Le Lac Noir

David and I did our first bike hike since the Croix de Nivolet escapade, and it went really well, except that we did get lost trying to find the Lac Noir, even though this was our second attempt. It really is a pretty well hidden lake in the woods of the Chartreuse mountains. However, this time we succeeded in finding the lake, and we got some of the best photos from our entire time in France, I think. Also, because we have finished planning our  Loire Valley bike trip, we wanted to time ourselves to get an idea about how many kilometers we can bike in a day, how many we do in an hour, etc, so that we can accurately plan getting to our chateaux and hotels each day/night. We estimate, based on yesterdays ride that we can attain 16 km in an hour, without killing ourselves, and hopefully reach our goal of between 45 and 60 kilometers a day to get to all of our destinations. To give you an idea, David and I did 45 kilometers yesterday on our hike, during a window of about 6 hours, so we think that that estimate is reasonable.

Here are the pictures that we took:

This is us after we left the Lac Saint André (which you might remember from about a month ago) and as we started up into the mountains, which of course are filled with vineyards. These ones produce a white wine known as Apremont. Also, that mountain in the background is called the Col du Granier, and we will more or less be at the foot of it when we reach the Lac Noir.

This is a photo facing the other direction, showing you our adorable little biking road and the greenery and mountain views around it. 

David and I continuing on our bike trip... Sorry about the crooked photo but I had to balance the camera on the bike's handlebars. Either way you can see that it was an absolutely beautiful day to be out on a hike. (Good thing I am not too worried about all 4 of my upcoming exams this week!)

Our first sign ever for the Lac Noir (which is kind of infamous in our minds since it took two attempts to find, both of which included us getting lost). Mom can relate to the usefulness of French signage. 

David and I walking the path toward the lake. 

This "bourne frontière" or in other words this border marker, was put up in 1822 to mark the border between Savoie and France. Savoie did not belong to France until 1860. I am standing with the Savoie side, which has a symbol very similar to the Danish flag.

Here is David with the French side (the fleur de lis) and also the side marking the date they were put in place. Unfortunately though, the borne was on elevated ground so we couldn't take a timed photo together. PS the word "bourne" should ring a bell for all of you who play Mille Bournes back at home... next time you play you can imagine passing 1000 of those barrier markers!

David and I still on our way toward the lake. You can see how close we are to the Col du Granier. Also, sorry about the bench at the bottom of the picture, but these sorts of things happen when you have to pose cameras for self-timed photos. 

The lake! Yay! Success! In this light you can see that the lake looks rather green, but from other angles it really does look quite black, and is certainly one of the darkest lakes I have ever seen. Though really I think it should be called the black pond... Oh, and I almost forgot, there was some kind of serious frog collaboration going on while we were there. It was a frog croaking jamboree! It was pretty cool because I don't get to hear frogs all that often, and in this case there were a lot of them! (though no, we didn't actually see any of them)

This is my favorite picture of all. It is David and I in front of the lake (though that part you can hardly see). Miraculously, this was a self-timed photo, balanced on a nearby slanted post. We even had to find a piece of wood on which to balance the camera. So yeah, we're pretty proud of how it turned out.

As for the rest of this week, we are continuing to prepare for our upcoming vacation (now we are only 3 and a half weeks away) and I also still have exams going on. Also, we are trying to squeeze in as many last bike-hikes as we can before we have to leave Chambéry: We are already preparing to have a few of our "lasts", like our last pack of ten bus tickets that we will buy tomorrow. It is amazing how close we are getting to returning home! Yay! But at the same time that is tough because we have had such a wonderful time abroad, speaking French and exploring... wow I can't believe I have less than two months left!