Lots of Snow in Chambery

There has been an unbelievable amount of snow falling in Chambery over the last several days. Some people are saying they've never seen this much snow here in the valley. Usually Chambery only gets a few inches on the ground each winter.

Needless to say, it's made driving difficult. (I already dinged our car during the last snow shower.) I was glad to have been able to drop my sister off at the airport the morning before all this happened, especially since the Lyon and Geneva airports were both closed the day after she left. Whew.

There was enough snow on our back balcony to build a little snow man! I feel very fortunate that I don't have to be anywhere soon and that I can enjoy the weather in such a nice, warm apartment. It is officially winter in my book. Stay safe my fellow Chamberians and all those traveling nearby.

Thanksgiving with Colleen

Voila, my little sister! She flew over for a visit during the Thanksgiving holiday. We had enough time during her stay to take a whirlwind trip to Paris. We took the early train in and headed straight to the Louvre to absorb some culture.

By the time we left the Louvre and did some shopping, the skies began to darken for the evening. We viewed the Eiffel Tower against a backdrop of blue, pink, then purple lighting. "So intense!"

Our last point of interest for the day was Notre Dame cathedral. It was nice and warm inside, a welcome change from the dropping temperatures. We headed back to the train station after that and caught our ride (barely) back to Chambery. I did say it was a whirlwind trip...

The next day, Thanksgiving day, we went up to Lac du Bourget, the largest and deepest lake in France. Yes, the water and the wind were pretty cold so we didn't stay too long. Besides, we had a whole chicken to go cook for dinner! (They don't really have whole turkeys here).

After an afternoon of cooking and baking, dinner was served. It didn't take nearly as long to eat as it did to make but isn't that the way it always goes? It was a different Thanksgiving for us as are most holidays living as an ex-pat, but having Colleen here made it feel very special. Cheers!

C'mon People...

So, the strikes continue throughout France. The people here are very unhappy, to say the least, that president Sarkozy wants to raise the age of retirement from 60 to 62 in order to ease the financial burden on the government. The unions are having none of it.

This was the scene in front of the chateau after a group of kids burned some dumpster bins. This isn't the first fire I've seen this week. I walked by this one while it was going on but by the time I finished up my phone call with Max and headed out again with my camera, the fire was out and the kids were gone. I'm no journalist.

Shortly after that, the protest march started. Here is the beginning of the march, turning the corner and heading down our (small) street.

There was so much noise between the fireworks, music, drumming, singing, shouting, etc. The people chanted "soixante ans, ça suffit", which means "60 years, that's enough"!

I'm baffled by the whole thing. On the day to day level, we're experiencing gas shortages and disruptions in the transit system which has had minor effects on us so far but we are lucky since we get around mostly by foot; other people are not so lucky. On a larger scale, I'm really left wondering if these protesters realize how good they actually have it, compared to other workers around the world..and this coming from an American. I'm not sure that will happen but I hope for a peaceful, acceptable conclusion, soon.

Vienna & Bratislava

Max and I took a trip to Vienna, Austria for a quick 4 day vacation. We'd been planning the trip for a couple of months and the timing worked out well as we seemed to need some time away, especially since Max's work life has gotten a bit more hectic lately. The first place we checked out was the Belvedere Palace (above).

Belvedere Palace was the home of Frenchman and military leader Prince Eugene of Savoy (the same Savoy, I think, as the region we live in now). Currently the palace houses art, most famously that of painter Gustav Klimt, of whom I am a fan. We got to see one of his most notable works, The Kiss, and it was certainly a highlight of the trip.

The food in Vienna was very good. If you are a meat and potatoes person who enjoys a good beer, then you'd be set in Vienna. We had wienerschnitzel, bratwurst, strudel, potato salad, and then some. Yum.

The next morning we headed downtown to see the Hofburg Palace and Imperial Treasury. We learned a lot about the history of the Habsburg monarchy and empire. For six centuries, members of the Habsburg family ruled Austria and many were also rulers of the Holy Roman Empire (which was massive by the way). The assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, started WWI and ended the Habsburg rule.

Ever wonder what the world's largest emerald looks like? This 2,680-karat emerald is just part of the Habsburg family jewels. The entire collection is just ridiculous. Considered to be the biggest and most important collection of royal jewels and artifacts, the Treasury documents the political and spiritual power of the Holy Roman Emperor.

That afternoon, we went to see Stephansdom (Saint Stephen's Cathedral) in the city's center. It was difficult to see the entire cathedral since much of the exterior is under construction and entrance to the nave cost a fee, which we weren't up for paying. It was still impressive.

Saturday morning we took the hour train ride over to Bratislava, Slovakia. Max's grandfather had come over from what is now Slovakia, so we thought it'd be neat to see a little bit of the

country from which he came. Bratislava reminded us a lot of Tallinn, Estonia, which makes sense since both are recovering from communist rule. Above is the last surviving tower in the city, St. Michael's Gate.

I understand zero Slovak, but here is my rough interpretation of this sign in the bathroom: "Here is your chance to get some toilet paper before entering the stalls. Should you pass up this chance, no other toilet paper will be provided for you. Have a shi**y day."

Throughout the city, there are several cannon balls lodged in the walls of buildings from Napoleons’ siege on Bratislava. This one is located just to the left of the big window on the Old Town Hall.

We hiked up to the Bratislava Castle to see it and to get a view of the town. This once military fortress was transformed into a royal residence for Maria Theresa, the only female ruler in the Habsburg dynasty. She was also the mother of 16 children (the youngest being Marie Antoinette) whom she married off to other royalty to increase the family's power.

This is a view from the castle of the old town and modern Bratislava. It was a very interesting city. It certainly is no Vienna but it definitely had a charm of its own. Travel writer Rick Steves refers to Slovakia as the "West Virginia of Europe", which it maybe, but it was still worth us exploring and we actually spent most of the day there.

Vienna was great. The people were really nice, the food was delicious, and the culture was really interesting; the dish display in the royal apartments was even interesting, that's right dishes. Our tour to Bratislava added a certain flavor that would have been missing had we not gone. With Max's vacation running low, this may be our last trip for a little while but we'll keep you posted.

One-Third Done!

So, its been a little over a year since I started my major undertaking of a cross stitch project. I have just finished the second row! There are six rows total, so I am a third of the way done. Trying to stay excited here. I'm just kidding, I do enjoy it.

Just in case you forgot, since my last update was so long ago, this is what the finished picture should look like, in about two more years. Bonne travail, as my thread lady says.

Pont du Gard

On the way back to Chambery from Cannes, we took a little detour and stopped by Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge in the Provence region. This is the second highest standing Roman structure, the Colosseum in Rome being the first.

Pont du Gard is part of an aqueduct that transported water over 30 miles to the town of Nimes, at a rate of about 100 gallons per second. Most of the aqueduct is on or underground, except at places such at this where a bridge was needed to transverse the gorge. It is another amazing example of Roman ingenuity.

A Day at the Beach

While it was still warm outside, but after the kids went back to school, we took a short, relaxing trip down to the Riviera. We stayed in Cannes, the city known for the Cannes Film Festival which happens here each May. Above is the Palais du Festival where some films are played.

Some (older) celebrities have left there mark here. The date on the lower right hand corner is from 1987.

In the morning we took a ferry from Cannes to Ile Saint Honarat, an island about 4 or 5 miles off shore from the mainland. Here's Max waiting on the rocky shore of the Vieux Port (Old Port) for the ferry.

This is Ile Saint Honorat. It is the smaller of the two islands in the archipelago known as the Lerins Islands. Both islands are still part of Cannes though Ile Saint Honorat is privately owned.

Visiting Ile Saint Honorat is somewhat of a religious experience. There is an abbey, a fortified monastery (above) and seven churches on the island. Some of the churches date back 15 centuries. Here is one of the churches below.

There is a sense of calm and peace here. There are no motorized vehicles on the island, minus a tractor or two used by the monks to tend to the vineyards. There were hardly any people around, so very quickly you feel surrounded by nature.

Here these boats have found the calm waters between Ile Saint Honorat and Ile Sainte-Marguerite.

This is the life! We spent the afternoon on the beautiful sandy beach. The weather could not have been more perfect and it wasn't even crowded. The water was a little cool, but felt pretty fine once we got used to it. It was hard to drag ourselves away.

We had a really great weekend in Cannes and would maybe go back if there weren't so many other places we wanted to visit! We've reached the half way point to our stay here, as far as we know, and I think we're starting to realize how much we still want to see.

A...u...g...u...s...t

Not much going on here, seriously. August is a REALLY slow month in France. Everyone is on vacation and many of the shops and restaurants have closed for the month. It even seems like the postmen are on vacation; we only got 1 piece of mail in 2 weeks time. I thought they forgot we still lived here. The cafeteria at Max's work site closed for 2 weeks too. My usual routine has been put on hold; the pool I go to is closed, my friends are out of town, and my AVF group has dispersed until late September.

(Reads: Annual closure, month of August 2010. Closed July 31 at 6:00pm, reopens Sept. 1 at 2:30pm. Happy vacation...)

Max and I usually stay pretty close to Chambery during this time of year too, since the roads are so congested with travelers. Needless to say, I've been getting a lot of cross stitching done, in between climbing the walls. I was really looking forward to the quiet time, but now I'm ready to start traveling again and to get back into my “normal” routine. That will all happen again before I know it. Do I really know what I'm asking for?!

Max's Trip to India as Told by Max

At the end of July, I spent one week in India for business. I was there to support a manufacturing plant located just outside of Mumbai. It was a very interesting trip. This time of year in Mumbai is the monsoon season. The monsoon starts in May or June and goes until late September. During this time, the weather is almost the same everyday, it rains about 1-2 inches per day in periods of light and heavy rain. We were lucky and almost saw the sun one morning. The upside to the rain is that everything is green and growing and it keeps the heat down to 80-90 degrees. The downside is that it is very humid and often muddy.

My Indian colleagues were very friendly and welcoming. They welcomed us with a traditional ceremony that included placing a red dot on our foreheads, lighting a large oil lamp and presenting us with flowers.

While the people were extremely nice and welcoming, the amount of poverty was striking at times. There are people everywhere. We were located some distance outside of Mumbai and all along the roads were small tents or simple concrete buildings were people live. The amount of construction and road traffic was amazing. Large apartment buildings were being built everywhere and many road projects underway. However, with all of the rains, the conditions of some roads were poor at best. Often drivers would drive into oncoming traffic to avoid large potholes. As one of my Indian colleagues put it, if you can drive in India, you can drive blindfolded in the US. As you can see in the picture below, you are looking at the front of several trucks and our rearview mirror on the front windshield of our car. I am just glad we had a driver.

And on top of worrying about the trucks, there were many of the these 3 wheel minicabs on the roads. They don't go very fast and often carry 5-6 people.

Overall it was a great trip. The people were fantastic and the food was good and spicy. After a week there, it was good to come back to France. I am looking forward to wherever my next interesting business trip takes me.

Rhone Valley Wine Tour with Jenifer & Karl

Shortly after Anna and Matt's wedding, my cousin Jenifer and her husband Karl came to visit us! They arrived in Geneva early Friday morning, and on Saturday, we decided to go wine tasting, since that had been on the list of things they wanted to do while in France. Max and I had not yet checked out the vineyards in the Rhone Valley and had been looking for any excuse to go...

The Rhone Valley runs along the Rhone River (above), south of Lyon and down past Avignon. Wine has been made here since Roman times and this used be a very popular wine producing area over a century ago. It is now said to be making its comeback. The region is divided into two sub-regions, north and south. We explored some of the tasting rooms in the northern region.

I have very recently, as in on this trip, become a big fan of the Viognier grape; no convincing was needed from Karl and Jenifer, who already know all about its wonderful flavor. This is the only grape used to make make wine from the appellations Condrieu (a new favorite) and Chateau Grillet.

Appellation, in terms I can understand, refers to the official place-name of the wine, the location where the grapes grew. There are a bunch of rules regulating the production of French wine and I am only beginning to comprehend them. I do know that only certain areas are allowed to grow and use certain grapes or combination of grapes for their wines.

We tasted over 25 wines from several appellations in the Rhone Valley. It was hard to keep track of them all! It was amazing to taste for ourselves how one bottle of wine could have the subtle flavors of cocoa and coffee while anothers had a rich, almost buttery taste. Many of the reds had a spicy taste, a characteristic commonly associated with the widely used Syrah grapes. We ended up taking 8 very different bottles home with us. We haven't been to Bordeaux yet, but the Rhone Valley has set the bar pretty high! I was very impressed.

Anna Gets Hitched

Max's sister, Anna, got married July 17th in Port Tobacco, Maryland! Yes, it's still hard for us to believe; she'll always be the little sister in our heads. She and Matt were married at St. Ignatius Church (above), which is the oldest continously serving Catholic Parish in the US. Max and I flew in from France a few days before. We were so pleased to have been able to go and to be included in their bridal party too!

Before the wedding, we had a chance to see everyone at the rehersal dinner. It was so great to see people we hadn't seen since we'd left for France, some for even longer! We got to meet his cousin's baby for the first time. What a cutie! My parents made the drive in from Michigan as well. It wouldn't have been a real trip back to the States without seeing them too.

Anna was a beautiful bride, as you can see, and very photogenic, as always. We can't wait to see the professional photos from the photograher! I should leave room in this post so I can hopefully add some of them later. Check back in a little while for more...?

It was a beautiful day for a wedding, really hot, but beautiful. Luckily, we took most of the pictures inside, in the air conditioning. (We had been missing air conditioning in France). The reception hall (above) had a very large, elegant staircase in the entrance, perfect for more pictures.

The party was downstairs. We enjoyed a night of much needed time with friends and family. I only wish we had taken more photos! I think we were too busy catching up with everyone (and maybe enjoying a cold beverage or two). Where did the night go? I borrowed this photo from the maid of honor. Thanks Jenn!

After the wedding, we headed up to New Jersey to spend the rest of our time with more family. We also got to meet the baby of Max's other adult cousin for the first time. She cracked us up. We were so happy to have been able to see everyone that we did. We'd been missing our families. Plus, it felt great to be back in the land of the familiar for a little while.