Posted in Europe trip journal, France, tagged France, gite, Le Train Jaune, Little Yellow Train, Mas de Bordes, mountains, Olette, Pyrenees, Thues on May 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Breakfast was fit for kings! Water in fancy almost-wine glasses, croissants, chocolate-filled pastries, small rolls made of French baguette-type bread (soft, moist and fluffy on the inside, hard on the outside), and some other kind of folded flaky pastry in a real bread basket! Everything was so fancy – or old-fashioned – the glasses, saucers [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, France, tagged France, gorge, Gorge de Caranca, hike, Mas de Bordes, mountains, Pyrenees, Thues-Entre-Valle on May 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
We hiked the Gorge de Caranca today! It started out rainy – hard downpours during our morning (really early afternoon since we went to bed late & slept for 13 hours.) We’re glad we stuck it out and went on the long hike instead of the short one as it eventually cleared up. We could [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, France, tagged birthday, France, hike, hot springs, Mas de Bordes, mountains, Pyrenees, storm, Thues-Entre-Valles, village on May 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
C turned 26 today and didn’t even realize until he wrote the date in his journal yesterday that it was his last day as a 25-year-old! We had a great day even though we didn’t do anything special – other than spend the day enjoying the French Pyrenees! I told him we might be able [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, France, tagged American Politics, Casa de la Nine, Casa Penalolen, caves, Cornellia, France, French words, Grand Canallette, mountains, Pyrenees, stone oven, Villefranche on May 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I forgot to mention – there was a bread oven in the living room in the apt. of our gite! Luc, the owner, was proud to say it’s the “old style” – just how old, I can’t imagine. He explained that he uses it during busy times to make several loaves of bread at once. [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, France, tagged France, French food, hike, La Casa de la Nine, Le National, Mediterranean, mountains, Pyrenees, Sete, train, Villefranche on May 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I had a great snack yesterday: cous-cous with apricots, almonds and raisins, with a sweetener, possibly apricot juice? I’ll have to try to reproduce that.
The French like some foods cold that Americans don’t usually eat cold: cold cous-cous, sautéed vegetables, coffee, and even cold crème brulee! They also like creamy, heavy sauces and cheeses. I [...]
Posted in Europe trip journal, Switzerland, tagged Alps, Chinese Olympics, hike, Migros, mountains, multicultural, Switzerland, Z'mutt, Zermatt on May 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We hiked a great trail today up and over to Z’mutt. The sun kept coming out and hiding again, so I was hot and cold over and over again. The forceful wind blew rain/snow into our faces since we were walking straight into it. Despite that and possibly a bit of wind burn and/or altitude [...]
