Grenada - july 2016

Eric took me on a surprise week end away to Grenada in july (celebrating 10 years together ! First week end away without the kids* !)
(* the kids were safely and happily staying with their grandmothers).

It was beautiful, it was hot, the tapas were great.
We were staying in the Albaicin, or old city, and set out to explore the narrow and cobbled streets, surrounded by white houses and palaces and tantalising mostly hidden gardens.

Of course, we went and visited the Alhambra. The gardens are lovely, and, although the outside of the buildings are quite bare, the inside is nicely ornementated.

We were of course reminded, a lot, of the mughal architecture and artwork in India.

The views over the city were great.

El Generalife.

Us !

To escape the heat in the afternoon, we decided on a whim to go and hike a bit in the Sierra Nevada. Oh, the joy of spontaneity and impromptu and careless decisions !
We drove to the end of the road and then went for a walk. The rain started as soon as we arrived and we spent some time hoping for the sky to clear.

.. but clear it did !
We set out to walk towards a summit, from which people were climbing down at this late hour ; we did not know at the time, but the Hoya de la Mora (2515 m) - Pico Velata (3397 m) hike is actually a classic. We did not actually go all the way to the peak, as the walk is really long (23 km) and the evening was getting on, but we went to about 3150 m / 18 km. 
The landscape was bare and rugged and quite beautiful ; the air was cool and pure and very refreshing.  

 

On the sunday morning, before heading back, we visited the royal chapel and the madrasa accross the street - the one tiny room preserved there from arabic times is truly a jewel. 

Paroles suite : la fête de la science d'après Ruben

Mamido a emmené samedi Ruben à la fête de la science à l'école polytechnique, Thomas y étant en thèse et ayant préparé une visite de labo.
Compte rendu par Ruben ce soir :

- Il y avait un grand escalier pour aller à l'école chimiste. On s'est perdu au début. On a du demander à pleins de gens.

- Il y avait un télescope pour voir les ailes.
- Microscope ou télescope ?
- On regardait les ailes de libellule avec le microscope. Elles avaient des picots.
- Et on sait pourquoi elles avaient des picots ?
- Non. Et on ne peut pas demander aux libellules car elles ne parlent pas la même langue que nous.

- Il y avait une imprimante, qui imprimait tout en longueur comme ca et tout en longueur comme ca.
- Une imprimante 3D ?
- Oui.

- Et tonton Thomas, il travaille sur quoi ?
- Sur les fissures des rails, qui supportent les trains. Et chaque mois, il y a un train plein de capteurs qui passe pour regarder les fissures. Thomas, il travaille avec la SNCF.
(plutot pas mal, pour un résumé de thèse !)

Quelques paroles

Ruben, ce soir, nous explique qu'il est très sage à l'école, et ajoute "mais vous êtes plus gentils que Rama et maitresse Marie alors je fais pleins de bêtises à la maison".

Nous accompagnons Alexandre dans sa classe chaque matin ; au début, nous jouions ensemble et lisions un, deux, trois livres. Mais depuis une semaine, il adopte un air déterminé lorsque nous entrons dans la classe, prend sur lui et lutte pour ne pas pleurer, et dit "tu pars maintenant Maman".

Printemps...

One day in Vernon in march, heavy fog on the Seine river.

Our friend Sandra fromWashington had a meeting in Paris, and stayed with us for a night : how great to meet up again !! It would be lovely to catch up as well with Troy and meet Charlotte and Noah : someday, someday...

Ruben's fifth birthday party !!
With Nelasha and Agastya, Solene, and Lilia.

Unfortunately, he slept through the family's party, but Alexandre was very happy to assist Domi in blowing the candles.

 

Going up the big wheel on the Place de la Concorde.

Having a good time (and eating carrots!) at Mahe's.

At the jardin d'acclimation, and then playing with Agathe, Alice + Lucile.

With the cousins (and grand mother, great grand mother, and uncle).

At the parc floral with Mathilde, Julien, Clement & Etienne.

April's holidays in Briancon  !
Ruben and Elizabeth came down first ; we joined them there. We went up the mountain to touch the snow (cold), played in the garden (great), and found heaps on morels in a very secret spot (yummy).

(Ruben on a hike with our neighbor Jean-Claude before we arrived ; Jean-Claude revealed the morels' secret spot to Ruben who then passed it on to us... Jean-Claude must have been disappointed in this development)

 At home, outside, hiking..

 

Elizabeth kindly looked after the kids so that Eric and I could go out together : we spent a nice morning / lunch in Monetier and did a great hike from the house : over the fort des tetes, via the Fontenil, then straight up to fort de l'infernet above Briancon (2377 m), and back down again. The last 200 m were still covered in snow and there were actually lots of ski tracks still visible - something to keep in mind for next winter !

The deserted forts up there make for a strange experience ; interesting but also terribly desolate...
They offer a great view (here Briancon and the vallee de la Claree) - But what it must have been to reside there..

For ascencion / 1st of may holiday, we went to Aix en Provence. The kids were delighted to water the garden, play by the pool, and Ruben even set up his own office with the old minitel (the last minitel on earth found a new life?).

 

At Sainte Croix beach.

 

Back in Paris : outings by the Seine (with the greenwall of the musee du quai branly), champ de mars,  parc de l'ile saint germain, and the annual firestation fest (with Alexandre holding the hose).

Ruben and I spent aweek end in Grenoble, staying with Eric and Virginie and then meeting up with Guillaume, Delphine and their baby Manolis.

In June : Impressive flooding of the Seine river in June.
 We also met up again with our friends from Delhi Gersende, Jerome + Jade and Nino. It was great to catch up !