Anat

So I'm back from the Alps. I didn't post anymore since last Wednesday because with the war going on in Israel it seemed pointless. In fact, the whole trek seemed pointless. However, I did write everything on my pocket PC. So If you're curious to read my stories, I'll post them soon, with the pictures.... read more

A very late note about the last day of the trip - as I uploaded the pictures ages ago and never wrote the text. We spent the last night in Geneva, and didn't do much except a nice stroll around the tip of the lake, where we enjoyed a small food festival. On Friday morning we checked in the airport just to discover that the connecting flight to Israel was postponed to the middle of the night which meant a very long day in Paris (we flew with Air France through Paris). For me personally it wasn't bad at all - I won a visit in Paris + lunch with my cousin Sharon (that part was planned) + got to see the rest of the family, including my beautiful charming nieces, in the evening. The touristy ... read more

It started when I heard of the 120 missiles attack. Suddenly the mood wasn't high anymore. My state of mind changed completely. My heart was in Israel, not in the TMB anymore. When the spirit is low, everything bothers me. I felt lonely. I couldn't go on. However, I still did another one day, on Sunday. It was relatively easy. We started climbing from the refuge along a lovely valley called Vallon de la Lee Blanche, to Col de la Seigne, crossing back to France. On the way up we had magnificent views behind us and Ron was walking almost backwards, holding the camera and taking pictures. We reached our refuge for today already at 12:30, and indulged ourselves with lunch at the restaurant instead of the usual bread and cheese lunch. The rabbit I had ... read more

Wow we had one hard day... It started with an easy walk down Italian Val Ferret. At some point we saw the entire mountain side above us ruined, all the trees cut. Ron said it looked like an avalanche and then he pointed to the right and there was the avalanche - a huge pile of ice, covered with mud, scary to think what happened to everything that stood in its way! At some point we started climbing but it wasn't too hard. It’s only 800m to our first col of the day (col means a mountain pass in French). It was called Col Entre-Deux-Sauts, pass between two jumps, although we couldn't figure out why. The second pass of the day required a short descent and again climbing up, but I took it easily thinking it's ... read more

After yesterday's massive effort, we definitely needed a rest. In a trek, a rest doesn't mean lying on your back to get sun tanned; rather it means a nice and easy walk. This is exactly what we had today. We started with a short descent to the town of Champex with its fine lake. We stocked up with fresh bread and fruit, so we spent maybe half an hour feeding the ducks with yesterday' bread. In the beginning the ducks were pretty far from us, so I went to bring them, leading them with little pieces of bread. It was really funny. (Ron and Dana named the picture “Anat Akka” after the wild geese leader in Selma Lagerlof’s Nils Holgersson). The walk up the valley was partially in the woods and partially between green fields and ... read more

In fact, we tricked right away... from the beginning... Dana's knees weren't doing very well and after contemplating the whole morning, she asked to take the cable-car to Col du Balme. We climbed several hundred meters in just 15 minutes. Fun... The view from the top is amazing - of course. France is on one side and Switzerland is on the other. A small stone marks the border. Crossing it I can't help thinking of World War 2. Were there any Jews climbing here trying to sneak through to Switzerland? Or maybe this point was too easy to get to and therefore guarded? They definitely couldn't use the cable car, that's one thing I'm sure about. So now we really start walking. A very long descent is ahead of us. As we go the valley opens ... read more