La Fete Nationale!

 We started off la 14 juillet/Bastille Day/la fete nationale with an incredible brunch (thank you Jodi!) and some beautiful sunshine!

Bastille Day Brunch: eggs benedict with a roasted pepper + goat cheese sauce, asparagus and avocado. This was served with apricot rum mojitos! (We even made the rum - local apricot peel soaking in some ridiculously strong rum for a week = perfect brunch fare!)

 We headed to Lac Montriond for an outdoor 5 a 7. I rode Math's motorcycle for the first time (terrifying), and then shared some local beer to help calm the nerves! 

Math took us to Evian to watch the fireworks. They took place in the middle of Lac Leman, so the setting was stunning - the city of Evian turned off their lights, so it was even more dramatic. THe lights on the far shore are Switzerland! 

The day before, we went for a hike up one of the ski hills - luckily for me, you're able to drive quite a ways up, so the hike 'only' lasted an hour! The view at the end was worth it, though. The photo above is Jodi at the peak.

Another shot of the spectacular view, and all the lovely wildflowers. 

 After such a physically exhausting day, we definitley deserved a very cheesy meal - please welcome the tartiflette, a local delicacy. It's basically a bed of potatoes, onions, cream and rosemary, and then an entire wheel of Reblochon cheese on top - I don't think I need to tell you how absolutely delicious it was! Anything covered in melted cheese gets my vote!

The main meal was followed by another local speciality: chartreuse, a liqueur made monks! It's extremely strong (55%), but it's surprisingly tasty. 

 We tried a recipe from one of Jodi's fave cookbooks: it's a goat cheese + pesto + sundried tomato tapenade terrine, with a drizzle of balsamic vinagrette reduction. Served with some rosemary olive crostinis, it's heaven on earth. TRY THIS AT HOME!

The delicious terrine was followed by a salade nicoise, with ingredients from the Morzine market! (Abd obviously served with a delicious glass of rose)

Sadly, this will be the last blog coming to you form Morzine...we're off to ITALIA tomorrow! More posts to come from the land of gelato, grappa and pesto....!

Tour de France - stage 10

We wore our flashiest outfits for the Tour, in the hopes that we'd make it on-camera! I don't think it worked.  we did end up finding a great rooftop vantage point 300 m from the finish line!

Tom scored us some sweet hats to help cheer on the cyclists :) And boy did we look gooood!

About half an hour before the riders were due to arrive, an entire flotilla of cars and trucks went by for a solid 40 minutes, with the intent of getting the crowd pumped up, and to give away millions of useless things! People go NUTS for free stuff, as we witnessed as men battled children for keychains, and mothers with babes-in-arms pushed battled the crowds for frisbees and pens. I particularly liked the float above, as it's a bread basket!

Vittel water was one of the major sponsors, so they had float after float of cars made as water bottles, and many of the floats had people spraying the crowd, which would have been nice if it was +30, but on a cloudy day, it was unnecessary! 

One of the first packs of riders (not the winner, Voeckler - we have a video of the sprint finish, and I'm not sure how to upload video yet!)

Up close and personal as they sprinted to the finish line.  

Jodi and I in our ladybug hats!

After such an exciting day, we needed refreshments, so Jodi stopped and picked up a hot dog, though in France they don't use our traditional buns - oh no, they use half a baguette! I don't know what tool they use, but they extract the middle of the bun without cutting the bottom, so none of your condiments fall out - genius!

Paradise is a pedalo

Jodi took us to a hidden gem of a town: Annecy. It's about a two hour drive from Morzine, but it was worth it! It has a beautiful lake with water the colour of the Caribbean and mountains circling it. The lake then funnels into a river that flows through the town (as seen above) The river is lined with restaurants, ice cream shops (!!), cafes, you name it! 

...the lake, complete with a fountain and PEDALOS! It's clearly a thriving business - when you equip your pedalo with either deck chairs or water slides, get ready for a fun-filled, sun-soaked day on the water! By the time we finally docked our pleasure craft, the lake was full of pedalos, some shaped like ferraris, some full of suntanning nudists. Life is good in Annecy. 

A bakery we stumbled upon on the pedestrian streets winding alongside the river. Though it's hard to tell from the photo, the bottom row are 'maxi' size - that pain au chocolat on the left is literally a foot long, and only 2.50 euros! What a steal. They must get a lot of American tourists looking for supersized treats...

Another shot of the lake from a castle high up at the top of the town. I was so excited to find another castle, but it turned out to be a contemporary art gallery, so sadly there were no restored throne rooms or dungeons. But the view was certainly worth the entrance fee. 

Tom enjoying our panini picnic lunch on the deck of our yacht.

And the piece de resistance: the water slide! We probably had the most fun on the lake for that one hour - the possibilities were pretty endless, and far too many photos were taken! We were certainly the envy of the people who only opted for deck chairs on their pedalos, and Jodi was most definitely Queen of the Slide.

And finally, one last shot of Annecy, complete with swans. 

The next day we ventured to Chamonix Mont-Blanc, home of the famous ski resort and glacier. I took probably 50 photos, but none could really capture the enormity of the many jagged peaks; it is truly awe-inspiring. When we first arrived, it was really cloudy, but after lunch, the sun came out and we were graced with a view of the peak (not in this photo: check out below) It still amazes me that there can still be snow! That fact became very real when an avalanche occurred today, killing a group of mountaineers - I wouldn't think that could happen in July. 

Another shot of Mont Blanc, as seen from the town (we'd just finished our ice cream cones!)

I love the old advertising posters - they are all over the tourist shops, but they have an enduring charm. 

An old viaduct over the highway heading home. 

Mountains, fondue and pamplemousse rosé

We arrived safely in Morzine, with the wonderful Jodi picking us up in Geneva (and navigating the tiny mountain roads with flair, I might add!) The first order of business was naturally cracking open a bottle of pamplemousse rose and enjoying some local cheese and tapenades on Jodi and Math's front deck! And check out the mountain view in the background...

The beautiful town of Morzine, seen from a hiking trail (yes, we managed to stop eating cheese for long enough to go for a walk!) The town itself is nestled in the valley between several ski slopes - the resort is called the Portes du Soleil, with runs in both France and Switzerland.

The gondola that runs right beside the house! And a beautiful sunset over the mountains. 

One night we decided to make a cheese fondue, (a regional specialty!), so we headed over to the local frutiere - a new name for me for a cheese store - to pick up the perfect mix of fondue cheese. Check out that cheese slicer! She means business. 

 Our delicious cheese fondue dinner, complete with red wine in baby bottles! The idea originated from a fondue restaurant that Jodi and Math went to in Montmartre, but Tom and I weren't able to get to, so we decided to bring a bit of Paris to the Alps! Tom definitely got a few strange looks buying 4 baby bottles in a pharmacy in Lyon...

Jodi's been spoiling us with delicious home-baked goods, including these cranberry scones with orange-honey butter! YUM. 

Just we felt completely immersed in French culture, Jodi, Tom and I went to the 9th Annual Cheese fest in Bellevaux. The festival, though pretty tiny, was so classically French it was amazing! IT was celebrating cheeses from the Haute-Savoie region, including L'Abondance, Beaufort, Reblochon and Tomme de Savoie. There were donkey races, a polka band and free cheese tastings. What more could you want?!

Though it's hard to tell from this photo, the festival was perched waaay up on a mountain side in the middle of nowhere - you had to climb some serious switchbacks to get there. What was most amazing was the number of people there - people were piling        by the hundreds! 

And what's a cheese fest without some wine? Here we are representing the tricolores, of France!

Next was a visit to Thonon-Les-Bains, the closest big town. It's right on Lac Leman, the same lake as Geneva, Lausanne and Evian. It's also home to a really delicious ice cream stand :)

The Chateau Ripaille, a castle and vineyard in Thonon. Dating from the 13th century, it was bought in the 1800's and completely restored by a wealthy family. It now produces red, white and rose wines (which we tried, naturally!)

Tom enjoying the local vintages found in the castle's cellar!

The weather turned pretty hot, so we all headed to the beach between Thonon and Evian (seen on the far peninsula). The beach had everything - topless women, a dance show and swans swimming along the pebble beach!

Our (brief) stay in Lyon..

The view from our hostel, the Auberge Jeunesse. It was perched waaaay up on the hillside, in Vieux Lyon. We hiked up some serious stairs - I don't know how locals bring their groceries up that incline - but it was worth it for the view! The website did not tell us that boys and girls are kept separate, so we stayed in our own dorms, complete with bunk beds and sketchy showers (some bathrooms had both shower and toilet in the same room - made washing up that much faster!) After getting used to our surroundings, it turned out that the hostel was in a perfect location.

The Basilique de Fourviere. When we first left the train station (which was at the bottom of the hill), this church was the first thing you see, looming over the city. It's quite imposing, but again, the view was incredible (see photo below). After being in Paris, the city of hundreds of tourist attractions, we felt a little lost in Lyon - the basilica gave us something to do! This is the back view, and the door down below goes to a second church underneath, just in case you needed a second confession!

The view of Lyon from the basilica. The city is broken up into three sections by two rivers (the Saone and the Rhone), which makes for some pretty bridges and pedestrian walkways. 

The strike has found its way to Lyon ("Vive le Quebec Libre"!)

I wish every restaurant could guarantee this...!

The beautiful night sky over Lyon, as seen from my (girls-only!) hostel room.

PARIS!

For all of our devoted fans, so sorry for the long absence! Jodi and Math now have internet, so there will now be posts galore! And without further ado, here is our condensed (and extremely touristy!) Paris photo collection:

DAY ONE:

First order of business was the Degas exhibit at the Musee d'Orsay. It was the last day of the exhibit, so it was PACKED, but I still loved it - it was an enormous retrospective of Degas' nudes, as well as nudes by artists who either influenced or were influenced by Degas.

What's a blog without at least one photo of food?! Our first meal in Paris - it turns out that traditional French cuisine is ot exactly veggie-friendly, but we still managed to find a delicious grilled aubergine 'burger' with chevre, paired with some delicious white wine :)

The sky was amazing that evening - this is a view from the Louvre courtyard, overlooking the Pyramid.

DAY TWO:

 L'Arc de Triomphe! We went up to the top, and there is no elevator, just a very long, winding staircase! The view was worth it, though!

The view from the top of L'Arc! It was a neat perspective of the city, and a fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower (see below)

We ended up not going up the Eiffel Tower, as the view from the L'Arc de Triomphe was perfect. 

One of the many beautiful bridges over the Seine. 

After a very long day of walking to all the cliche tourist attractions, we deserved a lunch break: falafels from Chez Hana's: billed as the most delicious falafel in the world, they aren't lying! Seriously. They are PACKED, and have deep fried eggplant on top :)

Red Hot Chili Peppers!!! It was at the Stade de France, which is the biggest stadium I've ever been in - it seats 80 000 people! It's also an open air stadium, so it was lovely having the sun set while listening to an amazing concert. Happy early birthday Tom! 

DAY THREE: 

 We made the decision to get up early Sunday morning and beat the crowds at the Louvre, an idea that hundreds of other eager tourists shared! We realized after we got in that it's because entrance was free - the first Sunday of every month is free admission! Yes, we saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo (Mum, this photo is for you!), battling the Asian tourists for the perfect photo! But once we stepped away from those hotspots, it was like we had the museum to ourselves - we ended up wandering through wings dedicated to Etruscan pottery, Renaissance paintings and tapestries, egyptian sphinxes...it just went on and on! It is a truly incredible building; you could spend days in there and still not see anything!

 After the Notre Dame basilica (a photo of which I forgot to add in!), we found Shakespeare and Co!!!!! An oasis of English language books in Paris, it is a darling little bookstore, with both new and used books. Tom was a sport, and I browsed to my hearts content (and bought a book!)

Enjoying an enormous Hoegaarden on a patio (I needed two hands! - chairs always seem to face outwards, to maximize the people watching opportunities!

Tom finished the first Hunger Games book at my Aunt's house, so caught the last English showing in the Quarter Latin, after eating yet another falafel! It was an adorable, old-time theater. 

A view of the Seine, with Notre Dame in the background.

And then we were off to Lyon....