Read from Bottom to Top

Just a reminder that on blogs the oldest post is at the bottom and the newest post is here at the top of the page. So to read through this trip report, I'd avise you to go down to the entry at the bottom of the page (the one titled "Bound for Europe!") and work your way back up here to the top.

Heading Home

We'll be catching a flight from Geneva tomorrow morning at 9:30 (we hop on a train in Bex - down the mountain from Gryon - at 6am for the hour train ride to Geneva). Our flight goes to Frankfurt, then to Washington DC, and finally to Seattle - arriving around 8:30pm. That's a total time of about 19 hours...

We're visiting Nicole in the hospital as I write this (the hospital doesn't have wifi, but Ahriel found some usb gizmo to plug into Nicole's computer that gets her to the internet). Nicole is doing much better and hopes to be back home on Wednesday and back to work next week.
See you all in Seattle!

Au revoir!

You guessed it...

...more rain.

I'd post some pictures, but they'd mostly be of the insides of clouds up here in the mountains or of rain down in the valley.

We took Nicole to the hospital in Monthey (pronounced mon-TAY) last night - she'd been complaining of right side pain for a couple days and she wanted to get it checked out. She was admitted and put on IV antibiotics after a thorough check - the main culprit probably is some intestinal bug she picked up on one of her multiple world travels as part of her job. She's doing better today. She'll be spending at least one more night in the hospital.

The hospital here is different from the hospital I work at in Seattle. The building is older and is up on a hill with a commanding view of the valley (the white building in this photo). Visiting hours are from 1pm to 8pm - no visitors at other times! The cafeteria closes from 12:30 to 1:15 in the afternoon (odd timing). The IVs are from bottles instead of bags. The emergency waiting room wasn't too busy (a black eye and a cut on the forehead to a couple guys - probably not afflicted by each to the other). It's pretty casual - we asked how Nicole was doing after about 90 minutes of waiting and the nurse said we could just go back and see and pointed in the general direction of the emergency area. The ER isn't at street level and is just a big open area of the hospital with curtains between patients. We wandered around and eventually found Nicole.

Nicole has a room with two beds - but she's the only one in the room (so far). There's a spectacular view of the valley and mountains (if the clouds weren't there...).

We visited a couple nearby towns between visits to Nicole - Monthey and Aigle (pronounced eggluh). Had pizza in Monthey that was pretty good (though not as good as my homemade pizza according to Paula). Both were typical Swiss towns - clean, nice walking streets, and interesting alpine architecture.

And then drove back up the twisty mountain roads with the lights on in the fog to Gryon. Met several cars at scary narrow places, but survived the return journey.

More Rain in Switzerland

We had a spectacular dinner last night at le Miroir d'Argentine, a restaurant up in the mountains at Solalex (about a 15 minute drive from Nicole and Ahriel's house). This is a "refuge" where they have meals and also rent rooms to hikers. The Miroir is a fancy restaurant and the regular refuge across the parking lot also has a more traditional fondue and beer restaurant.

We had all three of the main courses at our table (smoked chicken, veal, and venison) and I can say that all of them were delicious. The desserts were also fantastic. Wish you could have been here...

...especially for the drive home through the thick fog with visibility of about 20 feet (and sometimes much less!) on the twisty narrow mountain road with no center line... We spotted a fox running ahead of us (we were going so slowly that it easily outdistanced our headlights) and a small mouse that stopped in the center of the road and required a slow speed swerve on our part. Ahriel did a great job driving!

Today, with the rain, I'm not sure what the plan will be. Maybe a re-packing day in anticipation of leaving for Geneva tomorrow and our flight home on Tuesday. Or maybe another train adventure... We'll see...

Rainy Day in Gryon

We woke in the clouds this morning with rain and visibility of about 10 meters (that's European for 30 feet or so...).

It might be a good day to stay in and write about the topics I have listed on an ATM receipt that I've been carrying around in my pocket and adding blog ideas to whenever they came to mind...

Ga$ Price$

On our return from France yesterday we waited until we crossed the border into Switzerland to fill up the tank with gas. Most things in Switzerland are more expensive than in France - but not gas. We were paying about $9 a gallon for gas in France - here in Switzerland it's a bargain at about $8 a gallon...

Town Signs

When driving across France each town has two signs - one on arrival telling you that you've hit town and the new speed limit is 50 kph - 30 miles per hour or so (though they almost never have speed limit signs - everyone is just supposed to know the rules). Here's one of the "Arrival in Town" signs...












And at the other end of town will be a sign with the town's name and a line drawn through it to signify that you're leaving town and now the speed limit is something different (70kph? 90kph? - I never really knew for sure...).

Roundabouts

One of the best features of driving in Europe is the rarity of stop lights or stop signs. Instead, both in towns and in the country, they have roundabouts here.

When two roads meet they have a circular feature in the center of the intersection - often decorated with flowers or statues, or art works. Traffic proceeds to the right around the roundabout until they reach the road they want and then exit. When approaching the roundabout the traffic already in it (coming from your left) has the right of way. So all the driver has to do is look to the left, find an open spot, and then take off to the right in the roundabout. The traffic to your right will give you the right of way - so you really only need to look one direction.

Each exit from the roundabout (there are usually 4 when two roads meet, but can be more depending on the situation) has prominent signs telling the destination of the road. So if heading to Geneva you need to circle until you see the sign "Geneve" and then take that road out. It's simple and eliminates the need for stop lights and stop signs. A great invention!

Wow!!!

Yes, the Heineken truck is squeezing it's way through this street in Annecy (and this sort of maneuver is common)...

What's the Time?

In Sablet, that little village in Provence where we stayed for a week, the church would ring the bell on each hour (3 rings at 3 o'clock, 6 rings at 6 o'clock) and on each half hour it would ring once. The bells started at 7am and ended at 10pm - a nice way to keep track of the time...

Bonjour!

Greetings are very important here. Whenever entering a store or cafe we are always greeted with a "Bonjour!" and often a "Bonjour madame!" (or "Bonjour monsieur" as the case may be...). And on leaving there's always a "Au revoir". Good friends that meet on ths street often kiss three times on the cheek (one left, one right, and another left). People that don't know each other that well would greet with just one kiss on the cheek.

Unlikely Hitchhiker

When we pulled into the little town of Suzette for lunch the other day we saw a blemish on the back door of Nicole's car...

When we looked closer this is what we discoverd:

Ahriel thinks that the snail saw our Swiss license plate and hoped to get out of escargot loving France and into the safe life and snail sanctuary of Switzerland...

Wedding Photos

For those of you wanting to see photos from Nicole and Ahriel's wedding - check out this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolepovich/AhrielAndNicoleSWedding?authkey=PTikURMySjE#

Heading back to Switzerland

We drove from Gruffy, France to Gryon, Switzerland today. With stops in Annecy, Yvoire, and Evian (of bottled water fame). Here are some photos...

Annecy:








This building in Annecy looked suspiciously like a medieval toilet - two small rooms extended over the canal with no other apparent purpose...




Yvoire is a beautiful medieval village on Lac Leman filled with flowers...








And Evian is a more modern town (but still nice) on the lake...

Leaving Sablet en route to Gruffy, France

Our week in Provence came to an end today - and it was a fantastic week. The house here in Sablet is perfect (check out their website at http://www.petitportail.com/) and the village is beautiful. Every morning I wandered around the village through the narrow back streets to the little bakery for our breakfast croissants and loaf of bread for the day.

We'll sure miss this place and always remember it.

We headed back on the road to Switzerland via a different route than we took on our way to Sablet. We took the freeway (even though it's not "free" but rather a toll road - you get a ticket when you enter and pay when you exit) because we'd been through this part of France and could speed north at 130 kph (80 miles per hour) to some new landscapes.

We got off the freeway somewhere in northeast France and drove through beautiful countryside (like we have all through this trip - the scenery has been consistenly spectacular) and visited some towns and villages along the way.

Eventually, in mid afternoon, we decided it was time to find a place to stay for the night. We didn't see any hotels or bed and breakfast spots until I swerved to a quick right hand turn when I saw a little "Hotel Aux Gorges du Cheran**" sign along the side of the road. A ** (two stars) hotel was right in our price range.

We followed the occasional signs and the hotel turned out to be not really close to the highway and just past the surprisingly named French town of Gruffy. In fact, it was a 20 minute drive that culminated in a downward spiraling narrow road with the mountainside going straight up on the left and a stone wall on the right to keep cars from careening down the cliffside. The road was about a lane and a half wide and a bit scary. We decided that going up that road wasn't going to happen unless the hotel was a real dump or incredibly expensive...

We reached the hotel and it was a nice little place on the edge of a precipice next to a bridge across the gorge. We decided that our top price was 60 euros (about $90) for the room and I went in to negotiate with the innkeeper. It turned out that a room was 67 euros - but considering the drive out of the canyon, I decided to hedge on our "top price" and agreed on the room.

The innkeeper seemed a bit formal and didn't speak any English (well, maybe a word or two). I assured him that "madam" in the car (Paula) could "parle francais"... Actually Paula's French is a remnant from her school days in Chile (and has gotten us around very well on this trip), so assuring him that she could speak French was maybe a bit of an overstatement...

We hauled our stuff into the hotel and after looking over the options for dinner (the hotel restaurant is only open for hotel guests on the "semi pension" plan and the drive up the canyon wasn't very appealing) we opted for the "semi-pension" plan - dinners and breakfasts and the hotel room for a total of 125 euros (about $200) for the two of us. So our original 60 euro max had again grown... But that's travel in Europe...

It turned out that my first impression about the manager might have been correct - he was a bit on the French "nose in the air" side of the personality scale. Paula noticed it immediately.
We wandered over to the one lane suspension bridge and looked down into the precipice - the sides of the gorge were almost vertical and went down maybe a thousand feet (that's like 300+ meters for you European speakers). It was a loooooong way down to the bottom.
When dinner time arrived, 7pm, we retired to the dining room.

The hotel/restaurant is a two person affair. The manager that we met earlier is the cook and a woman, who matched his "nose in the air" personality, is the waitress. We referred to them as Monsieur Nez and Madame Nez (Mr. Nose and Mrs. Nose).

We were asked for our drink order and asked for a small (25dl) carafe of rose wine. Madame Nez pointed to the larger carafe (50dl) as the one we wanted. No, just the 25dl we said (we're not big drinkers). She pointed again to the larger 50dl and we again said that no, the 25dl carafe would be sufficient. Eventually we prevailed.

Then came the first plates of food, a small green salad and half a dozen slices of paper thin ham. It was very good.

Madame Nez arrived to ask about the main course - flank steak - and how we wanted our prepared. The French enjoy their steak rare. Very rare. We were prepared for this and had looked up the French words for "Well Done" - bien cuit. We asked for our steaks bien cuit and hoped that they would arrive at the table in what we would call "medium" in the US - pink in the middle (that's about the best you can hope for in France with steaks).

The main plates arrived with our steaks under a brown mushroom sauce. Along side were what could best be described as a couple smashed tater tots (but they tasted much better!). The mushroom sauce was delicious (I considered licking my plate clean, but decided that the French probably were too proper for that and ended up moping the plate clean with some bread). The steaks left a red river through the sauce when we sliced them - so maybe they hadn't quite reach the bien cruit stage in the cooking process... But they were delicious too.

Our desserts were a blueberry torte for Paula and the cheese plate for me. The selection of cheeses was very nice with the exception of the pure white one that I guessed was either goat cheese or sheep cheese (I'm not a big non-cow cheese eater, but Paula liked it). The torte was delicious.

I thought maybe a cup of coffee would be a nice topper for the evening and Paula clued me in that "un cafe s'il vous plait" would get the coffee for me. I tried to get Madame Nez's attention, but she wasn't giving attention to our table (or really to any of the other tables either...). Paula knew I was trying for a cup of coffee.

About that time a guest came to the door of the hotel. I could see the door from my seat and it was closed with a sign that said to ring the bell. The new arrival had hit the bell button but nothing seemed to happen. I noticed this and managed to wave at Madame Nez and pointed to the window where I had the view of the front door to let her know someone was trying to get in.
Paula saw this and mistakenly thought I was asking for my cup of coffee so she said, "un cafe s'il vous plait" to help me out. Everyone in the room was pretty much finishing up their desserts and at the sound of a voice above a table-talk whisper all heads snapped around in amazement at Paula's audacity. Madame Nez ignored Paula's outburst and went to assist the gentleman at the door (who probably had better manners than to ask for coffee when it was obviously not included on the menu...).

The perfect end to a perfect French dinner.

Market Day!

Tuesday is Market Day in Vaison la Romaine - a town 15 minutes north of Sablet. We wandered around the market and I had a great time taking pictures of the various vendors...

Herbs de Provence (of course):

Olives:

Soap:

Paella:

Avignon

During the 14th century the Pope moved from Rome (where he was being harrassed by all sorts of power struggles) to Avignon in Southern France (he happened to be French...). For the next hundred years or so the Popes lived in Avignon.

We spent the day there on Monday touring the huge palace. It's an amazing place with monsterously big dining halls and reception areas. Plus it was filled with tourists.

Avignon is famous for the bridge that currently goes halfway across the Rhone river. The children's song, "Sur le pont d'Avignon". Check out the third photo below for a view of the bridge from the city walls...

Some photos...

Orange and Pont du Gard

We headed a bit West on Sunday to see some Roman ruins in Orange and the aqueduct at Pont du Gard. Here's some photos...

An ancient olive tree:



Count the water bottles on this tandem touring bicycle:

Pastis

We decided to have a relaxed day on Saturday after a couple days filled with driving and sightseeing. So we decided to walk over to the neighboring village of Seguret (every day when we look out of our windows we see Seguret on the hillside opposite our house in Sablet).

The morning was beautiful, so we put the umbrella on the rack and stqrted the 50 minute walk through the vinyards that surround the two villages. As we walked, the clouds seemed to be following us (and maybe even catching up...).

Seguret is another beautiful little medieval village and we had a great time wandering around the narrow lanes. Then we heard the thunder...

Just as it started to rain we came across a little bar/cafè and we zipped in to stay dry. I ordered a coffee (it comes as a small espresso) and Paula had an Orangina (a bottled orange drink). Right behind us came about a dozen other people - the rain was aa big boost to business and there wasn't an empty seat in the little place. Then the skies opened and we witnessed a hugh deluge.

The guys down the bar from us were drinking some sort of drink with ice and water added. Paula asked the young bartender what it was and he said, "pastis". It's an licorice/anise flavored drink like Greek ouzo. Paula ordered one and the bartender gave her a funny look, but brought over the bottle. He poured about a half inch into a wine glass and then dropped in a couple ice cubes. Next he gave Paula a bottle of cold water. He told her to add water. She put in about a half inch of water and asked him if that was enough. He seemed a bit panicky and emphatically said that it wasn't anywhere close to enough. After several more pours and questions he seemed satisfied with the mixture (the wineglass was almost full!).

The pastis was drinkable, but we kept diluting it as we drank. It's a very popular aperatif here in France and quite tasty when properly diluted...

The bartender was entertained enough by the proceedings that the pastis was on the house...

Here's a photo of Paula, the pastis, and the rest of the cafe patrons watching the deluge outside the door...

Village Ramble

Paula and I rambled around some of the old villages in Provence on Friday after spending the morning at the weekly market in Carpentras. I'm still struggling with this French keyboard and I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Avignon writing this while Paula is out soaking up the French ambiance (or q,biqnce if I type without watching my fingers on this keyboard...). My apologies for this blog being very much on the non-informative side...

Here are some pictures from the day that included narrow roads, a lunch in a little village cafe, and lots of medieval sightseeing...

Sablet, France

On Wednesday we drove from Allevard to Sablet (where we have a house rented for a week).
Again it was a beautiful drive through big mountains, small mountains, quaint villages, vinyards, orchards, etc. etc.

When we arrived in Sablet a call to Paul (the landlord) led to his quick arrival at the town square. Sablet is a tiny French medieval town with a church at the top of the hill and circular lanes around it. There's even a thick wall to protect the town (our house is built right into the wall with the bathroom inside the protction and the rest of the house built up against the wall). When we saw the place both Paula and I rated it a 10 out of 10 (and that rating hasn't changed after 3 days - it's great!). For information on renting the house if you want to spend some time in a beautiful medieval village in Provence (and who doesn't!?!!??) - check out http://www.petitportail.com/ Tell them Jack and Paula sent you!

We rambled around town a bit and marveled at the cars on the narrow lanes. Here are some photos...

First Day in France!

OK. I'm in an internet cafe in Carpentras in France using a computer with a French keyboard to catch up on the most recent few days of the trip. Many of the keys aren't in the places that you might expect - so instead of being a touch typist, I'm watching every keystroke. The A, W and M keys are the main culprits... Please bear with me. If I miss a letter and put a Q insteqd of qn A somewhere, please just do a quick trqnslation...

We drove from Gryon in the mountains of Switzerland to Allevard on the plains of France on Tuesday (September 2nd). The driving was surprisingly easy - the roads are narrow and the drivers speedy, but I only saw my life flash in front of my eyes a couple times when going around tight corners on narrow mountain roads and meeting a bus or big truck coming the other direction...

We stopped in Chamonix - a famous French mountaineering town and here's a photo of moi with Mt. Blanc (the highest peak in Europe) in the background:

We crossed over a couple high passes amid beautiful mountain scenery. The border crossing into France couldn't have been easier - there was no one at the border! We drove right through.

Eventually we arrived at our destination - Hotel Le Panoramic in Allevard. The hotel was OK and the town very French. We stopped for a salad and crepe on the main square.

Along with chocolate, Switzerland is famous for other milk products - especially cheese. Yesterday, when the weather was nice, Paula, Jennifer and I took a ramble down to Nicole's former house in Gryon and chatted with a goat in the field next door.

On the way home we were lucky enough to come across one of the many cheese farms in the neighborhood. They plant the small cheeses in the spring and now they are almost ready to harvest. Here's a photo of some of the huge "wheels" of cheese still in the field. They'll be brought into aging buildings and by next spring they'll be small, compact, and delicious!

Rain

The weather has turned from the beautiful sunny 80 degree days to a cool rain. The mountains are covered in clouds and occasional banks of white move up the valley like reverse glaciers. Our plan for riding the ski lift up to the top of one of the mountains and then rambling around has been changed today to an unspecified “Plan B”.

Many of the wedding guests have taken planes back home already. Jennifer and Nicole are heading to Geneva today and Jennifer has an early morning flight tomorrow back to Seattle. Paula and I will be heading to Provence tomorrow with a stop in a hotel along the way.
I’ll be changing from a wedding-blog to a travel-blog starting tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ll have to see what Plan B develops on this rainy day…

Wedding Bells

The reason for our trip - Nicole and Ahriel's wedding - finally arrived and everything went beautifully. The weather was fantastic, the location was picturesque, and the people were festive...

Nicole and Ahriel chose the B&B (with the yurts) up in Villars for the afternoon outdoor ceremony:















Everything came off without a hitch - I managed to walk Nicole down the stairs from her room to the "altar" without either of us tripping and falling. The groom showed up (always important). And the quick affirmation of their love for each other was a tear jerker.