GPS directions:
Going through one of the very narrow tunnels through mountains:
The glacier:
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Road Trip!
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Little yellow apples:
Do these look appetizing to you? And what are they?
Shepherd near the glacier:
Glacier:
Villar d'Arene:
Don't always trust your GPS--at this point in our travels, she wanted us to take the upper road to the right that was very narrow. We took the lower road and they came out at the same place only one block away!
TGV train line elevated near Aix-en-Provence:
***still trying to find on Google maps the little cemetery I saw from the N94 on our trip today. It was just off the road near St. Clemence sur Durance or Mont-Dauphin. I had written in my notes that it was 4 miles out of Embrun--did I mean before or after??? Anyway, it was a small cemetery with every grave it seemed having its own little house! We went by too fast to get a photo. :-(
Road Trip! We decided
that since today may be our last unrainy day here in Aix, that we would try to
do a drive up to the French Alps. But we
never expected to see all that we saw.
Wow! I know the Italian Alps are
huge and amazing, but I thought these would kind of be like The Rockies at the
most. Boy, was I wrong. We saw amazing valleys and hugely tall
mountain peaks AND glaciers!!!!! And
snowy topped mountains. And a shepherd
with French sheep—wonder if they say “baa” with an accent? J
We started out with our GPS telling us we were heading for
God and it was going to take us 80 miles—shorter thanyou thought, huh? She was trying to say Gap, but she has more
trouble than I do with French. I think
all French drivers think they are on a race course—they weave in and out and
even though they have all the road ahead of you when they pass you, they cut in
quick like they area trying to squeeze into a tiny space. The speed limit is 130K, which is about
80mph, so it always feels like you’re going fast. In several places along our way, there were
artworks displayed in the roundabouts (rond-points) with the creator’s name and
the name of the work. Very pretty ones,
sometimes, like 3 sails from a boat or 2 teepees or 4 colorful windvanes. We stopped to pick up a map of the area and
some windscreen cleaner (windshield cleaner) so that my photos wouldn’t have
smudges or glares on them, hopefully.
First I want to explain that the geology and geography
around here is different than in most places.
Much of what we saw today and definitely what we saw yesterday at St.
Baume it a geological curiosity. It was
thrown up from the depths of the sea in the secondary era in a “head-over-hills”
attitude. This results from a so-called
inversion which occurred at the start of the tertiary period due to pressure
from the northward movement of the Italian peninsula, part of the movement of
the continents. After a break at the
hinge of this fold, the inversion slid northwas about 10 km. The result is that the older rocks (Urgonien)
cover the more recent deposits (Aptien & Santonien).
I can't even relate the entire experience of stopping for a restroom break on the way home. Let me just say that it involved a French-style toilet & a large centipede. :-(
I can't even relate the entire experience of stopping for a restroom break on the way home. Let me just say that it involved a French-style toilet & a large centipede. :-(
More road signs for today:
Tir de Mines!=
Blasting of mines
Sortie des Camions=
trucks exiting
Sauf Riverains=
residents only
Chantier interdit de public= prohibited construction of public (so I
still don’t know what this one means)
Ferme aux Crocodiles=
There is actually a crocodile farm near here—though I can’t for the life
of me figure out the significance of crocodiles to this region—and they have crocodiles,
caimans, gavials, alligators. What are
caimans and gavials? Not the place for
me.
So now for your enjoyment, let’s take a ride from Aix-en-Provence to Gap then on to Briancon and then over to Grenoble before returning south.
France has many canals and we passed OVER one near Sisteron. It was an elevated canal but our highway (N94) was elevated over it:
The citadel with the Chapel Notre Dame du Chateau and the ramparts in the village of Sisteron:
France has many canals and we passed OVER one near Sisteron. It was an elevated canal but our highway (N94) was elevated over it:
I kept seeing these fields of trees covered with plastic and thought the little yellow fruits on them looked like lemons, which seemed out of place, but then we had a clue in the next roundabout......
Little yellow apples:
French Ronald McDonald:
Do these look appetizing to you? And what are they?
Trying to find out to turn on windshield cleaner in the 3 pages related to the subject, I think, of the Auto booklet in French only:
Beautiful scenery near Savines le Lac:
Near Briancon:
Snowshed to protect cars from avalanches:
Shepherd near the glacier:
Glacier:
Villar d'Arene:
Don't always trust your GPS--at this point in our travels, she wanted us to take the upper road to the right that was very narrow. We took the lower road and they came out at the same place only one block away!
Near La Grave La Meije:
Because of a recent avalanche and repairs, we got to stop under this waterfall:
Fortress of Mornas--
The huge feudal fortress, with stone walls, towers, chateau
was built on top of the cliffs in the 11-12th-century by the Earl of Toulouse, and
was one of the largest in France.
TGV train line elevated near Aix-en-Provence:
***still trying to find on Google maps the little cemetery I saw from the N94 on our trip today. It was just off the road near St. Clemence sur Durance or Mont-Dauphin. I had written in my notes that it was 4 miles out of Embrun--did I mean before or after??? Anyway, it was a small cemetery with every grave it seemed having its own little house! We went by too fast to get a photo. :-(
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