Florence Italy

For my birthday weekend a group of us took the train down to Florence.

In front of the Duomo, the tallest building in Florence.

The paintings on the inside of the dome depict heaven and hell. Guess which one is pictured here.


Sarah climbing one of the 463 steps to the top of the Duomo.



Em and I at the top.

Looking down on the piazza.

Rowers on the Arno.

My Cappuccino art.

Emily with Ponte Vecchio in the background.

Glass blowing at a local market.

The gang.

Lock it up!

Chocolate festival=Chocolate fountains.

All chocolate.

Catching our train to Lugano from Milano.

St Moritz, Switzerland

A group of us headed to the posh ski town of St. Moritz for the weekend. Although they hadn't got fresh snow in a while it was still a great weekend.

First lift up.

Soaking in the scenery

Feeling like I am 15 years old again.

Em and the Alps.

I tried the old flag stand trick and fell flat on my face.

This weekend also happen to be the a big horse racing weekend called White Turf.

Sarah waiting for the next race.

And they're OFF!!

Our own entertainment between races.

Half the fun of going to the races is people watching.

Fur is everywhere.

Heading to the starting gates.

Just replace the wheels with ski's.

You ski off the mountain and then land with your skis.

Pistol Pete always says "You can never be too safe"

Googles=No squinting

Headed home.

Crans-Montana Switzerland

One of the best weeks of the school year, and one of the best perks is ski week. A week of skiing at Crans-Monana in the French speaking part of Switzerland.

Driving over Simplon pass.

Curling- the only chance most people have at a gold medal.

Poker night for the students.

Fondue dinner

After snowshoeing for 30 minutes you think they were going to die of exhaustion.

A very large piece of meat at the Argentinian restaurant. Notice it looks raw, that's what the hot plate below is for.

The majority of the terrain in the Alps is 'off piste' which means there is only a few groomed runs and the rest is open for the taking.

Plain Morte-The top of the glacier looking toward the Matterhorn.

Josh and I decided to hike over a ridge to get to some fresh powder.

Not trying to rub it in or anything.

I live for powder.

Amadeus-

Our mid-mountain watering hole. Oh yeah the beard turned into ridiculousness throughout the week.

Apre-ski courage.

I'll keep you guessing whether I made it all the way around.

Clouds rolling down the valley.

One of our lunch spots during the week.

Faculty vs. Students hockey game. I managed to not break anything!

Two idiots one pond.

Long story short is I bet Matt $100 to jump into the freezing pond. He did, and then offered me the same bet so I did. This photo is taken after as our teeth are frozen together.

Matt attempting to freeze dry himself

Post dip.

Good morning

Spectacular!

Riding down the mountain to this sunset.

Fear the mustache.

One of my luckier photography moments as I stuck the camera out the small window of the gondola. The black border on top was the window frame, but it kind of makes it look like it is taken from space.