France?!

       We had the entire afternoon free this Sunday. The general consensus was that everybody wanted to see the Alps. Fortunately, our bus passes allowed us to travel right to the edge of the city. From there it was a short walk across the Switzerland-French border and enter France. We arrived at the bottom of our destination, Mt. Saleve and faced a choice. Pay 4 euros to take the cable car up, or face the long climb. In the end, only me and four other brave souls decided to brave the accent. It was a tough climb, rising over 700 meters from the bottom, the path alternating between switchback dirt paths and crumbling stone staircases. We were out of breath immediately, barely being able to gasp out a 'bonjour' to the natives who piratically sprinted past us. (Including young children, chain-smokers, and old ladies.) But we were rewarded with beautiful scenery, breathtaking views, and a lovely little village called Monnetier. By Monnetier we were already hopelessly lost, but luckily we found a woman who spoke some English by the town church, and she pointed us in the right direction. We asked how long it would take. She paused, looking us over. All of us in our American garb, me in my five-fingers, cameras clutched tightly in our hands. 'For you... one hour, probably more.' We thanked her and hurried away before our tourist looks brought forth any of that famous French disdain towards foreigners waving maps in their faces.
       We reached the top, and decided that since it was 4, naturally it was time for lunch. We had purchased bread and cheese and chocolate the night before, and after the hike that kind of food was exactly what we needed. Some of the group expressed a desire to handglide down (an activity very popular with native thrill-seekers) but the winds had picked up and they had cancelled the flights for that afternoon. We settled with watching the experts float higher and higher on the breeze, and laid back in the afternoon sun. At 5:30, we ran into one of the other groups and decided to hike up to the Budist monestary together. Again we were pleasently surprised to discover that the view got better the higher we got. The monestary was everything we expected, prayer flags fluttering in the wind, monks going around doing their chores, a little building on the hill housing a colorful interior and shrine. At this point I did not want the day to end. I suggested walking down the mountain on the opposite side, which, according to our map, was a five hour hike. Only the original 4 agreed. We walked past the monestary and after 10 minutes arrived on the best landscape of the night, a perfect snapshot of rural France. We were surrounded on three sides by the Alps, the fourth side overlooked the valley that contained Geneva (a valley that is surrounded by mountains). All around us stretched beautifully pastures, fields of wheat, and grazing French cattle. We could have spent the rest of the day there. As I watched a local farmer and his son walking the fenceline, checking on their herds while the occasional cloud floated just above our heads, I could have spent the rest of my life there. But it was getting dark and regretfully we moved away and headed down the mountains. We stopped in the nearby village for directions again. As we departed the little village with a chorus of 'desoles' and 'merci's' I was forced to accept that maybe not all of France was so bad after all. Everyone we'd met so far had been friendly and helpful. By the time we made it to the bottom dusk had descended and it was totally dark as we made our way along quiet roads back to the bus station, crossing safely back into Switzerland without incident. We slept well that night, amazed that we had just added France to our long list of countries. 6 hours of hiking, 5 little French towns, 1 orcherd that is now short 5 apples, and my first strong connection with my fellow globalites.
 A pretty good second day.
 -JT

(The pıcture should gıve you some idea of the vıew. We spent a lot of tıme settıng up those rocks to get a pıc of Han climbing too. We got some stares from the locals... but ıt was worth ıt)