France Days 4-9

Geneva to Seyssel

            We started our morning in Geneva rather comically.  I usually let Eric take a shower first, that way he can figure out the intricacies of how the knobs and levers work before I go.  He had just gotten the temperature adjusted in the tub/shower combo with the European style half-glass shower screen and went to pull the lever for the shower when he had a rather rude awakening.  The wand sprayer was aimed directly at him as he stood outside the tub.  Needless to say he yelled with surprise and by the time he realized what was happening and shut the water off, he had hosed down half the bathroom. 

After I mopped up the water and we eventually got all our stuff packed up, we met the representative from Cyclomundo in the lobby of the hotel around 8:30 a.m. to get the bikes set up.  Then we were off on our way to Seyssel.  Even though it was a Saturday morning, it was still a little tricky getting out of Geneva with all the traffic.  Once we zigged and zagged our way through town, we finally found ourselves in the countryside fairly quickly.  It was a beautiful ride.  The weather was a bit overcast but quite nice.

A little ways out of town we were trying to pull out of the way of a bus when Eric tangled with a killer granite curb and went down.  Luckily he was not hurt—no blood or bruises even.  The bus driver was a bit concerned and checked to make sure we were okay.  All I can say is I’m glad it was Eric that went down and not me or lord only knows what would have happened—I’m sure there would have been some blood and possibly broken bones involved…

As this was our first day riding we were trying to get the hang of following the GPS tracks and making our way from town to town.  Somehow we missed the café we were going to stop at for lunch.  In France most restaurants are only open from about noon-2 p.m. and then they close.  As well, many of the small towns we rode through were very tiny with just a few houses and nothing much else. 

Needless to say, after a while we were starving.  Around 2:30 in the afternoon we finally found a lady walking her dog on the bike path and asked her if there were any restaurants around.  She pointed us to the main highway and after a short trip down the road we found a hotel with what looked like a restaurant.  Eric went up and asked if they served food and apparently they were closed.  So we ordered a couple orange sodas and I think the woman took pitty on us and asked if we wanted some sandwiches.  So in our muddled French we ordered a couple cheese sandwiches (I definitely know the word fromage.)  Boy were those sandwiches good—slices of real French cheese on a huge crunchy baguette. 

It’s a good thing we were finally able to find food, as we had some more hill climbing to do yet before arriving in Seyssel.  The ride from Geneva to Seyssel has the most climbing of all the legs of our trip, around 2500 ft. over about 38 miles.  We powered our way through the rest of the climbing with some gorgeous views of the Rhone river valley and arrived at our hotel at round 4:30 p.m.  Our hotel in Seyssel, the Beau Sejour, was right on the river with a fabulous view. 

After settling into our room we headed down for dinner in the hotel restaurant (dinner was included this night).  I had read reviews that their restaurant was very good and the reviews were not wrong.  We had a fabulous meal and then were off to bed. 

Seyssel to Aix-les-Bains

Eric got up early and did an 18 mile ride with 3800 ft of climbing up Col de la Biche while I slept in.  Once he arrived back at the hotel we headed on our way to Aix-les-Bains.  This ride was a little shorter with a lot less climbing.  It was a beautiful ride along several rivers, on lush bike paths, and along the lakes.  We stopped along the way at a pizzeria and had a wonderful lunch before making our way into Aix-les-Bains around 2:30 p.m. 

Needless to say we had a little nap after arriving at our room and then we went out and wandered around the city a little bit before turning in for the night. 

Aix-les-Bains to St. Pierre d’Albigny

Eric again got up early and did a 26.5 mile ride with 5562 ft. of climbing up Mt. Rivard before we headed on our way to St. Pierre d’Albigny.  I of course slept in, went down and had breakfast, and then got all our bags completely packed up and brought them down to be picked up and taken to our next destination which was Chateau des Allures.  Eric made it back from his ride about 9:40 in the morning.   He then sat in the sun in our room to thaw out for a while.  We then decided to walk down the street to the boulangerie and buy some pastries to take along with us in case we could not find any place to eat before arriving at our final destination—we learned our lesson after day one of riding. 

At the boulangerie we bought an apple turnover and a chocolate croissant.  As soon as I stepped out of the boulangerie, I squished them flat as a pancake in the bag so they would fit in our Cambelback.  I can only imagine if the lady selling the pastries saw me smashing them, she would probably pass out.  We returned to the hotel to get the bikes and then set off on our way to St. Pierre d’Albigny. 

Eric had informed me that today’s ride did not have nearly the amount of climbing, so I was looking forward to a nice leisurely day.  However, I was obviously misinformed.  There may not have been as much climbing overall, but it was in short very steep bursts, some about 12% or so.  We also did a lot of “off-roading” on dirt/gravel roads through many vineyards.   The countryside was beautiful, I just wish it was a little flatter…  This area was definitely wine country.  Pretty much from Aix-les-Bains to St.-Pierre-d’Albigny it was vineyard after vineyard.

Before we did some of our final climbs and “off-roading,” we pulled off the road and sat under a big tree and ate our pastries, which by that time were well earned.  We then powered on to our destination—the Chateau des Allures.  We arrived at the chateau a little after 4 p.m.  It is located up on a hill with magnificent views of the valley.  This was by far the nicest place we would stay on our trip.  The chateau had been lovingly restored over a three-year time period with original tile floors, antique furnishings, etc.  Outside they had a huge vegetable garden on one side and an even bigger flower garden and fishpond on the other side.  The chateau and the owner, Stephen, were simply amazing and I would highly recommend this place to anyone traveling in this region.

After arriving at the chateau, we got cleaned up and had a nap before going down to the hearth room at around 7:30 to join the other guests for wine before dinner.  There were two other English couples from the UK and another couple from Amsterdam.  Two of the couples had stayed at the chateau many, many times before.  We enjoying talking with all of them before, during, and after dinner.  Several of them were into cycling as well.

By the time we got to bed it was nearly midnight.  Needless to say, we slept very well.  The next morning we went down to the dining room and had a fabulous breakfast and some more good conversation with the two English couples.  At around 10:30 we finally set off for our final destination of the ride, Annecy. 

St. Pierre d’Albigny to Annecy

This was the longest riding day of our trip at approximately 44 miles with about 2300 feet of climbing.  This was another beautiful day of riding.  The scenery was amazing.  Although there was not as much steep climbing, we had a pretty strong head wind most of the way to Annecy.  We stopped in Albertville at a boulangerie and bought a couple pastries, which we ate on the spot, and we bought a couple cookies to take with us.  Later we found a nice park along the river in Ugine and stopped and ate our cookies. 

We arrived in Annecy around 4:30 p.m. and fought our way through the crowd of tourists to find our hotel.  When we checked in they said they had our reservation for one night.  However, we were supposed to have a reservation for three nights.  Needless to say, someone screwed up.  They ended up upgrading us for the first night to a room overlooking the lake and they said they would get it straightened out for us.

After we got into our room, we got cleaned up and we were of course starving.  Most restaurants don’t open until 7 p.m., but I managed to find a pizzeria about a mile away from our hotel that opened at 5:45.  So off we went on a hike across town to get dinner.  When we arrived, we were the only customers there—the crazy Americans that eat at 5:30…

On our way back from dinner, we walked around the lake a little bit and then headed back to the hotel to crash into bed.  Eric had informed me that over the last four days I had ridden 140 miles and done almost 8000 ft. of climbing.  So I decided the next day we would have to do at least a 10-mile ride so I could get to 150 miles.    

The next morning after breakfast the hotel told us they would later be moving us to another room for the next two nights.  We went out and wandered around town for a while, did some shopping, and then came back and got our luggage moved to the new room.  Following that, we set off on our 10-mile ride around the lake (on the side of the lake we had not been to yet).  After returning, we went out and got some lunch and headed back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon, type up the last three days’ of blog and download lots and lots of photos.   

Our riding totals for the trip ended up being 151.9 miles with 8351 ft. of climbing for me and for Eric, 169.6 miles with 12,105 ft. of climbing.  All I can say is I had better come home lighter after all that riding… 

Annecy

We have been relaxing and enjoying ourselves the last few days.  We have wandered around town, window shopped, taken pictures and of course eaten a lot of really good food and pastries.  I’m sure by now I have more than likely gained back all of the weight I lost riding here. 

The highlight of our stay in Annecy was our paragliding experience today.  We arrived at 3 p.m. in Talloires at the paragliding school and were whisked up the mountain side to the take-off point for our approximately hour-long flight over the valley.  Neither one of us had ever been paragliding before so it was an amazing experience.  It was very peaceful floating above all the trees and mountains.  Eric got lucky as his instructor caught some really good thermals and they soared high into the mountains and actually went above the mountain tops.

Tomorrow is our last day in Annecy and we will head back to Geneva in the afternoon to overnight for our early morning flight back home on Saturday.

France Days 1-3

Day 1, 2 & 3 Geneva, Switzerland; Chamonix, France; Italy; & back to Geneva

Day 1

            We arrived in Geneva around 8 a.m. and then made our way directly to Chamonix.  I had book our stay at Hotel le Faucigny in Chamonix, France.  The drive between Geneva and Chamonix was beautiful.  Everything is so green and lush with the towering mountains surrounding the valley.  We arrived to perfect weather in Chamonix.  The sun was shining and it was just right to have on a light sweatshirt.  We dropped our luggage off at the hotel and asked if we could get an early check-in as normally check-in isn’t until 3 p.m. 

While we waited for them to prepare our room, we wandered around town checking out all the shops and of course taking tons of pictures of the scenery.  Chamonix is a huge tourist town in the summer and a huge ski resort town in the winter.  There are outdoor sporting goods stores and tons of eateries and bars of all types.  Mountain climbing, hiking and mountain biking are big sports here along with paragliding/parapenting. 

The hotel was able to get our room ready by around 11:30, so we went back and got settled in the room and had a nap before heading out for lunch.  We had lunch at a restaurant that was actually cantilevered over the L’Arve river.  We decided to have fondue for lunch—which was very good. 

After lunch we went back to our room and relaxed for a while before heading out for dinner that evening.  For dinner we went to a restaurant further up the valley from Chamonix.  Both of us were still full from lunch but we could not pass up the amazing fresh food here in France.  We both had pasta for dinner.  Eric had penne with morel mushrooms and I had mushroom risotto with crimini mushrooms and truffles.  Needless to say, both were excellent and we ate way too much.  Fat and happy, we returned to our hotel and walked around town a bit to try and wear off some of the food before we went to bed.  By the time we got back to our room it was close to 11 p.m. 

I think we finally got to bed around 12:30 in the morning with the plan to get up early the next day to take the teleferique (big cable car) up to Aiguille du Midi which is miles above Chamonix.  The weather forecast was a bit sketchy and was predicting rain in the afternoon, so we wanted to get an early start.  We woke up at 6:30 a.m. and looked out the window to see nothing but clouds surrounding the mountain.  We decided to give it a go anyway.  We got dressed and got all our layers of clothes together to take with us and headed for the ticket booth. 

We got to the ticket stand early and they were not open yet, so we headed to the boulangerie to get something for breakfast.  After having our yummy French pastries we headed back to wait for the ticket counter to open.  The first cable car departs at 8:10 a.m.  We bought our tickets and were on the first car up the mountain.  It is a very, and I mean VERY, steep cable car ride up the side of the mountain.  Once we got far enough up the mountain we were actually above the clouds and the view was magnificent.  We got off at the top and it was FREEZING.  We put on everything we had with us and were still freezing.  I had four layers of clothing on my torso, heavy wool socks, an ear warmer, and two pairs of gloves and my hands were still frozen.  We stayed outside as long as we could snapping pictures and then decided to take another cable car from Aiguille du Midi across Mer de Glace (sea of ice) to Helbronner Point in Italy. 

We are very glad we took the gondola to Italy.  This is Europe’s highest lift that offers spectacular views of Mont Blanc (Europe’s tallest mountain at 15,771 ft. and the Alps’ highest point.)  These private gondola cars sail across the glaciers for three miles with no solid pylon.  They are propped by a suspended pylon that stretches between two peaks 1300 feet apart.  It was a spectacular ride and well worth the money. 

After snapping around 200 pictures we made the return journey from Italy back to Aiguille du Midi and then down the mountain back to Chamonix.  The cable car wasn’t nearly as packed on the way down and the clouds had actually cleared just enough that we could get a view of Chamonix as we came down from Aiguille du Midi.  We made our way back to the hotel and then headed out to look for some lunch as it was predicted to start raining in the afternoon.  We found a really good Italian restaurant with amazing pasta and again we ate way too much food.  After lunch we headed back to our room as it was beginning to look like rain. 

We had a relaxing afternoon in our room napping and downloading pictures.  We were so full from lunch we did not even go out for dinner.  We decided the next day we would just sleep in and then get up and wander around town some more. 

The next morning we got up and looked out the window to see the sun shining and a perfectly clear view of the entire mountain.  It probably would have been a better day to make the ride up to Aiguille du Midi, but it was still a great experience even with some clouds the day before.  We got busy and got all our luggage organized and then wandered down to the boulangerie on the corner near our hotel to grab something for breakfast.  I had a chocolate muffin that was amazing.  Everything looks so good it is hard not to order one of everything.  If I lived here I would probably be 300 pounds very easily.  After enjoying our pastries, we walked back to the hotel to check out.  Check-out was noon at the latest and we did not need to head back to Geneva until around 3-4 in the afternoon.  So the hotel stored our luggage while we wandered around town some more. 

We left Chamonix around 4 p.m. and made the approximately 1 hour trip back to Geneva.  We managed to find the hotel and get checked in.  Somehow we lucked out and got an executive suite instead of a standard room.  The room was about three times the size of our room in France.  We spent the next few hours getting all our bicycle gear together to start the first leg of our four days of riding the next morning.  So far the weather has been beautiful and I am hoping it will stay that way.

Grand Cayman 6/8 - 6/9/15

Grand Cayman 6/8-9/15

We hung out at the condo in the morning in order to let the rush hour traffic die down before we headed out to go diving.  We finally set out around 10 o’clock or so.  After we left the condo we weren’t very far down the road when I got a bunch of flack from the back seat passengers for running over a bunch of crabs on the road as they were crossing, obviously on a pilgrimage of some sort. 

Our first stop was at Diver’s World.  Dick and Zane wanted to get a red filter for their Go Pro and Kati did some souvenir shopping.  After we got done shopping we made our way to today’s dive site at Dive Tec.  Just about the time we arrived there it started to pour rain.  We had decided we were all hungry so we would eat lunch there first before our dive.  They have a very nice restaurant there where they serve very healthy organic and locally grown food selections. 

Right after we got set down to order it really started to pour rain.  It rained so hard you could barely see past the end of their dock.  Zane ordered a milkshake and the rest of us ordered smoothies and I think everyone would agree with me that those were the best smoothies ever.  Dick ended up ordering two and Eric had another one after the dive as well.  The food was amazing.  Eric had the chicken Panini and Kati had the chicken wrap, of which Zane ordered another after the dive.  Kati’s wrap came with sweet potato fries and Kati and I agreed those were the best sweet potato fries we have ever had anywhere.  They were so good we got two orders to go as well.  Dick had the grilled cheese sandwich, which was very good (including the weeds) and I had a very tasty falafel salad, which was super good. 

After we got done with lunch we got all geared up to dive in.  We each did our giant stride off the pier and headed out to find the 17 ft. tall statue there (similar to the Mermaid at Sunset House) called the Guardian.  After we found the Guardian we headed along the mini wall and came across a large green turtle.  Right after we turned around and started to head back in Eric and Zane came across a small hawksbill turtle who was very cooperative.  Eric filmed it a little bit and then I spent quite some time filming it. 

After our dive we got all our gear rinsed off and packed the car back up in order to head back to the condo.  We wanted to make sure we got back before the rush hour hit as we had made reservations at Casanova by the Sea for dinner to celebrate Dick and Lou’s 54^th wedding anniversary. 

We made it back to the condo ahead of rush hour and we all got cleaned up for our special night out.  As there were six of us, we took two cars to go back downtown.  We then regrouped at the restaurant.  When we made our reservation we had asked to be seated out on the patio as it is right over the water and has a wonderful view of the sunset and the tarpon feeding next door at Rackam’s. 

Shortly after we sat down and ordered our meals, the harpist came over and played a beautiful song for Dick and Lou to celebrate their anniversary.  We all picked a meal that included some type of pasta and everyone very much enjoyed their choices.  The food at Casanova’s is very good authentic Italian.  We had some really good bruschetta, bread, and wine along with our amazing meals.  The clouds also cleared just enough for us to enjoy a lovely sunset.  After the sun had gone down, around 7:30, they had the tarpon feeding next door at Rackam’s.  I don’t believe it was as dramatic as Zane was expecting.  Little did he know that a short time later the waiter at Casanova’s would bring out a tray of fish parts and let him and a few of the other customers feed the tarpon that were hanging around right in front of the restaurant.

Following the fish feeding, we all ordered our desserts.  Kati, Dick, and Zane ordered the Apple strudel, Eric and I ordered the chocolate cake (of course), and Lou ordered the lemon sorbet.  Needless to say, all our choices were amazing.  Following dessert they also brought us complimentary lemoncello.  Following our wonderful meal, we all waddled out to the car (each with our box of leftovers for the next day) and drove back to the condo fat and contented.

I think after we got back to the condo everyone was pretty tired so we all headed off to bed.

Today was our last full day on Grand Cayman and our last day of diving.  We headed out a little after 9 a.m. in order to avoid the morning rush hour and made our way to Sunset House.  When we arrived we got the premium parking spot right by the dive shop and set-up point.  I think there was only one other car in the entire parking lot at that time. 

We got checked in, rented our tanks, got everything set up, and jumped in the water.  Of course by now we are all finally pretty good at the setting up and getting in routine (now that it is time to leave).  On the way to the dive site Kati, Eric, Zane, and Dick had decided they wanted to do a “special underwater video.”  They decided they wanted to dance to the song YMCA underwater.  Each one was assigned to do one of the letters.  We had decided we were going to do this routine on the second dive, but about three fourths of the way through the dive, after seeing the mermaid, Kati settled down in a sandy ravine and broke out into dance. 

I saw her and started video taping and shortly thereafter Dick and the others spotted her and joined in.  It was rather comical to say the least.  After the comedy routine was over, we continued our dive.  Toward the end of the dive, after Zane and Dick had headed in, Kati spotted some squid.  I started video taping them and spent quite a bit of time with them as they were VERY cooperative subjects.

After our dive we rinsed all our gear and laid it out on the wall to dry as we had our lunch at the bar as Sunset House.  Of course right after our food arrived, a dark ominous cloud appeared and we had to run out and collect up our stuff to put in the car before it got drenched again. 

Following our lunch, we headed just a short way down the road to our final dive site for this trip (which was also the first dive site of this trip and one of Zane’s favorites), Eden Rock.  When we arrived they were actually extremely busy, especially considering there were no cruise ships in town today. 

We got our tanks rented and geared up and dove in for our final dive of the trip.  There are actually two dive sites at this location, Devil’s Grotto and Eden Rock.  The first time we did Eden Rock, so this time we did the Devil’s Grotto area.  Shortly after dropping down the group decided to do the second take of the YMCA song, which was again very comical.  Kati has decided that Eric actually has some pretty good moves—at least underwater.

Following our YMCA production, we continued on with the dive.  Every time we have been to this site we have seen something especially interesting and this time was no exception.  The highlight was a VERY cooperative sting ray who had no issues with me filming it vacuuming the sandy ocean floor for its dinner.  We also saw a couple very pretty filefish and a large group of blue tang foraging around the reef for algae. 

We all very much enjoyed this site as the last dive of our trip.  I think the Gebhard family will have fond memories of this site for a very long time being that this was where both Zane and I did our first ocean dives.  Following our dive, as we were checking out at the dive shop, we learned some very sad and unfortunate news.  Eden Rock may not be around for much longer.  There are plans to destroy this entire reef in order to build a new cruise ship terminal.  This is another example of the sheer stupidity displayed by some in the name of a few extra dollars in their pockets.  This reef is truly and irreplaceable treasure. 

After rinsing all our gear and packing up the car we headed back to the condo.  Luckily we were able to make it back before evening rush hour.  We unloaded the car and set everything out on the back patio to dry out so we could pack it all up the next day for the trip home.  We didn’t have to worry about finding dinner tonight as we all had our leftovers from Casanova by the Seat.  As we all ate our dinner we enjoyed watching the videos everyone had taken today, especially the two productions of the underwater YMCA.  It was a fabulous way to end our last full day in Grand Cayman.