La fête des lumières

/ Lyon, France/
La fête des lumières

The coming of December brings not only much cold weather, but also the year’s shortest days. On the 8th of December, Lyon celebrates la fête des lumières (the festival of lights), a colourful and imaginative use of lights decorating the city. The festival has its roots in the celebration of Mary, who was the “saviour” of the town during an outbreak of the plague in 1643. The festival as it is now known came about after a planned celebration of the Immaculate Conception. Grand festivities had been planned as well as more localised celebrations as each individual illuminated the façade of their home. However, on the morning of the celebration, a large thunderstorm hit the town and the master of ceremonies decided to delay the event until the following weekend. The storm dispersed throughout the day and despite the official festival being delayed, the population of the town spontaneously lit up their houses and celebrated in the streets.

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Lucerne

/ Lucerne, Switzerland/
Lucerne

With winter slowly making its impression, the day to day life slowly evolves to follow suit. I find people here are much more personable in the winter – not to mention the arrival of rich meals and all things chocolate are very welcome additions. In an attempt to escape the permanent grey weather (which seems to call Paris home from November until March) we headed to the picturesque town of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Founded somewhere around 750 and gaining prominence in the mid-1400s, the town is one of the older cities in Switzerland and this, combined with being perched on the Vierwaldstättersee (the fourth largest lake in Switzerland) with the Alps rising sharply just to the south, make it one of the most visited towns in Switzerland.

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Grenoble and Mont Aiguille

/ The Alps, France/
Grenoble and Mont Aiguille

With the festival of la Toussaint (All Saints’ Day) falling on a Friday, it seemed like an opportune time to sneak in a late autumn hike. I had seen a picture at some point of a very distinctive peak in the Alps and bookmarked it as an overnight hike, with the only problem being that getting there and away was a bit of a pain from Paris, due to a lengthy changeover in Grenoble. So with a long weekend providing the buffer day, we headed to the central Alps to explore the crown jewel of le Parc naturel régional du Vercors, le Mont Aiguille (Needle mountain)

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Les Gorges de l’Areuse and Le Creux du Van

/ The Jura, Switzerland/
Les Gorges de l’Areuse and Le Creux du Van

The end of summer heralds the arrival of autumn, and a really nice time to be out and about. Due to the lack of deciduous trees in Australia, the display put on by the trees here is something that really captivates me. With colour beginning to bloom, it seemed appropriate to explore one of the lesser known regions of Switzerland, the Jura. The Jura mountain range is a really fascinating place which is often overshadowed by the neighbouring Alps. The range straddles the border of France and Switzerland in the north and then stretches into Germany, where the range is known as the Swabian Alps. It is much older than the Alps and in recent (geological-scale) times has been compressed laterally due to the rising Alps, resulting in long and very narrow peaks and often deep valleys. In addition, a longer life means a lot more wear and tear, which has resulted in many deeply carved canyons and caves. Here we explore one of the most famous canyons, that formed by the Areuse river, and a geological anomaly, Le Creux (the cavity) du Van.

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La Dent D'Oche

/ The Alps, France/
La Dent D'Oche

The summer was rapidly drawing to an end, so it was necessary to fit in some hiking before the snow started piling up. An excursion to climb Les Dents du Midi in Switzerland was planned, but aborted due to bad weather. With some early snowfalls at altitude, a more modest target was chosen: La Dent D’Oche. (Une dent is a tooth, quite a descriptive (and apparently popular) name for a mountain.) Located in the Chablais massif, it is the northernmost summit above 2000 metres in France and is situated more-or-less on the French/Swiss border. Easily accessible from Geneva, an overnight hike camping on one of les balcons du lac Léman seemed like a good choice.

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