Maartje, Eelco, Rick, Kaat & Duuk

Garden Festival at the Botanical Garden in Samoens (Attractions near Mieussy)

In the days we were in France there was another event on - the Garden festival in the Botanical Garden in Samoens. We had tried for a few days to go there in the afternoon but it appears as if it always rains in Samoens on afternoons in June. Finally the last day of the festival we were having a late morning coffee on our verandah and looked at the end of our green valley and established that we really could not see any rain clouds approaching at all. And so we got in the car and took the 15 min trip to Samoens.

Despite being very much a ski resort, it is actually also very pretty in summer and is based in a beautiful location.

We decided we had enough confidence in the rain staying away that we opted for Sunday lunch first.

After that we went into the garden and took part in the special treasure hunt - find the 12 photo locations...

Like this one:

And this one, though the example did not have such nice kids on it.

At the top of the hill we found this;

Where we were invited to make some bugs. So Rick and I made a snake or work, a spider and a grasshopper

We were pretty pleased with ourselves, but Kaat & Duuk had enough

When we did not respond soon enough, Duuk pulled out his theater act and so downhill it went from there.

At the bottom of the hill we collected our price, and went in search of our reward: ice cream!

The Home of Parapente (Mieussy's attractions)

Miuessy is the place where Parapente was more or less invented, and it appears that every year, for the past 35+ years or so, tis is celebrated with an annual Parapente Festival. It so happened that this took place just as we where reading in our fabulous new house. So we got in the car, rolled down the hill, parked in a field and watched it all happen.

The parking field at the bottom end of Mieussy and 'our' roundabout. With a view on the Parapente hill.

At the end of the morning they came down by a handful at a time, some doing stunts and aiming for speed, others getting clearly a feel for the area.

We enjoyed watching them land, and Rick was very critical on those who landed too hard or in the high grass or on their bums -:)

It was not very busy with spectators at all

And another one!

The commentators

Explaining from how high they came

After visiting the small festival area at the local community hall (of which we forgot to take pictures) we saw there were still more parapenters coming down the hill.

Taking it easier and slower

And so we moved back up the hill to our own verandah from which we had a prime view on all the action (the red tree is in our garde)

The number of parapents in the air kept on increasing

And we were told the next day that the grand finale was well over 70 in the air at the same time. In the warm evening air they managed to stay up a long time and accompanied us through our evening 'borrel' and dinner.