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Thursday,
June 12 2003
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Monday being a beautiful sunny day, after classes we headed up to
the Col de la Forclaz mountain pass to give the students the opportunity
to go hang-gliding (this is not a university-sponsored activity,
BTW). We met hang-gliding legend Noël Veyrat and his partner
Dominique Cruciani who then proceeded to take six of the students
for rides over the course of the afternoon. Bethany, Dustin and
Emilie Duret also came along to watch the dramatic takeoff from
the ramp which is about 2000 feet higher than the landing spot in
Doussard, several miles away.
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This photo shows us Rachelle practicing her takeoff run with instructor
Dominique Cruciani.
Dominique flies hang-gliders, ascensional
parachutes, ultralights, and hot-air balloons. He is a former world
champion hang-glider pilot, and his skills are often used by the
film and documentary industries.
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This shot shows one of the students (and
the pilot) after a successful takeoff run off the steep ramp. The
passenger has little to do except hang on to the pilot for stability;
landing is a very soft process, much less dramatic than the takeoff.
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short film: Joe's takeoff
from the Col de la Forclaz
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Tuesday, classes in the morning as usual.
and a free afternoon. Prof. Jeantet used the free time in the afternoon
to finalize plans for a number of excursions that the group will
be making over the next few days.
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Wednesday morning, we boarded a chartered
bus for our day trip to Geneva. After an hour's drive, we reached
the Pierre aux Fées (Fairy Stone), which is a 5500-year-old
 dolmen
or "quoit" (as the English call these structures). Originally
used as a burial chamber in stone-age times, some three thousand
years later they were largely looted by the Romans on the off chance
that some of them might contain treasure. Now, two thousand years
after the Romans, the stone structure stands, stripped of its covering
of earth, bearing witness to a distant time when a now unknown civilization
buried its dead in such structures from Scotland to North Africa.
France still has many thousands of these dolmens, though the Savoie
region has only this one remaining intact, the others having been
destroyed by zealots during the Counter-Reformation in
the 16th century.
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 From
the dolmen, we drove across the border into the center of Geneva,
proceeding to the summit of the hill on which the old city is built.
We visited the cathedral where Jean Calvin preached the Protestant
Reformation and where public education was first voted by the assembly
of the Republic of Geneva back in 1536. We climbed the tall bell-tower
to the very top, pausing halfway up for a view of the city from
a balcony that faces the lake.
Americans like to think that the US is the world's oldest democracy,
but t-shirt slogans reminded us that Switzerland has been around
since 1291, besting the US by almost five hundred years...
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View
of Geneva from the top of Saint Pierre cathedral
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We stayed in the belltower as the bells
pealed at noon, and were dizzied by the harmonics generated by the
huge five-hundred-year old bells. The photo below shows  Dan
lying on the floor of the belltower, absorbing the vibrations through
his body and skull!
After a few minutes listening to the
amazing sounds of the bells, the heaviest of which weighs some 6½
tons, we walked down the long spiral staircase back to the ground
floor. We all had to pause as our semi-circular canals settled down.
We then headed for a lakeside park for a leisurely lunch, did a
bit of shopping for watches and chocolates, then boarded our bus
for the ride to the old League of Nations compound for a tour of
the facilities.
 
Lunch
in the park next to Lake Geneva. - Visiting the League of Nations
building in the UN compound.
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Our return to Faverges was marked by
a stop at the very impressive Pont Charles Albert, named after the
King of Savoy who dedicated the bridge in 1839. Its span is over
600 feet long and stretches some 500 feet above the bottom of the
Usses river gorge. The students enjoyed an ice cream as they strolled
across the bridge on this very hot and sunny day.
We got back to Faverges in time for dinner,
everyone exhausted by the heat despite the air-conditioning in the
bus!
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Thursday, classes as usual, and a free
afternoon in the hot summer weather. Storms are predicted for the
evening and should bring some relief from the heat.
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We plan on Friday afternoon to picnic
at Joe's house and watch the Critérium du Dauphiné
Libéré bicycle race speed by. The race actually
runs through Faverges, but we decided to watch it from near the
lake so that we would not be trapped for hours (the roads are closed
for the race). The Critérium is a kind of warm-up
race before the start of the famed Tour de France which takes
place in July. As I type these lines, Lance Armstrong is leading
the Critérium, and we all hope to catch a glimpse
of the famous yellow jersey of the race's leader. After the race,
we'll walk over to the lakeshore and take a two-hour boat tour of
Lake Annecy, and in the evening will visit Annecy again, this time
to see the old city all illuminated. On Saturday afternoon, we'll
be visiting the Château de Menthon Saint Bernard, and
on Sunday will be making a day trip to the Grande Chartreuse
monastery near Grenoble.
It's hard for us to believe the Program began
five weeks ago... the students have settled into a comfortable routine with their families, are using French spontaneously, and must now face the fact that in just one week's time most will be heading back to Akron.
The next report will be filed most likely on Monday.
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