Up and up and united

The days have seemed to pass so quickly, not the actual day, but the time in between, if you know what I mean. It's been almost a week since we all skied at Les Gets in the Alps. A relatively early morning start with a huge pan of scrambled eggs and lardons. The hill (and I use the term casually) is fantastic! One lift to get to five others and then if one chooses, another piste that leads to many others again. One could get seriously lost (it can also happen in the Jura, as Norm can attest, he was skiing At the Xcountry site and discovered some downhill skiers that had taken a wrong turn from two or three hills away! The solution was to take off the boots and get a ride back to the original hill) We had lunch and a beer at a small restaurant halfway down one of the runs, how civilized! I would love to come back and spend a few days. Lift tickets were comparable to Wentworth! A day off was well deserved the next day.
Saturday was Gruyere. Always a favourite place to visit, Heidi land in the pre-alps, a beautifully preserved castle and this time, a new movie to tell of the history. The little walled town up on the hill is so perfect and a tourist's and artist's delight. Fondue (a must) had us all wishing for a nap before the trip home.
I am enjoying the speed on the autoroute, 130km/hr seems like nothing. I think the cars must be built differently here, no shaking after 110km/hr. It might also be the roads, not a pothole to be seen on the autoroute. Once again, very civilized.
What there's more? Hot springs on Monday, warm bubbles and a view of the Alps. I feel guilty writing it down. I am still processing our day at WTO and the United Nations. Profound.

School Day in France

Today was a lifelong learning kind of day.  We started with a personal, guided tour of the World Trade Organization with my sister, Susan Hainsworth, who works there.  Well, we actually started with a lesson in the parking system of Geneva - there are blue lines and white lines, and permits, and macarons, and signage.  We decided not to chance a ticket by parking in a blue zone for which we don't possess a macaron; Sam and Sue had to drive a ways down the Route de Lausanne near the Chinese Embassy in order to comply with the various regulations.  Then, into the WTO for our tour - kids were engaged and full of wonder that the WTO website revealed which countries in the world were members and what conflicts they were currently arbitrating at the WTO - Antigua and the US are currently fighting over online gambling...

Sue has a lovely new office overlooking the Japanese garden of the WTO and with more than enough space for 9 people to fit comfortably.

Palais des Nations, Geneva

Thank you for the great tour, Susan.  The consensus from the 4 teenagers was thumbs up - and an agreement that trade was somewhat more fascinating than previously thought.

Then, after an amazing Thai lunch of green or red curry and pad thai of various types, it was off for a tour of the Palais des Nations, the headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva.  The UN in Geneva is more concerned with human rights and refugees.

The tour took us around the older parts of the building including the two large assembly rooms and the meeting room of the permanent council on disarmament.

After a short stroll through les Jardins botaniques to get back to our legally parked cars, we came back to our home in Divonne and chilled.

Dinner discussion centred around what to do tomorrow - a trip across the lake to Yvoire, a drive to Dijon (spiritual home of mustard), another day of skiing, laundry (since tomorrow is the first "non-red" day for awhile).  Hard to choose.

Recent Pictures

Cheers Sue!

Gruyeres from below

Here is a collection of pictures from the past few days. Worth a thousand words for sure.

Gruyeres Gate

Crows gather

Looking down from the castle at the new Gruyeres

One of those wine villages above Morges

Dedicated to Sam: tartiflete

today's skiing at Le Crozet: perfect!

wow

Une Journee avec ma soeur

Yesterday, my sister Susan and I took the winding road along Lake Geneva, through Mies, Versoix and then up through the suburbs, past Cornevin train station, through the still Sunday streets, past Pleinpalais, to the stable where she keeps her lovely horse.  Evordes, the cathedral to horses, as Susan calls it.

Sue and Festivale

We spent a happy few hours just mucking around with Festivale, her gorgeous, shiny, black Hanoverian - She rode out on the country roads with me tagging loyally along at her side, then she went into the deserted indoor riding arena, with its soft footing and I was lucky enough to be able to sit on Festivale for a round.

Then slowly through the little villages wending our way home - Barconnex and a bunch of small places on the border with France to her home on Rue des Vignes - there to be greeted by Jane and Andrew and  Sunny who wove in and out wiggling in delight.

The Filipiuk/Hainsworths came to us in Divonne for dinner last night and we laughed and talked and ate.  Amazing the paths that have brought us all here.

Cheese, glorious cheese

Just returned from a trip to Gruyeres.  Gorgeous, medieval castle and walled town just up the road from Lausanne.  Surrounded by snow-covered mountains - Heidi country.  So picturesque and with something for everyone; ramparts for kids to gambol upon, breathtaking views of the countryside, a tour of the castle with its furnishings and painted walls.  Then to lunch at the Gruyere cheese restaurant where there was fondue and rosti and fried Gruyere ravioli (!)  I can't believe how lucky we are.  I love learning that a grue in French is a crane - which means that Gruyere cheese is really "Cranium"...

Oh yeah

I skied 26 kms at La Vattay yesterday and downhill at Les Gets in the Alps today. Oh yeah, tired legs.

A Little Observation on the Politics

Le Progres in St.Claude

It’s very easy, here in gold encrusted Divonne, in our beautiful home here, to forget who we are, and where we’re from. When Sue and I have been here in the past, we have been strictly tourists, here for a short time, living the life. This trip is different; it’s long enough that I must remember who I am, where I'm from, and what I do. 

Geneva and Divonne are remarkable for their outrageous wealth. The people here all drive fancy cars, have fancy jobs and carry fancy little dogs!

Luckily, on our trip through the Jura this week, I was reminded that it’s all really an illusion.

St. Claude, a view downward from Centre Ville

St. Claude takes me back to reality. I love St. Claude, it’s got a rich history born from socialism, rebellion, isolation and pipes.  It is a tremendously isolated town, at the convergence of 4 rivers, deep in a valley. The only ways in are downhill, really, really downhill! The town is famous for pipes, (smoking pipes: not exactly a growth industry….) and we’re not quite sure what else is going on there. Obviously it’s a commercial centre, but it’s not clear what the people do there otherwise, in this century! The streets are narrow of course, there are many shops, and small businesses, but the shutters are peeling and looking worn, there are some vacancies and overall the feel is of past glory.

Tight quarters in St. Claude

Perhaps, but we walked by Le Maison du Peuple, and poked our nose into a little oasis. Down a little passageway, away from the street, a little square reveals a theatre, an arts centre, and a music school. There were posters for the events happening there, ranging from concerts to art films to day camps for kids. There was also a plaque that told a bit of history: it was the home of the food cooperative, the mutual insurance company, home for the labour movement. The Maison was the home of the French Resistance during the second World War. (St. Claude and much of the Jura were the home of the resistance. A plaque in the central square talked about the day the Gestapo took away 302 souls from St. Claude and very few returned...) A plaque outside the Maison told of the city burning in 1799 and leveling the Maison du Peuple. But they rebuilt. Today it is reinvented into an arts based cooperative, and they still thrive today.

That warms my socialist heart quite a bit.

Outside The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, disappointed

Fast forward to the next day, to our trip to Geneva. We meant to get to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but they were closed for an opening. (figure that one out!), so we went down the street to the Patek Phillipe Museum. Here was housed the most complete collection of historic timepieces anywhere! Here we saw clocks and watches made for kings and nobility, from the 1500’s to the present. Watches were, and still are signs of wealth, prestige and power. And we saw more gold and diamonds than we could conceive of! There was some amazing precision work: the waters of the Red Sea parted by Moses, on the quarter hour, birds flying out of pistol barrels on the half hour. Watches reminding us of the century, in addition to the second, minute, hour, day, month and year; A testament to centuries of skill, craftsmanship, invention as well as wealth and power.

Beautiful Geneve with Le Saleve rising in the background

Wow - but still sort of the opposite of the good works of the people of St. Claude.

My heart is there.

Besides the food...

OK.  You'd think all we were doing was eating and drinking.  Which is just about all we are doing.   The big activities each day are menu planning, shopping for dinner, preparing dinner and eating dinner...today we went to Ikea - which is amazing because when you look out the window, you see, a medieval church and a chateau instead of a mall parking lot.

Yesterday, a drive to Lausanne - which could only be in Europe - we climbed to the top of the Jardins botaniques - and the view ... we've taken so many pictures of the mountains and the vistas, I feel sorry for our readers, we really have done more than swan around taking pictures of mountains, but honestly, you just don't see this in Halifax...

And now, home for dinner - protein and carbo-loading for skiing in the French Alps tomorrow.  And then maybe the Thermes on Friday to recover...

Tartiflette

Tartiflette - the French take poutine up a notch

Potatoes, onions, lardons (bacon), cream, Reblochon cheese (one whole wheel).  'nuf said.

Switchbacks!

After growing up in B.C., I thought mountains and valleys were huge, safe and commonplace. Easy to drive, civilized pull offs, even run away lanes in case your brakes fail. Nothing can prepare for the twists and turns of the Haute Jura! We took a drive over many ridges and through several valleys. Every where we looked there were ski hills, viaducts and tracks over the snow. We stopped in Les Rousses, very much a ski town like Banff, and discovered that everything is closed between 12 and 2. The next stop was St. Claude, famous for pipes (not the plumbing kind). The descent into the town, which is nestled in the meeting of four valleys, was steep and oh so narrow. One blink and you would miss a little village, the next moment you would round a bend and the view would be breathtaking. All that while gripping the edge of your seat......
The climb out of St. Claude was the most breathtaking, straight up (and I mean straight up, ears plugged and all) alongside a gorge. Some side rails, some wooden guard rails and some stretches of snow. Was there anything beneath the banks? I'm just going to say there was....... I would like to say that I was prepared, B.C. and all, but it took a long while to look back along the way we came. I tried to imagine the people who lived along the road, centuries ago, the mill that looked all but deserted, the barns (what are they raising, mountain goats?) and the villages with the ever present chateau and church. Wonderful, a switchback in time as well.

During the final descent to Divonne, we were blessed with the view of Mont Blanc and many cloud free Alps. We found a pull off and took pictures, couldn't help ourselves.......

hey! Its toby
I am here to write about our days adventures. today was the day we had to drop off tim at the airport in Geneva. after we dropped him off, we struggles for quite some time finding out way to the modern art museum (which happened to be closed...). We then made our way around the corner, to this beautiful watch museum! you walk in and look at the glass cases filled with so much gold and diamonds, it was a but overwhelming! After our long tour of the museum we made out way back to the car, and stumbled across the most beautiful skatepark i have ever laid my eyes on. The sight killed me, being without my skateboard and all. I was happy to escape from the saddening sight as we made out way back to the car and set out on the much less stressful drive home.
Toby

Brebis

Bresse Bleu and Brebis cheese, cepe
mushroom and Reblochon cheese sausage,
baguette and Bordeaux vin. All I need.

Last night we had the pleasure of sampling some Brebis cheese (made of sheeps milk, from the Pyrenees Mountains), introduced to us by our Divonne host, Tim Evans (Tim, I am forever in your debt). My first taste went something like this..."oh, oohh, oooooohhhhhhh, mmmmmmmm,...this is the best thing I've ever tasted... I'm never leaving France!" Later, as I lay awake thinking of all the firsts I've experienced in the last 14 days, two thoughts crystalized in my mind. First, France did not sign the Schengen Agreement to protect their social safety net from illegal immigrants, it was to ensure that people like me couldn't stay here forever and eat and eat and eat. Second, I reaffirmed to myself that I am the most fortunate man in the world. Of course, I had that status back home, so the next four months is just gravy on my poutine.

Hello, it's Kenzie today, blogging after yet another amazing day of skiing. Today the conditions were perfect, no fog, a nearly empty mountain, and three very excited boys. Toby, Andrew and I were the only people from our group out today, but we had the time of our lives, chatting and goofing off on the lift, as well as having great runs down. This time, we tried different trails Toby and I haven't skied on before and we loved them. We would frequently dart in and out of the trees, hitting small jumps whenever we could. At lunch, we gladly took a break for some food. We went into the cafeteria, starting our meals with a doughnut, followed by hotdogs and fries, followed by another doughnut (best meal ever). We spent most of the day on the Lelex side, but occasionally going back to the Crozet side for a run or two. One of my favourite parts of the day was when we got off the lift and were greeted by a perfect view of the Alps, and the towns and farms far below.

Sunday

This was day three of my training camp with coach Tim. We both awoke sore and creaky and excited. Saturday there were unbelievable conditions up at La Vattay, and the place was jammed with all sort of people. I skied about 20kms with "le maitre" circling around and doubling up most of the climbs.

Today I felt a bit better. I'm acclimated to the altitude and the legs are starting to come around. There's a lot of minute technique involved in skating, and watching the smoothness and grace of the locals who have no doubt been on snow since birth is awe inspiring! I think: "relax, glide on the heel, stand up, flex the knee, relax, power out, bend the knee, relax, strong arms, glide on the heel, relax". I'm sure the locals aren't thinking, just skiing!

Today we tackled Le Noire de Divonne, an 18.5km loop that descends way too far down the Divonne side of the Jura and then up for 5 minutes, then down for a bit, then some false flat, then climb for a solid 10 - 12 minutes. I came out with about 25kms this morning: Well on the way to my goal of a 30km ski.

Now to get it to look easy....

The Spire of Cathedral St Pierre

This afternoon, we drove Tim into Geneve to his next meetings, and Meg, Kenzie, Sue and I had a wander into some uncharted territory. We circled the old city for a bit, ran into the Grande Theatre, and Conservatoire and the Wall of the Reformers, then up into the winding streets of la Vielle Ville, past the cathedral and back down to the river. It was a nice little tour!


There are lots of private banks in Geneve.

What the.....

An Ode to Baguette

An Ode to Baguette

Oh baguette, fresh from the boulangerie,

still warm perhaps.

Your insides melt in my mouth,

whilst your crust is crispy and entertaining

to my senses

Although I eat you with mere peanut butter, your distinctive sourdough taste

(Is that vinegar?)

flows and mingles, beginning the day with beauty.

Arnica et al....

Catching up today, Sunday is still the same on the other side of the pond.
Friday was ski day! No one on the slopes, no lines and easy snow on groomed runs. I, of course, enjoy the wide  'piste', lots of room for grace and beautiful turns. The others, Sam, Norm, Toby, Kenzie and Meg, were more interested in finding the black diamond run. Stem Christies for me......really my legs we just hurting! We were skiing at La Faucille, a small resort in the Jura mountains. Not B.C., but still bigger than the east coast. Some cloud, some sun and some falling snow. I was glad of the lift to rest my legs, been a long time since I have hit the slopes, it was like riding a bike though. I loved it.


Saturday was a trip to Nyon, in Switzerland. We have all been there before, both families, and it was wonderful to feel the sense of understanding as we relived our memories.  "I remember that" "me too, we saw that when the kids were little"  What a wonderful way to start this trip, comfort and recognition for all of us. We are getting our travel legs in a very familiar place ( OK, I can't believe I just a said that, imagine us and all our kids feeling familiar with places overseas! Lucky lucky lucky) The sun was out and it's beginning to feel like spring.

Saturday night was another event in the festival of my birthday year. Tim brought out the good wine and we had a feast of Indian food from a fantastic local restaurant. Honoured to have him with us for a short time, lots of love.

Now, as I hobble around thinking of hot baths and reliving the last few days, my smile continues.

Recovery Day - Nyon

 Everyone quiet today to recover from a day of skiing yesterday.

What better to do than take a trip to a nearby medieval town.

Meg had the camera which is always a treat - she sees things that are not evident until you look at the pictures that she takes.





In the afternoon, Tim and Norm went cross-country skiing, and the rest of us went to Nyon - a charming town full of alleyways and chateaux and Roman ruins perched on the side of Lake Geneva with lovely manicured walks through well-organized French gardens.  And everyone has un petit chien that trots along at their heels - chihuahuas, yorkies, tiny little things that are not yappy, surprisingly.

  The sun came out.  A gorgeous day.  Still in awe of the mountains and the vistas.

Seems so much more exotic than Halifax somehow.  We are getting used to crossing back and forth across the Swiss French border - remembering our passports is difficult but getting more instinctive when we leave the house.  Wine is amazingly varied and affordable - Sue and I have found our house blend - a muscat that costs $2 Euros per bottle - which is about $3 Canadian...life is good.

Trying to plan trips to Zermatt and the Matterhorn, and a tour of Italy that includes Rome, Florence and Vienna...the lack of pressure is a god send.  Only my knitting is stressing me out.  I think I dropped a stitch this morning...

Autour du Lac

The "Classroom"

Most hardy souls went skiing today. (More about that later, I'm sure) Eva and I had a day by ourselves...Here is the "classroom" with Eva doing a little bit of schoolwork.

 Not really enjoying having to teach herself Canadian History, but she's trying...went for an excursion to the Carrefour to pick up food for dinner.  Sunny today with intermittent rain showers - every now and again the clouds part to let you see the mountains.  Breathtaking!

I went for a walk and looked around in the hidden corners off the main streets...it's so lovely here - there is a little brook that runs right through the town - the people in the apartments hear the rush of the water.

Walked around the lake again.  At one point, you can look from one end to the other and in the distance are the mountains and valleys stretching off - Alps on one side, the Jura on the other.  Hard to imagine taking it for granted, but I suppose you must start to after a bit - become inured to the beauty of it all.

Now, we will wait for the skiers to arrive back home after their day at Col de la Faucille.

Valentine's Day

We are all settling in to some kind of rhythm in our days.  Walks around the lake, trips to the grocery store, cooking meals for 8, school work...the days just go by.  Today was a recovery day - school work, reading, sketching...kids all expressed that they were ready for something exciting - skiing again tomorrow for the proud and the fit.  Some of us will stay closer to home, preparing supper for the returning troops...forecast tomorrow is for light snow and mild temps.  So much slower than home...conversations about where to go in Italy and when to head to Lausanne seem so impossibly casual - we still can't really believe we're heading to Morocco in a month...and that we can leave our house on rue Voltaire and drive 400 metres to get to another country.   The everyday-ness of French is happy-making.  I look out the window of the salon and see the sign that says "Geneve-Lausanne"...amazing.  Last week it was Airport-Truro...

Happiness is....

Happy Tim at the top of Le Grande Grande

While the kids were off skiing down hills, I was enjoying the wrath of my brother-in-law Tim. Tim Evans is a guy that can fly all night from Bangladesh and then ski my (and his own, but mostly my) legs off!

An actual Tim quote from yesterday: "Oh, I had some leg spasms on that last climb..."

Yesterday I picked up Tim at the airport, we had a quick lunch then drove up to La Vattay. After 15 or so kms of just incredible skiing, I was truly spent!

"best conditions ever" Tim say

Tim is a hammer. And he is the picture I have in my head of what a skate skier is supposed to be. The problem is that he's going so hard all the time, I forget that it may be possible, and even prudent,  to back off a little.... I'm working on that, but it's not helping me to keep up with him!

I must say the most fun of all is sharing in the joy of cross country skiing! He, and my sister Alayne have always been my skiing inspirations. Together we have shared athletic adventures, many foolhardy, some truly epic!

Me - the smile is really more of a grimace, but the view is amazing!

After a fantastic evening of great wine (from Portugal and Italy) and conversation ranging from Princess Kate's assets to worldwide-social-network-driven revolution, we slept.

Tim will be back on the weekend, and I'll be stretched, and hydrated for more joyful punishment! Thanks Tim.

Skiing at Le Crozet

This is Mackenzie today! Yesterday marked our very first ski day up to Le Crozet in the Jura, and our very first ski day of our trip. The mountain was covered in fog most of the day, but every so often we would find a break in the clouds and have one or two beautiful, sunny runs.We frequently went from the Crozet side, to the Lelex side, and the clouds always seemed to follow us! The boys, (Sam, Toby, Andrew and I) were broken off from the group on our first run, and had to spend a while searching for everyone. Within that time of searching, we explored the mountain and had a handful of amazing runs. We finally met up with the girls, and did some runs together. At lunch, we went into the cafeteria at the top of the gondola, and had hotdogs and fries. When we were all fuelled up again we popped on our skis and hopped right on the chairlift to go back up. By this time, we had a hard time finding breaks in the clouds until we were near the bottom, but we still had the time of our lives!

Beautiful skiing

The ride up to the top of the beautiful, snow covered Jura mountains was breath taking. Riding down the mountain was amazing also, the snow was perfect and not icy at all. So much better than halifax! My brother and I, along with Eva and Meg's cousin, Andrew road alot of the trails on the side, in the deep powder, and really enjoyed the ride down. Every once and a while you would break through the fog, and be amazed at the un broken powder for miles.
anyways thats all for me!
Toby

Paradise! Le Crozet

Here are the girls at Le Crozet - a perfect day with the teens.  I think that tomorrow we will pay for our  exertions of today but it was really lovely.  Sam and I took Eva, Meg, Toby, Kenzie and Andrew for the day of downhill skiing.  One side of the mountain was sunny, the other was foggy to the point that you couldn't tell if you were going up or down, no difference between snow and sky.   Eva says "I really feel like now I'm in France."  It's a great day!