Life in Paris

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Plomb du Cantal - Super Lioran

The Massif Central, which are the mountains where Auvergne is located, has a few ski stations, which are small but family-oriented. In the summer, the slopes are open to hiking and mountain biking. We went to the Plomb du Cantal, at the Super-Lioran ski station, where we rode a gondola to the top of the mountain and walked down.

Prior to riding up, Malo got a meal on the go.

The gondola... Lucie thought it was great to ride above the mountain, but she was glad when we reached the top.

From the top of the gondola, it was a short walk to the top of the mountain.

We all had "gouter" at the top and a bit of a rest before the long walk down.

The view from the top, where the mountains that we see are what remains of a single, enormous volcano that collapsed prior to the last ice age.

Lucie and Adele discussed the latest geological theories related to this amazing site.

On the slopes, you can find gentiane flowers, whose enormous roots (think several feet long) are used to make alcohol.

We walked down along a path that's a ski slope in the winter, thinking it'd be easier for the kids. It turned out to be a 3 hour walk.

It's a well-known fact that on mountainsides, dads carry babies...

At the bottom of the hill, after a long walk, the kids somehow still had energy to play on the bouncy castle.

And Malo played with bouncy dad.

On the ride back (20 minutes), we had to keep Lucie awake so that she would be able to sleep that night, she spent the entire time screaming at us that we were not nice for not letting her nap...

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

On vacation - more pics from Thiezac

While in Thiezac, we took advantage of some of the surrounding "cultural" and natural offerings. We went for a hike in the Gorges de la Jordanne, where Lucie proved once again to be quite the natural hiker.

The weather was really awful, but we were sheltered by the trees and deep gorges (nearly 60 meters in places). As always, Lucie asked lots of questions, which we dutifully, if a bit wearily, tried to answer. It was a really lovely walk, and quite easy for a 3 year old.

On another day, we took Lucie to what we thought was going to be a medieval-themed educational experience. It turned out to be a very lame Renaissance fair (in the US sense of that word). Still Lucie had fun visiting the castle.

There were horsemanship displays

and Lucie-ship displays.

Sometimes, walking with Lucie's just a blur...

What!? if you fed me properly, this wouldn't have to happen to Mr. Hippo...

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

On vacation, stop 1 – Thiezac, Cantal.

Our first stop was in the Auvergne region, in a little town called Thiezac, which had been selected as a destination by our friends Carole and Didier. We’d decided to be laid back and followed them blindly. It was great fun in a new region that neither of us knew before.

We first stopped on the way down in Issoire, where Lucie insisted that we visit the cathedral. Greg explained why Jesus was sitting like that and holding the ball (very useful for a 3 year old, but she did ask…)

We also took advantage of a nice “Last Judgment” fresco. Lucie: “why is the monster eating these people?” Dad: “because they didn’t listen to their parents”

(ok, it’s both blasphemy and child abuse, but very entertaining…)

In Cantal, there isn’t a whole lot to do if you’re not into walking. We discovered that Lucie likes it, as does Malo, who especially likes it when others are doing the walking for him.