Birthday celebration in Savoie

Serge turned 60 and his first cousin Régine 10 less … 

a good opportunity to gather family and friends for an unforgettable celebration the 

June 21, 2014

A wonderful place for that: le Lac de la Thuile   

in Savoie, near Chambéry, with its special celebration room (salle des fêtes)

Overview of the lac de la Thuile
from the sale des fêtes

    

Marvelous warm weather: despite the altitude (900m) some tourists tried to take a bath  

Setting table ready for the kick-off

 

Waiting for all the guests, a welcoming homemade drink, has been very appreciated 

A part of Serge’s Family

And of course they received a lot a presents

Serge chose to attend the next race track Formule 1 in Monza

 Have a good trip to Italy!!

Régine preferred holidays traveling. Waiting for a postcard from Crete Island…

An improvised choral to congratulate and thank our two guests

We are all gluttonous people and no disappointed eating the birthday cake. It took a while waiting the “flame out” candles!!!

Just married???                  Birthday celebration was a fake???                                                                                                                                         Anyway everybody enjoyed and spent a fantastic day chatting, laughing, dancing, eating, drinking and even playing lawn bowling (pétanque) after lunch! 

Two days after, we took the opportunity being in the Alps mountain area, to have an excursion for a short hiking. 

Destination the Cormet de Roselend in the Beaufort area 

            

Permanent snows over 2000 meters

      

Cormet de Roselend surrounded by the mountains

 Probably the result of the recent festivity: better to be seated than hiking…

We were lucky! We could take a zoom picture of an Chamois jumping to the top of the mountain

The Bolt of the Gironde's Estuary

Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 visit to the Fort Medoc

Imagined by the famous engineer Sébastien Vauban, the « Bolt of the Estuary” is located on the Gironde estuary.

It consists of three forts: the Citadel de Blaye, Fort Pâté and Fort Médoc.

It being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008.

As we know very well the first one fort, we decided to have a tour this Sunday to the Fort Medoc. 

It’s no longer possible to visit the second one which stands on an island in the middle of the estuary.

The origins of the “Bolt of Estuary”

Built in the 17^th century, Louis XIV asked Vauban to improve the fortification of the Citadel of Blaye in order to protect the city of Bordeaux. As the cannon fire did not extend the full width of the river (3km), Vauban built two others forts. Fort Médoc was built in 1689-1690

                                                                                     

The Royal Gate known as a real jewel. As an emblem for the king the sun is still marvelously kept

The Garone estuary

Guards of Gironde Built along the bank, soldiers could watch the river through the loopholes 

Zoom to the Citadelle of Blaye located on the opposite bank at 3 km

Fort Médoc overviewed from the bank

In the wall of the Guards of Gironde the numerous loopholes to watch the river 






                                                                                                               

 

      

Water tank supplying drinking water

It’s a vast enclosed of fresh water reservoir to retain rainwater collected from the barracks roofs

The cistern has a capacity of 60,000 liters

On the left: the Northern Barracks

The garrison of Fort Médoc consists of the barracks with a total of 40 rooms

Guards of the Royal Gate viewed from inside the fortifications 

Very beautiful scenery: the Fort is surrounded with moats connected to the Gironde by a system of sluices (to maintain the water level despite changes of tide) 

Figures history

February 05, 2014

This evening, for the UTLC English courses, I made a presentation about the history of the figures

Probably for lot of the attendees and myself a lesson learnt ...

If you want to learn more about the origin of the figures, have a look to the presentation below!

                          

                              

3 days hiking in the French Pyrénées

A week after coming back from the Alps we decided to visit another French mountain: the Pyrénées

20, 21 and 22 August, 2013

Lourdes and Cauterets Pont d’Espagne are among the 4 major Resorts of the Hautes-Pyrénées

Picture dated June 21, 2013

Lourdes the very famous commune of the 

Catholic pilgrimage site has been left devastated in June 18, 2013 by the river Gave de Pau, which has burst its banks

La basilique Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire today, after less than 2 months works rehabilitation

The Massabielle cave where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to 

Bernadette Soubirous was partially flooded 

Before (left) and after (right) the flood

One of the few still apparent damage

Cauterets Pont d’Espagne

 The Pont d’Espagne (1496 m) is a protected place 

         of Pyrenees National Park 

        

The most beautiful waterfalls that can be seen in the Hautes-Pyrénées







That place gives access to the Gaube valley, with its lake ...


... the Lac de Gaube which is approximately 1hr and 30 minutes walk from Cauterets 

or can be accessed by a chair-lift from the Pont d'Espagne

The top end of the valley leading to the lake is closed off by the north face of the Vignemale, the culminating point of the mountain range on the border with Spain

The Cirque de Lys is accessible by cable car from where there are panoramic views over the Pyrenees

The crests of the Cirque du Lys with the lakes and high surrounding peaks

Faraway the Ilhéou lake