Hiking Le Vuache, on my birthday

This morning the late winter sun rose again on another February 13th, and I turned one year older. In Boston, I usually spend birthdays with family and friends—and sometimes not just one birthday celebration but one spread across several weekends with different friends. This happened last year. I felt lucky because some years, my birthday plans are foiled due to pesky Noreasters and blizzards! But this year, there is little to no snowfall in my part of the Juras. Instead of spending my birthday indoors, R and I got a little closer to nature with some new friends.

We met at the church at Chaumont, next to the mairie. I could tell this was going to be a great hike...because the starting point of Chaumont is just beautiful, with old farmhouses, a very quaint centre-ville composed of one main street basically, and views of the château ruins atop the highest point of Chaumont. Our group of fifteen (including me and R) were composed of expats from different countries around the world. We already knew a few Dutch friends, and quite coincidentally, there was a Scottish woman there who was also in R's softball league years ago. But for the most part, the rest were complete strangers, but not for long. During the day, each of us took turns leading the group. I started conversations with a good number of people who were hiking alongside me at different points of the trail, meeting a Norwegian (this time I knew a bit more about Norway), two Turkish, a Peruvian, a Hungarian-German, a Malaysian, a Scot, a true Genevoise (born and raised), and a few Swiss Germans. 

In search of ruins of Château Chaumont, waterfalls, and a beautiful bridge, we hiked a small part of Le Vuache, choosing the trail "Du château à Vovray". By accident, we found Le Camino de Santiago de Compostela (near Frangy) and like others before us, we decided to take the path for a little bit. 

The crunching of dried autumn leaves on the forest floor, and birds calling to one another—that was what I heard. A few tiny blue flowers, and then some pale yellow ones lining a part of the trail. Spring irises reaching for the sun, their green leaves breaking ground already in February! Clouds covered most of the sky, hiding the view of the Alps and the Mont Blanc. However, it wasn't very cold and at times, the sun managed to shine through the clouds, offering slivers of bright blue sky and sometimes of daredevils doing parapente (paragliding). 

By the end of the hike, I had made some new friends..and snapped many photos. Recall last week's blog where I promised myself I'd buy a proper digital SLR by the end of the year possibly as a Christmas gift to myself? Well, Christmas came on my birthday this year! My sweetheart R had been researching DSLRs for the past few weeks, covertly checking out cameras in Lyon while we were at the CNY's dragon dance, and reading lots of reviews of cameras online while sitting right next to me. And me totally oblivious to the fact.

He chose the Canon EOS 550D! I am super thrilled—what a perfect gift, and just in time for me to start taking pictures of spring and all my food creations. My review of the Canon EOS 550D will come later in a few weeks...after I've learned the basics and some of the more advanced features.

Today, I toted my Canon with me like my new baby, being careful with it so I didn't trip and scratch it up on the first day. My first pictures are of the group and the landscape of Chaumont and Le Vuache. With the 18-55mm lens, I played with aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. So much to learn and master. What fun it's going to be!

A warm shower, dinner, and birthday patisseries later (why have just one big cake when you can have four little beautiful, tasty ones)...you can fine me all snuggled up on the sofa with my sweetheart and my baby (the Canon that is)!



So this is how R surprised me with it, at midnight on my birthday and what a Joyeux Anniversaire it was. He presented me with a small package, about the size of a postcard. "Is it TGV tickets to Paris? Or to a show? Is it a Smartbox, maybe a culinary tour of Lyon or something fabulous like that? Or a cooking class? Is it a tiny book?" I guessed excitedly, giving the package a good shake, sniffing it, even throwing it in the air a few times. "No, just open it already!" was the answer from R. So I opened it...and saw that it was a memory card, for my Nikon Coolpix perhaps?

Pointing to the TV console R said, "There's the rest." Opening the drawers, I shrieked with happiness to find two larger packages sitting on the top shelf..and then I was really excited!! It all made sense..the 8GB memory card was for my new Canon DSLR and 18-55mm lens and a very nicely padded Lowepro camera bag.

I can't even tell you how excited I am...imagine the new possibilities! R's currently downloading some tutorials for me. What a sweetheart. Bon dimanche!