Au revoir sizzling Paris

And hello, hot Alps. Waiting to board the high speed train in Paris, headed to Chamonix (near Mt. Blanc) via Geneva. 

Arriving after a long day of travel, with the final few hours standing room only on the smaller trains.  

A pretty French town, but still unseasonably hot-- the kids making their way to the hostel. 
 

The week long "hut-to-hut" trek started today. Although hut is a misnomer, because these are like rustic hotels or hostels (called Refuges) with communal meals and sleeping areas. 
 

Enjoying the view at Refuge de La Flegre, where they stay tonight. 

If you are interested in details, this is the itinerary. The distance and terrain between these stops varies, but I think most are about 10 miles a day. 

Monday: Le Tours

Tuesday: Trient

Wednesday: Champex-Lac

Thursday: La Fouly

Friday: Val Ferret

Saturday: Bonatti Hut

After that, an Italian adventure begins. They collect their luggage that was (hopefully) transported to Bonatti, and find a way down to Turin for a flight to Brindisi. Then several days relaxing in southern Italy (with a rental car?) and finally a stay in Rome before returning home. The fun is just getting started.

The heat goes on

The Paris heat wave is finally easing today, with rain and thunderstorms moving across France. Tonight the families are taking a Seine and Eiffel Tower tour (from the ground) then off to Mt. Blanc by train in the morning, where a different adventure begins.

 

Here on the other side of the world, we woke up to a drizzly, cool morning. After that little taste of summer, we won't get back to 70 degrees until next weekend. There is an old saying in Seattle that “summer doesn’t start until the 5th of July." 

Nothing exciting for us, just a quiet weekend at home.  Have a good one. 

Bragging rights

 

We have geraniums in pots every summer, but this year they are really exceptional. It's been so warm and dry, but now a big change with rain in the forecast (welcome) and in the 60's for the next week or so. 

This cool weather will make the locals happy again. When it gets a few degrees above 80 we have those "severe heat warnings" on the news. 

Speaking of severe heat, this a tough week to be in Paris. Some of the major tourist attractions abruptly closed today (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, etc.) which is disappointing because reservations were made months in advance. 

But the families are staying in a small hotel in the heart of Montmartre, which has great street ambience. For teenagers, enough just to be in Paris, isn't it? And the girls look like they fit right in.

 

 

Off to the (hopefully) cooler Alps on Saturday. 

 

The quality of air

 

 

It is such a pleasure to hold and read a beautifully bound book. Especially while breathing in the scent of lavender. John found me this classic illustrated copy of "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann on Ebay. 

Published in 1924, the setting is a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland, and the story of a young engineer who comes for 3 weeks and stays for 7 years on the "magic mountain." 

Switzerland was famous for tuberculosis sanatoriums in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Before antibiotics, fresh air and rest were the primary cure, if you could afford it. Alpine air was considered medicine.  

These historic sanatoriums have mostly been converted to luxury hotels, but you can still go to Switzerland and take expensive cures for modern aliments. 

When we were in Switzerland, I thought about "The Magic Mountain." It was unusually hot, and after a long day of train and bus travel, we finally arrived at Hotel Reine Victoria in St. Moritz. There was no air conditioning, but I opened the waist high, screen free windows letting in birdsong and the coolest, cleanest, sweetest, high altitude air. (Such are the small memories you retain from a jam-packed trip.)

OK. Speaking of trips and hot weather. Amanda, Tom and the girls flew out last night should be arriving about now in sizzling Paris. Over one hundred degrees in France today? Unbelievable. 

Here are the travelers yesterday morning in Carlton, just starting out on their epic long journey.  

16 hours

 

 

Happy summer solstice. We have sixteen hours of daylight in the Northwest and true darkness lasts for only about 4 hours. The birds wake up with me about 3:45. 

We heard good old Beethoven's 9th at the Symphony yesterday for the season finale. Seattle audiences love Beethoven! Not to mention, big choral music productions. 

Frankly, the 60+ minute work is kind of a slog (apologies to a musical masterpiece of Western civilization) until the final "Ode to Joy" catchy movement. Then chorus finally gets to stand up. And then the audience goes crazy with a standing O. 

A lighter take from Mr. Bean:

 

 

 

Big!

 

Everything looks so big this year. The hydranges are enormous and lilies and roses over my head-- is it my imagination, or maybe I'm just shrinking. At this rate, I'll soon be an old crone pottering around under the vegetation. 

The busy gardener's mind cannot help but jump ahead to when all this rampant annual growth must be cut back and hauled from the yard. It makes a person tired just thinking about it (so don't.) 

Anyway, it feels good to be back after an easy drive home. The trick is to leave as early as possible this time of year. Most of the traffic was headed the other direction. 

Back to normal routines after much travel. We have a symphony on Sunday-- the last of this season. 

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads in our family.