Monday, July 26, 2010

Hike at Lac de Guery

The weather last Sunday was perfect.  The forecast was calling for a high of only about 79 degrees, so Matthew and I decided to take advantage of the break in the heat and go hiking.  Last winter we went snow shoeing with Bertrand and Claire on a trail that went around Lac de Guery, up past a waterfall, through a field, and along a ridge that had amazing views of the area.  I had been waiting for a free weekend where Matthew and I could go back and do the same hike (minus the snow).  After consulting all the different trails, we decided to follow the 'green' trail.  We were in the mountains, and even though it was mid-July, I was actually cold when the trail was shaded. 


Very quickly though, there was a steep incline that took us past a waterfall, and that was enough to warm me up! 

After the waterfall, we continued to climb for just a short distance and then started walking on a path that ran parallel to a stream.  In the distance you could see grazing cows in pastures, and further out were the outlines of the volcanic mountains. 

Our Picnic Spot beside the stream:

 After lunch, we continued our hike.  This involved climbing over a fence (I have never been on a trail that included one of these!).

More breathtaking views!
  
We continued along a ridge.  In the distance we could see Puy-de-Dome, as well as the rest of the chain of volcanoes that make up the backdrop of Clermont.


We started the hike down.  Much too quickly our hike was over, so we decided to drive to the other end of the lake.  There was a little hotel and restaurant overlooking the lake.  We drank coffee and hot chocolate and continued to enjoy the beautiful day.  It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday in France.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Cheering on The Dutch Soccer (I mean, Football) Team

Now that I finally finished blogging about our trip with Steve and Margo, I can catch up on other things that have happened since they left.

Last Sunday, we were invited by some Dutch friends to their house for a pool party/BBQ/World Cup Finals party.  We were instructed to wear something orange to support The Netherlands- no problem for these Clemson grads!  (we even packed our orange Clemson cooler and brought our orange Clemson tailgating chairs)

Erik and Sylvie have an amazing house in Aubiere, complete with a big backyard and a pool!  We had a great afternoon swimming and hanging out with friends.  After swimming, the boys fired up the grill and we had a BBQ feast! 

Johan and Sabina

Mark showing off his bathing suit with built-in beer bottle opener.
 
With all these guys dressed in orange standing around a grill, I almost felt like I was at a Clemson game (except for all of the Dutch, German, and French being spoken!)
 
Then, it was time for the game.  As everyone knows, unfortunately, the Netherlands lost.  It was still a great night.  Matthew and I are really looking forward to spending some more time with this group of people in a few weeks at Mark and Silke's wedding in the Netherlands!


I hate that this turned out blurry, but Erik's hat was just too funny not to share!


And, would it really be a pool party without grown men having a splash contest???
 

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Margo and Steve's Visit: Provence and Lyon

After leaving Nice, our destination was Lyon.  However, I read that the end of June/beginning of July was the best time to see the lavender fields in Provence.  How could we pass up this perfect timing???  So, I visited some websites and message boards to find the best route to see the best fields.  I found someone who had written out detailed driving directions that would take us by a lot of fields, a few castles, some impressive private homes and vineyards, etc.  It sounded perfect, and it only added about 2 hours to our total drive time to take this detour through the countryside of Provence. 

We left Nice, and the weather (although hot) looked to be perfect for a drive through Provence and to take pictures of the lavender fields.  About an hour and half outside of Nice, we stopped for lunch and then started following the directions for the "lavender field route."  It started out great.  The directions were fairly clear and we saw some beautiful landscapes dotted with lavender fields.  The landscape was nothing like I imagined.  From the postcards, I thought it would be rolling hills with lavender as far as the eye could see.  Instead, we were driving through a very mountainous area, on very narrow, very curvy roads. 

example of how narrow the roads were!
 
Every so often, we would turn a curve and there would be a magnificent view over the valley below and the mountains in the distance.  Our goal for this detour was to see, as the writer of the route claimed, "The Perfect Lavender Field."  She said the color started out lavender, changing to a deep purple, then became blue, and then further on in the field, the lavender blooms became an even deeper blue color.  In her defense, she warned that the fields change from year to year, and occasionally are plowed and turned to wheat fields, or are replanted with baby lavender plants. 
When we arrived at "The Perfect Lavender Field," it appeared that it too had been turned into a wheat field.  There was a lavender field close by that was pretty, but didn't seem to be well cared for (lots of weeds).  And by this point, Matthew had put Lyon into the GPS and realized that our timing was very off, so we had about 5 minutes to take pictures before we needed to be back in the car and heading to Lyon (in time to make our dinner reservation with Chris and Sophie).  Margo and I practically ran to the lavender field to start taking pictures.

Taking time to stop and smell the lavender.
 
So, after taking this sweet picture of Steve and Margo...
 
I asked them to kiss for another picture, Steve instead tried to lick Margo, Margo shoved him, and it resulted in probably my favorite picture of the entire trip...

 
So, back in the car we go.  The GPS showed us arriving in Lyon 30 minutes after our dinner reservation (and that was not including checking into the hotel, parking the car, and walking to the restaurant)!  The timing was completely different from what I had seen when researching this little side trip on Google maps.  We start driving, and I decided to see if I could re-route the GPS to hopefully take some time off.  This only resulted in us driving in circles.  We were in the middle of nowhere, and the closest highway was showing on the GPS at over an hour away.  Once again, Steve and Margo were troopers- just marveling at how gorgeous the countryside was (even though Margo was starting to get a little carsick thanks to all the switchbacks).  Matthew was being a very gracious chauffeur, but it was obvious this would be my one and only drive through Provence.

Although at times I didn't think it would ever happen, eventually we did make it back to the highway. And I have never been so happy to see a highway in my life!  And of course, as soon as we got onto the highway we started passing completely gorgeous lavender fields... bordered by beautiful fields of sunflowers.  We could have saved all that time, and literally taken a 5 minute detour off any number of the highway exits and seen incredible lavender and sunflower fields!  Oh well, it was an adventure.

Now, on to Lyon!  Once we got on the highway, the GPS immediately took off 30 minutes of the ETA.  We called Sophie and she was able to move back our reservation 30 minutes.  We still had less than 10 minutes at the hotel to freshen up and head out to dinner.  We met my cousins- Chris and Sophie, Sophie's husband- Yan, and a friend of Sophie's for dinner.  The restaurant had an amazing view over the city of Lyon. 

The food was delicious, and Steve, Matthew, and Margo all tried Chris' steak tartare (think hamburger patty, before you put it on the grill... and sometimes they even throw a raw egg on top). 

We tried to take a group photo.
Attempt #1
 Attempt #2 (another waiter thought it would be hilarious to stick his head in the shot)

After dinner, we continued up La Croix-Rousse hill to one of Yan's favorite places to sit outside and have a drink, only to find it closed.  So, back down the hill we went.  Yan is a great tour guide and was giving us a Lyon history lesson and took us down the hill by way of some traboules (covered passageways that were used by the silk workers to get the silk from the factories on the hill to the river without it getting wet).

traboule staircase

We ended up at the Irish pub where Elodie had thrown Chris' surprise birthday party in May.  After one round, I decided that my, once again, ridiculously swollen ankles needed to be elevated and iced.  Yan and Matthew walked me back to the hotel, and then re-joined Chris, Sophie, Steve, and Margo.

Saturday morning, we decided to take advantage of the 'Soldes' and did a little shopping.  I found a few maternity stores, and had some luck at one in particular.  This was one of the first times I had dared go into one of the smaller clothing stores in France.  I had heard that the sales clerks will be very involved in your shopping experience, will want to see everything you are trying on, and will be brutally honest with how you look.  I never thought my self-esteem could handle this, and had avoided stores like these for that reason.  Clermont doesn't have a lot of maternity clothing stores, so I sucked it up, left the others shopping at a different store and went in.  There was only one woman working, and at first was busy with other shoppers (which was fine by me!).  When I was ready to try on, things changed.  She came over to me, started speaking very fast in French, and before I knew it, she was pulling down my shirt and asking me about my bra (I am assuming she was asking if I had a good, supportive maternity bra...and not just coming on to me...).  She shook her head, put me in a dressing room, only to return a few minutes later, open the curtain (as I am starting to change), unhooked my bra, proceed to take my bra off and put me in another one!  I can't even imagine what my faced looked like.  She would then return every 5 or so minutes and pull open the curtain again to see what I was trying on.  She might have been giving me her opinion, but I couldn't understand her, and I was so stressed out (and sweating) at having gone to 2nd base with a French clothing sales clerk, and trying to make sure that I was changing fast enough that I was decently covered before the next time she yanked open the curtain... that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.  I actually found some cute shirts, a pair of pants, and thank goodness I  liked the bra she put me in (because as soon as I was in it, she seemed to be happy with her choice and had taken my bra, and said something that I was assuming meant she would keep it at the register for me so I could wear the new one home).  I was relieved to leave the store and rejoin the others!

The only group photo we had taken throughout the entire trip!
 

Much too quickly, it was time to take Steve and Margo to the train station so they could spend their last day and half in Paris.  It was a perfect trip, but it was very sad to say goodbye. 

Thank you Steve and Margo for coming to visit us!  We love you guys!!!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Margo and Steve's Visit: Nimes and Nice

After a few days "rest" in Clermont, we headed south.  Our first stop was one of our favorite cities to take visitors- Nimes.  Nimes is the perfect place to go if you don't have time to make it all the way to Rome.  There are tons of Roman buildings, that have been amazingly well-maintained.  It takes less than 4 hours to get there from Clermont, and we arrived just in time to eat lunch.  Our favorite place to eat in Nimes is right beside the Roman arena, and has all-you-can-eat Moules Frites (mussels and fries).  Mussels were out for me (although after the food poisoning in Beziers last fall from some mussels, I was quite all right with that!), but the others enjoyed their moules along with a pitcher of sangria.

After lunch, we toured the arena.  Matthew and I had done the head-set guided tour with his family last year, but it was nice to do it again.  I think I retained a lot more of the information this second time around. 

After visiting the arena, we walked over to the Maison Carree (literally 'the square house').  We waited in line for about 10 minutes to get in to watch the 3D movie that depicts the 'heroes of Nimes' throughout history.  Again, Matthew and I had already seen it with his parents last summer, but the room was air conditioned and we were quite happy to sit in a cool place and watch it again!
 After a quick stop for some ice cream, we got back in the car and headed east- to Nice!

We arrived in Nice with just enough time to drop our bags and freshen up, before heading out to find a restaurant for dinner.  We were given some suggestions at the hotel, and with a map in hand we started walking.  The streets were full of people, street performers, artists, and street vendors.  It has been staying light until after 10pm, so Steve and Margo were able to take in the city sights on our way to dinner.  We finally settled on a restaurant on the pedestrian street of Cours Saleya called 'Le Safari'.   The place was packed, but we got the last table outside.  I had the best risotto with scallops that I have ever eaten in my life!
We also had a great time practicing Steve's French...

The next day we decided to experience one of the best things about being in Nice...the beach!  We rented beach chairs from a beach club and camped out for the day- leaving only long enough to grab some lunch and browse through some of the shops.  After such a busy trip, it was great to just relax for a day!

Margo and Steve's first swim in the Mediterranean.

After spending the day on the beach, on our way back to the hotel we stopped at a Mexican restaurant to enjoy their "buy one get one free" Happy Hour.  We each ordered our drinks (virgin pina colada for me) and some guacamole, and were shocked when she brought our drinks.  The "buy one get one free" wasn't exactly what we were thinking...

Instead of ordering 4 drinks and only paying for 2, we ordered 4 drinks and got 8- all at the same time! 


We had another great meal that night, at an Italian restaurant that served their food in gigantic bowls.  When it was time to order desserts, the waiter looked at us like we were crazy when we started to each order one.  He told us that the desserts were meant to share between 2 people.  Even after ordering just 2, we still couldn't finish them, they were that big!

The next morning I opted to stay at the hotel to pack and ice my very, very swollen pregnancy ankles ("cankles" don't even begin to describe the cartoon-ish looking joints I had connecting my legs and feet!).  Matthew, Steve, and Margo took the morning to walk around the old town of Nice and explore as much of Nice as they could in a few hours.  Check-out was at 11:30, and we were headed for the lavender fields of Provence!

Next stop:  Provence and Lyon