Cate’s Musings

Well, internet access in France was not what I had hoped, thus my lack of posts. The modem arrived at my sister Sarah’s house the day before I left, so while she’s online NOW, she wasn’t for most of my stay.

Anyhow, the visit was great. I had lots of relaxing time doing not much of anything and lots of time spent with my sisters Alissa & Sarah, and Jourdain and Cecilia, my fantastic niece and nephew. Here’s a brief re-cap of the trip with photos. I’m in the process of putting all the pictures up on my Flickr page, so if the shots below simply don’t satisfy your undying thirst for photos you can see more there.

[I'm fairly new to the whole Flickr thing but I imagine I'll be uploading bucketloads of stuff, old and new, over the next few weeks. Unemployment is good for that sort of thing.]

So! The trip:

Things got off to a rocky start when our flight from NYC to Paris was delayed by 4 hours. This caused us to miss our train south from Paris. The silver lining was that we spent the night in Paris and got to have an impromptu dinner with our good friend Anne. Here she is with her boyfriend Hervé (please note the giant pile of couscous!):

We got the first train down to Valence the next morning, rented a car and began our drive up to Sarah’s house which is in La Chapelle en Vercors. I say ‘up’ because it’s in the mountains. And the drive is not for the weak. The roads in this part of France have all sorts of hairpin turns and cliff-side drop offs. Often times the side of the mountain is simply blown out to make room for the road:

We managed to make it in one piece (not without getting lost though – Google maps neglected to take into account a years-long road closure). Once arriving, we spent the next week and half doing such things as:

Going on walks:

Feeding the rabbits at the neighbor’s farm (no need to mention the impending fate of the bunnies to the kids, of course):

Visiting the Choranche caves:

Eating ice cream:

Picnicking:

And coloring. Lots and lots of coloring. It’s important business, you know:

Lastly, here are my 2 favorite photos of Jourdain and Cecilia, followed by a shot of a small waterfall and river that gives you an idea of the look of the area. It’s a beautiful part of the world, and I’m looking forward to going back.