The American Invasion of Ariège - July 2010

I apologize for being so off the map. Things have been a bit hectic here and I know a few folks are still waiting to see all the pics from our recent visitors and great adventures. We had a wonderful time with everyone and the house is now a little too quiet again.

Here are a few highlights while I sort through all the pics.

Without a doubt, France has a plethora of things to offer, yet, we still find that our network of friends and family are irreplaceable.  Living abroad is exciting, interesting and even romantic at times, but there is no substitute for all the amazing people we know back in the States.  To show our excitement at having visitors, Steph kicked off the American Invasion of Ariège with a Le Taux special, "concert in bed" for Ben & Shawna.  It's kind of like breakfast in bed, only with more laughing and less Nutella.  

As part of the immigration process to France, I was given free French lessons.  Despite the fact that they are an hour drive away in Foix, they have been extremely valuable and I feel very fortunate to have an excellent teacher who is very dedicated to helping all of her students. The other students in the class are of all levels, from absolute beginner to extremely proficient and I've been very impressed at how well my teacher manages such a difficult class setting.  

As a fun class activity for the end of the year (yes, even my French class goes on vacation for 6 weeks), the class went to visit Carla Bayle, a medieval fortified village near where we live.  After spending some time letting Ben & Shawna recuperate from an epic trip of standby travel, we went to meet up with my class for a tour of the village and an opportunity to meet some folks with fascinating stories.  

Students in the French class are from all over the world.  A number of people are from various parts of Africa, but there are also people from Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Peru, Armenia, Russia, Turkey, and other countries.  Here, we're checking out the countryside to the north of the village.  This year's Tour De France passed just behind Shawna's right shoulder and through Carla Bayle before flying towards Bagneres De Luchon.  

No trip to Ariège would be complete without a couple of visits to the Cathar castles that abound in the region.  Here, Craig and Jen are enjoying the ruins of Roquefixade.  

In France, there are often signs that say, "Acces Interdit", which rougly translates into English as, "Duck under chain and climb up dodgy stairway to see spectacular view".  Don't try to Google Translate that one to double check my interpretation... you'll for sure get some lame interpretation that keeps you firmly planted on the ground, staring at your fingernails while others go and have fun. 

We also did happen to stumble upon one of the most impressive caves I've seen.  For climbing, it's spectacular.  The majority of routes climb up about 30 feet, then go completely horizontal for the next 60-90 feet.  Up until I saw this place, I wasn't very motivated to climb, but the prospect of getting to monkey around on tufas and giant holes in a horizontal roof got me psyched again.  Holy crap, it's fun!

It also turns out that fixed ropes in horizontal caves make pretty good swings, which are hours of entertainment in themselves.  

We also had Ben Schneider and Liz come visit us, which was awesome.  Taking the sound advice of several local folks, we got up early (4 am) and drove to a high mountain pass near Ax-les-Thermes to watch the Tour De France.  As expected, it was a bit of a circus.  It would be like taking Country Jam and putting it at the top of Mount Evans.  Needless to say, when we arrived at the summit at 6am, there wasn't much parking left, so Ben was forced to do one of the most impressive parking feats I've ever seen.  At one point, shortly before the photo above, he had the rental car balanced on two wheels, before coming to a rest.  It was sweet!

Lots of hanging out, waiting for the cyclists, which flew by in probably 30 minutes or less.

Schwag: free shit that generally has no value other than it's marketing potential. 

Tour De France Schwag: Really ugly free shit that definitely has no value other than it's marketing potential.

Example:

Wouldn't be the full Tour De France experience without Lance Armstrong.  Here's a fuzzy, crappy pic...

Lance got luckier than we did with the Schwag Wagon.... his stripes were a bit bigger and his marketing potential seemed to be more profitable than ours.  I offered to wear his jersey for the bargain basement price of half his salary, but his sponsor politely declined and said that they might reconsider if I dropped a few pounds and did something spectacular with my life.  I'll get on that.

In the mean time... We miss you guys.  You all make our lives spectacular.