Things I learnt On My Alpine Adventure...

1. This is not a bad view to wake up to every morning....

2. It's even better served with ice... make that icicles!

3. Fashion be damned! When it's -15 C and a blizzard is howling, you'll wear every item you own to keep warm...

4. Some of us still managed to stay stylish though....

Dylan - our mountain guide's trusty fox terrier

5. I've always struggled walking uphill. Add 3 feet of snow into the equation, and it becomes a real slog....

6. That uphill slog is worth it for the views....

7. And the delicious cake back at the chalet....

There are no calories in cake eaten at high altitude :-)

8. All that snow thankfully makes for soft landings!

My default position... on my rear!

9. Being last has its benefits... especially when snowshoeing! The ones upfront have the hard job of cutting the path....

Follow in my snow prints

10. Mont Blanc is an elusive mountain, rarely seen in winter. We only spotted her once - the rest of the week, she remained shrouded in cloud.

Europe's highest peak (15,771 ft)

Grandes Jorasses (13,805 ft)

Frozen

I know! I know! It's been a while.... a very long while...

Here we are already in 2015, and January has slipped by....

How do we slow time down, find the time to do all the things we want to do? Wouldn't it be great if we could just sometimes put Life 'on ice'? Let it just sit quietly for a while, while we catch up on everything we've missed?

Speaking about ice and all things cold and wintry, I saw the New Year in snow shoeing in the beautiful Chamonix Valley of the French Alps. A huge dump of snow (100 cm - that's 3 feet) the night before we flew in made for some gorgeous Winter Wonderland scenery....

The Posh Doorman Strikes Again...

Despite embarrassing myself, horribly, at last year's office Christmas party at the very grand Blenheim Palace - which you can read all about over here - I was allowed back again this year.

Photo source

Photo source

10 Things I learnt In Greece...

α. Evia, the second largest Greek island, is not on the mass tourism radar, so getting there involves a bit of journey.... an early flight to Athens, a fairly white-knuckled taxi ride to Rafina port, then a ferry to Marmari, followed by another white-knuckled taxi ride to our base in Karystos.

β. Greek taxi drivers have a rather cavalier attitude to a) speed restrictions, b) overtaking into oncoming traffic, and c) the luggage limitations imposed by the size of their car boots.

That's our luggage precariously balanced in the back of an Athens taxi

γ. Eating Greek salad in Greece may sound like a culinary cliche... but I have never tasted any salad that good before! Ditto thick, creamy Greek yogurt drizzled with dark, natural honey... delicious!

δ. It's worth being up early enough to catch the sunrise, when you're greeted with this.....

ε. And Greek sunsets are not bad either.....

ς. It's also worth a long, hot hike, along a steep path to get to a deserted beach like this....

ζ. I don't always see things in black and white. In Greece, things are often blue and white though....

 Karystos Church

η. I have a bit of a fascination for dilapidation....

θ. Chivalry is far from dead - point in case, my darling husband building a make-shift bridge so that I did not have to get my feet wet crossing a stream...

ι.  'Aquaholic' is a fabulous name for a boat!

Vik

Just when I thought the landscapes of Iceland could not get any more diverse, we came across the black sand beach at Vik. An incredible place! Apart from the black sand, there are spectacular basalt columns, pillars in the sea and the chance to spot puffins - none caught on camera, unfortunately.