France days 10-12 - Culinary Delights and Dizzying Heights

 The adventures continue in the south of France. We've been in the Avignon area for a few days looking at old stuff, but today is something a bit different... TRUFFLES!

Letting the dog smell the truffle to let him know we're done digging

We went on a tour of a truffle farm and got to follow the dogs as they sniffed around oak trees to find truffles. They quickly found the scent and started digging, at which point the farmers had to stop them so they don't damage the valuable fungi. Then we just slowly dug, scraped, and pried until the truffle popped free. It was a lot of work but it was worth the truffle. 

After digging a bunch we got a nice bag full and went to the air conditioned barn where the farmer made us a bunch of truffle appetizers. 

Yep, that's truffled ice cream (and a glass of champagne)

All the food was super delicious. This was our first time having truffles (besides the fake truffle cheese junk and the Truff hot sauce which is just poison). By the end the other people on the tour got full or sick of it or something so Cris and I went around and ate all the leftover truffles. Cris even palmed a few shavings for later. Every morning is a good morning when you get to pet dogs.

That took much of the day and we were hot so to cool off we stopped by the Grottes of Thouzon (a little cave) on the way home. It was pretty but there were some rude dutch people making noises the whole time. You know what they say, "If you're a Dutch then you ain't worth much". 

For some reason this cave had a ton of really skinny stalactites like noodles hanging down so it was extra pokey. Should we call them spaghettites or stalactghetti? The guide only spoke French so most of my questions remain unanswered. Like why are the Dutch so rude?

We also stopped for our first French wine tasting which was great. The guy doing the pours was really nice and talked decent English so we had our first real conversation of the trip. Well, sometimes we talk to each other. 

We don't know much about wine but these tasted good. A bunch of Syrah and Grenache grapes?

The next day we were heading to Carcassonne but saw an Abbey along the way so we stopped. It ended up being really neat and I love a self-guided tour where you can just mess around at your own pace.

Abbaye de Fontfroide

They also had a pretty garden which some of us are obsessed with.

That took a bit longer than expected as well as lunch (and we stopped for a gin/whisky tasting) so we didn't get to Carcassonne until after the ramparts closed. 

Lunch with those people on the river in Trebes

Side note: The French have a reputation for being rude and not liking tourists. We have had nothing but good interactions with people. As long as you say 'Bonjour' when you first see someone they'll treat you well. We always forget to use our translation app so we spent a good 5 minutes in a cheese shop with a jolly guy trying to communicate which cheeses we want. It was awkward but he never stopped being cheerful and helpful. Basically, just be polite and try to speak a bit of their language and they'll meet you halfway. 

Even after the ramparts closed we could still wander the old city of Carcassonne, so on a whim I downloaded an app called VoiceMap. It's an audio guide that automatically plays based on GPS. You just follow the directions and walk while the guide talks (in headphones) and explains all sorts of history and architecture stuff. It was our favorite tour we've ever been on, highly recommended. And Carcassonne is insane.

The next morning we got to go up on the walls of Carcassonne. We have a "Passion Monuments" pass so this and a few other sights are already paid for, otherwise I don't know that it was worth the price to go up there. It was cool, but so was the walk on ground level. 

Next we're up in Rocamadour which is a bunch of buildings built into a cliffside, so stay tuned for that. But on the way was the 4 castles hike. We've learned through our travels that we enjoy more freeform, guide-yourself type of adventures so this hike was perfect. There are four castle ruins all on one mountain ridge.

This pic looks kinda fake but I promise we were there

It was a strenuous hike to get to all of them but it was well worth it. Each castle had its own charm: one was just a circle which had a tiny entrance I had to crawl through, another had a series of arched rooms that were once barracks, and the last had a tight spiral staircase leading up four floors. 

After adventuring through each castle we came back to the car exhausted so decided to skip Albi Cathedral. Later days. After a couple hour drive we arrived at Rocamadour which is more touristy than we like but still cool. We're here before the French high-season so there's only a few dozen other people staying here.

The view from our parking spot

More Rocamadour is coming in our next blog post, how is that for a cliff hanger (get it, cuz cliffs. This city is on a cliff. Do you get it yet?)

Oh, and I'm a knight now

France Days 7 - 9: Checking out Roman Empire Stuff (in France?!?)

We left the beautiful mountains of the northeastern side for the southeast region of France called Avignon. We were already prepped and ready for the southeast to be super hot (it is the Mediterranean region, after all), so the insane heat wave affecting France right now didn't severely change the heat that already exists in this region of France. 

BUT. 

Folks, I do these trips partly to avoid summer heat from my home-state of South Carolina. And this heat is just bonkers. I'm looking forward to HOPEFULLY getting cooler temps soon (I say 'hopefully' because, originally, the heat wave was supposed to end in two days, but it already looks like there's a second heat wave that's going to batter us when we go to areas that are usually a delightful temp...but that's future Cris and Paul's problem).

We decided to go to the heat-filled region mainly for one reason: Ancient Roman stuff!!! When we were doing our research, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there were quite a few Roman ruins we could see in this area. So that's the main theme for the three-ish days we're adventuring in this part. 

Day Seven: Travel, Cute Cliffside Village, and Opera

Today was a travel day, as we left the mountains for the Mediterranean climate. It was four hours of driving today, so we decided to stop half way to this adorable cliffside village, Pont-en-Royans. 

It's a super cute medieval village that is nestled on the cliff with a river and waterfall at the bottom. It was fun walking the village and staring at the unique architecture of each house in the cliff wall. Plus, they have this fun water feature by the river so folks can cool off in this hotter region of France.

We walked around and I ogled all the buildings, and then we ate lunch. It was the best burger I've ever eaten in my life. I should have bought three more for the road. It's all I'm thinking about and I want more. (Also, random sidenote: on past trips, Paul has been the one obsessed with some sort of food - like seafood chowder - but this time, it might be me as I am currently obsessed with beef tartare and I can't stop eating it. Mmm...).

After that amazing lunch, we grabbed groceries and found our new airbnb for the next few days. It has air-conditioning, so it has been BLISS. We cooled off for a bit in the ac and then headed to Orange, France.

First, we stopped at the Arc de Triomphe. Most people only know about the one in Paris, which we already don't want to visit because Paris is too busy to drive in. But this Arc de Triumph is also well-preserved and there was hardly anyone else around. I LOVE that crowd-less feature and we soaked in the beauty for quite a while. 

Next up, we got all culture-fancy by going to listen to an Opera Singer. Maybe she's famous, but we're not actually REALLY culture-fancy (just pretending) so I have no idea. Her name is Nadine Sierra if that helps. The really cool part was that it was done in the Théâtre antique d'Orange, which is a Roman Theatre (!!) that's still standing and used. 

It was soooooo cool to admire the brilliant engineering that allows for such great acoustics without need of a microphone. The singing was beautiful, the building was equally beautiful, but the heat was almost unbearable. Fortunately, it cooled off when the sun set. She was still doing encores at 11pm, but we could barely keep our eyes open and still needed to drive 45 minutes to our place, so we snuck out and hit the road. We fell asleep instantly, after a great day of sites.

Day 8: Checking Out Roman Things in Arles

Despite our late night, we woke up super early to beat the heat. You know the saying: "when in Rome Avignon, do what the Romans French do". The French over in this hotter Avignon region do things in the morning, then take siestas during the heat, and then do things again. So we decided to give it a try.

Today's plans were mainly to do a walking tour of the town Arles. Again, it's a place heavily influenced by the Roman Empire. The center of the town has lots and lots of Roman ruins/things to check out, and most tourists do the walking tour in order to see all the good stuff.

We saw SOOOO many Roman ruins in this area! It's hard to keep track of them all. Here's a few of them: 

Roman Gladiator Arena (Amphitheater)

Roman Theater

Roman Baths

Roman Cryptoporticus (a somewhat mysterious underground cavern - it was delightfully cool down there)

Saint-Trophime Cloister ("only" a 15th century building....boo! Just kidding - still cool)

We ambled around beautiful streets of old old old buildings and took in all the sights from these ruins. If you like Vincent Van Gogh, there's stuff to do in Arles around that topic, too, but Paul and I aren't really into art so we didn't check them out.

After lots and lots of walking, plus our night of very little sleep, we were exhausted and overheating. We planned to go home, cool off, and then go do some other things, but we ended up passing out for a deep nap and didn't feel like leaving the beloved ac for more things. That's okay. Arles gave us plenty of pictures and memories and it was wonderful to spend the day there.

Day 9: Avignon Palace of the Popes and Aquaducts

Today we headed to the city of Avignon to check out the Palace of the Popes. For a brief history lesson, this is where the Popes moved the Christian capital/center for a bunch of years during the Great Schism drama in the 1300s. The popes (six of them) were determined to pretend that Avignon could be like a 'new Rome' and powerhouse for the church, so they went all out with stuff in Avignon. 

There's fortified walls and beautiful buildings all over the place in this city. And the most glorious was where the Popes lived/worked: The Palace of the Popes.

It's a huge place, and the reviews said to expect it to take 2-3 hours to do the tour. So we left early again to beat the heat and got there just as the doors were opening.

While it might not have been the most beautiful place we've been (architecture was great but nothing special and there's no artwork or furniture, etc.), it was still overwhelmingly awe-inspiring. They wanted us common folks to be filled with awe by making all the ceilings and rooms super huge. (Alas, despite the large rooms, the hallways still were small and challenging for my Tall Paul).

The Palace of the Popes started out as a great tour, but, by the end, the tour groups were crowding the rooms and it was getting HOT in there. I cannot even imagine how awful it is in that building by 3pm. As it was, by the end, I was close to hyperventilating because the crowds and pressing heat was really getting to me. I was grateful for the end.

By the time we were done, we were starving. We were originally going to drive out of the city to find lunch (we really really hate cities), but we were so hungry that we made the mistake of grabbing sandwiches from the Square - a tourist no-no because it's garbage food made for tourists and not for locals. Sigh...we knew better but we really were sooooo hungry. Hopefully that's the worst food on our trip and I'll try to put a granola bar in my purse for emergencies next time.

We gratefully drove in our ac-cold car for the ride back. We stopped next at Pont du Gard, which is one of the best preserved Roman aquaduct bridges in the world. It was super cool to see that architecture and insanely HUGE ruin/structure.

We planned on swimming there in the river underneath it, but you guys, the HEAT was insane. Our swimming stuff was in the car, so we hiked back to the car and by then we were SO hot, we were miserable and a bit sick. So we headed back to our beloved ac-cooled airbnb to recoup.

After a lovely siesta, we went to a winery (finally! Why did we wait this long to get wine in France?!?) and then went swimming on the river, right next to the Pont du Gard. What a way to end the day! Don't mind us, just casually swimming by ancient ruins....

Overall, it's been a great few days, full of amazing history. We're exhausted every night and extremely tired of this heat, but we're still having a fabulous time. I'm glad we could add Roman history to our French adventure! 

France Days 4-6: Can you see Annecy? (Yes. You always can, it's in the valley)

We're back to travelling without Cris' so called "Flexibility". No more delays, no more old things we can't find because of construction. We're in Annecy for three nights and it's wonderful!

Bike ride around lake Annecy

But first a quick note on driving over here (overall it's fun):

Things I like: 1. There are bike lanes full of fit old people.  2. We have a totally new Yaris Hybrid to drive.  3. The roads and signage are great.  4. The views are spectacular (so far). 5. ROUNDABOUTS! I love a good roundabout.  6. The drivers here are excellent and even use blinkers on roundabouts (my big pet peeve in the US). It's an intersection! Use your blinkers, people. 

Things I dislike: 1. There are bike lanes full of fit old people.  2. The Yaris is small, I am big.  3. The speed limit changes at least once a mile, lot's of accelerate then brake 100m later.  

 

The above means go 50kph, then 80, then 30. Then watch out when the road narrows ahead for no reason, the oncoming traffic will not stop for you. 

We stopped for groceries before getting to our airbnb just outside Annecy, so much cheese and delicious looking sausage! I'm proud of how far I've come with my photography skills.

Yum!

The next morning we went to Annecy which is a pretty big city. We didn't realize that due to the heatwave this week the schools were all cancelled so it was pretty insane at the lake. We lucked out finding a person leaving a packed parking lot and went to rent ebikes. The 26 mile bike ride around the lake was awesome.

We stopped twice to swim and relax so it took most of the day. The lake is cool and clear which is just what was needed when you're biking in 96 degree sun. 

The next day we got up a bit earlier to beat the heat and went for a hike. Cris still has stinky feet...I mean a hurt ankle so she didn't make it past the cows.

The cows in the forest had huge bells that made deep clanging noises that reverberated from all directions so it was pretty scary to hear that and then come around a corner face-to-face with a horny cow. I'm bigger than them though (and really brave) so they moved (and mostly ignored me because grass exists). The rest of the hike was steep but spectacular.

No more cows

After that we went to Gorges du Fier which is pretty much what the name says: It was hot, there was a gorge, both of these things make Cris uncomfortable.

And since you can't go a day in France without seeing a castle we stopped by Chateau de Montrottier which was a nice, smaller shack.

Somehow, at this point the day was just getting started. We stopped for some raw beef (which was amazing) and then went back to rest at the airbnb for a bit.

Cris can't fly so I left her behind for the next bit. I drove up some pretty sketchy roads to get most of the way up the mountain, then some dudes put me in a van and drove higher, then I jumped off...

This was my second time paragliding and it definitely one of my favorite things (sorry sauerkraut, you're bumped out of the top 10). The miniature man on my back let me fly for a while so I could do some turns and a spin, then he took the controls back and did some insane twists and a flip. I can't recommend it more. This area is so gorgeous, pictures don't do it justice.

After that insane day it was time for some rest. We had planned another hike, but it's hot and we're tired so we just went swimming/reading/sleeping at lake Annecy. Lunch was one of the best meals I've ever had.

So, our trip is back to normal and we're happy and relaxed. What a great time in Annecy! Tomorrow we head down to the Avignon area where it might be even hotter so wish us luck.

Oh, almost forgot. It's France, we also saw a castle today :)

The inner courtyard of Chateau Menthon

Day One, Two, and Three: 'Ef' is for Flexibility

Life is a grand adventure and there is no one that I want to do adventures with besides Paul. I absolutely LOVE that he and I don't get snippy with each other, even when things are stressful.

One thing that we're pretty good at on vacations (and life in general, really) is being Flexible. That needs to be capitalized to emphasize just how chill and easy going we can be when things go awry.

So here's our first days of France and how many times we've learned to be Flexible. Fingers and toes crossed (please, join us, will you?) that the Fun days are ahead as a reward for the Flexible days.

Day One and Two: Travel

These merge into one day since the time change means we lose six hours along the way. When we made our France plans, the most worrisome part of the plans was the first day of travel. The best travel deal and times we could get meant that we'd have a short layover time in Philadelphia. We researched and researched and decided to risk it (hopefully it's not a similar problem on the way back, since we have a larger time gap for the future layover on our return). Our research said that as long as our Greenville flight wasn't delayed for more than 30 minutes, we'd easily make our flight to Zurich from Philly. 

Well, our flight was delayed by more than an hour, so tragically, we had to get our plans changed. Paul was very patient (and Flexible) with the airport assistant lady as she struggled to find us a different flight. In the end, we had to add another layover in the London (Heathrow) airport. It meant that, as long as nothing went wrong, we'd make it to Zurich by noon instead of 8am. Somewhat frustrating, and it meant that we couldn't do the Spa/therme for more than a few hours on the first day (we were REALLY looking forward to this!), but no worries. 

The other bad news from this change in our flights also meant that Paul and I were no longer sitting next to each other. We always get the cheapest type of seats, which means they are cramped, and it's nice to sit by each other so we can lift the armrest between us and poor Paul can sprawl his long legs a bit and I can get cozy and lean into him. Instead, I sat by a very angry Scotsman who swore constantly about....everything...and he also stole my arm rest so I was uncomfortable for the entire long flight. 

Then we got to Heathrow airport. Yikes. Note to Self (and for you all as well): avoid Heathrow at all costs, if possible, for future flights. What a nightmare of an airport. It's so large that when the plane landed, they put us on a bus, to bus us a long distance down the road to the actual airport. 

Once there, we had to go through a lonnng line of security (where they didn't like my ankle brace on my injured ankle and, after removing the brace, not only did a scan with a machine but also had to squeeze my entire ankle really hard, which made me cry actual tears in pain, in order to prove that I didn't have something, I dunno, hidden in my skin?). Anyway, we got through the long security and ended up in a huge lobby. 

Apparently, since the airport is so congested/crowded, Heathrow has a policy of putting everyone in this large lobby and won't tell you your gate number until right before boarding, even if that means you have to run across the airport to get to your gate in time. Since security took so long, we didn't have long to wait in the crowded room, but then we had to find the gate (and go up and down stairs and on elevators in a confusing array) to get to our gate. We got there about 1 minute before boarding started. And then they put us on a bus again and yep, you guessed it, drove us the long distance to the same parking lot that we started in for a different airplane from the same company. 

By now, our nerves were frazzled. Fortunately, we got to sit by each other for this 3 hour flight. Unfortunately, the airplane wasn't granted permission to leave yet, so our flight was delayed and we got to sit in those uncomfortable airplane seats for extra long while just chilling on the tarmac. Yayyyy.

By the time we landed and got our rental car, it was almost 2:30pm (remember when we had plans to be there at 8am?!). But despite being stressed and insanely sleep-deprived, we were determined to do something fun, even though now it was too late to do the Spa/Therme.

On our list, we had 'Augusta Raurica' which was a cool Roman ruins of an amphitheater that was close to our airbnb. We drove about 2 hours to the area, and then, tragically, could NOT find it. There was construction that closed the road that went to the parking lot, so we tried three different ways to get around the construction without success.

At this point, we were hungry too, so we gave up. We limped into our airbnb and, due to being Flexible, pretended it was a spa by jumping in their cold pool for a bit and then taking a hot shower (a nice cold/hot treatment) and passing out for about 11 hours.

Our airbnb had a pool with a pretty good view

Day Three: Chillin' at Chillon Castle and the Never-Ending Drive

When we made our plans originally, we knew that this would be one of our longer driving days. It was six hours to Annecy, where our next four days of adventure would be located. We figured that this early in the trip, our energy levels would be up, so a six hour drive would be fine.

At first, this was the case. We had two stops in our agenda for the day: at hour 3, we'd stop at Chillon Castle, most likely just to look at it from the outside and then continue (while being Flexible enough to allow a tour if we wanted). After the castle, we'd stop 1.5 hours later in Chamonix, a cute skiing village, where we were super excited about a 1 mile pretty hike with stunning mountain views. My busted ankle means we can only do short hikes on this vacation, so we were super pumped that this one was short and easy but also really pretty (most Alps hikes are tough/long). After that, we'd casually drive to our next airbnb in Annecy, with time to stop for groceries to make dinner at our place. 

Such cute little towns and villages along the way!

The first three hours of the drive were beautiful. The Swiss countryside reminded us of Germany: drive really fast for a few kilometers, then slam on your breaks to drive slow through a cute village, repeat. The villages were sooooo cute. I love Swiss architecture for their homes.

This whole town was levels on a mountain cliff with the lake in the background: pretty but a bit scary!

We had plans to stop at a French bakery for lunch (mmm our first bread and cheese time!) but tragically, there was zero parking available anywhere near the place, and it was so busy on the streets and right on a mountain cliff, that we were uncomfortable with driving around looking for a place to park somewhere in the neighborhood. So we were Flexible, and decided we would figure something out by the castle.

We got to the Chillon Castle and we were blown away from the views. It is an old castle, perched on the lake, with the mountains all around. And the castle is beautiful! Since it was so lovely, we decided to get tickets to go inside. And right next to the castle was a tourist restaurant. Not something we would normally do, but it was past lunch time and we were hungry. The food was fine and the castle - wow! 

Just wow. I think it's my favorite castle that we've visited so far (and if you've been reading our travel blog for a while, you know that we've seen plenty of castles...). If not my favorite, then def. the top two (but I currently cannot think of one that I liked more).

Some of the things that I loved about this castle was: (1) we didn't have to join a tour; instead, we could just wander around as we pleased; and (2) it was HUGE and there were SOOO many rooms we could check out (we didn't even see them all!).

Chillon Castle has some prime real estate on the water with mountain views

So we highly recommend checking out Chillon Castle: it's worth the money!

After that, we got in the car to go hike near Chamonix. If timing worked well, we'd still have plenty of time to hike and still get to our new airbnb and eat dinner. Ha. 

The drive started out splendidly, if not slightly terrifying for me since I'm afraid of heights. We went straight up into the Alps, with tight curves in the road and tons of gorgeous views. It was like the Blue Ridge Parkway on steroids. 

Tragically, we went around a curve and....some crew members had closed the road ahead. It's the only road to Chamonix and they assured us (and the many many other vehicles) that it would open in about two hours,

While many of the other drivers were a bit cranky (in a quiet, European way, not a boisterous American way), Paul and I decided to be Flexible and easy going about it. We parked our car and walked to the nearby Alpine building - where hikers crash for the night and there's a bar as well. We grabbed some beers and sat and relaxed while soaking in the views (including a picturesque pink church). 

Paul decided that, if they opened the road when promised, we would still go to the hike in Chamonix. He would just jog up the hike and I would amble around slowly until he got back. 

Of course, they did NOT open the road at the promised time. It was another hour before the road was open, and now it was too late to do anything besides get some groceries and go to our airbnb. Sigh....

And then, even more annoyingly, once we got out of that mountain pass, there was a closed lane and backed up traffic, which added another 40-ish minutes to our long long day of driving.

At least our traffic jam included pretty arches and alps!

By the time we got out of that traffic jam, all of the grocery stores were closed for the day (they close super early! Lesson learned). So we no longer had any options for food because French do slow dinners and we didn't have time for that (plus we were not interested in finding our new airbnb in the dark). Fortunately, Paul cleverly thought about how there MUST be some McDonalds or Burger Kings in France, and we found one that was open on the way. 

We grabbed some gross American food (they do have Korean and Italian Whoppers though) and went on our way to the airbnb, still slowly because we were behind a tractor pulling hay for a long time and then we couldn't find our airbnb and had to use detective skills to find it.

I'm glad the Chillon Castle was so amazing, as it helped salvage the day, but boy, we are tired of being stressed and also frustrated by cancelled plans! (Also: at least the views were gorgeous on our drive!)

Hopefully we don't have to be so Flexible in our future France days and things start going a bit better. Mainly, I'd like to start relaxing a bit more. Here's hoping tomorrow is better! The agenda is mainly e-biking around Lake Annecy and stopping occasionally to swim. And buying food. 

We're keeping high spirits and looking forward to our next fun day!

~Cris (and Paul)