A Weekend in the Mountains

This past weekend was the Dickinson spring semester trip. We went to the Valley of Louron in the Pyrénées, the mountain range that separates France and Spain. It was so nice to escape the constant rain of Toulouse (seriously did I move to England?) for the fresh mountain air. We were only there from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon but it felt much longer than that.

We left Toulouse bright and early Saturday morning and headed south. Because of all of the rain there was a mudslide just as we were approaching the valley that blocked the whole road. We found out that it was going to take about an hour to clear up so we turned around and headed back to the cute village we had just passed to have some coffee and crepes. If this happened to me somewhere in the US I would probably be pissed, but in France, c'est la vie. When we tried to pass again we were successful and we arrived in the beautiful valley. That morning, we split into two groups for activities. I went to visit the mayor of Estarvielle, the tiny town of 25 inhabitants that we stayed in. The other group made garbure, a traditional Pyrénées soup. We had lunch after that and then went to visit a woman who makes jam! We learned how to make blueberry jam and then got to sample all of her varieties and purchase a jar or two if we wanted. I got raspberry-mint and my god it's amazing. Afterwards, we went for a walk around the lake that sits right at the foothills of the mountains. Truly breathtaking. We went to go pick up our showsnoeing boots then headed back to relax and have an aperitif around the fire. For dinner we ate the garbure that the other group made and it was deeeelish. Most of us went to bed pretty early because we were exhausted after a long day.

Mudslide

Looking at old maps of the village

Blueberry jam

Raspberry-mint

Sunday we woke up early as well but this time to go snowshoeing! We drove up into the mountains, right next to a ski resort, and strapped on our raquettes (snowshoes). We could not have asked for more perfect weather. It was my first time snowshoeing and it was really fun! It's just like hiking but you have somewhat bulky things strapped to your feet. The views were incredible and I'm so happy it wasn't raining and we were able to do it. After we came back down the mountain, we went and had lunch next to the lake in the sunshine. Don't worry mom, I was wearing sunscreen as per usual. That afternoon we went to visit a fromagerie, a place where they make cheese! It was in a tiny village in the mountains and we had to walk a bit uphill to get there. On the way, Mme Toux stopped to show me some medieval frescos on a church in the village. The man who owns it gave us a tour of his space and we got to see the animals! The cows were beautiful and the sheep were adorable. We had a cheese tasting (I love France) and then got to purchase some cheese! We headed back to rainy Toulouse afterwards. It was a wonderful weekend and a great way to start off my travels for the semester!

Snowshoes!

I'm really cool, I know.

The snow formed really cool patterns

Medieval frescos

BABY COW

Yum.