Brittany: Tomorrow my legs are going to be like, "Excuse me, you did what yesterday?!"
Today we went hiking in the Chartreuse mountain chain. We drove up to this little farm/cafe place in these green mountains that were so reminiscent of the hills in the Sound of Music, that I almost burst into song.
From there we hiked for about an hour up to this lookout from where we could see the Chartreuse monastery way down below. It was absolutely gorgeous, and there were people paragliding near where we were picnicking, which was pretty fun to watch.
Unfortunately, right before eating our lunch, Sam fell in a sink hole and twisted her ankle, and so the walk down was a little scary, but after that, she felt much better and later on, she was practically perfect.
After hiking back down, we had some hot chocolate at the little farm/cafe place, with the cows wandering on the hillside behind it. The cocoa was alright, but way too milky for my taste, and not chocolatey enough. Also it was weird to, like, see the cows whose milk you were most likely drinking.
After our coffee break we hopped back on the bus, which went careening back down the windy mountain road (which was a little terrifying). We then stopped at a church in a little village which doubles as a "contemporary religious art museum". It was okay. I wasn't a huge fan. Also I didn't take any pictures, cause there was a scary Frenchwoman who I did NOT want to yell at me if photos were forbidden, but I think Sam snuck some, so you'll probably be able to go to her blog soon and look at them
there.
After the church we drove up to the Chartreuse museum. The Chartreuse is not only the name of the mountain chain, it is the name of a silent order of monks which was founded here in 1080 by Saint Bruno. The order is famous for their liquor, which is appropriately called--you guessed it!--Chartreuse. It's a chartreuse (ha!) colored liquor made from a secret recipe of herbs. Only 3 monks know the recipe, and they each only know part of it, so no one in the world knows the whole thing.
Marie-Eve bought us chartreuse candies, which were delicious on the outside but then very very strange on the inside, because they were filled with what I'm assuming is the liquor. As Monica put it, it was "like licking the earth, but prickly and gross". Another girl in the group described it as "vegetal". It was rather unpleasant.
The museum was pretty interesting, and it was absolutely gorgeous. After we had finished wandering around, we hiked up to the actual monastery, which you obviously cannot get into, but we got to look at the buildings and then we walked up this hill with a gorgeous view. It was really lovely, but our group was being pretty loud and it's one of those places I would have rather visited by myself. I'm not religious
in the least, but I can understand why you would want to not speak in such a spot. It's so much prettier in silence. Next time, I'm definitely not going with BU students.
After this, we headed back and grabbed dinner, and now I'm finishing up some homework for class tomorrow.
I took a bunch of gorgeous pictures, if you'd like to see them, they are here.
All day today I kept thinking about how much Grandma would love all of this-- the mountains, the gorgeous buildings, the hiking, everything. If any of you are going to see her soon, maybe you could bring your laptop and show her my pictures? I would really appreciate it, but if it's too much of a hassle, tant pis! I'll show her at Christmas!
From there we hiked for about an hour up to this lookout from where we could see the Chartreuse monastery way down below. It was absolutely gorgeous, and there were people paragliding near where we were picnicking, which was pretty fun to watch.
Unfortunately, right before eating our lunch, Sam fell in a sink hole and twisted her ankle, and so the walk down was a little scary, but after that, she felt much better and later on, she was practically perfect.
After hiking back down, we had some hot chocolate at the little farm/cafe place, with the cows wandering on the hillside behind it. The cocoa was alright, but way too milky for my taste, and not chocolatey enough. Also it was weird to, like, see the cows whose milk you were most likely drinking.
After our coffee break we hopped back on the bus, which went careening back down the windy mountain road (which was a little terrifying). We then stopped at a church in a little village which doubles as a "contemporary religious art museum". It was okay. I wasn't a huge fan. Also I didn't take any pictures, cause there was a scary Frenchwoman who I did NOT want to yell at me if photos were forbidden, but I think Sam snuck some, so you'll probably be able to go to her blog soon and look at them
there.After the church we drove up to the Chartreuse museum. The Chartreuse is not only the name of the mountain chain, it is the name of a silent order of monks which was founded here in 1080 by Saint Bruno. The order is famous for their liquor, which is appropriately called--you guessed it!--Chartreuse. It's a chartreuse (ha!) colored liquor made from a secret recipe of herbs. Only 3 monks know the recipe, and they each only know part of it, so no one in the world knows the whole thing.
Marie-Eve bought us chartreuse candies, which were delicious on the outside but then very very strange on the inside, because they were filled with what I'm assuming is the liquor. As Monica put it, it was "like licking the earth, but prickly and gross". Another girl in the group described it as "vegetal". It was rather unpleasant.
The museum was pretty interesting, and it was absolutely gorgeous. After we had finished wandering around, we hiked up to the actual monastery, which you obviously cannot get into, but we got to look at the buildings and then we walked up this hill with a gorgeous view. It was really lovely, but our group was being pretty loud and it's one of those places I would have rather visited by myself. I'm not religious
in the least, but I can understand why you would want to not speak in such a spot. It's so much prettier in silence. Next time, I'm definitely not going with BU students.After this, we headed back and grabbed dinner, and now I'm finishing up some homework for class tomorrow.
I took a bunch of gorgeous pictures, if you'd like to see them, they are here.
All day today I kept thinking about how much Grandma would love all of this-- the mountains, the gorgeous buildings, the hiking, everything. If any of you are going to see her soon, maybe you could bring your laptop and show her my pictures? I would really appreciate it, but if it's too much of a hassle, tant pis! I'll show her at Christmas!
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