05.25.07
Posted in Valbonne at 4:04 pm by tesstess
Oj oj, what have I done? Painted the bedroom window in “mauve” = light purple. The thought was good. We wanted have purple since it goes well to red/dark/warm colors which we like to have on the bed. We bought a new curtain (gardin, rideau) in “aubergine” color, quite dark to keep out the light in the morning.
The plan is also to paint the mirrors on the wardrobe and the details on the front of the chest of drawers in this “mauve”.
Now take a look at the color on the floor. That’s right, orange. Sorry I didn’t remember when we bought the paint, and for Anthony this color combination was not strange, even though he now after I’ve painted the window sees the purple color as a bit strange.
Another problem is that the chest of drawers has faner which is not so easy to paint on.
One solution I came to think of so far, to eliminate the orange is to put a carpet on. What should we do with the rest? Take a look on my photoshop-edited pictures below and write me a comment, please!
Posted in Climbing, Hollidays at 12:36 pm by tesstess
For two weeks we’ve been out on adventure with car and tent. First we went to Bandol, and found a nice camping where we stayed three nights. From here we went climbing at different sites and we really liked the place. On the picture above we’re doing a long route called something with “wind” in the name. Very good name: it was increddible how windy it was!
We have funny video clips from this one, ask next time you’re here and I’ll show you!
This time I have 96 pictures to show which is far to much to copy in to one blog post, so please go to my photo page and look at the album there to see all.
Cassis et les Calanques
Second camping was in Cassis, a small city just before Marseille. From this sweet city by the coast we took the boat (on the picture) to go in les Calonques. It was wonderful to come out at sea again, I missed it. Too sad we don’t know anyone in our region with a boat!
From the boat we saw climbers doing a travers along the water. If they fall, it’s direcly down in the sea!
The callanques are truly beautiful.
The boat takes tourists out to see the clifs and back, but there is possibility to go off at the clifs and then catch a later boat back, which we did two days in a row. The first day we were a bit late there, and just had some hours before the boat back. During this time we climbed the peak (below) in the middle of the beach, had our lunch at the top, and when back down again we took a swim in the turquoise water. 16 degrees = very cold. But fantastic once in.
The second day we had a clear goal: to climb one of the sides of this calanque. It’s 130 meters high! And divided into four routes. The start is just to the left of the beach.
This time we have helmets on. Not that I think they would save us if the ropes broke, but in this kind of routs there are sometimes stones falling down. And once, I didn’t look where I was climbing and hit my head in the rock above, and was very happy there was a helmet in between. As you can see we’re having two ropes, so it felt pretty safe.
The last route was a 6a, meaning the hardest level I’m doing on normal walls. Here it was so high that my brain didn’t remember how to climb, it just said “no, no, no, this is not possible to do”, and I had to use the rope to help me up.
Not a picture for mums.
We walked over the cliff and looked down in the calonque on the other side. The walls were really going straight down 130 meters into the sea! Impressing!
In the evening we were so happy to be back to the tent and I must say that after this kind of experience, you’re appreciating all small things much more. Like eating pasta and tomatoe sauce on a blanket.
Marseilles
After two nights in Cassis we went to Paul and Odile in Marseille. They bought an house half a year ago and are in the middle of doing big renovations. The kitchen was from Ikea, of course 
and it was very fun to see their plans. I instantly began longing for my own house to renovate.
To my great pleassure Odile loves pearls and she showed me her jewelry: bracelets and earrings, almost all done with swarovsky. She promised me to teach me how to do one of the bracelets that I really fell in love with so the next day we went to the local pearl shop to buy the “ingredients”. Oh, yes, on the way there, I must tell you, we passed infront of Ikea and me and Odile began talking about it. I told her about a small chair (one for standing on) that I wanted for a long time and couldn’t find. Odile said she had seen it in this Ikea and together we convinced the men to go in fast to buy it. Well there me and Anthony also found a small garden table and chairs, really cheap, just the kind we wanted for our garden at home. And, as Anthony said, why not buy them now so we can use them in the camping next week! After this the car which was full before, was really full.
In the afternoon we went touristing in Marseille. Along the coast it’s a nice city, but for me the city is too big, to dirty, and too many buildings in bad condition, especially in the outer parts of Marseilles.
We took a walk to a small harbor and ate sallad at a small restaurant.
We also visited the church on the top of a mountain in the middle of the city.
The next day we took the car and went one and a half hour up from Marseille to do a hike up on a mountain. A small mountain this time, and easy walking on a well used path. It was a very nice day.
Camargue
So, after Marseille, the natural place to visit was Camargue with it’s white horses.
This place is flat. Very flat. We went out with the car on those small roads in the middle of nowhere. And when we had been driving for a looong time. The road ended, blocked, and we had to turn around. At one place there was some hourses and caravans. Very ugly place, but we wanted to see.
Only problem was that the road was under water. Scary. But we went in anyways.
At last we found some horses, and pink flamingos. It was a nice day. But the car, the poor car, so muddy!
Cousins
Unfortunately the weather put a stop for our plans to continue to Tarn. The weather forcast told rain for one week. So we went earlier than planned to the cousins of Anthony and stayed there three nights. They just had their first baby, a couple of weeks earlier. So sweet!
From here we also could go climbing and we found the perfect climbing site. What this region really is known for is the wind. It’s allways windy. But this climbing site was protected from wind and had a view of the sea. The level of the routes were easier than usual, so I did 5b an 5c in first position without problems. I was so proud! Then I tried a 6a in first and also this one went well. It was harder of course, it’s my first 6a in first and I was so happy when I reached the top! We have started to enter all the routs we do on a website called www.8a.nu and it gives me more fighting spirit to put up goals for me there and to see the results after. At the end of the day I was very tired, but Anthony just climbed a 6b, and I thought that why not try it, to work hard with my muscles and if I fall nothing happens so it’s really nothing to loose. This route was harder, a lot harder. But, guess what! I did it! I was surprised all evening, repeating to myself “I did it, I did it”.
(picture from outside Bandol)
Home Sweet Home
We finished our hollidays by returning home earlier than planned. On the highway the first part it was so windy that it felt like the car would lift, but some hours closer to Nice it had calmed down, and when finally back at home it was hot, sunny and just a small warm breeze in the air. In swedish there is a way of speaking “Borta bra men hemma bäst”, meaning it’s good to be away, but home is the best place, and now it was really true. We were so happy to just be in our garden.
I began oiling the table and chairs from ikea and painting the bedroom windows and Anthony finished the flower bed border around the raspberries.
05.02.07
Posted in Climbing at 8:51 pm by tesstess
The last weeks we’ve done two very nice climbing days.
Here is after climbing in Chateaudouble. It was a hard and long walk up to the clibming site and after a whole day of climbing all of us was very tired, but far from as tired as Aline (to the left) who hardly could walk when we at last came back to the cars.
All three new beginners did very well indeed this day, I was very impressed with them Sorry I didn’t remember the camera while up there…
This weekend we went to Saint Jeannet with Sabine, Mathieu and Mariam.
Mariam never tried climbing before but also impressed a lot by not being scared and for the first route of the day, a 4+, she did it almost as fast as me!
It’s really a beautiful view from here, and the mountain has several places to climb. We started at one place and then went up to another small hill on the cliff to eat and continue climbing.
At the end of the day we climbed/walked up to the top and passed two more climbing sites on the way.
On the way down through the small village below I and Anthony found a sweet house for sale. It had a small garden and a view all the way to Nice and over the sea. It’s the sea at the top of this picture. And this one was not too expensive, we saw the advert in a place further down the street, but we realized it was too far from Amadeus. Too sad. Would have been so nice to live with that view, in such a calm and authentic village and with the mountain just behind the back.