their winter break so that he, his brother and some good friends could rent a house closeby to where they had skied as children. And now the skiing month is upon us, and soon we’ll be making the 5-hour drive up to Switzerland to find our ski legs. This will be easier for some than for others (me.)
It appears that we won’t be alone either, as just about everyone I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks is also off for their ski vacation. For many of our acquaintances here, Cortina in the Dolomites (a section of the Alps that is completely in Northeastern Italy) is the favored destination, but many will stay even closer to home in the Apennine Mountains where, just two hours from Bologna, there are over a dozen ski resorts.
Perhaps the best part of this whole thing is that I get pull out my 1970s canary yellow skiing onesie, a one-of-a-kind ski suit that I’ve inherited from my mother-in-law. I can’t explain how this jumper fits both her slender 6-foot frame and my diminutive one, but I’m gleeful that it does. It’s incredibly warm, makes me look like an extra in a Susie Chapstick commercial and if I should be caught in an avalanche, I’ll be easy to spot!
This is me trying my best to stay upright (and failing) last time I donned my yellow suit! (Film and title by Stefan!)