Mom and Dad's Europe Extravaganza, Part 6...

Ok, I know I promised I would be posting every day, and I know some of you have been waiting a very long time for hang-gliding photos! I just got out of the mode, to the extent, in fact, that I forgot the camera on our trip to Paris last week. I didn't take a single photo... I am so behind with all I want to post, though, that there will be plenty to keep this blog occupied for awhile, Paris or no Paris.

And so, on with my parents' European Extravanza! After a failed hang-gliding appempt in the morning (air currents were unpredictable), we headed up the canyon from Interlaken to find some sleepy little Swiss villages high up in the Alps. We found the perfect place, and a whole lot more...

We visited Trummelbach Falls, a waterfall enclosed within a mountain, that drains glacial water from nearby Alpine peaks. The falls is divided into 10 chutes (smaller waterfalls that make up one big waterfall) as it makes its way down the mountain. We came during the spring runoff (where virtually every ledge in the Alps that was capable of having water run-off of it, indeed had water running for its life over the edge), and so Trummelbach was all the more spectacular. The water shot through the crevices of the mountain with deafening ferocity. When we came out of the caves, all of us were soaked to the hilt with ancient (and freezing!!) glacial water.

Mark set the record for absorbing the most water, as you can see by how close he is standing to this section of the falls.

A view from an opening in the caves near the waterfall.

So, one of the funnest things about the Alps is that many tiny villages and high peaks are all linked by gondola. So, we got on board, and let ourselves be hoisted up to Schilthorn peak. This was our view.

It's amazing to me that such a view could be had without major physical exertion (it took us three days of hiking to reach views like this in the Himalayas)! While I absolutely loved experiencing the peaks in this way, I vowed to myself that someday I'd be back to do it on my own two feet.

We were gazing at this spectacular view, when suddenly a tiny trickle of what we thought was water (another spring waterfall) turned into an avalanche! Incredible! We watched it for a few seconds before the sound reached us, and the sound kept booming for awhile after the snow-shower stopped.

And...quite amazingly, there's a restaurant at the top of Schilthorn, with surprisingly good and relatively inexpensive food! The restaurant revolves, and so, if you take your time eating, you get a 360 degree panorama with your lunch. Quite a bargain!

The drink menu...

And at last we made it to the sleepy little Alpine village we were looking for. We got off the gondola in Murren, and then hiked down to Gimmelwald, both tiny communities, with their primay access being the gondola. It was lightly raining when we arrived, which only added to the beauty.

Green hills with a spectacular snow-capped backdrop in every direction, the peaks hidden in the clouds. As we were walking down this road, a resident was practicing his swiss horn, so we listened as the tones echoed on the cliffs and as the wildflowers danced in the rain.

Waterfalls and wildflowers...

A belated birthday, 30 years in the making...

And now for a break in the regularly scheduled programming...

Mark and I had our birthdays last week, celebrated in style in France. It was one of those milestone birthdays for me--I'm 30 years old now! It's great, I love it, the best age yet!

Mark took me on a guided tour of the traboules of Lyon. The traboules are very old passageways inside buildings, linking streets together, and creating a maze of shortcuts around the city. During the French Revolution and World War II, many people kept themselves from enemy hands by hiding within the maze of Lyon's traboules. And today, as a tourist, many of the traboules are open for exploration. Incredibly fun!

A few photos:

Me enjoying 30-hood at Bellecour, waiting for the tour to begin.

Entrance to a traboule.

The trabouls not only link streets together, they lead to inner courtyards and private spaces. Many of the residents have an agreement with the city that if they maintain their dwellings and allow tourists to pass through during specified hours, they will have low rent. This "lived in" quality is part of what makes the experience so charming and real.

According to our guide, this building is a prime example of renaissance architecture. At the time, the owner wanted to make the building a place elegant enough to entertain important visitors, and so he hired a famous architect (our guide told us the name, but I have a difficult time remembering such things) to beautify the place. The owner specifically did not want the courtyard to be diminished in size, and so the architect added to the walls of the existing building, using greek arches and shell patterns, both popular architectural elements during the renaissance.

My favorite door in Lyon.

Looking up from an inner courtyard.

This view alone is enough for me to want to live here!

Best birthday yet.

I love this town!

After our afternoon adventure, we enjoyed the evening in back in the good old USofA...that is, we saw Indiana Jones and felt right at home.

Mom and Dad's Europe Extravaganza, Part 5...

Another day in the Alps...

We left Chamonix (May 28) to drive to Interlaken, Switzerland, with intent to explore and be discoverers all day long. Here are a few bits of Switzerland we found along the way...

Just outside of Chamonix

One of the names we gave this trip--"the waterfall trip." The spring runoff gave us quite a show by coming down off the mountains in the form of hundreds of waterfalls. This photo shows a little of what we saw. If you look in the lower third of the photograph, you will see several waterfalls tumbling down the side of a cliff. What a perfect time of year to witness this!

The streams and rivers were also very high and fast flowing.

The little town of Jaun, Switzerland.

Swiss Chalets

This is you, Dad, taking photos in one of the prettiest spots on Earth!

This is a spring. Did you get that?....a spring! It gushes straight out of the mountain... I had always thought of springs as being little gurgling, bubbling things. But no, they can also be really powerful waterfalls. My perception of the world is changed yet again. I love travelling!

The spring waters of Jaun, Switzerland.

More soon!

Mom and Dad's Europe Extravaganza, Part 4...

Well, the "tomorrow" that I promised in the last post turned into 4 days, but that won't make the Italian Alps less beautiful!

So, when we awoke in Chamonix, we had all sorts of plans for getting up to high places. We had been chased by rainstorms during the entire trip, though, and they caught up with us in Chamonix, closing the gondola that would have taken us up the mountain. So we said to ourselves..."wasn't there a tunnel over there that leads to Italy?...maybe we could check it out..."

We hopped in the car, stopping to admire the glaciers along the way, paid the toll and entered the tunnel (which was over 10km long and went right through the mountain), and upon coming out, were in a completely new world of deep canyons, snow-capped peaks, waterfalls, and Italian road signs (gibberish for us Americans unstudied in anything Italian). This day was not planned into the trip, and so we were completely unprepared to be in Italy. I was lucky to have remembered how to say "thank you," and that was the only Italian word we had to rely on during our few hours there! But despite our lack of preparation, for me, it was the best day of the trip. In my opinion, the Italian side of Mont Blanc is more striking and also less developed (a wonderful combination). We had the valley and all the quaint alpine villages to ourselves that day. And it was soooooo Italian! I loved it and want to go back right away!

The village of Avise, Italy. We saw this from across a gorge, so we turned the car around and started exploring.

Many of the houses we saw that day had heavy slate roofs.

The town cemetary. Click on the photo and check out the sign above the door of the building. The sign above the door is not in Italian. At the borders of European countries, it is common for languages to blend together a bit. For example, there are French speaking areas of Switzerland. Mark recognized the sign as French, although there were a couple of oddities in the french that he thought might be archaic. Here's a loose translation: "Passer-by, whoever you may be, rather than thinking of this world, be mindful that we must die and depart."

Avise

Avise

The residents had clothes drying (in the rain!) all over the place. We also found little vegetable gardens tucked into surprising spaces.

Beautiful, beautiful...

Avise

We found this restaurant by the side of the road. The restaurant is on the ground floor, and the family lives above. It was past the normal lunchtime, but they graciously served us anyway.

This was my favorite meal of the entire trip. I finally understand what good pasta tastes like! MmmmmMMMM!!! I bought a little bag of dried pasta to take home (a type called maloreddus), and it was amazing. I am rationing out the rest until I can find a supplier...

Looking back towards Mont Blanc, from the Italian side.

Only the Alps...

This is the same glacier (look between the peaks) that we saw from the French side (see previous post), it's just the other side of it, spilling into Italy. It's massive!

Wildflowers of the Aosta Valley, Italy

In newstands now...

I'll take a break now from the Europe Extravaganza (the Italian Alps tomorrow!!!) to share with you something very fun...

A local tabac (a type of convience store in France that is licensed to sell tobacco, but can also sell other products, this one particularly sells a lot of magazines--tabac and presse combined).

My friend Kari is an editor for three magazines, all of which focus on teaching either English or French (Mark has subscribed to the French magazine for years, so it's a great coincidence to meet the editor!). Kari enlisted me, my friend Michelle and her husband Dan to participate in the current issue. One section of the magazine includes short blurbs and photos from Anglophones about a particular topic--vacation time offered by employers in the USA and Britain in this instance. So, we all wrote a short description, sent in a picture, and voilà, we're in a magazine! (note: Mark did not participate because the vacation time at Caltech was never counted, and neither were the working hours really...long story.)

So, I went to our local newstand, and after standing around for a good 10 minutes trying to find the magazine, I asked for help finding it. As soon as I opened my mouth, it was very apparent how awful my French was, and the man who helped me looked a little confused as to why I would want the English magazine when what I needed was the French one! He didn't ask, and I was relieved. I was a strange customer, though--upon seeing the magazine, I gazed with a huge smile, snapped a few photos of it, and then walked away. (Kari is giving me a copy straight from the office--will you autograph it too, Kari??)

English Now--my first magazine appearance

There we are!!

Also, to Michelle and Dan--it's an honor to appear in print with you guys! I wish you could have been here with me to discover it in the newstand. :) Miss you!

Mom and Dad's Europe Extravaganza, Part 3...

After our adventures in Paris, Dijon, and Lyon, we left on a rainy day to see the Alps. Dad rented a very nice car, and Mark and I were the designated drivers. Let me remind you that we sold our car the day before we moved to France, so it has been five months since we have been in such a machine, let alone operating it....and in a foreign country! Thankfully we remembered pretty quick (I think the hardest part was getting out of the tiny parking lot), though there are some street signs that we never quite figured out.

We first went to the remains of a Roman aquaduct (thanks for the advice, J&K!), then on to Annecy for a quick stop and ending in Chamonix, all in one day.

Annecy

Annecy (yes, Mark and I will be going back soon)

Annecy

Annecy

Annecy

Annecy

Our first view of the Alps, following the canyon to Chamonix.

Hotel in Chamonix, with Mont Blanc in the clouds in the background.

A massive glacier slowly sliding down the mountain. Spectacular!