Bonjour from Paradise!

Bonjour

Well here we are in Bourg d'Oisans. This place is one of my very favourite places in the world. It is a cycling paradise and everything here is set up for cyclists. It is a little hard I must say but I will deal with it and return in the future with my bike!

The trip here on Tuesday took about 6 or 7 hours, but we had the odd stop. The weather wasn't great which was a shame as we could have seen alot more - especially coming through Switzerland. Did manage to get a shot (for you Ray) of the biggest jar of Nutella I have ever seen - not sure which spoon you would use for this one! It was really heavy and cost 65 Swiss Franks! I have banned myself from the substance now.

We arrived here at around 5pm and met Damien our landlord. He speaks great English and seems a bit amused when I try out my French on him! He is a keen downhill mountain biker, 35, and lives up the Alpe d'Huez. The apartment has 3 bedrooms and he says it is fine for you all to come and stay at no extra cost so that is great.

First day here Jase was working, so I ventured into the town (all of 100m) and tried out my French on a few people. I generally start by saying that I am learning French and that I am going to try to speak to them... then I bring out a few more words before I become stuck and they speak to me in English! I can't believe how friendly and helpful they all are now that I can have a bit more of a try at speaking. When we were here in 2008 I thought I was giving it a crack when I said hello and do you speak English (in French) !! I walked to the local pool and the lady there told me that through June it is only open Weds, Sat and Sun from 2-6pm. It is an outdoor pool so heres hoping it's warmer than the German one!

Weds night I had Jase do an Alpe d'Huez TT. Bit mean since it was his first day here and he was tired after working all day, but as his 'coach' I wanted a baseline. I drove the car up and cheered him on at various points. I met 3 English guys up there and they waited with me to cheer him on - he definitely lifted his pace as he came past us! The guys were going to spray paint 'Go Jase' on the road but the spray can wouldn't work. Anyway I am not permitted to publish Jase's time as he is less than impressed. I didn't think it was too bad, all things considering.

Yesterday (Thurs) there was an event up the Alpe to raise money for cancer... 3000 mad Dutch cyclists cycling up it 6x each! They started at 5am, and the event close off was 9.30pm, so a long day. We went and watched a little of it at the base of the climb, and there were definitely some tired looking riders. Man the Dutch are a tall race!

Jase went for a ride to the "end of the world" yesterday (called that by the French as it comes to a dead end) - almost the flattest longish ride we could find with over 1000m of climbing! I went down to the park (about 50m) and took Jase's laptop and learnt French using David's CDs. I was a little embarrassed at first as people could hear it, but in the end it turned out great - they all absolutely loved the fact that I was trying to learn their lingo and several stopped for a chat! None quite so long as my new 54 year old French friend Gerard Arnold however! He talked to me for a good hour, and he didn't speak any English at all but somehow he managed to teach me a few things! It is quite funny as I was bagging the CD for teaching me irrelevant phrases such as asking someone if their children are big - I ended up pulling out all the French I knew - it turns out his daughter is in fact big (she is 29 afterall!) - she is 1m 84cm tall! So that phrase did end up being useful!

Yesterday afternoon Jase and I went to Vaujany (a mountain village 1200m altitude, and about 18km from here). The reason for our visit - the indoor swimming pool (I was starting to go mad without any exercise). Jase of course did not swim - reason being the fact that board shorts are banned in French pools! - only speedos or tight 'hot pants' are permitted! The woman at the desk spoke good English to me after I had tried my French, so I told her that in NZ it was 'uncool' for males to wear such outfits! She laughed and said she had heard this before and found it very strange. Jase then displayed his tan lines in an attempt to gain understanding from her -she simply laughed and said that his tan lines were no excuse! I will attach a photo of the sign on the pool door - comedy gold!

I swam 2.5km and man it was alot harder at altitude! I didn't think 1200m would affect me but it did. Maybe because I am not a good swimmer - I don't seem to notice the altitude as much on the bike. The pool was great though - the French have not seemed to embrace the German signature stroke of double armed backstroke thank goodness! I also had an actual roped off swimming lane to myself!

Today was a beautiful day. Jase went for a short recovery ride in the morning, then we went up the Lataret and the Galibier. The Galibier had heaps of snow (photos are above), and today was the first day it was open. Then we went and had a look around Briancon, and drove a little way up the Col d'Izzard. Was around 28 degrees today so hope to at least get a sun tan soon!

Well that is enough waffle. If anyone ever wants to visit paradise, this place is it - Bourg d'Oisans in the French Alpes (right at the base of the Alpe d'Huez).

Au revior
Jeanette