Fisken Bea

Falkenberg

We have stopped in Falkenberg on our way home, and are enjoying Swedish summer at its best.  We're grilling or barbecuing all our meals, welcoming guests, riding bikes, and spending time on the beach.

Bea and Alice played with the canoe, though not in the water.

The whole family is riding.

Fish, pork, beef, veggies, all on the Weber.

Into the Alps

We had a nice last couple of days in Roquebrune, swimming (!), celebrating Clara, and hanging with royalty in the village. Then we headd into the Alps, over the Bonette, the highest road in Europe at 2800m, and to a gites in Cluses. Today we saw the sights, had lunchon the Joux Plane, and were served raclette for dinner by our hostess.

It wouldn't be a trip to Roquebrune without a little gelaco from  Le Paradis de la Glace.

Bea started swimming, with her head under water now...

Clara celebrated her seventh birthday.

Elizabeth and David joined us for the last week.

On our final day in Roquebrune we booked a table at the pizzeria in the village.  We drove up and saw the square was filled with white chairs and canopies in preperation for a wedding.  How cool!  We'd have some dinner entertainment.  Turns out the couple were Americans, from Austin.  They had a little ceremony followed by a jazz combo, and then suddenly a big Lexus drives up onto the square with the licence plate MC01 (Monaco).  Out steps Albert and Charlene to congratulate the newly married couple.  Pretty wild.

We swung by the Roman ruins at La Turbie before heading home to get some rest, because the next morning we would be following the Route des Grandes Alpes north.

Hans saw a fox in this same spot when riding up to the Col de Turini.

At the Col de Bonette, the highest paved pass in Europe (2800m) we played in the snow and ate some lunch.

And finally switched over to the Route Napoleon to take us to Gap, Grenoble, and our final destination, the Col de Chattilon where we had booked a room at a Gites.

The proprietress gave us an itinerary for the next day involving the Cascade du Rouget...

...and the Col de Joux Plane, where we had another lunch at altitude.

Samoëns.

We stopped at this great flea market alongside the road...

...and were served raclette for dinner.  A complete alpine day.

More time in Roquebrune

After riding the time trial course, we watched the pro teams ride the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

We celebrated the Fourth of July with Lego and a barbecue party with our friends.

We took a trip into Monaco to see the aquarium.

They had a great playground on the roof...

...and cool mosaics on the floor.

Bastille day was celebrated in the usual fashion, on the 13th in Roquebrune...

Bea and Clara in their now-traditional face paint.

Another great parade, and fireworks.