On our way to France again

Lucky for us we got to practice some more of our French language skills in this next part of the trip. (Annecy and then Nice).

On our way to Annecy we were able to relax and take in the view of the Swiss/ French Alps. We had a stop at Geneva, the home of the UN and a really big fountain. Our only goal (you could say we set ourselves a challenge) in Geneva was to spend all our Swiss money, down to the last cent. I can say we succeeded with style. We walked through to the old town section and found a nice coffee shop which served panini and the usual fare. We ordered in French and with a drink we didn’t have enough money. I think the lady behind the counter felt sorry for us (we do very good puppy dog eyes) and she just kept on discounting our meal until the register matched the shrapnel we had in our hand!

From Geneva we arrived in Annecy, a great French city on the water with quite an extensive canal system. We grabbed a paddle boat and paddled on the lake. Lucky me, I was serenaded by Dan and 3 girls from the tour singing Disney tunes. Yes, lucky, lucky me. 25 minutes in to the paddle we were called in due to the rain and lightning. Probably a good thing too, it started pouring down as we got to shore. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the old town section (we seem to gravitate towards the old stuff). We had our first nutella crepe and Paula, you are right, it was awesome but we resisted the temptation to get a second one.

Rather than sit in a restaurant and eat and drink, we decided to do as the locals do and make ourselves a picnic and sit beside the canal for dinner. We walked the local streets and ordered some cheese, prosciutto (a special type - it was smoked too and lovely), some baguettes and of course wine and champagne made in the traditional method (fermented in the bottle). The canal we sat at was next door to a kids play area and you don’t need too much of an imagination to guess we made sure we had a go on every piece of equipment, even the cubby house!

Everything was beautiful and with the sun up until 9 pm it was a great evening where we, with a few other people on the tour, chatted, drank and watched the world go by. It would have to rate as one of the best nights we’ve had so far. We plan to do the same in Italy when we are there too!

In Nice, part of the French Riviera we scored big time… in a good way of course. Our hotel was on the promenade and we got an ocean frontage apartment room with it’s own kitchen, lounge area and a table. Nice was nice. (I just had the write that!) Dan and I went for a refreshing (ie freezing) dip in the Mediterranean and spent the night wandering around and had dinner in a cute little café filled with locals and not one word on the menu was in English! The food was good but the experience was awesome.

The next day we continued to roam the streets looking at and buying lots of clothes. At lunch Dan chalked up another first. He had Tartare De Boeuf (Steak Tartare) which is a local delicacy. It’s basically raw minced beef, with raw egg yolk, chopped capers and various sauces mixed through it. I tasted some and it was surprisingly quite yummy. I couldn’t have eaten the entire plate though Dan did well to get through it all.

We spent the night in Monaco and tried our hand in the grand casino. Dan managed to remain even but I lost €25. We sipped cocktails in the bar and watched an insane amount of money be thrown around. One guy we were near was gambling with 100,000K chips and betting three at a time! We also saw them setting up for the Monaco Grand Prix and even got to drive on part of the track for a while which was pretty cool.

Unfortunately during the night Dan started getting cramps and spent the night vomiting. We suspected it was the Tartare De Boeuf, but others have been getting 24 hr bugs on the bus so perhaps it was just that. Luckily though, after spending a lot of the next day on the bus sleeping and a good nights rest, he was back to normal the next day. Well, as normal as Dan can be anyway!

Observations:

• Dan has added another item to his lists of firsts - an alcohol free day, after 4 weeks travelling!
• It is not just a cliché, every second person in France actually does walk around with a baguette
• In France cars have a unique way of parking. They park with the handbrake off and cars just use the bumper bars on the cars to push their way into the spot. We have seen this many times. In Nice too they have another way of parking see pic below on right hand side
• There is dog poo everywhere