Valentine's Day... Provencal Style!!

 We decided to go to Vacqueryas ( great wine!!) to celebrate the day.......
As there are a lot of 'gendarmes' waiting for one in the evening we decided to make it a day time celebration!
The restaurant 'L'eLoge' looked promising...... we had been there a few years before......

One descends down a ramp under the 'Cave'

and enters into an airlocked system........

We arrive at 'our table'!!

The lunch was great..... at a cost (excluding wine!) of just 19 euros!!

 En route to the ' les toilettes'!

 and this was the view from the wash hand basins.....

Upstairs, the Cave des Vignerons, was a rather different affair......

Wine by the litre or 10!!

at a great price....

however you did have to bring your own bottle!
The tastingroom was great.......

would definitely suggest visiting it....

if one wants to taste Vacqueyas, Gigondas or Beaume de Venises.......

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

The Plitvice Lakes in Croatia are an absolute must!  It is a Unesco World Heritage site and is beautifully maintained. There are 16 lakes with cascades and waterfalls between them.
The easiest way of seeing/experiencing the place is to take one of the parks buses to the top and then start the 2/3/4 hour descent.

One meanders down, on the great paths...

and marvels at the absolute clarity of the water....

and of course there are always tantalising views of what lies ahead......

The waterfalls are magnificent and loud!

and the paths almost go under some.....

 the woodland streams/cascades are also nice.....

and there is some wildlife to be seen......

However it is nice at the end of the walk to be able to sit on a boat to go back across the lake......

There isn't a great choice of hotels within the actual park and we chose the one which was closest to the starting point for our walk.....the Hotel Jezera. It is from the 50's and has an old soviet air to it!

The rooms are fairly large and relatively comfortable but definitely not luxurious!

And when we wished to buy postcards/books after our long walk, just after lunchtime, we found that the store, within the hotel, had closed for the day!!

Chateau d'Oex Balloon Week 2013

We bought our chalet in Chateau d'Oex in 1977 and the following year was the first year that the Balloon Week was held......... hard to believe that was 35 years ago!

Obviously there are many more balloons participating now! Each year it becomes more interesting.....
The large Scots bagpiper started many years ago but now apparently he can't fly......

His shoulders have given out......difficult to appreciate how large he is until you see people beside him!

Many balloons have come back for the past few years......

The Breitling Orbiter Balloon which successfully went round the world started in Chateau d'Oex....

We, of course, have a fantastic view from our balcony.........

 Some of the balloons almost drop on top of the local chalets....

 and,of course, it can be quite noisy when the balloons are being blown up.....

there are some really interesting/ happy faces.......

There are also a lot of paragliders.......

 These balloons look a little too close for comfort!

Honda are large sponsors each year.......

and this year they demonstrated their robot, Asimo...

Here he demonstrates walking up and down steps......

and here he was enjoying dancing!

I have to admit I was quite impressed!!  And all his commands were in English........