Les Residences de Vars

... Alps, near the National Park of Les Ecrins.
I won't go over every hike and climb we did, that would be boring. My uncle Dominique and my aunt Nicole stayed with us, my uncle Jean-Marie and aunt Marite stopped by for a day (they live in Grenoble, three hours away, in the Northern Alps). Very close friends of the family stay in the same valley every year so we did not spend anytime alone. Hikes for a few hours ...

... and, eventually, vineyards.
Both of us are getting ready to go home. We have been to the Loire (almost three months ago) and are only keen to do a little sight seeing and a lot of resting.
Three nights in this quiet place (La Fleuray Hotel & Restaurant) is like going on a retreat before the last few days in Paris and the long trip home.
Spent some time seeing some of the country chateaus and a few small country villages. After that ...

... her fears if she worried). We had made the right choice by going to Serre Chevalier. It was sunny most the time although extremely cold (-15 celcius and I can't even imagine how cold it was with the wind chill factor taken into account). The snow was not icy, what else could we ask for? (personally, warmer temperatures, I looked like Darth Vador with my black mask on covering my face). After a cup of hot tea we got back on the road. I passed ...

I went to the French Alps to snowboard this weekend! Everyone at my school was invited to a ski trip put on my a student organization and about 80 people went. It was in Val d'Allos on the way to Grenoble. It took us three hours to get there and we saw snow in the first half hour. We took nice coach buses that had reclining seats. The morning we left (Thursday) I was woken up at 8 by Ross and Erik's phone call. When I left to go to school where the bus was picking everyone up ...

... the best dinner I've had all trip. View from my hotel window: Dinner conversation turned to why it was called 'Route Napoleon' and it was decided that he had to go the twisty way as you can't reach the toll ticket machines on a horse. If only he'd had an elephant.

... trezim si deschidem geamurile (alea cu obloane de lemn :)), surpriza: in fata geamului, in spatele florilor colorate din geam, alpii in toata splendoarea lor. Aer in piept! Coboram la micul dejun intr-o sala de mese care arata a muzeu mai degraba, ornata cu tot felul de obiecte rustice foarte vechi, si amenajata ca un han, si cu un semmineu urias. Adica URIAS, cred ca ard copaci intrgi acolo. In spate e o terasa si iesim acolo pentru cafea, dupa ce ...

More information on this campsite can be found here. Beautifully located campsite with quite good facitlities at about 1500m altitude and one of the best views on the Lac Serre Poncon. Located very near the small Lac St.Apollinaire. Start of some great hikes right at the entrance of the campsite. The hikes are rather steep at the start.

... caffeine, we took the bull by the horns and deceided we would take the long way around and head back to Tignes through France. So back up to Chamonix through the tunnel again, then down through the French Alps along the windest iciest roads, rocking into Tignes at about 10. After a hair raising drive we spent the next five days lapping up the sun and snow at Tignes. Snow wasn't so great (really icey actually), but plenty of great runs and awesome Apre. The Tignes resort shares lifts ...

So this weekend I got to cross one thing off my list of things to do in life. I've fulfilled my bougie (bobo in France - for bohemian bourgeois) aspiration of skiing in the Alps. A group of us stanfordiens left Paris on Thursday night to go to La Norma in the Savoy region of France (ie. southeast, near the Italian border). In all honesty the overnight bus ride there (and eventually back) was horrible - excruciatingly hot, long, and the ...

... the road we all went back to the hostel and crashed.. The next day I didn't board...I was extremely hung over from the previous nights efforts so took it easy. That night, however I was still feeling a little shady but went to the bar to listen to everyone sing karoke.. somehow B convinced me (which isn't hard) to come to the Discoteque with her... The French man from the night before was there, so I sat with him and learnt that he is ...