Barcelona - Andorra - Nice -- March 3-15-05 -- Ski Trip Report
We hope others feel the same way but aside from the lack of coordination on transportation logistics that our skiers had to deal with in Andorra and the laissez faire attitude of the Andorran tour guides that AOS hired for our non-skiers side trips, we believe it was a great trip. We made all our plane and bus connections, the weather gods, except for Day one in Andorra smiled down on us with cool, sunny days. Barcelona shared with the 22 of us her tapas bars, Gaudi houses and parks, cathedrals, museums, old town sites and great shopping areas. Nice, Monaco and Cannes beautiful cities on the French Riviera, overlooking the beautiful, clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea opened up their treasures to us. Nice offered us multi-national restaurants, quaint shops, beautiful churches, museums, an old town that beckoned us to explore it, great hiking trails, gardens, castles, and many shops that we left our Euros in. Our day in Monaco and Monte Carlo and Eze took us back into the history of the area a thousand years ago while showing us the splendor of today. A few of us took the train to Cannes, the site of the May movie festival, toured the old city and admired all the beautiful yachts in the marina. No matter where we went, the scenery around us was breathtaking,

Our die-hard Andorran skiers including Hal Brown, Terry and Marsha England, Bruce Myers, Ron and Holly Wagner. Bruce and Polly Trautweiler, BL and Kit Dabney, Frances Parker, Craig Epifanio, Ed Venner and Gene Hamilton skied at least 3 of the 4 days available. Unfortunately, Melissa Polo lost her battle on the slopes on the 3rd day and was on crutches the rest of her trip. Returning home from Barcelona on the 11th she was assisted by Ann and Hal Brown and Craig Epifanio. Ann Brown, Rachel Hamilton and Cathy Venner had signed up for 3 side trips but only got to one as planned due to a blizzard on the 1st day in Andorra which closed passes for buses and created avalanche dangers in the mountains north of Andorra. A substitute to Montserrat eased the pain of not going to Toulouse. On Tuesday, Ron and Holly Wagner, Helen England, Ann Phan, Melissa Polo, Ann Brown and Cathy Venner went to the famed Caldea Spa for hours of pampering.

We would like to make the following kudos to those who went on this trip:

Fastest Skiers: Hal Brown, Gene Hamilton, Terry and Marsha England, Ed Venner. It could be heard as they zoomed down the mountain “Slow Down”.

Best Shoppers: Kit Dabney, Polly Trautweiler, Marsha England, Frances Parker and Holly Wagner. Was their motto “Keep Europe Green?”

“Thank you dear awards” to the husbands of the Best shoppers

Most Avid Hikers: Gene and Rachel Hamilton. 10 miles in Nice plus their climb to the waterfalls.

Best in-line dancers: Gene and Rachel and Helen England

Most seen on the dance floor with beautiful women: Al Welsh

In Best Physical Condition year for year: Helen England

Most Expensive Taste for Grand Marnier: Ann Phan

Most Agile on Crutches: Melissa Polo

Host with the most: Al Welsh, ”Our aging matinee idol”. Who hosted our last night’s wine party in Nice and other soirees.

Accolades to the prize Snowshark puzzle maker, Darlene Myers

Two kudos to Craig Epifanio for “sleeping on the couch” and somehow flying home with 3 bags on Delta when he only came over with two. Al “blamed” you for all his faux pas as misplaced tickets even though you were home.

Best Care Giver awards to the Browns and Craig Epifanio for helping Melissa Polo get home.

Mucho Gustoes to Terry England for using all his foreign language skills when our guide didn’t show for our 9-hour bus ride from Andorra to Nice. Comment by Andorran tour director Reuben,” Lady, the bus driver knows how to get to Nice even though he doesn’t speak or understand English”. Terry learned Catalan in a hurry.

A special thank you to Ann Brown for tracking down the fanny pack I (Cathy Venner) left on the flight to Barcelona when they were taking the return flight from Barcelona home and to Holly Wagner for scouting out jewelry stores in Andorra for gold studs so I had something else to put in my ears.

We visited four (4) countries, sometimes three in a day. Spain, Andorra, France and Monaco. Only the security at the airports asked for our passports as we traveled between countries and the universal Euro, now very expensive for Americans made purchasing goods and services easier for all. All our hotel hosts were cooperative, pleasant and helpful. Food was good everywhere we went and the wines, Oh the Spanish wines, were cheap and flavorful.

We are so glad our club members were able to experience this wonderful trip and a more congenial group of people we could not have asked for.


Lady Catherine and Ed Venner