A little village in the French Alps

I got back to Portland Saturday and will head for Canada (for work) tomorrow...ohh the life of a jetsetter.

After India I flew to Paris to meet up with Boris. France seemed extremely clean, orderly, earth-toney, and expensive after India! Luckily the day I arrived the transportation strike ended, before that most of the trains were suspended so I may have not found France so orderly if I had arrived before.
We went to Boris' friend's birthday party the first night and then walked across Paris in the rain. I thought I was going to freeze to death. Although it was winter in India it was still pretty warm most of the time. The next day we walked around a flea market/ farmers market with Boris' friend Rudolphe in the neighborhood we were staying in (Rudolphe generously let us stay in his studio. He is a musician, if you need music for a movie search for him on My Space, his last name is Bologna). That night we took a night train down to L'argentiere (a small town close to Puy Auillaud, the village where Lucienne (Boris' mother) lives. The train was delayed so they upgraded us to "couchettes" (beds) and gave us free food. Although my only real expenses in France were the trains I still spent more than I would in a week in India, where I was paying for hotels, food, and everything else.

From L'argentiere we went up to Puy Auillaud. Puy Auillaud has the most spectacular setting, it is surrounded by huge snow-covered mountains, but is up on a hill above the valley, so you don't get fogged in. There was a small ski area right behind where we were staying and other ski areas all around the valley. We had about 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was sunny and cold most of the time I was there. For some reason we often woke up for the sunrise (so we cheered and danced as if we were at Burning Man!). The last two days I have been awake in time for the sunrise, but of course when when clouds thickly blanket the sky as they do most days in the winter here in Portland you cannot see the sun. It has not stopped raining since I've gotten back. Hmm why did I come back? Oh yes work. I return tomorrow at 5 am. And friends, family, Stumptown coffee. There must be other things.
Back to France. Boris' mother let us stay in an adorable cabin apartment in the village (they rent them out sometimes, let me know if you want to go!) that had an amazing view of the surrounding mountains. Usually we would go and eat lunch and/or dinner with Lucienne. Sometimes on the deck in the sun. We had fun talking together, me in my broken French. Lucienne was very sweet and tried to help me learn more. I think I progressed a bit. I tried some new cheeses and yogurt and enjoyed eating salad for the first time in a very long time (this was forbidden food in Nepal/India!)
Puy Auillaud has some very old stone houses with lots of character. About 20 people live there. There is a cute little chapel. One day we drove to a nearby town (Briancon) and went to a secret village inside an old fort. Then we hiked up to another fort.
Mostly we relaxed. Read and watched French game shows and news. It was nice not to think about where I would sleep and eat. Also nice not to be harrassed constantly. Although I am already planning to go back to India for more harrassment. I wasn't there long enough, there's so much more to see.