"Someone bought an old chalet on a beautiful lot for $545,000, tore it down and built a 7,000-square-foot 7,000-square-foot 7,000-square-footve baths," she said.
The seat of that dystopia, in fact as in fiction, was a small mountain known as Obersalzberg, where Hitler had his Mar-a-Lago: an old chalet that he bought, in 1933, apparently with a chunk of the "Mein Kampf" royalties, and in the course of the next six years transformed from a rustic summer retreat into a mansion that in all but name was the German chancellery.
By way of contrast, 22 medals over 90 years had been won on ice by Britons before the 33-year-old former chalet maid from Bristol leapt into the nation's living rooms with a spectacular performance at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.
You can take trips to see them, and toucans, monkeys and lots of birds while staying at an incredible place called Asa Wright Nature Centre – named after the Icelandic woman who donated her old cocoa estate, with old chalets to stay in, for conservation.
In the French Alpine ski resort of Megève, nine old chalets have been relocated from mountain pastures to form this hamlet-hotel.
INSIDE The house, built in 2005 with modern track lighting and big windows onto the lower slopes of Mont Blanc, is brighter than older chalets.
Because it is only three years old, this chalet's stamp duty will be around 2percentt of the purchase price, he said.
$365,000 98 West Searsville Road, Orange r 3 f 2 h 1 o 20 weeks 15-year-old wood chalet; cathedral ceiling and fireplace in living room, family room, den, terrace, deck, pool, 3-car garage, 13.8-acre lot; taxes $10,157; listed at $374,500.
For French dishes with a bit of Asian and Mediterranean fusion flair, a greater amount of, try tapas at L'Avalanche, located in the oldest ski chalet building in the resort, and order a la carte items like escargot or chorizo tempura.
From £625pp in former farmhouse Chalet Dibona (sleeps six).
Retired couples spend their summers there and winters in Goa or Cyprus, dividing the money released by the sale of their old homes between a chalet in Allhallows and a flat in the sun.
