On the road

During the night, the second part of the group arrived: Laura, Audrey and Romain, and then Cécile in the morning.
We join Tuul, Oyona, Chouka and Gambaa, and start heading for the 350 km in front of us (after a 'short' stop at the airport to get me second bag: today, the Aeroflot flight is 3 hours late).

As soon as we get out of the city, we are surrounded by herds of goats, sheep and horses, in the middle of the steppes. Here and there, we can see ovoos on the side of the road, big piles of stones accumulated by all the people who want to be lucky on the road. Each one of us walks 3 times around it, may be it will avoid us a flat tyre...



At the end of the day, we spend the night in a tourist camp in Karakorum, before visiting the town during the next day.

Mongolia : Ulaanbaatar

Sain bainuu !

Good news : the Aeroflot flight is only 2 hours late and I manage not to choke with the fish bones in the salmon served during the flight.
Bad news : one of my bags are not there. The special 'polar cold' fleece jacket is here (it will certainly be useful this afternoon, the weather forecast plans 38°C in the city), but the short sleeves T-Shirts are still somewhere in Moscow. We only leave tomorrow morning, let's hope that I won't have to keep the same clothes during the next 15 days...

The first members of the group are there : Lea and Marine.

After a short stop at the hotel, we start the city tour with the Gandan Temple, and its amazing colours. We are exhausted by the flight, the jet lag, the traffic jams and the temperature, but we do our best to keep up with the interesting explanations about Mongolian Buddhism.

The National Museum of History, even though it really looks fascinating will be a bit too much to handle today, we almost fall asleep in every single room we enter, from the history of Genghis Khan to the traditional music instruments and costumes. It's really a pity to be half asleep...

After an afternoon nap, we attend a show of traditional music and dance. even though I am usually not a big fan of this kind of things, I must admit that it was really an enjoyable way to finish this first day.

Stockholm with Yannick

Hej ! 4 days in Stockholm, it could have been a bit long, but actually it was just too short, even if in June the sun rises at 3:30 am. So many things to be seen : Gamla Stan (the Old Town), trips on boats in order to enjoy the different islands and the scenery, the pilgrimage on the trail of Greta Garbo, from the cemetery where her grave is to the building where she spent her childhood.

But also the Royal Palace, with its royal guards... and its royal family. It took us a few hours, but we eventually managed to see the King, the Queen, Victoria and Daniel who will get married in exactly one week, and Prince Charming !

Stockholm is also a place where you are sure that you will find museums, whatever you are interested in. Either Junibacken, for the old children, with its famous Pippi Longstockings (= Fifi Brin d'Acier in France), or the famous Vasa Museum :

If you get tired of walking in the streets, it is time to go to Skansen, and enjoy the animals, either the ones from Northern Europ or the ones who come from more exotic countries. No way to make a picture of bears or wolves in Montana, not sure that I will come back from Mongolia with pictures of reindeer, but at least I will have seen them in Sweden. And even Madagascar fits in the scenery. One thing is sure, the next opportunity to see wolverines won't be before long. Even in Skansen, it is a bit difficult to see them.

On Sunday, for the National Day, we had chosen to go to Drottningholm Palace, and enjoy the gardens with the families having picnic, its incredible theater which could make Versailles jealous, and the place where you try costumes and hats from the theater. This will stay as one of the best memories of the week end. Yannick, we have to go, you cannot stay here forever ! ;)

One last picture, in front of the Parliament, with our 2 new friends, the wolverines : on the left, Carl Philip, also nicknamed Glouton, who went back to Troyes with Yannick, and on the right, Wolfy. Welcome in France, guys !

Bye, girls

Last picture from the ranch, with the girls (Michele, Lyne, Caroline and Christiane from left to right)

Take care of you !

MMG Ranch - SLC

Life goes on at the ranch, with the owners who bring new horses to have them educated, or bring them back home after a few months spent here, with the new baby calves, and with the rides to carry on the work with the horses we started on Thursday. Taz had only been ridden a few weeks during the last 18 months, and he behaves really well (most of the time, at least ;).

The sun is back, even if the temperature is still a bit low, specially in the morning, when the hay is full of ice.

It is already the end of the week, time to say goodbye and start counting the days until next time, gosh how I hate this...

And here I am, back to Salt Lake City, once more, waiting for the flight to Paris. It does not feel like going home, but more like leaving home. The main regret of the week will be the fact that we have hardly seen Dori (but it was very nice to meet Nancy !) and Kathy. I hope that we will have time to catch up next year.