Uzes, the south of France

Some things translate in any language, like a six-year old boy putting his fist in his arm pit and making um, gassy noises.  At dinner we were enjoying our entrée (or first course) when the young man in question engaged in the activity with gusto. But, again I am ahead of myself.

Today began with another light breakfast in St. Gervais at the Pension Marmotte – the marmot for those of you interested in alpine fauna.  We packed up and drove the back roads for miles through the valley of glorious mountains, granite cliffs and rushing rivers all around us.  Occasionally, we drove through yet another lovely alpine village and marveled at how beautiful this area is.  The mountain views were stunning as the skies were crystal clear and we could see forever. I have to say that I am rather surprised at how much I am in love with this country. I never expected it.

Our first stop was Annecy, the “Venice of the Alps”, an incredible village on a clear mountain lake.  The rivers running into the lake were made into canals ages ago, like dark ages ago.  You can cruise through town on a flat bottom boat and see the medieval architecture, the castle, and a former home/mint/WWII resistance fighter prison that are built into the canals.  We spent one happy hour in this sweet town with views of the alps and history that you can feel. 

Back on the road we drove straight to Provence, to Collais specifically to camp at a fantastic place on the Gard River.  The river boasts one of the most important Roman ruins in France, the Pont du Gard, a bridge and aqueduct that were used to supply water to the neighboring town for hundreds of years.  We are camped just above the next Roman bridge up river. 

French campgrounds are fabulous. There are all the usual amenities plus a full restaurant, bar and pool.  There is also an access road to the river.  It was a very hot afternoon today here.  Provence is arid, almost reminiscent of New Mexico – in fact we found wild French sage today the climate was perfect for a swim in the river.

We hiked down the trail and enjoyed a cool swim in the river along with many locals and travelers from other European countries.  The water is clear and cold and the stream is filled with a wide variety of fish – none that I can identify exactly.  I really could use some good flora/fauna guides and have my eyes peeled – but everything is in French. Alas.

After a refreshing swim we hungrily drove to Uzes, the next town over, to find dinner.  We parked in town surprised at what looked like some of the oldest buildings we have seen on this trip.  After strolling through town we found a table at a sidewalk café and awkwardly ordered dinner.

Tonight we shared the local Rose table wine (lovely) and ordered some interesting and delicious food.  I had a salad with goat cheese, Penne with seafood and a cream sauce, and a plate of (stinky) cheese.  Bob had a very thin cheese pizza, spaghetti bolognaise, and a trio of desserts (crème brulee, coffee ice cream and chocolate mousse).  Crystal had escargot over penne pasta.  We all enjoyed our meals and went for a stroll.

Walking through town was remarkable.  We found the Hotel d’Ville (village hotel) and wandered through the center of it – open air, very old. The entire town is medieval – or so we are told.  On the other side of the hotel we faced what turned out to be the Duke’s castle.  Seriously.  Right about then we heard the church choir practicing from the Hotel window.  What a moment! We captured it on film and I will try to post it later.

We continued through town and found the central square – almost a fortress and only accessible through small passageways. Lit with white strings of lights in the trees and dotted with café tables on the stone courtyard we have found tomorrow’s dinner site.

Tonight we are sitting in the grass outside our tents enjoying the cicadas calling and varieties of Mont Blanc ales that we picked up in St. Gervais. The blonde is lovely but we have renamed the Blanche – “Sausage” flavor and the violet “Flower” flavor.  Tomorrow we will be kayaking down the Gard and off to see Roman ruins in Nimes. 

 

More cow bell!

As of last entry Crystal's blog contribution is to choose the title for the blog.  This one is particularly fabulous and will be difficult to follow up, we'll see what she gives me tomorrow. 

We woke up this morning and had a small French breakfast (very small - coffee, juice, croissant and baguette).  We left the pension and strolled down to the town center to look around this lovely village. It looks a little like the touristy US ski villages but this place is the real thing. The buildings are old and covered in gingerbread with roofs that look designed to shed snow. In fact it looks more like my image of Switzerland than France. 

After our stroll through town we drove to Chamonix and took in the views of Mont Blanc.  Chamonix is a much more touristy town and was packed with people that were clearly on vacation (or holiday as they say here). We ate lunch on the sidewalk out of our grocery bags in the car. P.J! would be proud. 

We then drove to Le Tour where we planned a hike up the mountain. The woman in Chamonix had said it was, "a nice gentle slope".  Well, not so much on the gentle slope but the hike was marvelous. We were following a ski lift up the hill (which for 27 Euros we could ride to the top - but what fun is that?) to Switzerland. Seriously - we hiked to Switzerland today.

Along the way we saw cows resting in the shade by a river that had the most ENORMOUS bells on that I have ever seen in my life. They were almost as large as the cow's heads and we couldn't help but hum "Fear the reaper" as we walked away.  Further down the trail we encountered a herdsman and his goats and sheep - also with bells on - guarded by big dogs. When we entered the trail a sign warned that the dogs were protecting the sheep from predators and might approach us but not to worry - they would "identify" us and move on. I think something was lost in translation but the dogs only barked at us a bit which was nothing to compare to the sounds from the sheep and goats!

On up the trail we stopped at the first gondola hut and had a Mont Blanc beer and ice cream while sitting in La Fuma lounge chairs. I don't remember who but someone at Philmont used to carry one around and I was delighted to see them.  We lounged, enjoyed the view and a marvelous local beer. 

Up the trail we hit the France - Switzerland border and had incredible views into both countries and perhaps a bit of Italy as well. What a marvelous hike and a glorious day.  We strolled down the hill to Le Tour and drove back to the pension.

For dinner tonight we had fondue! In France! It was delicious, hot and a great meal after such a long day out in the sun.  Tonight we have set up in town to write you all from the local late night cafe where we are all enjoying another Mont Blanc watching the sunset on the town square. 

Tomorrow we are leaving for Avignon and the Pont du Gard. I hope to write to you all soon. Loving the comments! Glad Etta is being her wonderful self and that you are all reading and enjoying our trip.  The trophy is in the boot... no cereal consumed from it by trophy husband yet. 

There is no rain on vacation!!!

This morning we woke up to rain, rain, rain. We had intended to go into the city and climb the Eiffel Tower but the weather encouraged us to hit the road. So, after a nice breakfast (where we carried away a lot of snacks on our pockets) we hit the road.

Some of you may know that we intended to use our GPS on this trip but could not get maps. We still may figure this out but we thought a stop at an electronics store could help. We stopped at what must be the French version of Walmart and learned that the maps are only available online. We will see what we can do. 

The store also had a large grocery where we loaded up on baguettes, cheese, cookies, peanut butter and other snacks for our long drive to Chamonix. The drive was beautiful, when the rain wasn't completely obscuring our view and slowing our progress.  Oh, and the tolls are really incredible - over 40 Euros from Paris to our destination in the Chamonix region. Yikes!

We had found an awesome campground in St. Gervais les Bains, a little mountain ski town in the French Alps. When we arrived there it had been pouring on us for hours and the campground looked soaked. We checked a few places and opted for a small family run pension. 

The lovely woman filling in for the owner cooked us a wonderful meal: steak for Crystal and Bob (lamb maybe? not beef), omelette for me, salad, bread, veggies, dessert, wine and a plate of French cheeses. 

There are apparently over 400 cheeses in France and they have an entire course devoted to cheese.  The woman described the cheese by holding her nose to indicate the stinkiness of the cheese.  We all enjoyed our cheese although Crystal said that one variety tasted like, "your grandma's old shoes".  What Crystal is doing tasting shoes is beyond me. 

We slept well and woke up to a dry day. 

Paris

This morning Bob woke up early and left with the car for his marathon. Crystal and I slept in a little bit. Well, I woke up at 8:15 and we agreed in 30 more minutes. An hour and a half later we woke up and headed over for breakfast.

We wandered in the direction of the commuter rail in town here and had difficulty locating it until I worked up my nerve to ask a local.  I must qualify this that every other interaction I have had here begins with me saying "bonjour" tentatively and then staring at the other person blankly. I managed to ask if she spoke English and like everyone else she replies in French something that I have gathered is, "a little bit". She directed us, we got lost, ran into her again and she took us directly to a bus, directed the bus driver as to where to drop us off and we were off. And people say the French are rude! What a lovely woman - actually everyone has been lovely. 

The bus dropped us a the train and the train was another adventure. On Sunday there is no attendant so we had to rely on a broken automated machine that only took change. We had no change. So I was off talking to strangers again asking for change for a 5. A very kind man helped us and we were on our way. 

Crystal and I arrived at Cite station and strolled over to Notre Dame, what a stunning cathedral. You may remember that we intended to go to mass there, but the line was UNREAL and we settled for walking around the outside and sitting in the back garden admiring the spire and people watching. We could here a 3 piece jazz group playing on the bridge to Isle Saint Louis behind us. Lovely. 

Strolling across the bridge and through Isle Saint Louis was lovely. The entire island was developed in 17th Century and we are told it has changed little over the years. It is beautiful in so many ways. Architecture, clothing shops, fromageries (cheese shops!), pastry shops, side walk cafes, everything in the windows is artfully displayed.  From there Crystal and I wandered up to the Bastille and through a market of fruits and vegetables, fish, meats, olives (mountains of olives), flowers, jewelry.  Busy and beautiful this felt like the real Paris. 

We continued on our stroll making a wrong turn that lead us up an inviting street with a park in the middle. There were gardens, fountains and children's play areas here for a long stretch. It was getting hot enough that I was thinking about getting in the fountain. It is amazing how much warmer it is here than London, it hardly seems possible that such a short distance can cause such a change in temperature. 

Crystal and I then hopped on the metro to meet Bob at the Eiffel Tower! Once there the three of us sat in the shade near the tower and heard all about Bob's marathon. He will try to enter information about it soon. But, he finished 8th (out of about 200) and won a large trophy that we must now travel with for the remainder of the journey. I think that we might make him eat his cereal out of it. 

From the tower we went together to tour Notre Dame, a stunning cathedral with one stained glass window more incredible than the next.  Tours continue throughout mass so we wandered through to the sounds of the pipe organ and the smell of incense. It was a great time to be in Notre Dame. The cathedral is very dark inside making the brilliant window colors all the more lovely.  There is something peaceful here even with the crowds of tourists wandering through endlessly. 

We went from Notre Dame to Mont Marte by way of Moulin Rouge.  The neighborhood around Moulin Rouge is uh, shall we say - colorful. The store windows leave nothing to the imagination as to what is inside. Crystal said, "I have seen more lady parts today than in my whole life". We did not linger here. 

Up the hill to Mont Marte where An American in Paris was set.  This is my favorite place that I have visited in Paris. Tiny steep streets filled with galleries and flower shops, colorful, beautiful, unbelievably quaint. Here we wandered around the square looking at art and the portrait artists ready to sketch your likeness.  There are not caricatures but true portraits and they are impressive in their speed and attention to detail. 

We ate dinner here on the square in an open air cafe.  We had crepes, sandwiches and salad. A nice light meal near the end of a hot day. We were then off to the Basilica of Sacre Couer atop Mont Marte with a stunning view of the city. 

Sacre Couer is beautiful inside, filled with glittering mosaics on the vast ceilings. We wandered through enjoying the silence in this church before heading out to appreciate the view. On the steps up to Sacre Couer there are impromptu concerts by street performers. We enjoyed an excellent guitarist and a woman dancing rather too enthusiastically on one of the landings before we hopped on a train towards the Eifell Tower. 

At the tower we hopped on a river tour on the Seine. It cruises past many of the sites in Paris, the Fine Arts institute, the Orsay, the Louvre, the Latin Quarter, Notre Dame, Isle Saint Louis, and under so many incredible bridges with sculptures and statues. My favorite moment on this ride was cruising past the locals as they tangoed by the river near Isle Saint Louis. Where else would you see people dancing the tango at 11 pm on a Sunday? The music playing during the cruise was Gershwin from American In Paris, La Vie en Rose, Oh Champs-Elysees - perfect. 

We hopped in the car and drove (twice) around the Arc de Triumph, past the Place de Concorde and back towards the hotel. We did get rather lost coming back here but we kept our cool and got in late and collapsed. 

Today we are off to points unknown - likely Mont Blanc. Hope to hear from you all in comments!

London to Paris and how we almost lost Crystal forever

I know it has been a long time, I am sorry to have missed entering for all of you. Sorry for the lack of pictures - I can't get anything to upload right now. I'll try in the next few days. 

Our last day in London began with another lovely breakfast with Sharon and a phone call that Crystal had arrived in Heathrow. The plan was then to head off to Victoria Station where she would meet us at the Cafe Ritazza directly across from the Burger King. I even emailed pictures. Good plan, right? Well, as the minutes waiting patiently wore on we wondered if she was lost in London.

As it turns out there is ANOTHER Cafe Ritazza directly across from Burger King in Victoria Station. It is a big place! Crystal was waiting patiently for us there. After a few phone calls and some help from Sharon we met and were on our way to the bus. 

The bus to Dover hit some horrible traffic in Lewisham (Bridget Jones fans may remember this from her "Lewisham Fire Department" report).  Our bus was almost an hour delayed on the way to Dover, we just missed our ferry and had to take a late one almost two hours after our arrival. Alas!

The border security at Dover was something like the hokey pokey. We had our passport checked, we got on a shuttle bus, we got off the bus with passports again, on the bus, drove a few meters, off the bus, scanned our gear, on the bus... and you turn yourself around!

The ferry ride was lovely. Beautiful views of the Dover cliffs and soon after the French coastline that we cruised along to Calais.  We ate dinner on the ferry (fish and chips and Bob's new favorite - mushy peas) and set out to find our car. 

We have leased a Peugeot for the remainder of the trip, it is BRAND new and technically belongs to me. So, I can no longer say that I have never had a new car! We do NOT have a GPS right now as we couldn't get maps for ours so our trusty road atlas is getting us around and remarkably we drove directly to our hotel.

The hotel is the Premiere Classe - a Motel 6 of sorts. It is indeed the smallest room I have ever stayed in at a hotel. Crystal's single bed is bunked over the double. Seriously. No frills, but it is clean and has what we need. We all slept well - of course Bob had to get ready for his marathon in the morning before he nodded off. 

The Cotswolds

Today was everything I wanted from our visit to England. The England of my dreams... the Cotswolds. I am in love with these beautiful hills, quaint villages, old pubs, thatched roofs, snapdragons... oh I could go on. But from the start of the day as usual...

This morning we had another lovely breakfast with Sharon and then took the tube (the strike is over!) to Paddington Station. Took a photo with the bear of the same name in statue form. We bought tickets for the next train to Moreton in Marsh and then took a brief stroll through Hyde Park before departure. Hyde Park is just beautiful, incredible fountains. I look forward to exploring it more thoroughly in the future.

Our ride to Moreton in Marsh went through Oxford, I would have loved to stop but we had to press on. Upon arrival in Moreton we stopped at the tourist information booth and found a flyer for bike rental. And so we rented bikes and cycled the countryside from little village to little village. The photos will do a better job than I can at descibing this stunning region.

We saw so many lovely towns, manor houses, estates, hedge rows, a horse farm complete with many foals, lovely old churches, long haired cows, many sheep, fields of grain... it was simply glorious. I kept imagining James Herriot would be off to check on the sheep or Elizabeth Bennet would pop out of a foot path. We made a big loop through Batsford, Ebrington, Aston Magna, Paxford, Chipping Campden, Broad Campden, Blockley, Draycott Village and back to Moreton.

In Chipping Campden we stopped for a picnic lunch in the park after visiting the local deli to buy sandwiches and Cranberry Wendlesdale Cheese. Yes indeed that town looks like a nice place for Wallace and Gromit.

Back in Moreton we had a few moments to walk through town and we were thrilled with what we found. A lovely historic village that includes a pub 'The Bell Inn' that was frequented by JRR Tolkien and said to be the inspiration for the Prancing Pony. So we shared a pint there just to say we had a pint in the Prancing Pony. Very cool. We clearly spent the day in the Shire.

Tomorrow is a long travel day to Paris. I do not expect you will hear from me, but when I am next able to post I hope to have shots of the cliffs of Dover and the English Channel.

Day three - Hampstead

Well, today we abandoned plans to head into the city and toured Hampstead and the heath with Sharon. It was a wonderful day - sunny and clear. We walked for miles through the historic sites of this neighborhood seeing the places where famous people lived and were buried. Beautiful Georgian homes, lovely churches, narrow passageways and alleyways and winding paths through the hills. What a wonderful way to spend the day.

We also enjoyed a wonderful walk on the Hampstead Heath - a beautiful park with miles of trails, huge old trees, vast fields of grasses and a stunning view of downtown London atop the highest point in North London. In the heath we saw swimming ponds (men's, women's, coed); ducks, coots, dogs, children and notably a pair of swans and 9 signets. Lovely.

We also toured Kenwood House, a grand mid 1700s estate with a remarkable interior and art collection. Sharon treated us to a delightful lunch at Kenwood on the patio. The home also has a lovely pond on the grounds where I found myself looking for Mr. Darcy out for a swim. Alas, no such luck.

The day continued with a walk down 'Well Walk' where mineral water was once available and reputedly healing and along Flask Walk to the Flask Tavern for a refreshing pint.

Tomorrow we will see what works out. We have plans to try to see the Cotswolds by public transport but if that falls through we will choose from the myriad of other London sites we have yet to see. Thank you all for the comments, it is the first thing we check! Love hearing from everyone!