Boondock Puffins

First few days living in the Alps!

On arrival, we moved all our belongings into the tiny flat and immediately put our relationship to the test with building the flat pack bed (that had questionably useful instructions that Tom didn’t even try to read until half an hour in). Worry not, we are still married and all the furniture is now in one piece.

This process did require some creativity – despite remembering to bring a drill, Tom left his trusty tool box behind, only picking a few essential items to bring. Sadly a hammer didn’t made it to this list and so when this was required, a poor ladle and then a pan handle took on the brunt of the work. (While Eliza had her reservations about this, she has since had to admit that it did indeed work.)

Following a tough afternoon of unpacking (how tough can it really be when you only have one room to put things in, you might ask) we rewarded ourselves with a typically French meal… tartiflette. If you haven’t tried this, we would advise you to wait for a day when you feel you are wasting away and have done a significant amount of work before you take on this dish solely comprised of cheese, bacon and potatoes. Do not mistake us, it is an absolute must, but your heart and arteries need proper training and warning.

Having said goodbye to Eliza’s parents, we took a morning out of Tom’s continued dissertation writing to explore the Val D’Isere area. For those of you who are familiar with Parks and Recreation, Tom would like to suggest that Val D’Isere is the Eagleton to Tignes Pawnee. This image was not helped by the beautiful weather and groomed surroundings of Val D’Isere, including the crystal clear river, horses and helipad!

Aside from getting to grips with the local geography, we also threw ourselves into local food with enthusiasm. Tom has always enjoyed putting condensed milk into his coffee when on holiday, so finding a big tube of it in the supermarket does not bode well for future health. Similarly, the cheese, meat and wine stalls that line the main street near us are a constant source of temptation. The only saving grace is that it is required to pay in cash at these stalls, which we don’t have and which would cost us €5 to get out at the local cash point The fear of bankruptcy is currently serving as a health benefit… who knew!