This Saturday took us to The Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette (Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de La Salette), the site of the Marian apparition to two children in 1846 in La Salette-Fallavaux. The Sanctuary, which has a Basilica, a Chapel, and a hotel for pilgrims, is located at about 1800 meters in Ecrins mountain range in Southern Isère (an hour and a half drive from Grenoble — actually quite a tedious drive with all the curves and climbs).

We obviously did not go there for religious reasons, but to have a nice and serene hike and enjoy the majestic scenery. We were unlucky, since the strong and chilly wind kept pushing clouds from the valleys to the mountain top — seems to be quite normal in this area.  At few clearer moments we got to see a little to the surrounding mountains, but mostly we could only see a few meters ahead. It wasn’t all bad since alpine flora is probably at its best this time of the year. There were so many flowers, of so many colors and shapes. Anyway,  we cut the hike short since there was no point going much farther — clouds were all there was to see.