Weekend in the Alps- have you read Heidi?

This is a photo of some of Fabien's friends, and the girl in the pink shawl on the left is Marie, and her husband - Denis, is standing next to her. The reason why I am showing you Denis and Marie is because we have just spent a weekend at their holiday house in the Alps. When Fab first described their house, he began by asking "did you read this book called "Heidi"?

The house is situated in postcard kind of surroundings, with this glacial and magnificent mountain in the background, and meadows and cowbells in the foreground, and you half expect some singing nuns and yodelling cowherds to appear any minute.

It was absolutely beautiful, but I have not uploaded the photos yet, because Fabien has taken the camera to Beijing (he is currently there for a conference), and he went straight to the airport on Sunday from the Alps.

We went canoeing up this river, and swam in the huge artificial lake (there is a hydro-electric dam nearby). We had barbeques in the garden and I re-read The Name of the Rose whilst Fabien, Denis and Marie went to play golf at the Grenoble golf course. We also went along The Route Napolean and saw the statue of Napoleon on horseback, depicting the moment when he encountered troops who had been ordered to stop his march on Paris. He walked toward the soldiers, flung open his coat, and challenged them to shoot their emperor. Instead, they threw down their muskets and joined his army.