My sister, her husband and their son and his family came to visit this summer for 6 days.  The two days that I enjoyed the most included a trip to Mont Blanc and Chamonix, which involved a cable car ride up to the top of Mont Blanc; and a trip the mountain on the St Hilaire du Touvet funicular to watch the mountain climbers and the hang gliders.  It was fascinating to watch these very brave people.

Here’s a video of the funicular day. 

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Every year on July 14th the French celebrate Bastille Day (their version of Americans’ 4th of July).  The day has an interesting origin. The Fête de la Fédération on the 14 of July, 1790 was a huge feast and official event to celebrate the uprising of the short-lived constitutional monarchy in France and what people considered the happy conclusion of the French Revolution.  Today, to celebrate the event, the larger cities like Paris celebrate the holiday BIG.  Our region celebrates with smaller versions like this festival at the small town of Bourget en Huile, which has no more than 500-600 residents.  The celebration included a BarBQ, dancing, and fireworks. This celebration video is from 2009.

The second video is from this year, July 13, 2010.  I took this video of Chambery’s fireworks from our home balcony at 11pm. The big crane was in the way, unfortunately, but it still was fun to watch and made me feel a little better about missing my July 4th Fireworks Celebration this year.

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Every year on June 21st France has a Fete de la Musique. It’s held in every city in France (except very small ones). It started years ago as a venue for amateur musicians to share their talents on the streets. It’s grown to be quite an exciting event with exceptional musicians featured all over the country. Even Chambery hosted the Fete and we saw some decent talent. The only negative of the night was, before heading home, we stopped at a new bar to have a drink.  A group of 20-something year olds were in a heated argument with the security/bouncers at the bar right behind us. It escalated into a fist fight and one of the kids pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the security officers in the leg. We ended up right in the middle of it, given where our table was situated and as the fight moved our way. It was quite scary.

Anyway, here’s a sample of the music we saw. I’m sorry for the roughness of the video but I bought a new editing program to show off my high definition footage, but the program doesn’t seem to like my Vista operating system and I couldn’t get the title and scene transitions to work. Time to upgrade to Windows 7, I guess. Press the right lower symbol for a full screen view and then you can go back to the small screen by hitting ESC on your keyboard. Enjoy the music!

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Pont du Gard Near Avignon

If you have already visited the charismatic glamour of the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre Museum in mainstream France, southeast France is waiting for you with its humble enchantment. Southeast France is heaven for green tourism. The vast stretches of the lofty, icy French Alps are the dream destination of mountain-sports enthusiasts from all parts of the planet. Most of the picturesque cities of this region hold rich histories of their own.

Once the center of the Christian world, the city of Avignon is home to a 14th century Papal palace. Le Pont d’ Avignon, the 12^th century bridge is the inspiration for many French folk-songs. If you have an eye for art and culture, visit Avignon in the summer, the season to host the annual summer festival, the platform to exhibit western theatrical expertise. You can also polish your French language from Aix-en-Provence, the center for literary excellence. The town is adorned with beautiful fountains, avenues, squares and buildings with architectural elegance. From literary elegance to intellectual expertise, Grenoble welcomes thousands of students all through the year inquisitive about its technological progress in computer and micro-chip manufacturing. Grenoble also hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics.

Annecy is known as the Venice of the French Alps, with its canals winding through the medieval town. Surrounded by Alpine mountains and sitting next to a crystal blue lake, this town is candy for the eyes. The proud residents of Annecy throw festivals, host a Venetian Carnival, fireworks, and musical concerts to rival cities three times its size. This is a must-see town.

Bormes de Mimosa on the Cote d'Azur

The best gastronomic city of France, Lyon has an impressive 2000 year old history. With the acknowledgment as UNESCO World Heritage site, this city also hosts a rich architectural museum, a world-class university and number of shopping centers and food parks taking the best care of gourmets. It’s annual December Festival of the Lights  is not to be missed.  When you have fueled yourself enough for the spine-tinkling adventures, come to Chamonix. The picturesque town is the hub for mountaineering and adventure sports enthusiasts. The adrenalin-rushing mountain biking, hiking and paragliding will be complimented with the best food and wine in the local bars and eateries.  

Montpellier, in Languedoc-Roussillon, is chiefly a students’ favorite since it’s the home for France’s biggest university, but you can also bask in its brightest sun in this lovely city. Don’t forget to visit Nice, the center of genoese architecture with its Musée Matisse and the Musée Chagall museums, before you head for the further East on the Cote d’Azur or head down to the island of Corsica. The sun, palm trees and marble architecture will let you relax in Spanish style. From history to architecture, from nature to modern technology, from basking in the golden sun to piercing through the sparkling ice – Southeast France has something for everyone. Come and enjoy the euphoria!

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Visit the city of Nice with me in this overview video. I loved Nice and will be back many times in the future. I especially enjoyed the Italian influence and architecture and the wonderful mild weather. Carnival week was a blast. If you are planning a trip to Nice, save some money, and head there in February for Carnival!

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It’s been a difficult winter here in the French Alps but I’m hoping the worst is over. Here are some of the snow and winter scenes of the past month. Granted, it’s beautiful but not very pleasant to be in. My French mountain man husband who’s lived in the region for 15 years just doesn’t understand my whining! My cats understand though. “Thank goodness for radiators” they tell me from their blue padded perch.

This is my second video about our trip to Southwest Florida (Cape Coral/Fort Myers to be exact) in October of 2009. This one is on boating and the beach – welcome reminders of the Florida sun and surf during this cold, snowy month in the French Alps. Thanks to my sister, Carol and her husband, Jon, for the boat rides and adventures, and to Sue (my other sister) and her husband, Roger, for the trip to the cabin.