Mont Blanc

This was to be our big trip. 

At first Anne was going to come with us, but her knee had been bothering her so she backed out. 

We were on our own, but well prepared. Elisabeth had printed off the directions from her computer and I knew how to get on the A40 in Macon heading towards Geneve...

...we were taking the peage (toll) route to its end in Chamonix to reach Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the French Alps. 

Specifically, we wanted to take the tram up the mountain and for that we needed to find Le Fayet. 

I had gone to bed early in order to wake up early. My definition of “early” is to be in bed just before the village streetlights go out at midnight.

The tinge of dawn was enough light at my window to wake me. It was 4:30 AM. I wasn't about to wake up Margery at that hour, nor could I get back to sleep, so I worked on this blog for awhile.

Margery and I took off at 8 AM. Since it takes BB 2 ½ hours to reach Geneve, I figured it would take 3 hours to get to the tram. 

We stopped briefly at Elisabeth's house to pick up a cooler for our lunch, stopped to fill BB with gasole, had a bathroom break, and pulled into a truck parking area to take pictures of Mont Blanc. 

 It probably took closer to 4 hours to reach Chamonix.

Along the way I had kept my eyes open for a road sign saying Le Fayet, because Elisabeth's printed directions said that was where we would find the tram railroad. 

Every sign on the highway said “Chamonix Mt Blanc.” 

I figured that Le Fayet would be in or near Chamonix. 

So did the half dozen people of whom we asked directions. Only one of them suggested that we had to leave town, but even he indicated that Le Fayet was just minutes away. 

I found signs for the tourist office, but couldn't find the office itself. I found a street named Le Fayet, but it didn't lead us to a tram. At the railroad station I was told I could buy a ticket and take the train to Le Fayet, but when I said I had a car, the lady just shrugged her shoulders. I tried the municipal police station, but it was closed. Even the roundabouts didn't help and Le Fayet wasn't in my map book!

After touring every street in Chamonix at least twice, I figured we must have taken a wrong turn on the highway. 

One person had mentioned that we would have to drive up and up.

 Maybe we should have followed the signs for the Mt Blanc Tunnel.

That's definitely a drive up and up! As we were climbing I saw a rest stop with huge maps and pulled in.

There were 4 different maps and I didn't find the tram railway until the fourth map. Then I followed the tram on the map to find Le Fayet.

It certainly wasn't near Chamonix, but it was near St Gervais and I was sure I could find that town.

Mont Blanc

I checked Elisabeth's directions again. The town listings didn't match what the road signs said, but the exit numbers might work.

We reversed direction and headed back towards Geneve! No sign mentioned Le Fayet, but I took exit 21 anyway.

Again the directions on paper didn't match the roads on the ground, but suddenly we were in Le Fayet!

Now to find the tram.

We crossed the tracks a couple of times, but there was no ticket office or train. Then I spotted the tourist office and Margery saw a parking space. 

It was almost 2 PM by this time and the tourist office had closed at noon. 

The next office had the word “tram” on its marquee and the gal was just returning from her lunch break. 

She didn't speak English and it wasn't the right place, but she understood what I was looking for...

l'Arve River

and even stepped out to the sidewalk to point me

in the right direction. 

 

Down the hill to the end of the street. The tram? A droite (to the right). Parking? A gauche. 

I trotted past Margery and told her to stay put while I had a look. There at the bottom of the hill was Anne, the very tram I had taken 6 years ago!

I hurried back up the hill. We found a parking space, bailed out of the car, put on our hiking shoes and headed for the tram ticket office. 

Anne was no longer there. She had left about 10 minutes ago, but there was one more train that day. It wouldn't leave until 3:40. 

We had an hour and 15 minutes to wait, but after being in the car since 8 AM, waiting a little longer wasn't a problem. There was a nice shaded bench where we could eat our lunch. The regular railroad station was across the street and had public toilets. A Tabac store was around the corner where we could buy cold water and soda. 

We bought our tickets, 30 euros each, and settled down to make the best of waiting.

Other people arrived to catch the last train up and down the mountain. It may have taken me most of the day, but I was feeling good about having finally found what we had been looking for. 

At 3:30 the gal who had been selling the tickets came outside. She explained that there was a mechanical problem and the train wouldn't start. 

At first we didn't realize that this was the only train they had...

that if it wasn't working, we weren't going up the mountain. 

It took a few minutes for reality to sink in! 

As we headed away from Le Fayet we crossed over the Arve River with its roiling water. I took pictures of that brown glacial water. 

Then we drove home without stopping in a little over 3 hours. 

Too exhausted to fix dinner, we stopped at the Auberge in Blanot to let Francoise and Florence get us a meal. 

We didn't even have the energy to talk to each other. 

Later on, after we had recovered a bit, we were able to laugh at our day on the road. 

The views were spectacular and we at least had seen Mont Blanc.

Parc des Oiseaux

On Monday we were up and moving early. It was our day to visit the Park of Birds.

We expected about a two hour drive...BB prefers a moderate pace...and taking pictures also slows any trip. I ended up in someone's driveway in order to get a picture of this roundabout with its wine glasses.

Thank goodness for zoom lenses. I was a city block away from this fella when I finally found space to pull over. Because the frog is decorating a roundabout, the signs hide the rest of his body.

I love roundabouts! They have saved me many times. If nothing else, they reassure...letting one know it's still the right road. We followed the "green signs" and avoided getting on "blue" roads because those are the toll highways.

I don't remember the town, but I liked the shapes done in stone and the mass of lavender.

Eventually we made it to the park. They had an inexpensive cafeteria where we could eat while watching the flamingos across the way...

 Look carefully and you'll notice a duck, I think it's a mallard, hanging out with the flamingos.

After lunch we began our trek around the small lake. There's a bridge across the middle of the lake which we opted to use so we saved a number of exhibits for another visit.

These guys, like many of the birds we saw, were free to roam throughout the park.

I didn't see anyone trying to touch or scare the birds and they were obviously used to having people near them.

There is at least one baby in this nest.

There were a half dozen stork nests on platforms held high by poles.

In the nursery building kids could watch ducklings peck their way out of their shells. (There was no sign prohibiting adults from watching as well.)

These little tykes weren't in the nursery, but out in the big world near a bridge.


In the parrot aviary visitors could buy a cup of juice and feed the birds. There was a sign warning that the parrots might bite or pinch. This parrot decided to groom the youngster's hair when she ran out of food.

There was a flock of pure white parrots in the aviary as well as a variety of blue, yellow, red and green birds.

Other varieties of parrots were housed in other aviaries, but this was the only place where people could feed them.

I walked into another aviary and just stood looking around. I was surprised to suddenly be noticing birds who were just hanging out in the different trees. I actually thought one bird was dead, until it blinked.

The show, or spectacle, was worth the price of admission. The birds made up for the fact that we didn't understand the French language.

This is where I'm adding a lot more pictures than writing...

These birds flew to the handler. Of course they knew they'd get fed, but they were still free to leave if they didn't like their treatment.

A flock of pelicans flew in from across the lake to the tune of Jurassic Park

 I feel lucky to have caught a few on camera. We didn't know that a flock would suddenly appear, and watching them fly in was so amazing it took me some time before I even thought to raise the camera.

Because they were rather prehistoric looking, the music from Jurassic Park fit their entrance.

 Dark and ominous music played when the vultures came swooping in.

There was a handler on the upper level on each side of the bleachers. They could send the birds back and forth over the audience.

There were two different birds who came onto the stage area and headed for a specific spot at the edge where they grabbed a snake and snapped it in the air over and over until the fake snake was "dead" and a piece of food fell off or out of it.

They were dealing with a fake snake, but their ability to kill a real one was obvious.

          Then these guys appeared from behind the bleachers. We had  
          no idea of what would appear next or from where, but each   
          spectacle of birds was stunning. When they flew above us, they
          really were just barely over our heads.

There were others before a blizzard of parrots descended upon us.


The handlers were really busy during this segment, handing out treats and sending the birds off again. Margery and I later confirmed that we both felt that if we had sat up straight a parrot would have flown into us.

For many years I taught the short story of "The Scarlet Ibis," yet I had never seen one. It was simply a bird of my imagination.

We saw some babies in the nursery. That was interesting, but they were too young to have red feathers.

And we hadn't seen any on our walk around the lake.

Then came the bird show finale...

A Sunday Visit

On Sunday Margery and I thought we could go into Cluny and pick up a plant for Mirelle's birthday...but France still believes in family time and the stores were closed.

At least our scam artist was no longer trying to stop cars by the sharp corner in the road.

We had briefly fallen for that ploy Saturday morning on our way home from the market.

A car had been parked just off the road and as we were passing by a man ran out towards us. I stopped. He said he was out of gas. I replied that I had food that I needed to get home so I couldn't turn around to take him into Cluny...I couldn't have turned around in that location anyway.

He then showed me a broken credit card and said he didn't have money for gas, could I give him some in exchange for his gold necklace.

At that point I said, "Sorry," and drove on. Margery felt badly until we began to figure out all the inconsistencies in his story. Later, others would confirm that that was a scam.

Since we had no groceries with us on this Sunday, we took a detour through Donzy, a village before Blanot.

Margery pointed out the sign for a lavoir and I drove BB as close to it as we dared to go.

We walked down the hill along a grassy lane to the field below. No flowers were decorating the lavoir, but there was white yarrow growing by the lane, perfect for a birthday bouquet.    

We also stopped to photograph the church before heading home.

Later Sunday afternoon we drove over the hill to visit Genvieve and Patrick at their home in St Gengoux De Scisse.

The photo on the left is a corner of their backyard. Look below the shutters to see dishes on the table where we were invited to relax with juice and cake...

...but first, Genvieve had heard a car slow down and ran out to the road so we would find the right house. That was a life-saver.

She showed us a rain-water well.

Right next to it was a bush so thick she couldn't part the branches. We had to accept her word that there really was a lavoir under the greenery.

Their home also has its very own bread oven protected under an outdoor shed.

And sure enough, in the basement was a miniature version of a village lavoir. Water would have had to be hauled from the outdoor rain-water well...there is no spring or stream bringing water to this lavoir.

I would love to know the story behind this private lavoir because a darling little public lavoir, which does not require hauling water, is just a short walk down the road.

Margery and I had a great time. When Genvieve heard that it was Mirelle's birthday, she sent us home with a bouquet of roses for Mirelle and another for Elisabeth. We felt like we were returning to Blanot with gold!

On the way I couldn't resist a side trip to the top of Mont St Romain.


First we were greeted by a cat. Then a fluffy lion look-alike showed up to guide the cat back home.




And below is a small piece of the view...

Saturday and Brancion

Donkey at the Cluny market that carries groceries for folks

It was Margery's only Saturday and my last, so we had to get to the Cluny open market. It's an experience to just walk through, but even better as the place to pick up fresh fruits and veggies. I also couldn't resist getting another meringue and one of Margery's goals is to taste every French pastry possible.

We came home for a very sweet lunch. 

Nearing Brancion Entrance

 

 

Entrance to Brancion

Our next jaunt was to visit Brancion which was once a fortified medieval village.

We took the long way to get there and discovered that roads were being set up for motorcycle races. Fortunately they wouldn't be until the next day.

To the left is the entrance to the village. From where Margery is standing she can see the opening for a weapon and the ledge on which to stand that could be used for defending this portal.

Look closely and metal bars can be seen. The walls had been collapsing and they are being pushed back as part of their repair.

The Castle Keep

We decided to visit the remains of the castle, the existence of which can be traced back to the 10th century.

Brancion survived until the religious wars of the 16th century. The castle was burned in 1594. It is slowly being restored.

To the right is a picture of the keep. We managed to climb to its top...and counted a total of 158 stair steps.

There's a steep drop-off out this door as well as on the other sides.

It was interesting to see the remains of fireplaces, decorative windows, defensive architecture, and even a double latrine.

There was an interesting room with posters of spices.   

When our climb shifted to indoors, we found ourselves in a room decorated with Griffins...I just had to have a picture of these...

The wooden steps were easy to climb, but the last steps were inside a narrow tower with just an iron post in the center to hang onto.

There was a couple on the roof who gladly took a picture of us in front of that little tower...

If you look back to the picture of the castle keep, you may notice the top of this little tower.

The view of the countryside from up here was superb...well worth the climb...but it was also interesting to be able to look down upon the castle remains...

As seen from the castle keep...

As we were leaving the castle we took a little time to pet a cat that was enjoying the sunshine.

It was around 5 PM. We found a small cafe, obviously getting ready to close for the day, but the gal was willing to make a crepe for Margery.

I wandered off to find the church which looks out over this broad valley.

I returned to the cafe and sent Margery with her crepe to go see the church and its view while I sat by the covered market to enjoy an ice cream cone.

Suddenly the castle cat showed up to get more petting.


We took the shorter route home. I was delighted to remember the roads and even Elisabeth's shortcuts.

We passed by the Chateau de Nobles (to the right).

We needed to get home for dinner and I wanted a quick nap because this was to be bonfire night.

On our way to Brancion I had taken a picture of the preparations to celebrate the Feux de St Jean. It wouldn't be lit until after 10 PM when it would finally be dark. We headed for the festivities at 10:30.

The bonfire was burning when we arrived, but we were more interested in getting a glass of wine and a waffle at the tent. We had the chance to speak with a number of people before finding seats at a picnic table near the band. Then Elisabeth arrived and introduced us to Genvieve and Patrick.

Before the evening ended (for us...others stayed til the early hours of the morning) we were invited to visit Genvieve and Patrick on Sunday afternoon to see their home with its indoor lavoir.