On Wednesday, the weather being good, we headed back to Chamonix. This
time, we went up the cablecars at Planpraz (2000m) and then across a
huge chasm to the Brévent mountaintop (2525m).
Two of the students, Suzanne and Shelly, chose to come back down on
foot from Brévent to Planpraz, which took them an hour and a half of
walking in the snow. In the meantime, the rest of the group enjoyed their
huge picnic lunches and took in the voew of the Mont Blanc chain across
the valley.
We then went to the museum at the "Réserve des Aiguilles Rouges" Alpine wilderness areas, where we saw the changes in vegetation since our last visit and learned about the fauna from eager guides who told us how to distinguish different species of ephemeral flies by the "tracheobrachia" on the larvae, using a tv monitor microscope to illustrate the nature lesson which was conducted entirely in French.
Upon our return to the Faverges area, we went to the Forclaz farm to see the production of the local Reblochon cheese. After we had met the cows (of the Abondance breed) and seen the cellars where the cheeses are aged, we watched as the farmer curdled the milk and began making the cheese. The farmer explained the process and proceeded to make cheeses in the impressively clean facilities recently built to meet EEC norms. Fortunately, they can still use unpasteurized milk to produce the cheese, which guarantees a good flavor that other cheeses no longer have. Several of the students gave a hand in placing weights on the cheeses to squeeze out the whey.
On Thursday afternoon, we visited Faverges' largest factory, the Stäubli works which produce weaving loom control boxes, high-tech connectors, and high-precision industrial robots. Mr. Guichard showed us around the entire facility and explained the intricacies of manufacturing. While we saw a great many interesting machines in the modern facility, photos were not allowed, so that no illustrations of this visit are available.
We are planning another full-day trip on Saturday. This trip is sponsored by the newly created Akron-Faverges Association (AFA), a non-profit group organized by the French host families. We will be going to the South of France to see such monuments as the huge Gallo-Roman aqueduct, "le Pont du Gard".
Next report, probably Sunday.
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