France

    My last trip in 2014 and first trip in 2015 lead me to France to go skiing in the Alps. It has not been a more interesting or special stay in France in comparison to other trips, but what makes me feel so enthusiastic telling the story of this trip is the drive to get there.

    We started planning the journey without any longer pauses or spending a night in another place. Finally, with regard to the distance we decided to rest at halfway in Freiburg, close to the border with France. Then on the next day something unexpected happened – traffic chaos in French Alps because of an enormous amount of snow and we were right in the middle of it. On Sunday about 15,000 people stranded by snow and forced to seek emergency shelter. Due to the fact that many cars were not equipped with snow chains despite official warnings the chaos increased. Even one young man died on that night when his car left the main road and fell 200 meters down a mountainside.

   Consequently, we started looking for the closest emergency shelter, which unfortunately already was overcrowded.  Totally exhausted and annoyed we decided to stay on a parking space close to a hotel to spend the night in the car because all the hotels were overcrowded as well. Then suddenly a ray of hope came up when the owner of our accommodation called us and told us that we could stay at his grandparent’s house.

    With new élan we went to the house and spent a fabulous and unforgettable night with one of the most hospitable grandparents we have met so far. On the next day we reached our destination when the chaos was brought under control and enjoyed our stay in the French Alps.