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2003-02
In to Jutteninges Grand
There are two Jutteninges and this is the Grand one. I believe that the other Jutteninges is the larger of the two but it doesn't sit up high on the mountain side as does Jutteninges Grand. I don't think there are more than 10 chalets in here. It is much more private than it looks. It is surrounded by pastures with horses and cattle. It is not at all unusual to hear the calls of hawks during the day hours. At night it is nearly pitch black.
Is this just not one of the ideal places to start your honeymoon? I think the folks that live here are just some of the luckiest people on earth. It is sheer bliss to visit.
Wow!
Just about like everyone else in the world I was a bit nervous about meeting my inlaws but when we drove up and parked in front of this I was very relieved. I just knew right away that anyone who conceived of this garden to greet visitors with were kind and wonderful people. I have to tell you that I was not disappointed at all. My inlaws are much nicer than me.
I haven't seen these iris since. I regret missing their blooming. The consolation is that there are always wonderful flowers on this steep-sided garden. If it were in California or just about anywhere else in the US it would just be covered with sometype of creeping ground cover. My hat's off to my father and mother in-law for braving gravity and making this a showpiece of their gardens.
The Rose by the Door
Actually I was going to name this the Voracious Rose because it is growing at the most astounding rate. This photo was taken in 2002. It is now 2010 and it covers most of the front of the house. I only apologize because we haven't been back during the spring and summer months for me to update this photo.
From the deck
This is the view from the eastern side of the house, from the deck. We often have lunch on the deck during the warmer months. Oh, and yes, That is the forest in the background.
One morning my mother-in-law called me out to the deck to see a little hedge hog. They often have wild animals visiting their yard. They, of course, have a great many birds. What they don't have are wandering dogs. In France, at least the regions I have been in, dogs are not allowed to wander. In the near decade that I have been here I have seen only two stray dogs. The French take better care of their pets, I believe.
Good Morning!
I almost missed these flowers. They are tucked on the west side of the house and a bit behind the corner. My initial plan was to come to see the vegetable garden so you can imagine my delight to have found these happy blooms.
You may already know that the French are avid gardeners yet they seem to take all of these marvelous flowers and gardens in their stride. I can't tell if they really aren't impressed or if they just don't rave on and on about French gardens as I do. What I do know is that if the French were from the southwestern part of the USA they would be as enthralled with the gardens as I am.
Peonies from heaven
I'm sorry, a poor play on words. Still, that is what I thought when I came around the house and saw this arrangement for the first time. I don't know why but everytime I see this photo I have the sudden urge to pop My Fair Lady into the DVD player and take a much needed break, even if I don't need a break.
Lovely in Pink
What you can't tell from this photo is that these plants are taller than me when I am standing next to them. My in-laws plant their garden in specific color areas and this border happens to be this love shade of rose. Imagine having your first cup of coffee in the morning with this view right outside the dining room window. It is like living in paradise.
View from the vegetable garden
I am always curious as to what the unseen portions of landscapes look like; perhaps you are also curious? As luck has it, I happened to have access to this particular homes back yard and this is what the view looks like at 11am on a nice warm June morning when taken from the vegetable garden.
By the way, that window in the upper right hand corner is the very same window where I take those photos that read "taken from the bedroom window". One year our hosts put us in the bedroom next to this one. I was beside myself but I don't think anyone understood why. It was only because I have been taking photos from this particular window for so long now that I think of it as a sort of time-lapse sequence. Just one time of not having access to this window would knock a huge hole in my long term plans! But, all things were resolved. Our hosts gaves us the room with the view I wanted afterall. French people are so nice!
An Old Wine Press
Just an old wine press set to make the garden a bit more interesting. I'm guessing that French women didn't like having purple feet and I am not at all surprised.
Morning Mist
This is the view my in-laws are greeted with daily from their front balcony. It's only early autumn and already there are some trees showing off their vibrant colors.
Up. Gasp! Up.
No this isn't a photo of the cars that couldn't make the climb. It's a photo of the road that the cyclists in the Tour de France must climb. It is taken from the parking lot of the bar/hotel at the top. (next photo)
This photo was taken during the summer of 2003: The Year of the Great Draught. That's why there is so little green in the photo. I have been to this location since then and I assure you that it is green even in August when there is no drought. Also, the weather is perfect for sitting outside and enjoying a coke without an ice. Bleh! Make sure you ask for ice with your coke or you will be served a lukewarm coke. Is it any wonder that the French don't like Coke?
On the trail of the Tour de France again
Imagine being a cyclist and seeing this after a long steep climb. Hmmm... Maybe not. What you don't see is a little bar to the left and out of the photo. If I were a cyclist I would be seeing the bar while seriously considering stopping to use the phone for my husband to come get me.
From the side of the road...
This was a Christmas season driving tour. I thought this winter scene quite charming knowing that the warmth of the car was waiting for me to finish my photo taking adventure. That's Mont Blanc with snow blowing off of it in the far back.
Paragliders in the Alps
Everytime we go to the alps for a brief summer holiday the skys are swarmed with paragliders. Just look up and this is often the sight that greets you.
Samoëns' Village Center
Isn't this just too fabulous? The building is the City Hall. Beat that!
Wisteria in Samoëns
Samoëns is located in the French Alps and a favored place for skiing and other winter sports. This photo was taken during the spring, of course. Out of all the photos I took during our honeymoon this one remains my favorite and I think it always will be, excluding those of my children and grandchildren. My husband found it difficult to believe I found this scene charming. To him it is an old building and to me it is romantically quaint and so typical of what I anticipated the French countryside would look like. I showed my mother-in-law this photo and when she asked where I had taken it I answered Taneinges. I was mistaken. Sorry, Taneinges is not the place after all, although it is near by and lovely too.
On top of the world
This is on a viewing platform at the top of Mont Blanc. We entered from Chamonix below via a tramway (I know it is not what Europeans call it but it is what we Americans call it). I am not a mountain climber and if I were I would never climb a mountain were it was so cold that a glacier forms. Although I do like ice in my tea and colas I definately don't appreciate it when it surrounds me.
After exiting we actually walk, of our own free will, into a tunnel coated with ice. I had thought that the viewing platform would be something like an enclosed restaurant with a view but I was oh so very wrong. We walked straight out onto a viewing platform open to the cold! I will admit that the view was magnificent in any direction I looked. It wasn't just the cold that took my breath away.
In this photo, at the lower left corner, you will see two vertical tiny black lines. Those are people hiking across the glacier. I took this photo because my husband and his sister told me that looking out from here I was seeing France, Switzerland and Italy. Who knew Italy had all this snow?! I tried to imagine I was seeing all those countries but all I could see was a lot of ice.
Mont Blanc seen from a street in Chamonix
On one incrediable day, during our honeymoon and when I wasn't cold, we went to spend the day at Chamonix. It was a long drive. To get there we had to travel through what is the longest tunnel I have ever been in. That is not a pleasant experience for a person who has worked in the emergancy rooms of Trauma 1 Care Hospitals. The drive and the countryside were just amazingly green. If Ireland is more green than France was on this day then it is rightly so called the Green Isle.
This was my first sight of a glacier, ever. I found it to be quite impressive. Little did I know as I looked at all of that ice that we were going to ascend to the top. Had I known I probably wouldn't have been so enthusiastic. I should have guessed when my husband insisted bringing a coat for me. (Did I tell you that I don't like the cold or have you already guessed?)
This glacier is melting. I think it is sad to think that even now tourists are viewing a diminished form of that which is taken in this photo. All the while I know that I too, was impressed by what was left.
A Glimpse Through The Trees
Both my husband and I share a love of mountains so of course we had an great driving tour of the Alps. One of the driving tours he planned was the same route taken by the Tour de France. This particularly steep and long section of the route is densely lined with trees. Basically it is a climbing road without any side views. So when we passed this little opening I just had to ask him to stop so I could take a photo. In the distance, in the middle of the village, is the top most tower to a castle.
Cascade de Rouge, Les Alpes, France
The first time I came to Europe was during our honeymoon in 2002. We, of course, toured to take in some of the sites that my husband grew up seeing. For him these places hold memories which enhance them even more. For me they are just incrediably beautiful.
This water fall is quite well known in France. On the day we first visited it the weather was overcast, constantly misting rain and quite chilly. I learned from this visit never to go anywhere without a light weight jacket.
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