Stage dans le Jura

Last week we went on a field trip to the Jura which is an French "départment" which are caracterised by it's mountains. It lasted from April 20th to 24th. We had the best weather. The hottest day went up to 27 degrees C!! If you followed me on Instagram @michbrais, you will have seen our stops the day we discovered them :) If not, here are the pictures!

April 20th

Les Grands Ensembles de Planoise (sans voir les grands ensembles vraiment)

First lunch in the sun

La Chapelle de l'Espérance

Pontarlier

La vue de la chapelle

 April 21st

La Station Métabief

village où on logeait

regarde, encore de la neige

Château de Joux

 Vue d'en haut où se trouve le château

Pontarlier

Des vaches qui traversent la rue :)

 April 22nd

Les vignes d'Arbois

La Vallée du Lison (idem pour les autres photos)

A young woman died, engulfed by the current at the source. Here lies a cross for her

 The valley was truly breath-taking but the pictures could never translate it!

April 23rd

Château-Chalon

 Belvédere de Château-Chalon

Baume-les-Messieurs

idem, vue de la vallée

Lac de Vouglans

April 24th 

La source de la Loue

There are many stops where I did not take pictures because I forgot or did not judge it scenic enough :P

It was quite a natural experience. We also kept in shape with all the walking (and barely eating...)

Though the French system and administration and general way of functioning have been hell for me, I must praise their Geography Faculty's on hands-on, practical way of learning. They often have field trips and projects based on concrete and practical manoeuvres, so that they can apply notions learnt in class. It's of course easier for them considering they all have exactly the same classes and schedules so they can take a week for one class like this. It's also a great way to build a community among the students. I have only really gotten to know most of them through this experience... now that I am close to my departure :(

Easter U=･ x ･=U

April 2nd to 5th

Thursday April 2nd
This Easter season my brother came to visit me in Strasbourg all the way from Lausanne!

He arrived on Thursday night and we walked through the whole city home. And went out to... yes, you guessed it buy a dessert!

mmmmm Flan cake

Friday April 3rd

On Easter Friday we left the city to go to Sélestat where there is the Koenigsberg castle and Monkey Mountain with Lisa, Michi and Ralph

Koenigsberg Castle: so Lisa explained that the Koenig is a king, but also he is the King of kings. So this was the big guy's castle. Obviously, this is a part of France that belonged to Germany before by the title of it.

Soooo big

 Oh hai Robert

 Twirly stairs 

 Just taking a rest at the top 

 Look at that view, how beautiful

Monkey Mountain: La pièce de résistance
We were given popcorn that we could feed the monkeys, but be careful, you must stay one meter away at all times.
The monkeys are not indigenous to the area. It's actually a conservatory for monkeys coming from northern Africa.

 Ralph is the first to try 

 This is Lisa's reaction basically every time she fed one

 Such a poser

 Looks like a bond has formed

 Hey, I can do it too!

But secretly... I wanted to eat the popcorn myself

 I took a picture of this one looking very human casually sitting on a log  

These ones are hugging. How cute!

In the evening, I made reservation for Le Gruber, a typical Alsatian cuisine restaurant near the cathedral.

We passed by Petite France on our way there.

 Look at the tourist... 

 he's such a poser.

I'm kidding. He really didn't like posing for the picture but I made him. 

 We also passed by an outdoor market

Yes, because it is warm enough here to stay outside for more than 20 minute intervals

ha! Montreal

The seller at one of the stalls gave us a discount on two jars of terrine because he saw that we were from McGill on my water bottle and his daughter's friend went to study there. Talk about awesome! McGill represent! The terrine made for a good breakfast the next morning

Welcome to Le Gruber

 Here we are at the restaurant, feeling grown-up because we have a reservation

Look at Robert eyeing our food! We both ordered stew like meals. I mean it was a chilly day, like only 10 degree :P ;) 

Saturday April 4th

The weather was not as nice Saturday, actually it rained all day non-stop. We spent our morning shopping for groceries in Kehl (Germany) for our Easter brunch on Sunday. We both had to practice our German. 

After lunch we hit the sites

- Walking up the 300 steps to the top of the cathedral

YAY we made it

 - The inside of the cathedral

 Watching the character change on the astrological clock in the cathedral

It was packed full of (mostly German) tourists, but it was disappointing... We are all like "that's it!?"

- The European Parliament 

We just passed by it in the tram because it was raining and we cannot walk in without a tour

- Le parc l'orangerie

We did not take any pictures for lack of scenic appeal in the rain... heheh

Sunday April 5th

Easter Sunday started off well with a huge brunch! Sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes, fruits, cheeses and a classic lamb shaped bread/cake thing that Europeans traditionally eat and we beheaded om nom nom. We got so busy eating that we forgot to take a picture :S

Sunday's gorgeous weather more than made up for Saturday's rain and clouds. He took a nice stroll to parc l'orangerie (in part to digest all the food) so that Robert could see it in all its glory.

Photo creds: Kathy

Little did we know that Robert and I would be taking a 30 minute speed walk to Kehl to catch his train because the buses don't pass frequently enough on Sundays. I guess we can cross walking from France to Germany off of our bucket list!