Skiing at Les Orres

This winter we discovered a ski area, or 'un station' in French, just 2 1/2 hours north of Aix. Les Orres, at an altitude of 2,720 m (8,924 ft)is located in the Durance River Valley in the Hautes Alpes about 200km north of Aix.




My first visit there was a mid-week day trip with our French friends, Denis and Bettina Lucas-du Reau. We had great skiing and there was barely a soul on the mountain.

The area at Centre Station ...






It seemed like a good spot for a family ski trip so during the February school break, Nick, Sarah and I went there for a few days. We rented a small apartment in Les Melezes d'Or, one of the newest, slopeside complexes. Our unit was a bit of a disappointment from the internet site upon which I made our reservation....very small and quite bare bones. It had only been open for two months and Nick wondered if they really even had an occupancy permit! We survived our two nights there but won't be returning any time soon.

There was certainly more snow on my first visit, but the mountain seemed to hold the snow on the pistes pretty well, so even though they hadn't had new snow in two weeks the skiing was still pretty good on the second trip. Being school vacat ion week, there were lots of people on the slopes and in the lift lines! Our first day we had warm temps and plenty of sunshine. In the distance you have a superb view of Serre-Ponçon Lake and the Durance Valley.



but the next day more wintery weather arrived...



We had a lunch outdoors at this slopeside restaurant on the sunny day...


The colors for the pistes on French slopes are green, blue, red and black. Here's a sign at the top...

All in all it was a nice ski trip, but not a great ski trip. Moral of the story: Don't go skiing during school vacations and don't trust everything you read or see on internet travel sights!

Les Porquerolles en Hiver

Nick, Sarah and I took a day trip to the island of Les Porquerolles last week. It was February school vacation and our good friends, Darrin, Julie and McKenna Jones joined us. Les Porquerolles, the largest(7 km by 3 km) of three small islands that make up the Iles d'Hyeres, is located a short distance off the southern coast of France, near Toulon. It is a very popular vacation destination from May through October, but it is very crowded during this time. Warm, off season days are the best time to visit in order to avoid the crowds. We'd been waiting for just the right day to make this trip. Even though it is February, we have some wonderfully warm sunny days right now and that's just what the forecast was for our trip. It was clear, warm and sunny in Aix that morning, but by the time we'd driven the hour and a half to the coast the weather had turned cold and breezy!! We all felt underdressed and a bit apprehensive as we boarded the 10:30 ferry at La Tour Fondue, but there wasn't a thing we could do but grin and bear it and hope it warmed up. Sarah and McKenna happily huddled together (below deck!) for the 20 minute boat ride...

Last year, both Sarah and I went on separate trips to this little gem of an island but for the others this was a first time experience. I wrote about it in our blog last May, so for some of you this blog entry may be a bit of a repeat but it was an entirely new experience. Upon our arrival, we strolled into the very small town and Sarah and I played tour directors, pointing out places we'd been and stayed on our first trips. Most of the village was still boarded up for the winter-unfortunately this included her favorite ice cream shop but we were too cold to think about ice cream anyhow! There are no cars on the island, except for delivery and the few residents so everyone gets around on foot or bicycle.

There is an active fleet of fisherman on the island and this guy was hard at work on his nets...

After the brief tour, we rented six mountain bikes and started off on our day's adventure. The skies had cleared up and it was getting warmer by the minute, so we were all smiles as we headed off onto the bike trails that cover much of this island...

However, not all trails are flat and wide. The terrain is quite steep in parts and bravery and good brakes are a must!

Here comes Pastor Darrin, squeaky brakes and all!

We rode for about 4km, on rugged dirt paths, passing through all kinds of terrrain and enjoying beautiful vistas. Here is one of several vineyards on the island.




After all our hard morning ride, it felt really good to get off our bikes and stop for a picinic lunch ....

even the bikes looked exhausted!

After our restful lunch, we rode back in the direcction of town just passing through and then over to the eastern end of the island. Things look even more tropical on this side. We even spotted a brave swimmer in the water!





By late afternoon, Sarah and McKenna were fading fast and as we returned to the village they declared they couldn't ride another inch! Julie and I volunteered to walk all our bikes back to the rental shop....

Meanwhile, the girls recuperated with chocolate milkshakes served in coconuts on the sunny porch of a village restaurant overlooking the harbor. That brought smiles back to their faces in a big hurry!

We joined them on the deck and basked in the afternoon sun, looking at the boats, dreaming of summer.... it was the perfect end to a great and memorable day!!

Wishing there were more photos?

http://picasaweb.google.com/susiebates/LesPorquerollesFeb2008?authkey=nFC92doZuvw.

Galette des Rois

This blog entry is written by Sarah:

In France, they have a big holiday which we call “Epiphany” which takes place the 6th of January. Here it is also “Epiphany” but instead it is called “Les Rois Mages.” This means,” The Wise Men.”

In the USA we just sort of have a day. But here they actually celebrate it with a tradition. They make a “galette”(a cake) that contains an almond sort of paste. It is delicious. This cake is more rare in the South of France but very common in the North. In the South it is more likely to be a brioche with candied fruit and large morsels of sugar on top. Inside of them all there is a figurine and an almond or some kind of nut or bean. When you eat the cake, you want to be the one who gets the figurine in your piece and you do not want to get the bean.

The tradition is done like this:

-The youngest person at the celebration goes under the table
-The lady of the house cuts the brioche into pieces and points to ANY piece of her choice
-The child below the table calls out the name of one of the guests and whichever piece the hostess is pointing to goes to the named person
-Whoever gets the figurine in their slice is the
King/Queen of the day.
-The person who gets the nut or bean has to buy the
Brioche for the next 6th of January!

We celebrated this day with a luncheon at our home with a nice, friendly French family that we know well. Also they are the owners of our favorite restaurant in all of Aix, Pasta Cosy! At the restaurant, Cecile is the cook and Fabien is the waiter and comedian! They have two children Maelle(4 years) and Edward(7 years.)

Cecile of course brought a galette! When she served it, Fabien got the figurine and unfortunately the Boulangerie forgot to put in the bean in the galette.


So Fabien got to choose his queen and/or princesses!

This was the turn out: Three princesses and one bandit!

Schussing in Switzerland

Nick and I spent a few magical days skiing with friends in the Bernese Oberland region of western Switzerland. Our driving route took us north from Aix to Lyon, east to Geneva, farther east along the northern contours of Lake Geneva and then onto smaller routes up into the mountains. Thankfully, we made the trip in under the 7 hours predicted by Via Michelin.



Our destination was Rougemont(992m), a small, quaint village between Chateau d'Oex and Gstaad. There, our Swiss hosts, Andre and Mary-Claire, had just completed the construction of a lovely chalet they fondly call the "Love Palace"; named after their first home in Rougemont, the cabin next door, called the "Love Nest"! Our dear American friends, Fifi and Peter and Debbie and Chris were there visiting for two weeks and it was a treat to join them for a few days. It was a really a reunion of sorts as the 8 of us have enjoyed an annual October reunion at Fifi's house in New Hammpshire for many years and the 4 Amercians friends also go way back to our former home town of Piedmont, California.


It was a wonderful visit!! We spent 4 nights and 3 days together skiing, eating and laughing. Nick and I found we had to make a quick adjustment to a their VERY relaxed time schedule which included a long, leisurely breakfast at the chalet between 9 and 10:30AM, the daily goal to be on the slopes by 11!! That allowed the sun to soften up the slopes and we still got in plenty of fantastic skiing as there were NO lift lines-just kilometer after kilometer of beautiful open mountain skiing! It was heavenly!




Andre, nicknamed "Mother Duck", was our fearless leader everyday. Where Andre went, we followed. It was a treat not to need a trail map!



Mary-Claire should have been nicknamed "Downhill Racer Duck"! She was quick!


After several hours of strenuous skiing, we always stopped at precisely 2 o'clock for a sit down lunch at a mountain-side chalet restaurant. Andre has loads of friends in the valley and even if they weren't skiing with us, they would frequently join us for lunch...

Andre and Mary-Claire enjoying the moment...


Needless to say, after these lunches there wasn't much left of the afternoon skiing, but it was still superb. Here, Nick, Fifi, Peter, Susie and Chris pause for a group photo...





Then, there is always the risk of the "last run of the day" fall. But when you do it like Andre, standing still, it's funny not painful!

At the end of each day, Nick and I were treated to a gorgeous sunset from our hotel window.... In moments like this, it was good to stop and stare and let yourself imagine, even if only for a brief moment, that all is well with the world.....

Every evening we went over to the chalet where we all enjoyed a relaxing evening by the fire and shared a delicious meal. One night Andre and Mary-Claire's friend, Dang, from Thailand, who was staying with them, made a fantastic Thai dinner for 12 of us!


Debbie and Chris relaxing by the fire before dinner....


Andre's sweet Irish Black and Tan Jack Russell Terrior, Kyra, always joined the party...



It was Balloon Week in Chateau d'Oex while we were there, so everyday we saw brightly colored hot air balloons in the blue skies above the mountains. Andre and Mary-Claire's British friend, Brian Jones, was in town for the occasion. He and another Swiss man were the first to circumvent the globe in 1999. He and his wife joined us for Dang's Thai dinner. Here are Andre, Mary-CLaire, Dang and Brian....


A la prochaine, tous le monde!

If a picture tells a 1000 words, and you haven't had enough of this trip, feel free to 'read' the "rest of the story" on our web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/susiebates/SwitzerlandJanuary2008?authkey=pe4wfqkDijU

Off to Italy!

A few days after Christmas, the five of us packed our bags, loaded up and squeezed into our Peugeot wagon and headed off on an adventure. Last year, we took the kids west to Spain so this year we thought we’d head east to Italy. Our 6 day excursion took us to Pisa, Lucca and Florence. Nick, Sarah and I had visited the first two towns together last fall and we loved Lucca so much we wanted to take Nicholas and Lindsey there on our way to spend New Year's in Florence.

We made it to Pisa by mid afternoon and spent about an hour there seeing the Leaning Tower and helping to prop it up!






Lucca was just a 20 minute drive from Pisa so we were settled into The Villa Romantica by early evening. The owners, the Favilla family, were happy to welcome us back. After visiting a bit with them, we all walked into town and did a bit of window shopping before dinner.







We had reservations at Trattoria da "Leo", where we’d had a fabulous dinner last fall. We were really looking forward to another delicious dinner but unfortunately, we were disappointed with rather mediocre dishes this time. Mom and Dave had been there in October and had the same poor results so not sure we'd recommend it in the future.

The next morning we had a wonderful, much needed breakfast at Villa Romantica-they have the most delicious cappuccinos!! We decided to borrow 5 bicycles and we rode into town for the day.

During medival times, Lucca was protected by the massively wide, 4km long wall which surrounds the entire town. It is amply wide enough for cars, but happily it is only used for walking and bicycle riding...

Being up on the walls allowed us to peek over into parts of the city not visible from the streets....




This was a really fun and memorable family outing…but as it was bitterly cold, once around the city was enough!! We rode down off the wall and into town. After cruising the streets for a bit, we stopped into an inviting little spot, Il Bario, for lunch.






It was the perfect place; warm and cosy! We all chose hot, rib sticking dishes. Lindsey and I enjoyed a hearty, Tuscan Vegetable soup, Nicholas and Nick had homemade raviolis with a fresh ragu sauce and Sarah got her favorite, Gnocchi, with pomadoro sauce. After lunch, we split up into those brave enough to go for another round on the wall and those who were just too cold to even think about it...like me and Linds!!






Nick saw a flyer announcing a circus in town so he, Sarah and I went to that in the early evening. It had been a really long time since any of us had been to a circus and it was our first European circus to be sure! Under a small, heated tent, we watched an entertaining show from our front row seats. There were many different animals and endless acrobatic acts. The whole thing was surprisingly impressive and we didn't mind the fact that we didn't understand one word of it!









Do you recognize this lion tamer?!?

We all went to dinner after the circus at Ristorante Giglio, a recommendation of the Favilla family. We had a very good meal as well as a fun time there. Don't these look like satisfied customers?!?

Tomorrow morning we are off to Florence!

Dining in Lucca:

Trattoria da "Leo", Via Tegrimi, 1, 0583 492.236
Il Barino c/o Caffe del Mercato Piazza S. Michele 0583.494127, www.ilbarino.it
Ristorante Giglio, Piazzo del Giglio,2 0583 494058, http://www.ristorantegiglio.com/



Lodging in Lucca:

Villa Romantica, via Barbarini, 246, 0039 0583 496872, http://www.villaromantica.com/