Alpe d'Huez Apres Ski Report:6th January 2011
Hello everybody and here is my report, as promised, from the future.
It's 2011 and here we have mobile telephones, ipods, egg timers, and a wonderful invention called après ski.
The New Year was well and truly welcomed in the time-honoured tradition of drinking too much, dancing the night away, and not getting nearly enough sleep. There was an outdoor party held at the Palais Des Sport, Sphere bar had live music from an Irish band, and at the Underground had a space themed party with live music from Gareth, with a special appearance from Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin who was vacationing in the resort. At the Tavern, the bar was decked out to create Heaven & Hell and the revellers partied away till the early hours of the morning when the remaining seasonnaires made their way to Underground where the festivities continued until the not-so-early hours of the morning.
New Years day was one of sore heads, and lots of cleaning. And as it was my day off I made great use of it by tucking myself up into bed at 9.30pm. Rock & Roll!
On Monday, I joined a few close friends for a meal in one of Alpe d'Huez' finest restaurants Le Genepi. The Genepi is located in the old town of Alpe d'Huez, I was asked yesterday where is a good place to go for food in town, and after reeling off a list of around 20 restaurants I settled on “head down to the old town, and you can't really go wrong”. The Genepi is a good example of a typical French Mountain restaurant. The place is owned by an eccentric Frenchman called Jean-Phillipe and on the menu you will find the mainstream dishes such as Fondue, Raclette, Pieradde and a variety of meats cooked in a variety of ways. Knowing that I had to work later that night I decided to forgo the starter and stick to a nice glass of chestnut wine as an aperitif. On the table around me were an array of fois-gras, pate and a huge plate of delicious looking frogs-legs. As with most Frenchmen, Jean-Phillipe has a great knowledge of wines and managed to find us a lovely bottle of merlot as our main course arrived. I plumped for the rump steak served with fois gras and a truffle jus. It was absolutely sublime. Around the table there was an array of meats and cheeses, but I definitely feel that I hit the jackpot with mine. I ordered the steak medium rare, as when in France, most places cook the meat slightly less then the English equivalent, and it was done to perfection.
After sharing more wine and many stories I had a quick Genepi digestif and headed back up the hill to work. In all I can't speak highly enough of Le Genepi, the restaurant is pleasant, the food is amazing and the atmosphere is delightful.
On Monday, the New Years Hangover had finally subsided and myself and the British contingent in resort felt it was time to do some exercise and head to the Palais Des Sport for a spot of football. If you have been reading my reports, you might know that the world of football plays a big part in Alpe d'Huez, and this extends to playing as well as watching. There is a five-a-side league in the resort, and the Palais offer mini tournaments every Thursday and Friday evening. And every April there is a tournament called Mundialito where a team of ex-professionals from Lyon head up to take on us Amateurs. We huffed and puffed and at the end decided we were best suited to watching it on the telly, but all agreed we should do it more often. Final score 13-8 to my team. The day then ended with a beach party at Smithy's Tavern where over 200 people got their shots on and headed out for some punch and to dance on the tables.
And so ends another week of après, there is live music from Dr Bruce again tonight in the Tavern, which is sure to be a great show, they never disappoint. A weekend of FA cup football. DJ Dkat will be playing in Pacific this week and I can promise another week of good food, partying to excess and a right proper jolly good laugh in Alpe d'Huez.
Remember, we're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time!
Pete
For a full list of this week's events, check out our What's On Calendar. You can also find full Bar and Restaurant listings in the Dining and Going Out section of the site.
