Tag Archives: #alps

MAGIC OF WALKING ON THE GRAND RONDONEE 52

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Looking north from the top of Mangiabo on GR 52.
Looking north from the top of Mangiabo on GR 52.

Grand Randonnée 5 represents France’s premier alpine adventure running from Thonon-les-Bains on the south shore of Lake Geneva to Nice on the Mediterranean.  Many choose another alternative for the final third of the route, switching GR 52 for 5 just south of the Col de Larche.  This route – known as the Balcon du Mercantour – stays much higher than GR 5 and offers much more drama as it marches southeast and then south to finish on the Mediterranean at the boat harbor of Menton-Garavan.

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TRANSATLANTIC JOURNEY REVEALS MAGIC IN THE AIR

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Late Fall sunshine on the east Greenland coast seen on a transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Seattle.

After just returning from a series of eye clinics in Albania, I will share a few thoughts on the sights seen outside the window from over 34,000 feet as I made my way back on a long transatlantic sojourn. This was the second set of clinics I have worked in Albania.

My transatlantic journey began too early at a crowded Nënë Tereza Airport just to the northwest of Tirana.  The first of three flights involved in my return to Oregon was scheduled for 0600.  Another colleague was flying to Rome at 0530, so we shared a cab. We left our hotel out in the western Albanian countryside near Durrës at 0330.  This coming after our last day of clinics. In an unheated building, we saw over 700 patients in Kukës, Albania, three hours north of where we were staying close to the border with Kosovo.

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