Day 15: Bourg Saint Maurice

A rest day today. Left La Rosiere about 9:30 and down to Seez where I stopped for a coffee on the grounds that we always drive through. I resisted the attractions of "La Musee de la Nature (et taxidermie)" which is a wonderful concept, but hard to really summon enthusiasm for. I did read some of the displays in the Office du Tourisme on how to recognise different animal tracks, and on the Roman road through the pass, some of which is apparently still visible. So I'm not sure why Hannibal had such a hard time getting his elephants over if there was already a road!
Leaving Seez I immediately hit the traffic jam for the couple of km down into Bourg, and to Sport 2000 and Intersport to get goggles that will work with both glasses and a helmet, some warm mitts and a new pair of swimming trunks to replace the ones I bought here a couple years ago (mostly because I haven't found any in the UK at a reasonable price, and these were under Euro 5, whereas Speedos seem to cost GBP 25).
Finally to the Hostellerie, and then out for lunch (crepes and cidre), then back to the Hostellerie where the attraction of three hours sleep were irresistible.

Up at 5pm and down to the Super U to look for the missing USB cable, which I found (in the U Culture shop), so now I can get pictures from the camera into the computer. Back to the Hostellerie for a beer, catch up on e-mail and then dinner, which was very good, as ever here. The colin came with a sauce very similar to Roger's "Sauce Pirate", the selection of Savoyarde cheeses was wonderful (though it's hard to beat the Beaufort ete) , and it was hard to decide between the mousse au chocolat and creme caramel.

Panache de fromages de Savoie. 

Opinel Knives in Bourg

Much fun with a family of English speaking children from Seez, who wanted me to be a ghost in the bar to frighten their mother, and then ate most of  the sugar that came with my cafe. I managed (with some difficulty) to stop them sucking on sugar lumps and then putting them back in the bowl! They'd already been on coca, so the sugar probably didn't make them much more hyper.

Tomorrow up to Meribel, probably after a late breakfast and slowly, without skiing.

Pedestrian street in Bourg Saint Maurice