Carolyn's Ice Balcony

This looks like an amazing ice sculpture but it is, in fact, the ice that had built up on a friend's balcony in Isola 2000. The snow there is apparently the best in living memory and may help to reinforce Nice's bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2018 which was submitted to the Comite National Olympique et Sportif Francais yesterday. The French committee will give their decision on 18th March..
(It's just occurred to me that 2018 is 9 years away. I wonder if I'll still be blogging.)

And When You Can't Ski...

....there's always the sea..

We have a Swedish friend who went to Isola, found the black slopes closed because of the Mistral, didn't want to waste the day so drove back to the coast and went windsurfing.

Which would serve as an apt definition for "driven" I guess.

I was so happy to find this award waiting for me at North Metro Daily Photo. I've always admired DL's photos so it's an honour: two days, two awards. That's a great start to Christmas week and I'm going to milk it for all its worth and give it out 10 times, 5 for each award.

Geneva Dail Photo
Birmingham, Alabama DP
Palos Verdes DP
Around Roanoke
Visual St Paul
Mumbai DP
Ramsay IOM
Jilly in Menton & MC
Oeiras DP
Alice in Arradon

And Let it Snow..

Apart from showing you how much cool stuff there is going on around Nice, I also wanted to share with you the news that Nice has put in a bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2018. When I first heard the news I was stunned at the ambition of the Maire of Nice, Christian Estrossi; Nice doesn't at first, or even second, sight seem the most obvious candidate with the emphasis firmly on sun, sand and glitzy glamour. The fact that the city attracted British nobility including Queen Victoria in times gone by, owes more to the warm winters than the snowy ones. (though I may treasure the mental image of Queen Victoria on skis)
But once I'd put aside my prejudices, Nice has got quite a lot going for it: it has the largest airport in France after Paris, the area is packed to the brim with hotel rooms that are largely empty through the Winter and is beginning to develop a reasonable public transport network. I would say that the biggest problem is the unreliability of the snow which seems important when thinking about the Winter Olympics. Last year's snowfall was good and this year's, even this early in the season, is excellent but there have been years when the snow simply hasn't fallen.
The choice of a French candidate will happen next year and the final choice should be announced in 2011. The campaign will be interesting to follow..

Rob of Trieste Daily Photo has honoured me with these lovely awards which I'll be passing on tomorrow. Thank you, Rob, you made my day!

Let it Snow...

just nowhere near me..

There's no way I can get up to the snow right now with Christmas looming large on the horizon so I asked Josh if I could share some of his photos. This was taken 2 weeks ago at Isola 2000, a ski station around a 40 minute drive from Nice, depending on who's driving, at 2000metres altitude.
When I first arrived here I had absolutely no idea that the area wasn't just the coast but the alps as well hiding a number of small ski stations. When the children were small we used to religiously head up every weekend there was snow and fasten everybody into their snowsuits, struggle with the ski bindings and herd them up the lifts. Now, of course, they whizz off with their mates and leave me to do what I do best: the apres-ski

More about Nice and its ski stations tomorrow.