Along a mountain track. . .

We went wandering yesterday along a beautiful mountain track at a place called La Moliere.  Fortunately we did most of the climbing in the car as we were about 1700m above sea level.  The trail followed a ridge for about 4 kms, before dropping fairly steeply into a valley filled with grass.  At the top of the ridge, apart from the magnificent views, we were enthralled by the abundance of wild raspberries, and although this wasn't the "gorge day", we did a bit of gorging!  We walked back towards the car through the meadows and we even saw some marmots - weasel/beaver/rabbit like creatures that live in the alpine meadows.  We stopped at a gite for a cold drink and walked back to the car.  We drove down a rather scary road back to a village where we had a beautiful gourmet lunch in a hotel.

We finished the day at the ice hockey, where Villard de Lans - our home team- defeated Mont Blanc 8 - 5.

Gorges de la Bourne

Villard de Lans is not far away from some magnificent gorges along several rivers and yesterday we had a "Gorge Day".  We took two cars and traveled along the Goule Noir ( black throat) to the Grottes de Choranche.  We were able to get a fabulous view of the gorges from the caves.
We stopped at Pont-en-Royans for coffee and a walk around this tiny town build over the river.  There was a lovely walk along the riverside which gave views of the ancient houses perched on the cliffs above the Gorge, where the river can quickly become a dangerous torrent.  I just loved this place and it would have been lovely to stop for a swim, but we had more to do.
We drove through the Combe Laval where the road snakes along the edges of sheer drops and holes cut through rocks. We had a picnic lunch in the cool shade of the Foret de Lente before visiting the moving Memorial to the Resistance in Vercours near Vassieux-en-Vercours, one of several towns completely destroyed by the Germans in July 1944.  We drove home through the Goule Vert gorge.  A beautiful day.

Up in the air, they fly

Today Alan and Trish took to the pure alpine skies in a hot air balloon, known here as a montgolfiere.  It was a prefect morning when they arose at 6.30 AM -  cool, somewhat misty, with the full moon still high in the sky.  While Ray and I breakfasted at home, they drove down to the Office de Tourisme to meet Patrick Poussardin, their ballon master.  About 8.00 o'clock, Ray and I walked along the little trail behind our house, leading into a freshly cut meadow that smelled very sweetly of dew covered haystalks.  We met a neighbour walking his dog who pointed east and told us that's where they would come up, and moments later, they did.  It was a wonderful sight - two multi-coloured balloons against the raw mountains and the blue sky. It was even more majestic for them - an unforgettable experience.  From up there, they could see Mont Blanc - 90 kms away on the Italian border

I am officially a senior

Yesterday I turned 60, so now I am not just a retired baby-boomer, but a valued senior as well. Thanks to everyone who sent me greetings and wishes.  Its lovely to hear from so many people and I know you all wish you were here with me!
I had a lovely day in Villard de Lans, the French alpine village where we have a home exchange for the next two weeks.  This is a magical spot, high in the mountains, and surrounded by pasture and forest.  We have done several easy walks/rambles and tomorrow plan to tackle something more difficult.  Alan has some bike rides planned as well.
Today - 14 August, is the day before Liberation of this area in WWII.  Sadly, on this day in 1944, 16 people from this village were executed by Nazi troops near Grenoble.  This was a place where lots of resistance fighters lost their lives but this was a particularly awful act, and today there was a little dignified ceremony in the village at 7.30pm which we attended.  Tomorrow is a public holiday.

Last night we dined in the Hotel du Golf in a neighbouring village of Correncon.  This had been organised for us by our home exchange hosts and they certainly picked a beautiful restaurant with such tasty and well presented food.  We all enjoyed our meals. As you can see above, I got a sparkler in my dessert of mixed berries and meringue - delicious!

Paris

Rick and Anne invited Alan and I to spend two nights with them in Paris in the apartment they had rented at La Chappelle.  Who would say no to such an offer?  It was lovely.  We left the blustery, rain splattered weather of Holland for the warm balmy nights of France.  For once we were able to confidently leave the house without our raincoats and umbrellas.  I was pleased as I had bought a new outfit to wear out to our evening at the Eiffel Tower and didn't want to spoil it by covering it with my blue camping rainjacket!  This is Paris, after all and one must dress the part!.  Anne had pre-booked our entry, so we were seemingly able to walk straight in, by-passing the plebs who had waited for hours in the hot sun.  In we walked smugly, only to find we had joined the next stage of queueing!  It took us more than an hour to get to the top and a further hour to get down!  Once at the top though, it was magic.  It was such a clear day, we could truly see for miles.  We had planned to have champagne at the top, but there were so many people, we were virtually swept along and would not have been able to sip and enjoy as one should with champagne in Paris.  We joined the throng in the lift and headed down under the tower and walked to Trocadero for dinner.  Afterwards we wandered to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elyees.  What beats that?

Windmills

You can't come to Holland with seeing a windmill or two.  Today we visited Trish's cousin Annalise and her husband Jules in Zierikzee. This is a delightful little fishing port south of Delft.  To get there we had to go through Rotterdam.  We should have gone around the ringroad, but part of it was closed so we were sent into the suburbs and we found it hard to get out.  I cant claim we saw every street in Rotterdam, but we saw a lot of them and some of them twice.  Eventually we escaped to Zierikzee where we were served coffee in a house that dated from the 1500s and had been in the family for 6 generations.  Zierikzee itself has two windmills, but we came home via Kinderdijk, whch has 19 windmills and they are UNESCO World Heritage listed. One of them was open and we went in and saw it in operation.  In the past, the miller and his family lived in these noisy confined spaces and the sails turned day and night.  The mechanisms are entirely made of wood.

Joe and Sara in Amsterdam

Delft

What a delightful place Delft has turned out to be.  We have had a couple of days here now and its been relaxing and interesting.  Of course, Vermeer lived his whole life in Delft, and although his residences have been pulled down centuries ago, he still features very prominently here.  We visited the Vermeer museum. They do not have a single Vermeer painting, but had reproductions of all of his  40 or so pictures, with explanations and points of interest about them.  Seeing them all together is very interesting as you can tell they were all painted from the exact same spot and pearls and pearl earrings feature in many of them.
We also visited the Prinsenhof or Prince's Palace where William, the first Prince of Orange was assassinated in about 1584.  The bullet holes are allegedly still visible, but call me a cynic, I doubt anyone really believes they are the actual bullet holes.  It makes a good story.
The canal photo was taken just outside our front door in Delft.

Family reunions

Poor Alan has to come half way around the world to meet his brothers!  On Sunday night we met with Rick and Anne and their daughters Rebecca and Meagan and Rebecca's husband Dan in Amsterdam.  We enjoyed a deliciously cheap dinner in Amsterdam's China Town ( although we had Thai) before a stroll through the infamous Red Light District.
Next morning saw us on a train to Delft where we met with Ray and Trish.  They are in a beautiful and big Home Exchange place here and we will stay with them until 10 August.
Today Rick and Anne came down to Delft for a very pleasant day of eating, drinking and strolling around this delightful city.
On Thursday we hope to meet up with Joe and Sara who will be in Amsterdam after attending the Bicycle Messenger World Championships in Warsaw.