Bonjour, hope you are well,
We're back in Provence and loving it, so nice to see this area in summer. The lavender is in full bloom, along with the sunflowers, and the fruit trees are laden. There's rich greenery everywhere. Our good friends Martin and Roxane invited us to stay with them in their beautiful, grand old house. It's just a few minutes down the road from Rustrel, which is where we lived for five months right through winter. The photo shows us having lunch on the first day we arrived after catching the overnight ferry from Corsica.
This is the grand old maison they are slowly renovating. The plan is to turn it into a "chamber d'hote", which is like a B&B, and they also use it as a home office for their architectural business. You can see the pool below which they set up for the summer. There we are having a dip on the first exciting day of our return. Sophie and Connor were so happy to see their buddies, Martin and Roxane's kids, Nepheli and Alkyoni.
After spending the first weekend at the house in Provence we headed north up to Annecy in the French Alps where we shared a house for a week with our good Aussie friends Nat and Johnno and their two kids Amira and Gabriel. We're now back in Provence at Martin and Roxane's place.
The week up there in the Alps was great, with a major highlight being the day we caught a cable car from Chamonix up to Aiguille du Midi ("the needle of the Midi"), which is a rocky outcrop at a whopping 3,842m above sea level. To put that into perspective the Blue Mountains near Sydney reaches a height of 1,215m above sea level.
Here is Soph and I on top of the "Needle of the Midi" with Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe at 4,810m, behind us. Mount Blanc also marks the geographic corner stone between France, Switzerland, and Italy.
So you take two cable cars, the first from 1,035m to 2,317m , where this photo was taken. You can just see the Aiguille du Midi, our destination and where the next cable car takes you to, at the top of the mountain in the middle of the photo below...
And here is Soph, just after we arrived, staring down at Chamonix over 2,700m below us, it was breathtaking.....
And just to our right from where the photo above was taken was a gate to a path across a mountain ridge covered in snow as shown below...... There were mountain climbers everywhere, you can see some of them much further along the snow ridge in this photo, I don't know how they do it, and they do it was such apparent ease...
Here I am in an ice tunnel up there, Johhno snapped this one...
I took this photo from the very top looking down at the main platform where the cable car arrives, you can see Chamonix way, way down in the valley below....
This shows one of the gorgeous canals in Annecy near where we stayed in the Alps...
Nat went to school with Jane so they're good mates from way back. And now Nat's kids, Amira and Gabriel, are mates with Sophie and Connor, as shown below. That's another canal in Annecy behind the girls and the stone building you can see is an old palace, the "Palais de I'Isle", built in 1132 and was used as a prison for a few hundred year up until 1865.
Here is Connor and Gabriel hanging out in front of our house which was in a little village called Charvonnex, near Annecy. The view of the mountains from the house was impressive. We were able to hike up to the top of the mountain you can see in the middle of this photo below..
Here is Jane and Nat, a lot closer to the summit of that same mountain shown above, we had just started our hike. It was a memorable walk with the sun shining and visibility near perfect. Nat's parents stayed with us for a couple of days, and they were able to babysit the kids whilst the four of us went for this hike, we were very appreciative needless to say...
And here's a "selfie" using the mobile. We were so happy to be heading out for our first hike in the Alps...
After we reached the top we had a picnic and finished lunch off with some cake and coffee at this little café, they call them "refuges" when they're up in the mountains like this. We could see glimpses of Mount Blanc in the distance..
This shows us having an early dinner with Danny and Judy, Nat's parents. We had a lovely time with Nat and Johnno and their family up in the French Alps, great memories....
Coincidentally, on the evening of the first day we arrived in Provence, Sophie's old school was having its end of school year party, great timing. When we rolled up Sophie's friends we so happy to see her again. The photo below shows Soph in the middle as some of them huddled around her.
They had a school play that evening, and Sophie appeared in it. We're not sure whether she was invited to or she just thought well it's my class so I should be in it, she felt so much at home, I'd say she was invited. Below shows her in the play which was set in an outdoor classroom...
Last night at close to midnight we watched Argentina beat The Netherlands in a penalty shootout. It's been enjoyable watching the World Cup over here, with the friendly time difference and the passion that Europeans have for the game. Here we are in Provence watching one of the games, a projector throwing the picture on a wall above the fireplace....
Yesterday we all went to Arles to watch some "course camarguaise" or bull running. It's where these guys, the "razeteurs" or bull runners try to take a small red ribbon off the front of the bull's head, without being injured basically. The bulls are treasured by their owners and in some cases are treated as heroes by the locals, there's even a statue of one of the bulls in a village. It was spectacular to watch, with it set in the old Roman Amphitheatre, it had a very Spanish feel to the whole thing, rich in tradition. Here we are watching, Sophie taking photos with Jane's mobile...
Here is one of the razeteurs running for dear life after trying to snatch the ribbon from in between the bull's horns...
That little red ribbon you can see below is what the razeteurs are after....
Here was probably the best razeteur of the day, a guy called Robert or "Rober" as the French say, .... re below, close call right.....
Here's "Rober" flying through the air, with the bull way too close....
And another razeteur, flying over the big gap between the red wall and the beginning of the arena's seating.....
Here we are leaving the 2,000 year old Roman Amphitheatre, it was an exciting evening......
Below shows us having dinner outside that first weekend back in Provence. We were also celebrating a few of our birthdays, including Jane's which was the very next day. After dinner Martin brought out the stereo and the strobe lights and before long we were all up and dancing under the stars.....
The next morning Martin and Roxanne brought out a surprise birthday cake for Jane, it was really special......
Here is Nepheli and Connor savouring a croissant and chocolate du pain, just so happy to be hanging out together and eating such yummy things.....
Here is some of that lavender that's in full bloom at the moment.....
Below shows Jane waving from our balcony in Corsica on a our last day there when we were packing up. We're already talking and dreaming about future holidays there...
And here is Jane and the kids as we left Corsica on the boat. Behind them is an island which is actually part of Tuscany, Italy! It's one of the of the islands that belong to the Tuscan Archipelago......... The next morning we arrived at 5.30am on the mainland at Toulon....
Oh, and I forgot to tell you about these two mountaineers we came across up on the Aiguille du Midi as shown below. They were obviously refueling before their next big climb. They looked so cool, real pros, and kind of familiar....
We're back in Provence and loving it, so nice to see this area in summer. The lavender is in full bloom, along with the sunflowers, and the fruit trees are laden. There's rich greenery everywhere. Our good friends Martin and Roxane invited us to stay with them in their beautiful, grand old house. It's just a few minutes down the road from Rustrel, which is where we lived for five months right through winter. The photo shows us having lunch on the first day we arrived after catching the overnight ferry from Corsica.
This is the grand old maison they are slowly renovating. The plan is to turn it into a "chamber d'hote", which is like a B&B, and they also use it as a home office for their architectural business. You can see the pool below which they set up for the summer. There we are having a dip on the first exciting day of our return. Sophie and Connor were so happy to see their buddies, Martin and Roxane's kids, Nepheli and Alkyoni.
After spending the first weekend at the house in Provence we headed north up to Annecy in the French Alps where we shared a house for a week with our good Aussie friends Nat and Johnno and their two kids Amira and Gabriel. We're now back in Provence at Martin and Roxane's place.
The week up there in the Alps was great, with a major highlight being the day we caught a cable car from Chamonix up to Aiguille du Midi ("the needle of the Midi"), which is a rocky outcrop at a whopping 3,842m above sea level. To put that into perspective the Blue Mountains near Sydney reaches a height of 1,215m above sea level.
Here is Soph and I on top of the "Needle of the Midi" with Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe at 4,810m, behind us. Mount Blanc also marks the geographic corner stone between France, Switzerland, and Italy.
So you take two cable cars, the first from 1,035m to 2,317m , where this photo was taken. You can just see the Aiguille du Midi, our destination and where the next cable car takes you to, at the top of the mountain in the middle of the photo below...
And here is Soph, just after we arrived, staring down at Chamonix over 2,700m below us, it was breathtaking.....
And just to our right from where the photo above was taken was a gate to a path across a mountain ridge covered in snow as shown below...... There were mountain climbers everywhere, you can see some of them much further along the snow ridge in this photo, I don't know how they do it, and they do it was such apparent ease...
Here I am in an ice tunnel up there, Johhno snapped this one...
I took this photo from the very top looking down at the main platform where the cable car arrives, you can see Chamonix way, way down in the valley below....
This shows one of the gorgeous canals in Annecy near where we stayed in the Alps...
Nat went to school with Jane so they're good mates from way back. And now Nat's kids, Amira and Gabriel, are mates with Sophie and Connor, as shown below. That's another canal in Annecy behind the girls and the stone building you can see is an old palace, the "Palais de I'Isle", built in 1132 and was used as a prison for a few hundred year up until 1865.
What a stunning part of the world it is, here we are having a dip in Lake Annecy. The water is so blue and surprisingly not that cold considering you can see patches of snow on the mountains.
Here is Connor and Gabriel hanging out in front of our house which was in a little village called Charvonnex, near Annecy. The view of the mountains from the house was impressive. We were able to hike up to the top of the mountain you can see in the middle of this photo below..
Here is Jane and Nat, a lot closer to the summit of that same mountain shown above, we had just started our hike. It was a memorable walk with the sun shining and visibility near perfect. Nat's parents stayed with us for a couple of days, and they were able to babysit the kids whilst the four of us went for this hike, we were very appreciative needless to say...
And here's a "selfie" using the mobile. We were so happy to be heading out for our first hike in the Alps...
After we reached the top we had a picnic and finished lunch off with some cake and coffee at this little café, they call them "refuges" when they're up in the mountains like this. We could see glimpses of Mount Blanc in the distance..
This shows us having an early dinner with Danny and Judy, Nat's parents. We had a lovely time with Nat and Johnno and their family up in the French Alps, great memories....
Coincidentally, on the evening of the first day we arrived in Provence, Sophie's old school was having its end of school year party, great timing. When we rolled up Sophie's friends we so happy to see her again. The photo below shows Soph in the middle as some of them huddled around her.
They had a school play that evening, and Sophie appeared in it. We're not sure whether she was invited to or she just thought well it's my class so I should be in it, she felt so much at home, I'd say she was invited. Below shows her in the play which was set in an outdoor classroom...
Last night at close to midnight we watched Argentina beat The Netherlands in a penalty shootout. It's been enjoyable watching the World Cup over here, with the friendly time difference and the passion that Europeans have for the game. Here we are in Provence watching one of the games, a projector throwing the picture on a wall above the fireplace....
Yesterday we all went to Arles to watch some "course camarguaise" or bull running. It's where these guys, the "razeteurs" or bull runners try to take a small red ribbon off the front of the bull's head, without being injured basically. The bulls are treasured by their owners and in some cases are treated as heroes by the locals, there's even a statue of one of the bulls in a village. It was spectacular to watch, with it set in the old Roman Amphitheatre, it had a very Spanish feel to the whole thing, rich in tradition. Here we are watching, Sophie taking photos with Jane's mobile...
Here is one of the razeteurs running for dear life after trying to snatch the ribbon from in between the bull's horns...
That little red ribbon you can see below is what the razeteurs are after....
Here was probably the best razeteur of the day, a guy called Robert or "Rober" as the French say, .... re below, close call right.....
Here's "Rober" flying through the air, with the bull way too close....
And another razeteur, flying over the big gap between the red wall and the beginning of the arena's seating.....
And another razeteur escaping sharp horns, just in front of us.....
Here we are leaving the 2,000 year old Roman Amphitheatre, it was an exciting evening......
Below shows us having dinner outside that first weekend back in Provence. We were also celebrating a few of our birthdays, including Jane's which was the very next day. After dinner Martin brought out the stereo and the strobe lights and before long we were all up and dancing under the stars.....
The next morning Martin and Roxanne brought out a surprise birthday cake for Jane, it was really special......
Here is Nepheli and Connor savouring a croissant and chocolate du pain, just so happy to be hanging out together and eating such yummy things.....
Here is some of that lavender that's in full bloom at the moment.....
Below shows Jane waving from our balcony in Corsica on a our last day there when we were packing up. We're already talking and dreaming about future holidays there...
And here is Jane and the kids as we left Corsica on the boat. Behind them is an island which is actually part of Tuscany, Italy! It's one of the of the islands that belong to the Tuscan Archipelago......... The next morning we arrived at 5.30am on the mainland at Toulon....
Oh, and I forgot to tell you about these two mountaineers we came across up on the Aiguille du Midi as shown below. They were obviously refueling before their next big climb. They looked so cool, real pros, and kind of familiar....
Here's to family and friends and living life to the fullest, cheers or "sante" as they say over here....
A bientot,
Jane, Soph, Connor, et moi
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