Wow what a day. Firstly it has been snowing. A lot. It hasn’t stopped all day. That is great news - hopefully all of the lifts will be open tomorrow so I can try out my ‘skills’ on the runs we didn’t get to fall over on today.
The day started at 8am queuing for a lift pass. I use the word ‘queue’ in its loosest possible sense. It was more of a scrum which didn’t move for a very long time. Then it was on to the next queue for the gondola. This was also long and weary with the addition of lots of rude people pushing in at every opportunity. I’ve come to realise that in Bulgaria people can be quite rude. I’ve lost count on the number of times that someone has looked at me like a piece of poo on the street. There is an old man who seems to be employed for this purpose at the apartment block. Anyway, I digress. The gondola takes quite a while to reach its destination but when you are there it is worth it. Finally you see people skiing. It looked spectacular today with the snow falling heavily.
The first stop was a nursery slope in just front of the gondola station to find our feet. I should point out this is only the second time I have been skiing. The last was two years ago when I spent most of the week on my bum. Mario has been a couple of times when he was little but we are talking ten years ago here. I was eager to find out which of us would be the worst. As it turns out that title went to Mario! I surprised myself because it was like riding a bike. After a few runs down the baby slope I was turning confidently and with no falls. Mario, on the other hand, made his first hilarious tipple as soon as he stepped onto the lift. It took him five minutes to get back to his feet and on to the lift again. When he reached the top he started on an impressive catalogue of falls back down to the bottom.
“I hate it. I can’t do it. I want to go home”, said Mario. I realised I needed to give him encouragement and took up the role of teacher. Or the blind leading the blind as I like to call it. Nevertheless after a short time he was snow-ploughing successfully. I was worried we might be spending a few days on the nursery slopes but thankfully it was like riding a bike for Mario too. I persuaded him to take a chair-lift with me to the top of the mountain where we took a blue run all the way down. It was brilliant. I did think some parts were a little difficult but Mario dealt with them brilliantly. Yes ok he fell over a lot. We’re talking about 20-30 times over the course of the day and some of them were spectacular! That said by the end of the day he was doing better than me.
It was all going well for me until we ventured, by accident, on to a red run. I was out of control going way too fast when I fell over. It all happened so quickly I’m not sure what went wrong but I banged my head quite hard. One of my skis came off along with my hat and goggles. Thankfully a couple of boarders passed me the stray equipment and I was soon on my feet again. Mario said he was worried because it looked like a nasty fall. My head has been hurting ever since and I was skiing badly after that. I think I lost my confidence a bit and I was all over the place in the afternoon. I think I was also suffering from fatigue and aching legs.
We finished the day with a nice long blue run all the way back to the hotel. That was a great confidence builder and I felt much better by the end of it. Mario was getting cocky and at one point said “don’t worry, you can watch me for tips”. This was just before he ran off piste into a bush where he spent 10 minutes trying to get out.
I’ve had a lot of laughs and adrenaline rushes today. On the whole it has been brilliant. I’ve been very cold and wet at times but the mountain looks stunning and I’m looking forward to more fun for the rest of the week. That is of course providing I’m not aching too much tomorrow. I’m already struggling to walk and those ski boots are not the most comfortable things in the world. Mario has started complaining of aches and pains now.
Whilst I’m moaning I’ve got a few things to get off my chest. I’ve got a never ending cold which has gotten worse today. My ears have been clicking when I swallow ever since the flight and it is driving me crazy. I can’t get them to clear :-( I think Mario is getting my cold but I suspect it will be man-flu or TB when it develops! Oh and the television here is pants. There are no English channels. Not even the news. I thought we had stuck gold with the Simpsons earlier but sadly it had been dubbed.
I’ll finish with the best bit of the day – a comment from Mario in the middle of a ski run: “this is the best holiday I’ve ever been on”. It seems like he’s changed his mind about the place now and it’s not such a disaster after all. Time for a well earned sleep.
This is Mario getting confident at the top of the mountain
And here is me in the snow on the bridge outside our apartment.
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