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)