Snowshoe-ing in Les Paccots

Hello Everyone!

Right now I'm sitting in my bedroom eating the risotto that I got for lunch and talking to a friend from Santa Clara online. We have practice in a bit, but I thought I should recount my fun adventure yesterday before I forget!

After the long day of coaching on Sunday, I had almost forgotten that I had made plans with Louis to go snowshoe-ing! Thankfully he reminded me, and we left at around noon on Monday for a day in the mountains.

We had been driving for only 10 minutes or so when I noticed blue sky all around me. As I looked back, Cheseaux seemed to be engulfed by a thick bubble of fog, while the rest of the area was bathed with sunshine! I asked Louis why we were so lucky to be the ones in the fog all the time, and he explained that when it gets warmer at higher elevations, the fog sinks to the lower areas and stays there. Apparently Cheseaux is a "lower area," therefore we get the fog...

After parking the car in the lot of a closed ski shop, we strapped on our raquettes (snowshoes) and hit the trail. While Louis is old enough to be my dad, he is still in really good shape and apparently does these things often to where I was the one slowing our pace!

We took a trail from the base of a mountain around the back and up a ski area to the top, where we had an amazing view of Lake Geneva. Along the way we saw many old old old Chalets, and Louis told me how people often leave them unlocked for tired walkers to rest.. All I could imagine was people in Lake Tahoe keeping their cabins unlocked for tired people to rest! Haha... definitely a different culture here!

The way down was probably the most challenging, because you have to lean towards the mountain to balance down. People were skiing past us, and we decided that we should have brought skis on our backs for the way down! (I didn't admit that I would have been too chicken to ski down such a steep mountain anyway!)

After reaching the car, I looked at my watch, and it had been 4 hours since we had set out on the hike. My legs were tired and sore, but it was a great day!

This morning I had a French lesson with Genevieve, and I spend the afternoon at the fitness center where I ran into Fanny. Tomorrow I might be going to Bern with Crystal and Jeff to see the sights, but we still have to do some planning...

Hope all is well!

Love, Anna