In The Alps

After our lovely week in the south, we headed west to the Alps. The Affouards kindly offered us their small flat that sits way up in the mountains. It is in the town of Briancon and across from their ski resort which is called Serre-Chevalier. Although it was tiny, it suited us perfectly and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. As well as a drastic scenery change from the flat vineyards and olive groves of Provence, there was also a drastic weather change. Suddenly we were pulling out our polar fleeces and long pants.

The drive was lovely. We wound up and around and through the mountains and often crossed these beautiful glacial lakes. The scenery reminded us of Glacier National Park in Montana.

Here is the view from the front porch of the flat.

The day after we arrived in the mountains, we took the cable car up to the top of the mountain. It was freezing up top and we were all wishing we had brought more layers. However, the view was lovely and we had a wonderful time hiking to a pass with a beautiful view of a glacier. The sky that day was especially lovely.

Up top, there were enormous crickets...

...and beautiful wildflowers.

These were so cute.

Mom loved the butterflies and the flowers.

Also dotting the hillsides were cows and a few sheperds' shacks. Most of the cows had bells on too.

Andrew birdwatched a whole lot up there. So much so that Cameron nicknamed Mom and Andrew the two "Problems" becaues it took about twenty minutes to get three steps forward.

See them in the right corner, just behind the hill? Isn't it beautiful?

We finally made it to the pass, the "Col de la Pisse."

I felt like singing "the hills are alive with the sound of music" on these beautiful mountain tops.

After our lovely excursion through the peaks, we took the cable car back down the mountain. We stopped at a delicious ice cream place (before lunch!) and each had a cup. We then had a lovely, warm, relaxing afternoon reading French comic books and taking naps. That night, we went into the heart of the old city of Briancon and had a delicious regional meal of melted Raclette cheese that is served with cold hams, boiled potatoes and little cornichons (pickles)...one of the best meals of our entire trip. What a wonderful day!

(Posted by Shannon)

Birding in France

One of the best parts of France for me was all the species of birds we saw. I found particular enjoyment in identifying them, as practically every bird I saw was a new species.

The single best birding spot we visited was the Camargue. All of the pools and mudflats created by the delta of the Rhone make this location one of the premier birding spots in Europe. And it certainly did not disappoint.

We birded the Camargue on two different occasions. The first time was with the entire family, and we saw a number of different species, including Flamingo (you've seen plenty of pictures of these),



Sacred Ibis, a bird that normally inhabits Africa (hmmm, wonder if this was a genuine wanderer, or just an escapee from a private collection?),



Common Shelduck (a rather flattering picture),



Grey Heron,



and Black-headed Gull (does the name confuse you? Don’t worry, the adults do actually have a black head during breeding season. This is either an adult that has molted its feathers already, or a juvenile bird).

We also saw White Stork, Red-crested Pochard, Golden Eagle, Black-winged Stilt, and Hoopoe. This last bird is probably my favorite European bird. It has a pronounced crest, and is boldly patterned in black and white stripes. And it flies with noticeable, long undulations.

The second time we birded the Camargue, it was only Dad, Margaret, Cameron, and I. Wonder why? Well, we left St.-Remy at 5:00 am so that we could be in the Camargue at 6:00. Before you all label me as completely ridiculous, I have to say that it was completely worth it. We saw a number of bird species

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of any of these birds, although a Google search should turn up most of them. We saw perhaps one of the neatest-looking waterbirds in the world: the Great-crested Grebe. The feathers on the sides of its face stick out, making it look as if the bird had cheek-armor on. There were shorebirds everywhere, including Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, and Pied Avocet.

I did casual birding in just about all of the other spots we visited as well. The Alps were another favorite location of mine, mostly because of the scenery. But there were good birds there as well, including Northern Wheatear, Skylark, and Yellowhammer.

At Les Baux, probably my favorite spot in France, we saw Alpine Swift, Black Redstart, and Blue Rock Thrush.

Below is our bird list for our entire trip. I figured that the bird buffs reading this blog would enjoy it. But I imagine that it won’t interest most of you :-)

Andrew

Bird List:

Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Cattle Egret
Squacco Heron
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
White Stork
Glossy Ibis
Sacred Ibis
Spoonbill
Flamingo
Mute Swan
Greylag Goose
Shelduck
Mallard
Pochard
Red-crested Pochard
Scaup
Egyptian Vulture
Golden Eagle
Short-toed Eagle
Red Kite
Black Kite
Marsh Harrier
Montagu's Harrier
Common Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Lesser Kestrel
Red-legged Partridge
Pheasant
Moorhen
Coot
Oystercatcher
Avocet
Black-winged Stilt
Little Ringed Plover
Ringed Plover
Lapwing
Little Stint
Wood Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Spotted Redshank
Greenshank
Curlew
Whimbrel
Snipe
Black-headed Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Little Tern
Sandwich Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Common Tern
Rock Dove
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Turtle Dove
Swift
Pallid Swift
Alpine Swift
Hoopoe
Bee-eater
Skylark
Sand Martin
Crag Martin
Barn Swallow
House Martin
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Robin
Black Redstart
Wheatear
Blue Rock Thrush
Blackbird
Blackcap
Zitting Cisticola
Willow Warbler
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Magpie
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Yellowhammer

Le Pont D'Avignon et Le Palais des Papes

Our final day at our house in St. Remy was spent exploring the town of Avignon. Axelle, her father, and her father's godmother came with us. It was so great seeing Axelle again, and seeing her in her home country! In Avignon, we saw the famous half-bridge and explored the expansive Palace of the Popes. To read more about the half-bridge, click here: Pont D'Avignon on Wikipedia

The Rhone River from the bridge

There was a small alcove that appeared to be some kind of chapel on the bridge.

It was really windy that day. Can't you tell?

A view of the Palace of the Popes from the bridge


After gaping at the enormous palace from the outside, we took a tour of the palace. It was expansive and overwhelming; there were so many rooms to explore and so many different artifacts to look at and histories to comprehend. We moved quickly through the palace and came to the top.



Us with Axelle outside the palace

After our tour, we sat at a cafe right outside the front gates for a drink.

(Posted by Shannon)

The Castle at Tarascon

After spending the morning at le chateau fort at Les Baux, we headed north a little ways to Tarascon, the site of the castle of our friend,the Go0d King Rene (remember him? He was the guy with the Muscat grapes in Aix-en-Provence). But of course, before we could see the castle, we needed to see the church building, Eglise Ste-Marthe. This church building has a crypt with the 3c-4c tomb of St Martha.

The picture above is the castle. It is exceptionally well-preserved, and dates from before the 13th century. This massive building sits right on the edge of the Rhone River.

Here are the children crossing the moat.

Above is a view up within the walls, but not actually inside the castle.

Here is the painted ceiling in one of the rooms. It looked just the way a castle is described in story books: high-ceiling expansive rooms, stone floors, massive stone fireplaces, and latticed arched windows. Cameron had sword battles with imaginary knights in nearly every room.

A view of the Rhone from the top of the castle.

The men of the family on the roof

The city of Tarascon from the roof of the castle. The mountains in the back are the Alpilles. St. Remy, where we are staying, is situated near the foot of those mountains.

This is a look at Eglise Ste-Marthe from the roof of the Chateau. I love the house with the blue shutters just beyond it.

That beautiful Provencal sky! And two cute kids.

The castle weather vane.

It seems like every castle served as a prison at some time in its history. The prisoners here left elaborate grafitti all over the walls of several rooms. Here is a sample.

And here are some inmates.

A gargoyle keeping watch over the courtyard while he does his duty as a rain spout.

(Posted by Mom)