Friday, August 23, 2013

Skyline Divide

Driving to Mount Baker felt like a vacation again, because it reminded me a lot of the mountain drives we had in the Cevennes in France. The day turned out to be not so great, so we were unable to see the great views of Mount Baker in the background like I had hoped. I originally decided to go to Mount Baker because of a facebook friend's amazing photos of the Skyline Divide hike, but ours did not turn out like hers. Nevertheless, walking through the wildflowers was great, and hiking along the ridge still offered majestic views. We were so high up that it felt like we were on top of the clouds, and it was cool watching the mist roll in, slowly obscuring the already limited view we had had earlier.

I would definitely come back here - but only on a clear sunny day!










Friday, August 16, 2013

Summertime Engagement

A follow up to the springtime engagement photos:

We went to a shellfish farm south of Bellingham, where we had oysters, crab, and wine right beside the ocean. It was awesome.







Sunday, August 4, 2013

Paris

We ended our trip with one day in Paris. Leonard and I had both been to Paris before, so we didn't feel the need to do much besides walk around the city. We walked so much that I felt like my feet were going to fall off - we later counted that we had walked through seven arrondissements! Unfortunately, we were there on a Sunday, so all the cool stores were closed. The cost of food was a bit of a shock, since all the restaurants were priced at about 1.5 times more than what we had been accustomed to in the Languedoc region of France. We treated ourselves anyway to a restaurant that my friend Cat recommended, since it was our last night and it was in the city of love!






Friday, August 2, 2013

Countryside Accommodations

We stayed in some cute b&bs in the countryside. They were good deals, all costing between $70 to $100 CAD per night, and there was so much character in these places compared to your usual hotel. 

Chez Maison Bleue, in Sonnac-sur-l'Hers, with a population of 150. We went for a walk around the whole village which took about ten minutes. Our bed and breakfast was in the main square of the village (beside the church)!



La Gallinette, in Villedubert (close to Carcassonne), was so pretty and full of little details. I would have loved to stay there more than one night. Sure, it was a bit girly, but you would not believe all the touches they had throughout their whole property. It was very Pinterest worthy.



Finally, we stayed in Domaine de Blancardy for three nights in the Cevennes. It is a working winery, and we enjoyed breakfast and dinner there everyday. Duck, foie gras, and wine sure make for some rich French meals! It was the cheapest one of our accommodations during our whole trip, costing a mere $70 per night, but I suspect it is because it is literally in the middle of the mountains, with no other buildings in sight.






Montpellier and La Grande Motte

After being in the countryside for so long, the small city of Montpellier felt very cosmopolitan. We ate at very hippie vegetarian restaurant with posters of yogis on the walls. We figured it was time to eat some vegetables instead of our usual fare of duck and charcuterie. 





We were looking forward to heading to the beach after lunch but got into a very stressful situation when our gps led us down the wrong way on a one way street. Repeat: the street had one lane open, and we were heading onto oncoming traffic. It is usually a two way street, but there was some kind of construction happening, so our lane was blocked off with cones and cement blocks. With traffic coming towards us, we had to squeeze our car in between two cement blocks, as a bus driver passed by us and told us sternly that we were not allowed to go that way. By that point, our car was stuck between the cement blocks. Leonard had to go out to push them out of the way so that we could get out of there, and we sped all the way down the street going the wrong way (small roads in France = no way to make a three point turn) until we reached the end of the block. Phew! We then drove for an extra hour around the city because he refused to go back in there, since the GPS kept trying to tell us to return to that street, and the street signs within the city were useless to us.

After all that stress, we were happy to arrive at La Grande Motte, a French resort town. It is characterized by its strange 1970's buildings, which are supposed to be futuristic but feel more dated. We had a great time relaxing there. We had originally planned on spending the day driving around the Cevennes again, visiting more caves and mountain views, but our beach day provided us with a much needed rest. It's a lot of fun playing in the waves.





Thursday, August 1, 2013

Grotte des Desmoiselles

La Grotte des Desmoiselles was hands down my most favourite part of our trip. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen in my whole life! I spent the whole hour of our tour with my mouth open because it was so breath taking. It was full of stalagmites and stalactites, and it ended with a grand tour of the Cathedral - a cavern that was 120m long, 80m wide, and 50m high. It was just unbelievable. It felt like I was in some kind of fantasy novel.










Mont Aigoual

Mont Aigoual, according to my guidebooks, was supposed to have an amazing view. Maybe it's because I'm from BC and have seen my share of good views, but I found this mountain to be a bit overrated. This was my least favourite of the sights we saw in France, because I thought it was so ordinary. I think I'm too spoiled with all the gorgeous hikes in BC! 

It was hazy the day that we went so we didn't see too much, but on clear days you can see up to the Mediterranean, which is a few hours drive away.