Christmas?

Well, today seems to be Christmas, and my first white Christmas, but it rather passed me by. The slopes were extremely busy, with people clogging up some of the runs, but we went 'stock-free;' a whole day without stocks. Surprisingly, perhaps, it didn't pose any difficulty, and we were able to keep doing our red runs.
Despite a distinct lack of snow for the past 20 or so days, most of the runs on the mountain are now open. If possible, we will ski all open runs before we leave, as we are both now confident skiing black runs. Yellow has to be the next challenge; runs that are left ungroomed, and are thus not graded for skiing difficulty.
We made some videos by skiing down runs holding the camera, but these are not being uploaded due to lack of editing and file size. There is, however, a new photo in the "On the Slopes" album, a panorama taken on one of the easy slopes on a very clear day (as every day seems to be... what bliss!)
I suspect that our last four days, in which we will revisit all three skiing areas, will show us just how busy the runs around Zermatt can become, but there are so many runs, and they are so wide, that the only real negative of this is that some slopes become rather icy when over-skied. Ah well, we've had a great time so far, and intend to keep on doing so!

...still no snow

Zermatt has been great so far; it is decorated for Christmas, and everything is so nice and close to the apartment. Unfortunately, there has been no snow. The temperature is always below 0, so there is constant snowmaking on the mountain (which, though necessary, is annoying to ski through). According to the news, there is not going to be any snow on the Alps soon. We need snow so that we can have better runs, but even without snow, the skiing is enjoyable. More snow would mean more choice of runs, because at the moment there are only a few runs which are open. They are not crowded, and they are great runs, but some variety would be appreciated. We have survived so far with reasonable food, and thanks to BBC World, BBC Prime, and Risiko (German 'Risk'), we have been able to cope with the 4:00pm night. I have found a reasonable bar/lounge which provides free wireless internet, which is a plus, despite the fact that the connection is very slow.

Some more photos are also online:

On the slopes

Zermatt... but not snowing (yet)

We have now arrived in Zermatt. There is plenty of snow everywhere, which is good, but it seems not to have snowed for about a week, because the snow is quite old and icy. The runs weren't too bad, although we accidently picked an over-skied red run, which was rather steep and icy in parts. There was a reasonable amount of powder snow on some of the other runs, although we only did two because there was not that much available at Sunnegga. We intend to go to Matterhorn Ski Paradise in the next few days, where there are more runs open, although there is less in the way of easy runs, which will be a bit difficult unless there is some reasonable snow, because icy red runs are not great to ski on. At some point, I want to switch my skis for snowblades, because with 15 days of skiing, it woud be fun to try something different.
Update on snowblades: I tried them today, and they are great. Control is easier, and there is much less to carry. It is great!

Here are some photos taken over the last few days (as always, click on the album cover below to view the whole album, and on any photo in the album to view a larger version of the photo):

Views from Switzerland

Leaving the UK

Sorry about the fact that these next two posts are in swift succession (ie. not on the actual dates.) It is because I wrote them on the correct days, but was unable to get to an internet cafe until today. So here goes:

We left Dublin on the 12th, because weather was worsening and we didn't want to risk missing our ferry back. It was extremely blustery, and rather cold, with rainstorms once we reached Wales. We had a great time while we were there, though, despite getting marks back and the lack of proper showers.
Back in Wales, we spent a night at a B&B, then, due to very bad weather, decided to head straight back to London. Arriving late in the afternoon, we found accommodation in Bayswater. We went to a restaurant that seemed determined to ruin their fairly upmarket atmosphere; they had Christmas crackers on each table (noisy), which contained party poppers and balloons that made a lot of noise. As we left, we released the "rocket balloon," to comic effect. The hotel we spent the night in was rather poky, and we missed breakfast, but it at least provided accommodation in a convenient location.
It took us quite a while to get to Heathrow Lodge; we took a taxi who didn't seem to know where it was, but charged us less as a result. There was a good playground, which allowed us some soccer time before the light ran out, but it was unusual to see the planes, which came every few minutes, only 100-300m above us. Heathrow would be a very unpleasant place to live.

The Dublin Experience

We've now had three days in Dublin to get acquainted with the place, so I suppose that we can comment better on the general atmosphere. Unfortunately, the Youth Hostel has not been... wonderful. Although the actual beds are adequate, and the breakfasts have been sufficient, the lack of any hot water in the place is rather disappointing. We are both missing the ability to have a hot shower. We are in a room with 4 other people, two of them Spaniards, one of whom is living in the Youth Hostel because of his frustration with the Spanish government. Talking to him has been quite interesting, although he seems very eager to get into an argument. Last night, apparently, he had a big argument with a Spanish girl (which he lost, according to... sources), and he was in a bad mood this morning, sleeping in until about mid-day.
Yesterday we visited the Guinness Storehouse. For some reason, there was an enormous queue when we left; it would have been at least 100m long, which was surprising, since the Storehouse had nothing that would seem to attract such crowds (other than a free pint of Guinness at the end of the tour). Following the Hop on, Hop off bus tour around, we visited Kilmainham Gaol, where the leaders of the (final) Irish Revolution were imprisoned and shot. Due to its limestone architecture, it was a few degrees colder than the rest of Dublin (which reached a peak of 4 degrees- what luxury!). To finish our day, we visited Trinity College, Dublin (which is the alternate name for, and only college of, Dublin University). Of particular interest was the lavishly illuminated "Book of Kells," which is a latin bible dating back to c.800AD. The University Library was also accessible; it was a wonderful collection of old, leatherbound books, in an equally old, traditional library (with ladders to reach the top shelves etc.)
We went to a pub for dinner, and the steak sandwiches weren't too bad. Another morning with barely super-zero degree water was not appreciated, but at least the lack of real showers will soon be over. We are leaving for Wales soon.

Some photos of Dublin:

Dublin

Dublin

Well, it has been harder than I expected to find hotspots, but we're now in an internet cafe in Dublin. Can't comment much on Dublin because we haven't spent more than about 15 minutes here yet, but it seems interesting. Wales last night had some rather poor weather; there was so much wind that the ferries weren't sailing, so we spent the night in a B&B near the port in Holyhead. It was surprisingly good value, really.
To reverse a bit, Cambridge was amazing, and so old. I had plenty of opportunity to speak with people, and the interview was fun. It was amusing to talk to one of the students who had discovered that if she pushed up a section of her roof, she could climb up into a small private turret, which someone in the past few hundred years had used to hide some bottles of wine and a rather decayed cushion. I'll post my photos as soon as I am able; I am a little worried about data charges here.

EDIT: Photos posted... enjoy :D

Cambridge

First full day

Well, I had a good 12 hours' sleep, which has meant that I am not too tired today. We walked down to the Thames for lunch today, and it was rather cold. I had a proper British fish and chips, which was great, and we saw the Thames flooding some houses that had been built near the river. It seemed unusually high, considering that there has not been much rain recently, but I didn't have my camera with me. I saw Ben on TV tonight; apparently he is on TV four nights a week, as the anchor of BBC News channel, from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.

We have arrived...

That was annoying, my post last night does not seem to have worked. Anyway, the flight was good, and we were able to get some sleep during the second leg (Singapore-Dubai), thanks to the entertainment system, which had very little choice. I did, however, have the chance to see Scoop, a new film with Scarlet Johansson. It didn't really have the intrigue of Match Point, and the characters were rather inconsistent, but it was interesting nevertheless.

The final leg of the flight (Dubai-Heathrow) was in a different plane, with much better in-flight entertainment. I finally saw V for Vendetta, as well as a joyful little art-house Japanese film, Summer Time Machine Blues, which, despite annoying subtitles, had a well-written story.
Having arrived at Heathrow, Matthew and I parted ways. I managed to stay up until 8:30pm (London time, which is 7:30am Australian time), so I hope that jet-lag will not affect me.

Here are some photos:

Aerial photography