Switzerland
On Saturday, we headed up to the gorgeous Oeschinensee (Oeschinen Lake) with Donna and Matthias and their kids (just a little younger than F and J). It was a lovely drive up through the mountains, and when we got there... wow. After riding the gondola to the top of the
Switzerland
On Friday afternoon, we visited the local Hirsch Park (deer park) with Donna and Matthias and their kids (who like to visit regularly). Apparently this year has been a great year for acorns, so we had pocket-fulls in abundance (sourced from a big bag in the back of Donna and
France
As our five wonderful nights in Switzerland with our friends Donna and Matthias and their children come to an end, it's time to catch up on some blog posts! Here are a few snaps taken during our drive from Saint-Jean-de-Sixt (France) to Butzberg (Switzerland) on Friday... Upon our
France
On Thursday afternoon, after exploring Annecy on foot (see previous post), we rented bikes for 2 hours and did an 18km cycle alongside beautiful Lake Annecy. This was considerably easier than our 22km ride the previous week as there was a lovely paved cycle path to ride on! The total
France
On Thursday, while staying in Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, we drove half an hour to the town of Annecy, at the top of Lake Annecy. This extremely picturesque little town is apparently known as "the Venice of France" because of its canals! Our first order of business upon arriving in Annecy
France
Week 9 already! Day 57 • 31 Oct • Blois to Sarlat-la-Canéda Cobblestones, candy And des bonbons ou un sort: A French Halloween. Day 58 • 1 Nov • Sarlat-la-Canéda The Dordogne invites Exclamations of rapture As our pedals turn. Day 59 • 2 Nov • Sarlat-la-Canéda to Carcassonne We meet Philippe At the Saturday markets.
France
On Wednesday, after checking out of our accommodation and visiting the public library in Montélimar... ... we set off to our next destination, Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, in the French Alps. We started seeing some magnificent mountains on this drive! They're hard to photograph well from a moving vehicle, but here are
France
On Tuesday, on the recommendation of our accommodation host, we decided to go see some cave paintings... REALLY old cave paintings (or at least replicas thereof). The Chauvet paintings are around 36,000 years old and likely the oldest paintings in the world (some googling suggests older ones have now
France
We spent Monday and Tuesday nights in Montélimar in south-eastern France. This marked the halfway point of our ten-day road trip through France; we had turned northwards again after our visit to Carcassonne. Montélimar was another random place we hadn't heard of before planning this trip, but it
France
On our way to Montélimar on Monday, after shoe shopping, we pulled over at a random rest stop for some lunch. There was an installation about a local (I assume) poet/musician/composer, Georges Brassens. I translated some of his poetry, which was amusing (in some cases I suspect a
France
My faithful old $25 Asics were getting a bit laughable (literally... big gaping laughy-face if I squished my toes the right way), so on Monday morning we stopped at Decathlon to get some new ones (and gloves for J and a beanie for F).
France
On Sunday afternoon, during our two-night stay in Carcassonne in southern France, we visited its medieval old city. It was gorgeous, but we had to be careful as there were thieves on the roads... The surrounding countryside was also lovely and we met a local farmer... Despite the age of