The French man above stopped to help us with directions in Voiron, near Grenoble France.
Mieke and Herman below are Dutch cyclists visiting Switzerland.
Julien below is a young Frenchman biking in Switzerland; Alan enjoyed his stories.
We were helped in Brig Switzerland by the young Swiss woman below.
A group of 12 French have been gathering at Annecy to hike for years. Every day two people prepare the lunch. What a way to hike!
Clouds highlighted the beautiful landscape as we traveled up the Rhone valley area in Savoie and Haute Savoie regions of France.
The image above is a fresco painted on a wall, representing famous artists from this small town - drinking "La Fée Verte," Absinthe. Claude Terrasse, Pierre Bonnard, Alfred Jarry. From a recent book A la Fraiche by Mano Gentile.
Vienne, on the Rhone below Lyon, was an important Roman colony.
The Vienne Cathedral below was damaged during the Thirty Years Religious Wars.
This area of the upper Loire is below the city of Roanne and above St Etienne.
Chateau Batie DUrfé was renovated in the Seventeenth Century by the DUrfé family and shows the clear influence of the Italian Renaissance style. The Grotto above is constructed entirely out of shells. The Classical courtyard below features an Egyptian sphinx.
The marshlands of the Loire valley below and the area called Forez.
The cloister above is still used, as is the church which was started in the Fourteenth Century.
The "younger" church from the 14th Century, above, has a granary added to the walls to store the grain from tithing. The older church below was started in the Tenth Century.
This tiny village near the Loire was settled very early by the Roman era because it is on a fertile plain, has good materials for building, and is in a defensible position.
Some of the many visitors above.
Some of the leaders of the Preservation Association: Tonia above; Alain and Frederic below.
Norbert the historian leads a tour to Chateau Bastie DUrfé.
Kya and Corrinne Azar are well known artists in Champoly.
The menu was hors doeuvres, homemade pizza with herbs from the garden, homemade pickled vegetables, and homemade tart. Delicious!
