It dawned on me that I never put in the next 2 letters Scott wrote from France. They are good and I have pictures to go with them, so I thought I would throw them in now. Here is the 2nd of 3.
Written by Scott 21st July 2009:
Bon soir!
Well, it’s been an adventure again, not unexpected of course, but we’re finally here near La c Annecy. When we last wrote, we were at our campsite near Lyon, and debating our next move. That night we had the shelter of our 1mm thick tent between us and a fierce thunderstorm that seemed to last the whole night. Unfazed, I slept like a baby. The same could not be said of our baby, who slept like a person wondering just what make someone decide that camping in an electrical storm was a good idea. Anyway, he was actually pretty good, according to Kristie’s reports. We’re so lucky.
The lure of the Côte d ‘Azure (Azure coast – basically the Mediterranean) was too much, so rather than cut across the mountains for a leisurely 2-3 hour journey to Annecy, we bundled up, and buckled down for the stated 5 hour trip to Nice.
Hah!
Leaving at about 10, we drove into pouring rain, and the traffic on the motorway came to a standstill. I think it took us around 2 hours to actually leave the outskirts of Lyon! As we got closer to Nice, the weather improved dramatically, which lifted our spirits considerably. Marcello was just about done with sitting in his car seat though, and needed plenty of attention, walks, and fresh air. Late that afternoon we came up towards the business end of the driving day, in terms of navigational requirements. It was right about this time that the laptop ran out of juice and in trying to plug it into the 12v car adapter, we (and when I say we, I mean ME mainly) managed to blow the fuse on the cigarette lighter circuit. I reached for the car manual, to find it is entirely in Dutch. Fun. It turns out that “Äsbak, Sigarettenaansteker on Stopcontacten” was the right page header that had the info I needed. Asking a French mechanic for the right amp fuse is another story, and that will have to wait for another day.
No problem, Kristie being super organised printed an entire book with all the maps to the locations we were staying. Except one problem. We think it was left on our coffee table back home. No problem, we put everything into TripIt, and we printed out our itinerary just in case! Except one big problem. For some reason, we neglected to include this one particular night in TripIt (see for yourself, it’s not there!) Well, we had the street address, and knew roughly where to go, but for some reason, the actual name of the campsite escaped us... As it drew closer to the end of the day we were becoming increasingly nervous of having to spend the night in the car! As luck would have it, there was just enough juice in the laptop to reconfirm our direction, and we headed into the dense forest hills to find the campground. Like an oasis in the desert, it appeared, some 160 hectares of camping grounds actually. We breathed a sigh of relief as we found the reception still open, and the people spoke a little English. Even better, the restaurant was open, and we got a cooked meal into us. As we went to bed that night, Kristie and I both commented on how nice the gentle cooling breeze was.
Within 30 minutes of going to bed, the gentle breeze became a wind storm, that from inside our tent sounded like a Tornado. Poor Kristie had nightmares all night of the trees falling on us, and could barely sleep. Of course, Marcello woke up every 30 minutes or so also. As usual, I slept like a baby!
Next morning was a later start that anticipated. The wind had died down, and Kristie and Marcello caught up on some sleep. At around 10, we took off for our day trip to Italy. What a mission! I’ll spare you the details, but it took a lot longer than we expected. We were hoping to find a nice beach in San Remo, and there did appear to be a few around, but they were all private. In the end, we did find a public access, but it was mostly rocks and huge breakers. Swimming looked like a death wish. The scenery of the area though was truly breathtaking.
On the way back, we detoured through Monaco, which was stunning. A real rich mans playground. We even saw the obligatory Ferraris. Kristie drove up into the hills, and we got a couple of great aerial shots of Monaco for the scrapbook.
Cool stuff indeed.
We took the coastal route back home, through Nice. Stopping in an outer suburb of Nice at a Supermarket, Kristie picked up some essentials, while I looked for an internet connection. No luck. Oh well, I was sure that the Virtual Bike Race website was trucking on nicely, and had full confidence in Kylie running it in our absence. :) As Kristie joined back with us, her arms full with Marcello, and groceries, she placed her wallet on the roof of the car as she packed the car. We drove off, blissfully unaware that the wallet was still on the roof... Later in the afternoon, figuring that we were cheated out of our swim in the Mediterranean, we stopped at a beach in between Nice and our campsite.
The water was beautiful, and Marcello LOVED it, after the initial shock. J I didn’t have my togs (swimming suit for any Americans reading this!), so I stripped down to my boxers, and jumped in. It was too inviting not to. Besides, most of the Euro men seem to swim in Speedos anyway, so I didn’t look too out of place. After the swim, as we packed up the car, and basking in the glow of a lovely afternoon, our enjoyment turned sour as we discovered the missing wallet. Luckily, it didn’t have a lot of cash in it, and Kristie’s US credit card / drivers license was replaceable, but we thought we’d kick ourselves if we didn’t go back to look for it. We estimated it would take about an hour. We didn’t count on the weekend beach traffic.
Sadly, as we retracted our trip, we didn’t find the wallet, and turned back again to head home, slightly worse for wear after the stress of the CRAZY French drivers, and the streets built hundreds of years ago, not designed for modern day station wagons..
To summarise, we got back close to 10pm, just before the campsite closed, in darkness, and needing dinner. We threw a couple of steaks over the camp stove, wolfed them down, and went to bed. Kristie checked her cellphone first, and that’s when we got the news that there was an error on the website, and it was going to need my assistance. I had no idea where we could get internet access, and besides, the campsite gates were closed.That was probably the last straw for us both. It wasn’t the greatest day as a family, truth be told, but we were on holiday, we were healthy, and as we told ourselves, things could be a lot worse! Tomorrow would be another day.
It was a great night, calm, cool, and even Marcello slept like a baby!
We got up at first light, packed up, picked up our morning baking (mmmm croissants and Pain au Chocolat – yes, it’s as good as it sounds!), checked out at 8, and hit the road, ready for a big day of travelling to Annecy. We were straight into the big winding hills of the Alps, and I happened to ask Kristie how much gas we had left. “Quarter of tank, no problem”. Then I glanced at our route. Big problem. There were no big cities for hundreds of kilometres! We said nothing, prayed a lot, but watched as the fuel gauge dropped to E. There was no turning back, but I admit I was quietly panicking as the fuel warning came up on the dashboard. Quickly turning to our trusty French phrase book, I found the correct way to ask for a petrol station, as Kristie detoured off into a charming village for help. We found an old man, who smiled a lot, spoke a lot of French, some of which I understood, and gestured back in the direction we were heading. “Dix kilometres! Tourne á droit! Tourne á gauche..”etc .. etc.. Scarily, the French phrase book also mentioned that the small town gas stations were generally closed on Sundays. I asked Kristie what day it was, knowing full well the answer... Once again, like an answer to prayer, and right on time, we saw the gas station, and miracles continued as it was open, just for the morning!! We correctly deciphered Gasoil, as being diesel, and filled up, ignoring the exorbitant price. Ok, nearly ignoring it.. (70 something Euros is a lot to pay to fill your tank!) But the stress it relieved was worth every Euro cent. As our journey continued, everything started going much better for us. The scenery was, well, stunning. We ended up cutting out most of the cycling landmarks I had originally wanted to see, but we were determined to make it to our campsite with enough time to enjoy the evening. When we hit the city of Grenoble (near the borders of Italy and Switzerland), we drove around for a time, looking for an internet cafe. We only found an abandoned one, and most of the city was closed being Sunday. But luck was still on our side, as we stumbled upon an unsecured open WiFi connection, and before too long, we had internet access, while Kristie double parked and fed Marcello. I was able to repair the site pretty quickly, and an hour or so later, we were back on the road, arriving here at Annecy at just on 4pm. A great day. Marcello was outstanding also. He didn’t sleep so much, but wasn’t so distressed travelling.
The campsite here is a converted old farm, and you have to see the setting to believe how incredible it is. I have a feeling that my photos won’t do it justice. After setting up camp, we drove back into downtown Annecy, and I have to say that the buzz is electric. At this time of year, I’m sure this holiday resort town is on fire anyway, but with the Tour due here in a couple of days, it’s something else again. Once again, I managed to find an open WiFi point, and entered the days Tour results. (And wow, Alberto Contador looks unstoppable, doesn’t he?) We are missing seeing television coverage of it all, but I’m sure that our roadside view in the mountains will more than make up for it. On the way home, we picked up some Pizza, and had a picnic back at the site. All in all, a great day, and such a blessing after yesterdays turn of events.
Marcello is asleep in bed, I’m writing this email in the car, and tomorrow I hope to send it to you all. It’s a rest day for the Tour de France tomorrow, and it’ll be a rest day for us too. We can’t wait.
We miss you all, and Marcello gives you all a great big hug, and a sloppy kiss. Seriously, he’s doing that a lot lately, we probably should try to stop that somehow!
With all our love,
Scott, Kristie and Marcello
xxx
Update: The next morning.
Since there is a few minutes to spare, and since we haven’t had a chance to send this email yet, I thought I’d add a few more details. We had another great night. Marcello slept well, as did Kristie and I. The local baker comes here at 8 each morning, and it was croissants and chocolate bread again for breakfast. Marcello loves croissants also. As Marcello and Kristie went back to bed for a nap, I went for a run, checking out some possible locations for watching the Time Trial stage around the lake. Unlike traditional time trials, this is not flat, and will be quite a challenge. Expect Contador and Armstrong to do well. It’s now 30 degrees as I write this, and the cool of the early morning has long since passed. It’s a drop dead gorgeous day. We are so lucky. On my run, I must have seen two dozen cyclists, all recreational, but all dressed in their favourite Team colours. It feels so great to be in a cycling mad country. Even around the campsite as I listen in on other family conversations, it seems so strange to hear the English words of “Cavendish”and “Armstrong” interspersed in their French or German sentences. Even among the locals, it seems that most people have at least a passing interest in who is doing what at the Tour. Of course, they can’t help but be affected by it, since the road around the lake will be closed for a whole day soon.
We have discovered that the tour roads in the mountains close from 8am. This will mean an early start tomorrow, and I expect a lot of walking. We’ll have to stock up on food today. I am so excited. It’s a dream come true for me to actually witness the Tour de France. I’m so grateful that Kristie shares my enthusiasm! And Marcello, well, he’s happy just playing in the grass and dirt at this age, but at least he’s happy. Oh, and speaking of Monseiur Marcello, he got another tooth the other day. La dent numéro six. He didn’t seem unusually grouchy, so that’s great. He’s sitting next to me right now, giggling as I type. Very cute.
Well cést tout for now.
Au revoir!
Scotty (and Marcello says “ba ba ba! <giggle>”)