Rain, rain, go away!

Good old Gex.  We arrive just before dinner at the bus stop of the bottom of the hill, hand Sheyda the last of our six pretzels (train snacks), and drive up to the house where we drop our bags and head out for a nice twilight walk.  The warmth is a nice change from our visit in February.  And, it looks like they are setting up for a small fair in town.  It is interesting to see familiar carnival booths, games and rides with French twists.  When we get back to the house, we eat tomatoes (too tired to make a real supper) and then crash.

Friday - June 1
Weather: Sunny and warm, partly cloudy

Today, we sleep in.  Sheyda is at French class when we finally get up, but soon returns with some freshly made tabbouleh, hummus and pita bread which we eat outside, enjoying the view of the mountains in the distance.  Unfortunately, Mont Blanc is obscured by clouds.  It is the first nice day Andrew and I have seen in a while, so we opt for an outdoors activity.

Lake Divonne

After a lovely time in the sun at Lake Divonne, we make a run to the grocery store - always an adventure in Europe.  You have to weigh and label your own produce!  Totally didn't figure that out on our own.  It is a good thing Sheyda was there the first time we got to the check-out line and the cashier held up a baggie of fruit and started spouting French that we couldn't understand at all.  And then, there is the continual excitement of having to make visual guesses about things when you can't understand or can't quite make out the writing on the box.  And then, there's the simple joy of buying cheap Nutella.  And fresh baguettes.  And aisle after aisle of wine...

Andrew and I are exited about being able to cook again, and although Sheyda's kitchenette is small, we have grand plans.  But tonight, we satisfy a craving...for salad (goodbye Munich sausages!).  After dinner, Sheyda takes us to a friend's house where we have a cook out - well, actually, the seven girls sit around discussing Eurovision music and the two guys do the grilling.  We learn that the fair is part of a celebration called "La fête de l'oiseau" (the Bird Festival).  And since this is apparently THE biggest thing that happens in Gex, we all decide to go down and walk around the carnival.  I end up going on one of the rides too.  Nice long ride.  Threw me side to side, jerked me up and down, whirled me around in every direction, and spun me dry for a good 10 minutes.  And I only paid 3 euros because there was a group discount!  (Hello, State Fair, I think you can learn something from this tiny town of Gex!)

Saturday, June 2
Weather: Sunny, hot, clear
Dinner à la kitchenette: Chicken fajitas

Ah, day two of nice weather.  Andrew, Sheyda, her friend Marie, and I drive to Annecy for the day.  It was quite a crowded city, and in our attempts to find parking, we kind of end up in the bus lanes and have all kinds of horns honking at us.  Also got to see some teenagers being way too intimate on the lakeside - a scene we dubbed Public Displays of Fondling (PDF).

Simply put, gorgeous...the town, not the fondling.

Annecy

Lake Annecy

Sunday, June 3
Weather: Rainy
Dinner à la kitchenette: Shrimp fajitas with Nesquik & honey sopapillas

The deluge begins.  Although it is pleasant to listen to the pattering of raindrops through the open windows as you drowse into sleepfulness, it is less exciting when you want to be exploring somewhere outside!  After church, we stop at a cafe for pastries, espresso and juice.  We are enveloped by the warmth of freshly baked bread and the French language.  We linger.  And I miss the coffee shops in Raleigh.

We spend the rest of the day napping, lounging and playing music (guitar and djembe) and singing.  It has been a while since our last jam session!  The Simon family is away because it is the French Mother's Day (or is it Swiss?  They fall on different days), so we have the house to ourselves.  We sing at the top of our lungs, slam on the drum, and Andrew harmonizes as deeply as he can.

Monday, June 4
Weather: Scattered drizzles, gloomy clouds
Dinner à la kitchenette: Lentil fritters with tomato sauce and couscous

We do not let the weather keep us in today.  Restless, we decide to go hiking in the Jura mountains just behind where Sheyda lives.  We tried to plan a trail, but it didn't really work - despite the enormous map we are armed with.

The mist creeping over
the mountain toward us

This map is big enough
to be a blanket!

Andrew finds a tick in the first two minutes.  Sheyda freaks and throws the hood of her raincoat over her head so ticks won't fall on her.  We crawl under a fence into a cow pasture and spend some time enjoying the views, the wildflowers and frolicking among cow paddies.

View of Gex
(and you can see the Jet d'eau in the back)

Frolicking with Sheyda

Frolicking in the field with Andrew

View from the cow pasture

How about lunch?

Raindrops

Cool tree

That evening, after dinner, we all pile onto the futon and watch "Finding Nemo."  It is still raining outside.

Tuesday, June 5
Weather: Sunny, warm to hot

Andrew and I set off to explore Geneva...which is even more pleasant THIS time of year!!  When we walked over the bridge from the train station to the Old Town, we were not blown sideways by the freezing gusts.  This time, we could actually stop and enjoy the view.  The main attraction this visit is the Jet d'eau, a 460 foot tower of water pumped out of Lake Geneva at 130 gallons per second.  A jetty runs out into the lake beyond the Jet, and people run screaming through the heavy mist that falls back down from the sky.  The water is very cold as it beads on our skin.  At one angle, we can see rainbows hovering above the lake's surface.  Before heading back to Gex, we decide to go swimming in the lake.  It isn't a good sign that everyone on the "beach" is simply sunning.  No one is in the water.  And as soon as we wade in, we know why...our nerves seem to freeze in our feet.  The water is only 50 F.  We attempt three times to go swimming in the water, managing at least to submerge ourselves the third time around.  But we tread water for only a minute, at the most.  My body aches when I step back out onto the beach, as if my body is mid-thaw.

The Flower Clock

The Jet d'eau

The Jet d'eau returns to the lake

At the top of the Jet d'eau

Double rainbow

A little wet after running through
the Jet d'eau

That evening, we have dinner with Sheyda's host family on the patio.

Wednesday, June 6
Weather: Scattered showers
Dinner à la kitchenette: Omelet

Kind of a bust today.  We try to go to Gruyere, but the train tickets end up being twice as expensive as we thought.  So we hang out at the house with Sheyda, make a key lime pie for tomorrow night's dinner, and then go out downtown with Sheyda to have some wine with her au pair friends.

A note regarding the key lime pie: They don't sell graham crackers in France.  It is another adventure trying to make substitutions when you don't know what things taste like.  We end up using Speculoos.  And we decide that they are much better than graham crackers.  Another food souvenir to bring home.

Thursday, June 7
Weather: Warmish; windy; scattered sprinkles during the day; terrible storm in evening

Biking day!  We take the train to Lausanne and rent some bikes.  Then we have to bike out of the deep canyon that is the middle of town and then down the mountain that leads to the lakeside.  Well, that is some exaggeration, but that is what it felt like.  We spend some time horsing around Ouchy harbor before biking along the lake.  A picnic and a gelato later, we head back to Gex.

At Ouchy Harbor

I have a gorgeous friend :)

Jumping at the harbor

Woohoo, Andrew!

Pensive action

Andrew and I make pizza for the Simon family tonight to thank them for their hospitality.  Fiona has us going outside to play with her whenever we have a break in the preparation.  Then the storm comes.  And what a storm!  Darkness, torrents of rain, and powerful gales.  The power flickers a couple times and some small trees are blown over.  But we enjoy a cozy dinner inside, with Christophe discussing how safe it is in Gex - no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, no tidal waves, etc, etc.

Fiona comes down after dinner to play with us.  We start out with a pillow fight, but then she just ends up beating up Andrew.

Friday, June 8
Weather: Gloomy, rainy, chilly
Dinner à la kitchenette: Leftover pizza

After being here all week, we head down the hill to explore Gex.  We go to a small bookstore and enjoy an espresso while planning our trip and soaking in the atmosphere of old books and French murmurs.  Then we head to the grocery store to get ingredients for some berry muffins.  The muffins turn out great.  Andrew, Sheyda, Fiona and I gobble up ten of them almost as soon as they are cool enough to touch.  Then Sheyda goes next door with Fiona to babysit the neighbors.  Once they are in bed, Fiona comes back over to play with us.  We have another pillow fight and then Andrew suddenly becomes some kind of amusement park ride - bouncing, tossing up in the air, and rocking back in forth.  At one point, he "breaks."  Fiona first tries to replace Andrew's batteries, then she puts coins in him, and then she simply starts to beat him up again.  We are about to play a board game when she is called up to bed.  Once Sheyda gets back, we start to pack up for our weekend trip to Nice!