mon petit voyage: May 2011

Ashleigh and I caught a ride with my host family, Sabine & Dominique, on their way to Barcelona for vacation. The drive along the Mediterranean was absolutely gorgeous....like a dream. I was just

gaping out the car window the entire time.

we spent the night halfway in a little town called

the buildings were so colorful! i love it!

ash and i have SO many pictures of all the crazy color combos...

mediterranean coastline

the Moreaus have this little expandable camper room on the top of their car. It opens up into a little canopy area with a bed, tres pratique!

we stayed in a little campground on the edge of the village, this was the view of the coastline from the campground's beach

Ash & I!

we stopped at a gas station along the way and Sabine & Dominique tried out the massage chairs

The next morning, we drove a tad inland, skirting the Pyrenees mountains, and then back down to the coastline to Barcelona!

driving down the road...you can see the Pyrenees Mountains in the distance!

Ashleigh and I only had about a day in Barcelona before we had to head back to Lyon, so we explored the city in power-tourist style.

under the boardwalk, down by the sea

Barcelona is know for its tile mosaics and Gaudi architecture. This isn't a famous one, haha but its the only one i have a picture of :)

We hiked up to the Castle de Montjuic, which gave us a great view of the city and the coastline.

looking down on the city

looking out towards the sea, we could see the massive barcelonan shipping industry. you know, its kinda beautiful in a odd, man-made industrial sort of way.

Sooo we just happened to be there the night that Barcelona football (soccer) team beat Madrid. Actually, the game finished 1:1, but Barcelona was given the win because they beat Madrid 2:0 in their previous match. So, as you can imagine, the town went CRAZZZZY! People were PACKED in the main plaza...you could barely move...spaniards were climbing up on light poles, trees, small buildings....everything to cheer and yell and wave the Barcelona flag! there were people setting off fireworks left and right. We knew when a firework was coming because the crowd would suddenly push back from a certain area, almost causing you to fall over (remember we're packed like sardines), in order to clear a five foot circle around where someone decided to let off a firework! It was so crazy! anddd a bit dangerous...haha Ash and I just kept thinking about how there is no way this would ever be allowed to happen in the States! but instead, the Barcelona police were just helping their brothas celebrate!

barca barca barrrrcelona!

the Swiss Alps

Sorry kids, I tried to think of a more creative title...but none of the witty phrases that came to mind could even begin to describe this particular adventure, so I'll just keep it plain and simple :-)

This weekend we went backpacking in the Alps! Kate, Mollie and I traveled to Germany and met up with my friend Greg (who studied abroad at UVA last year) and two of his buddies, Mark & Freddie, for a couple days of hiking in the mountains!

We were hiking in , and before meeting up with the rest of the group, we visited two little towns along the shore of Lake Konstanz (called Bodensee in German).

It was just a gorgeous day...there were lots of sailboats out on the lake

After grabbing lunch and a quick coffee in a TO GO CUP (you almost NEVER see to-go cups in france, especially not for coffee, so we got really excited), we drove along some beautiful windy country roads to the trail head. The trail head was located right next to a paragliding school, so we got to watch them land in the grassy field nearby...it looked sooooo fun! After watching them for a bit, and partaking in some cold german beer, we finally hit the trail.

there we so many beautiful little lakes nestled among the snow covered peaks & there we dandelions EVERYWHERE! Actually, there are dandelions in europe in general...i think they just let them grow rather than treating them as pesky weeds like we do in the states...and as you can see in this picture, they're gorgeous. Maybe when i get back to the states i'll just have to start a save-the-dandelions club.

Even though it was May, and we were wearing tank tops, there was still snow on the ground (yes, there were lots of snowball fights). The first night, while we were eating dinner at our awesome little campsite overlooking the valley, we actually heard an avalanche! It sounded kinda like a really loud groan...but crated by the crashing/tumbling of a ton of snow. So cool! (and scary!)

Avalanches can be caused by one of two ways: A. snow is too heavy & rock/side of hill/something just can hold it back anymore, so it falls. B. Snow is on a hillside in layers. As it gets warmer, some layers may melt faster than others, causing the layers on top to slideeee.

While hiking on Saturday, we actually had to take a big detour from the trail to avoid a potential avalanche type B.

See that trail of footprints through the snow? Yeah, thats where we didn't hike. Instead we went straight down the slope on the right, and then straight up on the side where greg is standing.

Molly sporting some stylish gators

view from where we camped night 1

view of the lake from where we camped night 2

Kate accidently snapped a slug in her waist-belt buckle. Ewwwwww it was so gross! hahaaaa. Freddie had to poke it out with a leaf.

Unlike hiking through our little ole Virginia mountains, there wasn't really any flat ground, or really any gently sloping ground for that matter, haha, we were either walking straight up or straight down.

hey there kate!

Kate, Mollie, and Greg tackling a steep, muddy decent in order to dodge potential avalanches.

Every couple hours or so, we would pass by a little cottage (some abandoned) or pasture with a spiring to fill up our water bottles. Ahhh, fresh alpine water tastes soo good!

the "dream team" figuring out where we're going

Mollie, Kate and I - not looking at the map. (it was wonderful, everything was in german so i didn't even have to attempt to help with directions because i would have been completely useless - not that i'm exactly useful with directions in english....hahaaa)

saturday we ate lunch by this little cottage built on/by this cool rock with a big split down the middle (probs caused by ice expansion)

so naturally we just had to climb up onto the roof and into the crack...

On the hike back down on Sunday, we passed through a little village where one farmer had a fridge full of fresh milk for passing hikers (take a glass, leave a frank). A couple minutes later we passed a restaurant that just so happened to have a little bank playing swedish tunes our on the terrace...hhahaaa. Isn't that just precisely your stereotypical idea of Switzerland?? The Germans were quick to point out that we were still in Switzerland...haha oh no we would never do something like that in Germany.... :)

Swiss cows

little gnome with motion-censored whistle. as you walk by, he makes that little cat-call whistle noise. Kat & Cam - i think we need one of these for the foragers lodge. foshizzle.

After the hike, we moseyed on over to a Biergarten in Allensbach, a little village along the banks of Lake Konstanz. The boys had fun translating the menu for us, and helping us pick out some scrumptious local cuisine (and of course some german beers) to try! I had a dish that translates as "sausage salad." And it was really just that - a big bowl of sausage and cheese slices in strips with a leaf of lettuce and a pickle on top for garnish! We called it Sausage Spaghetti. It was really quite good! There was just SO MUCH MEAT. Haha I couldn't even nearly finish it, but luckily I had a lot of hungry friends to help me out!

Ah, it was so wonderful to be back in the mountains...ah i miss it already! I fell like its always like that...after a nice backpacking trip ya just can't wait to get back to civilization and take a shower, but then once you're all clean and fed, you just long to slip back into the wilderness again.

We couldn't have asked for three better guides! Dankeschon to Mark, Freddie, and Greg for everything! If you're ever in the States, we'd love to show you our Virginia mountains!

In order to travel between Germany and Lyon, we had to go through Strasbourg - a city in the northeast portion of France, just a couple miles from the german boarder. So during the layover between our trains, we had a cute little picnic along the river (like good french students) and then basked in the sunshine and absorbed the beautiful regional architecture.