Gorges du Verdon

Two weekends ago, I went on what we call a "George trip" which is a sort of travel service called Decouverte de la Provence that's organized by a man named George. He does little day trips to different areas around Provence that anyone can sign up for. This one was to the Gorges du Verdon, aka the Grand Canyon of France. It was raining the whole time so that was a bit of a downer, but there was a lot of fog that made it look really neat. The whole area was beautiful and I am hoping I will get back there on a nicer day!

 This is the man-made lake that the river leads into. The color of the water was just incredible and we couldn't figure out why it was the color it is! I googled it and learned that it's that color because of a lot of fluoride in the water. I had been thinking it looked like toothpaste...

After we saw the lake area and this entrance to the Gorges, we stopped in a town called Moustiers-Sainte-Marie.

We climbed up to the church at the top of the hill

Rocky stairs

Fields of maybe olive trees?

Walking back down from the church

Then we drove through the Gorges, which was quite terrifying in a huge tour bus on all the winding mountain roads. Unfortunately because of the rainy weather, we only made a couple short stops to take pictures. When the weather is better, you can go swimming or canoeing through the area.

I hope I get to return on a nicer day and bring my family when they are here!

Winter break part 3: Paris in 3 hours

After a wonderful time in Germany, we had our flight back to Marseille which had a stop in Paris. We decided it would be fun to have a really long layover so we could actually have some time in Paris. It was nice, but I will not try to do that again. I was very tired after our travels and my backpack was stuffed with all of my things, so it was not as enjoyable as being able to stay for a longer time. With coming from and returning to the airport, we had about 3 hours total in the city. We mostly just walked around and saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and the Seine. It brought back memories of when I went with my family about 5 years ago, and it made me really want to return while I am so close. Here are some pictures from this short little trip!

Bye Germany!

Arc de Triomphe with the Eiffel tower in the distance

Champs-Élysées facing the Arc

Bridge on the Seine

This is the boat tour my family took 5 years ago!

La tour Eiffel

Really neat building

Winter break part 2: Germany!!

After 3 full days in Geneva, we took a train to Munich and then from there to a stop near my friend Katrin's house. It was a long day of traveling and it was so nice to see her when we got off the train! I took a lot of pictures on the train while we rode through the beautiful Alps. It was very snowy and cold in Germany, but so pretty!

I met Katrin's family when we got to her house in Winzer, Germany. Her parents and younger sister are so nice and they were so generous to let us stay with them and to feed us while we were there! That night we had a delicious spätzle dish with some type of meat (I can't remember if it was pork or chicken). Our first whole day was Wednesday, and we started out with going to a butcher and bakery to make a traditional Bavarian breakfast. We also saw the church in Winzer. For the whole trip, it was so nice to have Katrin plan everything and be a translator since I don't speak any German! For breakfast we had the white sausages, called weisswurst, with a sweet mustard (it comes in a tube!), pretzels with butter, and other sliced meats and breads. I think the weisswurst with the mustard was definitely my favorite!

Traditional Bavarian breakfast

Here are some pictures of Katrin's family's beautiful home!

The porch

A sauna in our bathroom!

The church in Winzer

Then we went to Passau for the day, which is where Katrin goes to school. We first went to an old castle where we had a beautiful view of the area, and Austria as well! Then we walked around the town and shopped a little, had lunch in a café at the top of a building, and went to St. Stephan's Cathedral, which has the largest church organ in the world! It was probably the prettiest cathedral I have seen yet.

View of Passau (Austria is on the other side of the river towards the left)

View from the café

St. Stephan's Cathedral

Largest church organ in the world!!

Beautiful ceiling paintings

First German beer!

The next day, we went to a glassblowing factory and saw a lot of really awesome glass art that was so cheap! I wanted to buy some but I couldn't have fit it or brought it back without it breaking. After that, we went cross-country skiing in the mountains! It was my first time ever skiing and I fell a ton but it was so much fun! It was also a really good workout and made me wish that I could do it for exercise when I get home to the US.

Skiing!

After skiing, we went in the sauna, but only for a short time because it was so hot.. It was set on about 75 or 80, which we thought was fahrenheit but then realized that was celsius so it was about 170 degrees F! For dinner, we had raclette, which is a cheese that you put in a little container with whatever else you want in it, like meat, vegetables, bread, etc. and then stick it in the raclette grill to melt it. It is soo good!



Friday we went to Herrenchiemsee, a castle on an island in lake Chiemsee. It was made by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and modeled after the castle in Versailles. Herrenchiemsee is the largest and one of the most costly of his castles, but it is also unfinished. Only 20 of 70 rooms were completed, I believe. The finished rooms that we saw on our tour were beautiful and very extravagant, but unfortunately we couldn't take pictures. The king only stayed at the castle for a number of days, maybe 10 days, before he died by drowning in a lake. The cause of his death is a mystery and he was also said to be insane.

view of the castle from the boat

On the way back to Winzer, we stopped to see the Pope's house. His family is from Winzer, and he was born and raised in Marktl where we saw his house.

These guys stopped Katrin's dad to ask him some questions

On Saturday, we went to Regensburg with Katrin's parents. The bridge in the city center is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We walked around the town and had lunch, then walked around outside of a palace. After a great day, we caught a train at the Regensburg station and said goodbye to Katrin and her parents. I had a wonderful time visiting my friend and seeing Germany, and I would definitely recommend traveling to Bavaria!

Regensburg

Cathedral in Regensburg

Cute buildings

Palace area