Sunday, October 22, 2017

Rocamadour 9/28/17

Rocamadour is a town built into and UP the hillside in south central France, it looks as though it is just clinging to the hill. It has been a pilgrimage site for many years and there is a complex of churches and chapels that are built into and on the hillside, these are accessed from the lower level of town by way of the Grand Staircase.  Pilgrims of the past would climb these stairs on their knees, praying as they went. Ouch!

The town itself is built on different levels with parking and camping at the bottom of the valley, then the next level up is a street lined with shops and restaurants and two ancient portal gates.  The church complex is the next level above and then there is a series of switchbacks that climb the hill with the Stations of the Cross along the way.  At the very top is the Chateau and you can climb the ramparts for a €2 fee.

A little distance away, L’Hospitalet has some restaurants and the tourist office...and a great view of the buildings of Rocamadour clinging to the side of the cliff.  Google search for images of a Rocamadour, you’ll be blown away by some of them.

You don’t have to be a pilgrim or even religious to enjoy a visit here, though you should definitely take a peek in the Basilica Saint-Sauveur. The back wall of the church is built into the rock.  The Chapel of Notre Dame holds the famous Black Madonna too.

If you’re more interested in legend, look for Durandal, the sword of Roland. Legend says that Roland (nephew of Charlemagne) threw it a great distance to keep it from being captured by the Saracens and it lodged in the wall just above the Chapel of Notre Dame in Rocamadour. There is even a theatrical re-enactment of the story nearby.

The two portal gates are in the lower section of town and some nice medieval houses as well.  The view is great too, you can look down the valley from the upper part of town.  When we were on the ramparts of the chateau there, we saw a couple of huge condor-like birds circling upward on the air currents.



Monday, October 16, 2017

Dordogne/Vezere Day 4. (9/27/17)

Today is market day in Sarlat and I wanted to check out the morning market before we started our exploring for the day.  The Wednesday market is set up in the medieval center’s square. The market in the church building is open as well.  We walked through and saw lots of delicious looking fruits and vegetables, tables of big wheels of local cheese, breads of all kinds.  There were stalls selling sausages, fish, nougat.  Walnuts are grown in this area so one of the local products is walnut oil and walnut cake.  Truffles and mushrooms are popular too.  It was a great market and we bought some things to snack on, but you could tell that many people were there to do their regular shopping as well.

After the market, we drove to Domme, another village that overlooks the Dordogne.  Not much going on in town, but the views from the overlook were nice. The church in the village square is built inside of pretty honey-colored bricks, even the ceiling is brick.

It was a bright sunny day, so we pulled out our little cooler and had a picnic next to the river.  Several couples in canoes floated by as we were eating.

We saw a sign for a castle in Montfort but when we got there, it was closed. :( That actually turned out to be a stroke of luck because we followed a sign to Commarque, which is a castle ruin and we really enjoyed seeing it.  It’s a longish walk from the parking lot and it was a pretty warm day but it was worth the effort.  The man who owns it has spent several years reclaiming the remnants of the castle from the undergrowth that almost completely covered it.  You can see several areas of the castle, climb the tower and look out over the countryside, even play games.  They have a whole room that is dedicated to medieval games. I assume they use these when groups of school kids come to visit, but Mike and I had a blast playing some of the games ourselves!


Dordogne - Day 3

When you drive around the Dordogne, you see lots of areas of overhanging rock and many towns that are partially built into the hillsides. We decided to check out La Roque St Christoffe which I think is one of the largest Troglodyte settlements in the area.

La Roque is a huge fissure under a rock cliff, a couple stories above the ground. There are displays to show how people lived in these cave-like rooms and the everyday items they used. I have to say it was a little unnerving to walk around under this giant slab of rock. We would be tiny human filling in a big rock sandwich if any of it came down. Even so, it was very interesting to see the settlement had a safe, stables, blacksmith shop, church, etc. The entire settlement in its heyday was very large, several hundred meters I think.


La Roque Gageac is a pretty town at the base of a hill, some of the houses are built into the hill as well. It sits right on the banks of the Dordogne River and has a few shops and restaurants.  Two of the gabarre boat companies are based here and we decided to have a ride on the river.  The live commentary was in French but we were given headsets with an English recording.  It was a pretty ride, passing the gardens of Marqueyssac above us on the hill, and also the castle at Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.  There were swans on the river and a couple of them took flight and circled the boat before landing back on the river.


Remember when I talked about the rock possibly falling at the beginning of this post? Well, it happened in La Roque Gageac about 50 years ago, killing three people and destroying several houses. So I guess if it only happens once in 50 years, then our odds of being a human sandwich are pretty small.  Although seeing a bunch of steel pillars holding up some of the hillsides is a reminder that these folks live with that possibility every day. 

Speaking of rocks and caves, we also went to Lascaux to see the replica exhibit of the prehistoric cave art that was discovered in the actual cave at Lascaux.  The actual cave is closed to the public due to calcite and bacteria that built up from the moist breath of the over 1 million visitors to the caves in the last several decades. The replica was interesting and the accompanying exhibits are well done.  I’m glad we went but I determined that cave art is not something that fascinates me - I’m more of a medieval gal I guess. 

Dordogne - Day 2 (9/25/17)

True to his word, Mike let me sleep in this morning.  It was wonderful until he told me it was 9:00! Holy cow, I had slept almost 10 hours! Our plan for the day included two castles and a garden so I jumped out of bed and got ready in record time.

First up was Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, a 12th century fortified castle overlooking the Dordogne River.  This was a great visit, you start with a climb up a tower where there are canon and things at different levels. There was a huge display of crossbows, more than I have seen in one place before.  Some had ivory and bone inlays and some had ropes and pulleys to draw back the bow.  Outside there was a huge crossbow that shot a long spear, for killing dragons I’m sure. There were rooms with displays of armor, and mannequins dressed in period clothing.

Outside there were trebuchet, we would probably call them catapults but trebuchet sounds so lyrical for a war machine. They have demonstrations of how they work, but we were there at the wrong time of day so we missed that.  We enjoyed views of the river and other nearby castles from the ramparts.




Our next stop was the gardens at Chateau Marqueyssac. Built in the 19th century, the house is only partially open, just a few rooms have been restored - but the gardens are what brings people here. There have an amazing sculpted garden and then multiple paths you can follow through the gardens. We chose the Promenade des Falaises since it overlooked the river all along the way.  There were really nice views across the valley to Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and also Beynac-et-Cazenac. We walked on to the Belvedere, a viewing platform high above the river which gave some great views of the town of La Roque Gageac.  We actually found a well-disguised vending machine along the way and enjoyed a cold Coke as we walked along.  It may be late September but it was a warm day so the cool drink was really nice. We walked back along the Grande Allee, stopped at the woodcarver’s shop for a souvenir, and made our way back to the car.


Third and last stop of the day was Chateau de Beynac, another 12th century fortified castle.  Once home to Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) and the survivor of many battles during the Hundred Years’ War.  They have restored Richard’s bedchamber and you can see it through a barred door.  There were several interestingly restored rooms, I especially liked the kitchen.  It really seemed like a close replica of an original medieval kitchen and you could walk down into the room.  There was a ramp to one side that they used for moving supplies with horses.  There was also a display that said it was the armor that the Baron Adhemar de Beynac had worn on the third Crusade.

We saw lots of people on the river in the gabarres, small boats that take you past some of the interesting sites along the river.  We saw several canoes as well, it’s a popular way to see things along the river.  Given how many we saw in late September, there must be a huge number of them in the summertime.


France 2017: Sarlat-la-Caneda and the Dordogne Valley- day 1

We said goodbye to our friends this morning and scooted over to the train station to pick up our rental car. Unfortunately I didn’t remember that the car rental desk didn’t open until 10 on Sundays, so we spent an hour or so people-watching at the train station. We completed the paperwork and went up to the parking area to get our car.  The poor guys up there were stressed with people trying to pick up and return their cars that the guy came up to us, handed us the keys and said “your keys, your car, you go!” All with a disarming smile. So, we went!

We used the motorway to get us out of town, then set the GPS to avoid toll roads and motorways and to always take us on the shortest route.  Turns out that was a mistake because sometimes the shortest way is a pretty sketchy tiny road. We ended up out in the middle of nowhere because the GPS told us to take a road that looked like trouble so we took the other fork.  Unfortunately this road went deeper into the country and became really rough and bumpy.  We pulled over to debate trying to find a way to turn around versus continuing on.  A vehicle passed us and by the incredulous stares we received, it was pretty obvious we were really lost.  We decided to carry on and pretty soon caught up to that vehicle, which looked like a group of hunters judging by their reflective vests.  One of the men spoke about as much English as I speak French, so we managed to find out that the road ahead was equally bad and possibly worse up ahead of us.  Decision made! Back the way we had come to the sketchy road that by now looked like quite an improvement over the last one.  We passed some nice countryside and some chateaux, even a small town with a covered market hall that looked quite old.

We finally made it to Sarlat and were checking into our hotel, telling the receptionist about being lost and she said “oh, you should never set the GPS for the shortest route out here”. Thank you very much, wish we had talked to you earlier! Our hotel was just on the fringe of the medieval city center, so we took a walk to explore the town.

The medieval city center is a relatively small area, maybe seven blocks long and a few blocks wide but it was full of restaurants and shops and a couple of churches.  One of the churches is now used as an indoor marketplace in the mornings.   We had a bite to eat and went back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.  I told Mike I was tired of staying up late and waking up early like we had been doing on the river cruise the previous week and I intended to sleep in the next morning!


Sarlat Market day

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Riverboat cruise France - day 5 & 6

Day 5: Today we opted for a visit to the market day in Libourne followed by a bicycle ride through the countryside. Libourne’s Market was actually pretty large, there were quite a few stalls. There were a big variety of things on sale - from plants to fruits and veggies, clothing, live chickens, a dead shark(!), and a lot of bread and cheese. It was a bustling place, especially since the market was set up in the square but the entrance and exit for the undergoing parking was also in the square, so you had to keep your wits about you to avoid the cars.

We gathered everyone together for the bike ride, I think there were about 30 or so people.  The cruise director said he had never had so many people sign up for the bike ride.  The bike company didn’t actually have enough bikes for everyone, so we brought along some of the riverboat’s loaner bikes.  Mike and I ended up with two of the ship’s bikes, which would have been okay except the gears kept slipping, so one minute you would be pedaling along and then the next minute you would be pedaling without any progress whatsoever.  I managed to fall into a bush during one of those times.  It turns our you really can forget how to ride a bike I guess! Anyway, it was a lot of work to try to keep up with everyone, so I turned back but Mike stuck with it. They stopped at a chapel along the way and met a lady who has spent the last ten years renovating it.

After the big bike ride it was time for lunch and a little cruising on the river as we headed back to Bordeaux for our final 2 nights.

We had a nighttime tour of Bordeaux on open-top buses.  I think Bordeaux is a really lovely city, especially along the waterfront.  The portal gates to the city are lit up at night and are really striking.  The Pont Pierre bridge is beautiful day and night.  They say the reason it has 17 arches is because there is one arch for every letter in the name of Napoleon Bonaparte.  He didn’t like it that the town had no bridge for his army, so he told them to build one! The church steeples are lit up at night as well as the very modern-looking Museum of Wine.  My favorite spot at night is the relection surface by the waterfront.  When the granite is wet, you get to see a perfect reflection of the grand buildings with all the lights on them.

Day 6: We went on a morning walking tour of Bordeaux with our guide Johanna. She lives in Bordeaux and was looking forward to showing us around her city.  First stop was a bakery for what she said was called a “dune”, a pastry that was very much like a super light cream puff.  It was so good, I went back later and had two more! :-D  We visited a chocolate shoppe that had been owned by the same family for over a hundred years.  It was seriously some of the best chocolate I have ever tasted.  Yum! We visited St. Andrew’s Cathedral and also walked through the main shopping street of Bordeaux. Once the tour was over, we had some pizza for lunch and went to visit the Museum of Aquitaine. Aquitaine is the region where Bordeaux is located.

The Museum of Aquitaine was pretty interesting but not many of the signs were in English, I don’t think this Museum is high on most tourist’s lists.  They have Roman artifacts from the days when the Roman’s settled here and first began to grow grapes for wine.  In the section about French settlements, they had the largest collection of model ships I have ever seen. They had a section with artifacts from the 12th -14th century that they keep finding when they do construction projects.  They had a rose window (the masonry portion, not the glass) that was about 15 feet in diameter that they found just covered up inside a wall somewhere.  It’s phenomenal to us to think about something that old just hidden in a building and nobody even knew.

Friday, September 22, 2017

The Mascaret

The mascaret is a tidal surge phenomenon that occurs on the Dordogne River at certain times in the area of Libourne. It was supposed to happen between 6:45 and 7:45 pm on our 4th night of cruising. Our ship had to be freed from the dock and had to sail in the middle of the river because sometimes the surge is 3-4 feet high and it comes in successive waves. A docked ship can be thrown against the dock, damaging both the ship and the dock. Sometimes it's big enough for people to surf on! The surge flows in the opposite direction of the river current, so you actually see the water in the river change direction.

We all went up to the sun deck and enjoyed some beverages waiting for the mascaret to come.  Finally the captain blew the horn once to let us know it was starting toward us. We waited and watched and then finally we could see the surface of the water starting to turn up into waves.

As we watched, a zodiac boat shot out across the river and dropped a surfer in the water.  The waves grew increasingly bigger and more frequent.  The surfer managed to have a pretty good ride while the guys in the zodiac got bounced around pretty well. The waves of the mascaret broke against the shores and the prow of the boat.  It was fun to watch and something none of us had ever seen before.

It happened again the next morning early, about 6:30 so we stood outside our room and watched it in the fog and semi-darkness. It was a little different this time because we couldn't see it coming due to the fog but we could hear it coming. That was a little eerie actually.

Riverboat cruise France - day 3 & 4

Citadel of Blaye was our first stop today. It was a fortified city built in the 17th century. The outer and inner walls mostly remain, as well as the gunpowder storage house and a building that was used sometimes as a jail and sometimes as a hospital. The walls facing away from the river are built in star shapes to allow for covering all angles of possible attack.

We then sailed on toward our next destination. The day was warm and sunny so we sat on the sun deck in chaise lounges.  We were on the lookout for a ship that was sunk by the Germans in WWII. We finally cruised past the shipwreck and the water level was low enough to give us a decent look at the boat as we passed by.

Next up was the village of Bourg but we were there around 2pm so everything in town except the church was closed for the lunchtime break. Oh well, it was pretty small anyway so not much to see or do there.  It wasn't really worth a stop in my opinion but, when you're on a cruise, you don't get to decide where you stop. C'est la vie, as the French would say.  Actually they say voila a whole lot, more often than I ever realized.

Day 4 was nice and sunny and we docked in Libourne for a visit to Saint-Emilion. The original town was established by the Romans in the 2nd century.The origin of the current name of the town has to do with a Benedictine monk named Emilion who went to live as a recluse in a small grotto in the area in the 8th century.. His simple life and word of miracles associated with him, brought many other people to the area.

We were able to see Emilion's grotto, along with the spring of water that is located there.  In the 12th century, a monolithic church was carved from the rock over a period of two years. So this whole church and its catacombs are completely underground. This place is huge and awesome and there are still some surviving carvings and paintings on the walls.  In the 12th to 15th century, a solid limestone belltower was constructed. We were able to climb to the top for views of the city, the nearby vineyards and the countryside.  In order to climb to the top of the bell tower, we had to go to the tourism office, leave them our ID as a deposit for the old metal key and pay our €4. We climbed the 200 or so spiral steps to the top and enjoyed the views across the vineyards and Dordogne Valley, then spotted our friends sitting at a table in the square below us. After the belltower it was time for a yummy lunch in the square and then we headed for the king's tower, intent on climbing that as well.  Unfortunately it didn't open until 2 pm and it was only 1 pm, so we decided to go see the ruined cloisters and chapel instead.  We sampled some of the local macarons as well, which are not like the macaroons in Paris. These are made from an original recipe made by nuns and are just a single cookie, no filling inside. We walked around a bit, just enjoying the charming little town, and then took the shuttle back to the riverboat.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Riverboat cruise France - day 1 & 2

We boarded our riverboat and met up with another pair of our friends for a weeklong cruise in the Bordeaux wine region.

Our first day started with a visit to Chateau de Cazaneuve where we were greeted by the count and countess of the castle. We had a brief tour of the chateau, then were treated to a sumptuous lunch with wine pairing.  This area near Cadillac is known for Sauternes which are sweet white wines.  Sweet wine is not something I enjoy but the lunch was very good, especially dessert!


Our next stop was Chateau Myrat where we again had a brief tour of part of the chateau, then met with one of the owners. Her family has been making wine since the 1500's! She showed us a pressing room where they still had the wooden vats where people would stomp on the grapes to extract the juice.  The ceiling beams in the pressing room and in the wine cellar were huge and looked like they were probably 500 years old.  We saw two river otters in the small stream that runs along their back garden :-)


Our second day began with sailing on the river, passing many lovely houses and cute little fishing huts called carrelet. The carrelet is perched up on stilts due to the high and low tides and each has a fishing net hanging from the back. The weather was nice so it was pleasant sailing too.

In the afternoon we stopped at Fort Medoc which looked like a really cool place but we had little time to look around because we had to board the buses for a winery tour. Our group was going to the winery of La Tour Carnet. We had a very nice lady who guided us through part of the chateau and did a tasting as well.  I have to say that I was very embarrassed by the behavior of one of the ladies on our tour group.  We were shown into the study which held a very old desk which had equally old books and ledgers on it.  One woman decided to flip through the pages of two of the books! These things looked like they could fall apart if you weren't careful. I couldn't believe it when she decided to open the second one, but she got taught a lesson because a big moth flew out of the book and scared her. It serves her right for messing around with valuable old things that didn't belong to her! 

Bordeaux -- first impressions


We arrived in Bordeaux and spent some time literally driving in circles trying to find our hotel.  Yes, we had GPS but the addresses and the hotel were not marked well. After finally finding it, we dropped off the luggage, turned in the rental car and went for a walk.  Bordeaux has lots of beautiful 18th century buildings along the riverfront and there was also a festival going on in the area so the town was really buzzing and lots of people around.  We will have another day in Bordeaux at the end of our river cruise as well, so I'll have more to say about it later on.  We finally managed to find an ATM that worked with our cards too, which was nice because we were starting to run low on the euro  we had brought from home with us.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Loire Valley, France (9/11/17 - 9/16/17)

After leaving Paris and stopping at Chartres, we journeyed on to our next destination the Loire Valley.  We stayed just outside of Amboise in a chateau from the 1700's that was remodeled in the 1800's, and occupied by the Nazis in the 1940's. Quite an interesting place, especially since part of the chateau was built into the rock of the hillside.

We came here to see some of the famous chateaux in the area and started with one that would become our favorite, Chenonceau. This is a beautiful castle that spans across a river with a series of arches. Beautiful from the outside and also with very pretty gardens, it was extremely well done on the inside as well.  The written guide was easy to follow and the progression through the rooms was marked well. Since it is September we also didn't have to fight the summer crowds, which was great.  The rooms are furnished quite nicely and there were beautiful flower arrangements in each of the rooms too. 

From Chenonceau, we went to Chambord which is basically the big granddaddy of them all.  Chambord is very impressive from the outside but we were a bit disappointed with the inside.  The double helix stairway is cool and there are nice views from the rooftop terrace, but it just wasn't as well decorated or organized as Chenonceau.  

The next morning was rainy so we took some time to find a warm jacket for one of our friends, then spent time in the afternoon at Amboise's castle. The ramparts provided a nice view over the river and we went into the little chapel to see the grave of Leonardo da Vinci who lived the last years of his life at Clos Luce nearby.  

The next morning we went to Clos Luce to see the former home of da Vinci. We all agreed that this site was really, really good. The house showed da Vinci's rooms including his workshop which displayed some of his paintings and drawings and some of the things he used to create his masterpieces. The most fascinating thing was the collection of small models that a team of IBM experts had made from some of his drawings.  They then created actual size inventions and those were located outside on the grounds of the estate. It was amazing to see the number of things he had actually designed, and so many of them worked exactly as he thought they would.

In the afternoon, we visited Chateau Villandry. Everyone raves about the gardens and rightfully so, but the inside of the house was interesting too. The family that owns the chateau has spent a lot of money restoring it and especially caring for the gardens.  The gardens are truly beautiful, some of the best I've seen in Europe thus far.  There were watergardens, ornamental gardens, love knot gardens, and vegetable and fruit gardens that were honestly just as pretty as the flower gardens because they were so well done. It was a beautiful place and a bargain price compared to some of the other chateau. 

We also visited a troglodyte site. Troglodyte means people carved out caves and homes from the limestone prevalent in the area. It was interesting but the air inside was a bit too dusty for me.

We're moving on to Cognac for one night, then to Bordeaux.

                                                 Chenonceau
                                                   Villandry
Villandry
                                                            Chambord
Da Vinci personal items

Chartres Cathedral (9/11/17)

The Notre Dame Cathedral at Chartres began being constructed in the 12th century.  You can see the spires rising above the town from quite a distance away. I knew from my research on Tripadvisor that an English tour would be given at noon by Malcolm Miller.  Mr. Miller is probably the foremost authority in the world in this cathedral so we were lucky enough to arrive on time, despite our troubles in leaving Paris.

I worried that the guys would be a little bored by a 90 minute talk by an 85 year old expert, but they both said they found it fascinating.  We actually have never had anyone explain how to interpret stained glass windows before, especially in terms of some of the symbolism involved.  We all agreed it was one of the best tours we have heard.  The cathedral itself is being cleaned inside and the lightness is wonderful compared to the usual gray dingy color in most Gothic cathedrals. It would be fascinating to return in a few years and see the changes.

Driving the Arc de Triomphe

Unfortunately, one of our friends left his camera bag in the back of the tour van on the day we went to Giverny, so we needed to pick it up from the tour office after picking up our car as we were leaving Paris.  We entered the address in the GPS and set off.  Soon we had the dreadful realization that we would need to drive the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe! Now the Arc's roundabout consists of about 7 lanes of traffic.  I say "about" because there are no lines on the road at all and the whole thing seems like a giant free-for-all.  We managed to get through it with a lot of watching out for other cars and then we ended up on the Champs-Elysees! So it was quite a morning just trying to get out of Paris.

Verdun (9/10/17)

We hired a private guide for a trip to Verdun from Paris.  Verdun is the site of a 300 day battle in World War I. I read about it while researching last year's trip and we wanted to include it this year. Mike and I both love history so we were really looking forward to this. I actually wish we had stayed closer, possibly in Reims, so we could have had more time.  It was a 12 hour day as it was, and we could have spent another few hours for sure.


Neither side really attained victory here, but the French Army's tenacity really kept the German forces at Verdun engaged so they couldn't be re-directed to other battlefronts.  There was also really no other line of defense between the Germans and Paris.  

We stopped off at a monument in the countryside and as we drove away we saw a poor abandoned dog with a muzzle on. The poor thing looked like it was half-starved and I couldn't imagine what sort of monster would abandon a dog without any means of eating! We stopped and tried to coax it to us but it was too afraid to come near.  Another car had also stopped and the lady had called the local police who were coming out to see if they could catch the dog and free it from the muzzle.  We couldn't wait for the police but the people in the other car were going to stay until they came. The thought of that poor dog haunted me the rest of the day. 

We drove on and visited the Verdun Memorial which was an excellent presentation of information about the battle, the soldiers and the aftermath.  There was so much shelling that several small towns were completely obliterated.  Blown off the face of the earth forever.  The unexplored ordinance was still being found pretty regularly as little as 20 years ago.  The area is still full of trenches and shell craters though the grass and trees were replanted and it is green there now.  Photos after the war show it looking like the surface of the moon- no trees or anything, just the craters. There were pictures of the soldiers and some video showing the shell shock that affected so many of them. Very, very sad. 

Next stop was the Ossuary.  The collected bone fragments of approximately 130,000 soldiers are enclosed in the Ossuary and another 70,000 soldiers are buried out in front of the monument. There is an area inside dedicated to the soldiers from each surrounding area with their names inscribed.  

Fort Douaumont was next.  One of the few defensive forts in the area, it was at times occupied by the French or the Germans, and sometimes by both at the same time! The fort itself was almost completely buried by the dirt being thrown up by the thousands of shells exploding around it. 

We also managed to find a small section of the remaining trenches nearby.  

All in all, it was a sobering but truly interesting day. Definitely something we will always remember.
                                              Fort Douaumont

                                                        Verdun Ossuary


Tuesday, September 19, 2017

France 2017 - Paris

We took off without a hitch from Sac Metro Airport and landed in Salt Lake City 15 minutes early - great! A 1 hour layover, just the right amount of time. Around the time we should have started boarding, they announced a delay of one hour due to a mechanical problem with the plane.  One hour turned into two, then three, then three and a half.  Finally they gave the word that we would be boarding, but we had to be very quick about it as the flight crew was about to time-out and then we would have a big problem and another delay.  Well we all managed to get on the plane and push off from the gate with just minutes to spare. Whew!

We had a good flight and arrived in Paris without incident, but now it was late afternoon and so our plans changed to basically dinner and bed instead of doing a little sightseeing after landing.  The next morning, we woke up and had a nice breakfast of French pastry then decided to walk around a bit.  We walked through the Tullieries gardens and over to the Grande Palais and then the Eiffel Tower.

In the afternoon, we had arranged to go to Monet's home and gardens at Giverny with a small group tour.  The gardens were very nice and still showing a lot of color, it did rain a little bit on us but we enjoyed the gardens and looking inside the house. We enjoyed a good dinner and took ourselves off to bed as we had an early start for Verdun the next day.
                                           Monet's garden

France 2017

Back to France! I've been planning our return for several months now, almost since returning from our last visit. When we went to France last year, we realized there was so much more to see and we decided to go again this year!

We decided to spend 3 weeks - the first week with two of our friends to see Verdun and Giverny, and a little more time in Paris. After that, we would travel to the Loire Valley to see some of the big chateau. The second week we would all meet up with two more friends and the six of us would take a riverboat cruise from Bordeaux.  The third week would be just Mike and I exploring the Dordogne region.  

So a lot of planning had to go into this trip because the three different weeks are so diverse and so different from each other.  I feel as though I haven't done as much research in some areas as I should have, so we'll see how it all turns out.  :-)


Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Yosemite National Park/ Half Dome Hike

This was "take 2" on Half Dome. Last year we attempted it and couldn't make it to the top because I had very bad cramping in my legs. I was determined to have a different outcome this year, so I made some changes in my preparation and approach.

Firstly, I did not work out for a few days before the hike.  I think this was a big factor in the cramps I had last year because I did a leg workout the day before our hike last year. Secondly, we brought more water with us and also a filtration device, because last year we ran out of water on the way down. The third change was bringing salt and electrolyte supplements with us and using them a few times throughout the day.

We started out at 4:30am to take advantage of the cooler morning temps and get a head start on the rest of our group.  They are younger than we are and faster, so getting started earlier meant we could go at a pace that was easier for us.  It was a bit scary doing the first hour in the dark, I imagined bear and mountain lion lurking around the giant boulders on the trail. Luckily we only saw a bobcat and that was actually in the road on the way to the trailhead.

The hike up the Mist Trail was just as difficult as I remembered from last year.  I had knee arthroscopy in 2015 and still have a partially torn meniscus, so all those step ups on the Mist Trail become  painful for me. We were rewarded with a beautiful view of Vernal Falls at sunrise and even some mist this year since the falls are still flowing pretty nicely thanks to all the rain and snow we had this year.  We carried on up to the top of Nevada Falls, more steps and climbing up rocks. There were also a lot more bugs this year, yuk!

Once at the top of Nevada Falls we headed through Little Yosemite Valley heading to Half Dome Trail. It was about half way to the subdome that our friends caught up to us, so our timing was perfect. We made it to the ranger checkpoint at the subdome in good time. A special permit is required in order to continue up and over the subdome and up the cables to the top of Half Dome.  The ranger checked our permit and we were good to go.

The subdome seemed a little less scary than last year and we all stopped to regroup before starting up the cables.  Going was up was definitely hard but doable.  It definitely takes some arm and leg strength but takes some mental determination as well. Two of our group have a fear of heights so this was a major accomplishment for them and I really admire their veracity.

Once at the top we looked around enjoying the views, had a little rest, took a bunch of celebratory photos and then prepared for the descent.  Smoke from the nearby wildfire was starting to blow towards us as we headed down.

Personally, I thought going down the cables was much easier than going up. We basically went down backwards/sideways, holding onto one cable with both hands.  Thank goodness we had good gloves because we could feel the heat from the friction right through the gloves.  We finally all made it down to the subdome and started the long hike back to the valley floor.  Elevation gain 4,000 feet and distance of 8.1 miles on the way up! Bad news: you have to hike back down now.

Three of us opted to take the John Muir Trail down from the top of Nevada Falls. It added an extra 1.5 miles but we wouldn't have to go down all those steps on the Mist Trail, and my knee was already pretty sore.

We made it back to the trailhead at 15 hours which is an hour better than our time last year. I finally can check Half Dome off my list of things to accomplish! Hooray!

Half Dome Hike - Yosemite Photos

Wildfire smoke 
Half Dome (from Yosemite Valley floor) 

Me on the "diving board" at the top 

Monday, June 5, 2017

Fall Creek and lime kiln photos

Fall Creek trail
Lime Kiln remains 
sunlight in the Redwood grove

Monterey/Santa Cruz hiking and whale watching

We went to Monterey last month as Mike was in need of some vitamin "SEA". He loves the ocean and if we don't go visit every few months, he becomes a very sad fellow.

With all our favorite trails in Big Sur inaccessible due to the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge collapse, we opted for some hiking in the redwoods near Santa Cruz. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park was our destination and an easy 45 minute drive from Monterey.

The main park has a grove of impressive old growth Redwoods. There is also a gift store and nature center with helpful volunteers.  We decided to do the Redwood Grove Loop Trail and River Trail first. Well, not really first but we missed the turnoff for the trail to the observation deck so we ended up right back at the nature center! Yeesh! I couldn't believe it when we found ourselves right back at the beginning again. We re-oriented ourselves and headed out for the observation deck on the Ridge Fire Road.  The fire road was paved and easily walkable until it started its uphill climb. This road went up at a pretty steep incline for about a mile before we made it to the fork where you can go on about 100 yards to the observation bench or turn off and take a trail for another half mile uphill to the observation deck. Well it was about 80-85 degrees that day and frankly we were so hot we decided to just see what the view was like from the observation bench. Silly me- I thought the bench might be in some nice shade but that was not the case. We could see the ocean in the distance from the bench so we decided that was good enough for us. Back down the trail and straight to the car for a cool drink.

Next stop was the Fall Creek area. This is a separate unit of the same Henry Cowell State Park but this area has no services whatsoever.  It does have some old remnants of lime kilns that we thought would be interesting.  There is a short hike to the kilns from the road, about half a mile, but the only parking is on the road. We only found a couple of places that we might even consider parking, but ultimately we felt they were just too small and didn't get our car far enough off the narrow road. Back down the road to the main entrance and a 2.4 mile in and out hike instead.  This hike was really pleasant as there were no really steep parts and the trail follows the Fall Creek the entire way. With all our recent rain, the creek was flowing nicely with several small rapids and waterfalls.  There was a lot of evidence of the toll our winter had in this area as we passed many downed trees and there was a nice waterfall created by several downed trees that had fallen on top of each other across the creek.  We made it to the lime kiln remains and poked around a bit then headed back down again. There weren't many other hikers there, especially compared with the area we had hiked earlier. I have to say that if you want to see more impressive lime kilns, try Lime Kiln State Park instead. It's south of Big Sur, and has more intact kilns and also a nice beach on the ocean.

The next morning we went out whale watching with our favorite company Monterey Bay Whale Watch.  There were a number of humpback whales being seen across the bay by Moss Landing.  We made it across the bay and could see a couple of other whale watching boats that were just sitting in one place and knew that meant there were whales around. As we got closer, a whale suddenly surfaced right in front of our boat, blew his stinky breath on us and dived down under the water! It was so close that the captain actually had to reverse the boat engines. We spent about an hour or more watching various whales surface and dive. We didn't see any of the killer whales that have been hanging around the area the past month though. We had a chilly ride back to the other side of the bay as the marine layer was starting to come in and we always stay outside the cabin to avoid seasickness.
Dinner was a nice hot bowl of clam chowder and Chicken Caesar salad then a drive along beautiful Oceanview Drive before heading back to our hotel.

A Wet and Wild Winter

Well, we had record rainfall this winter after 7 years of drought. It was really nice to see California looking so green! We received a lot of snow in the mountains so we won't have any water rationing this year because we'll have plenty of runoff as the snowpack melts.

The downside of all that rain is that many of our favorite hiking trails are either washed out, inaccessible or still covered in snow 😞