By the time out transfer arrived the next morning we were pretty excited to get back to Avignon and start the next phase of our trip. We picked up our rental car and hit the road North for the 450km drive to Culoz at the foot of the Alpes.
We did a small detour to check out the ancient Pont-du-Guard. Not bad for something built in 50AD.
Under the guidance of the loan GPS (thanks Tony and Sally) we made it safe and sound to Culoz by Friday evening for a rendezvous we had been waiting for for a LONG time. Our friends Agata & Sebastian had driven 1800km across Europe from Poland to spend the weekend with us and show us the region around Annecy which they know well. We where privileged to stay in a house belonging to a relative of theirs, which was such a nice change from hotels.
As soon as we had arrived and had a welcome Aperetif (or as Agata would say a before-atif - there would later be a few after-atifs as well), we walked into the village for dinner. The meal and the restaurant had been pre-arranged for us by the local family and the menu included the true French delicacies of frog legs and escargot. And yes, Gosia ate both with pleasure!!
The weekend was jam-packed with great company and sight-seeing. Sebastian took us to a couple of great little local wineries and as it happened there was an annual food & wine festival in Culoz on Saturday so it was a perfect transition to the rest of the day.
Sunday was just as great - we took a day trip to Annecy (known as the French Venice) where we took a boat ride on the crystal clear lake with the snow-capped Alps looming over it.
We then did something which Europeans think nothing of but is terribly exciting for us and ducked over the border into Switzerland and spend a couple of hours in Geneva. The only piece of bad luck was that it was too windy for us to see the famous fountain there, but it was a great experience anyway.
We saw the big flower clock (Sebastian says there is a similar one in Melbourne by the same designer) and walked around the old town before heading back to Culoz for a kebab...
Last stop on Sunday was the Col de Columbiere, which is a 1500m high mountain that sits right behind the town of Culoz (in fact it almost sits right behind the house we stayed in.) The views from the top were spectacular, but it was bloody freezing and there was even a little bit of snow on the top. You can see the iconic outline of the Mont Blanc sitting above all the other alpine peaks.
The weekend finished and the goodbye came way too fast this morning and so we hit the road again, this time southbound, for our rest spot for tonight - just outside Marseilles.
We can't thank Agata and Sebastian enough for the time and effort and hospitality they showed us. It would have been great just to spend the time with them, but to see such good friends AND see the heart of the Alps and a bit of real French life at the same time was really special for us.
On our way south today we went past Bedoin and the Mt Ventoux again so that we could take some photos with the big camera which was too heavy to take on the bikes when we rode, and also to get another reminder of the road we have seen on TV many times and will again in future Tours de France.
We filmed the climb from inside of the car as a reminder of the hard yards we put in just a week ago.
Tomorrow we head for Cannes on the French Riviera where apparently the film festival starts later this week (and so we expect it to be pretty busy) and for a quick look at Nice and Monaco. The Monaco Formula 1Grand Prix is on next weekend and so we expect that to be even busier, but it is a spot Jake has wanted to see for a long time and so it should be a great way to spend our last full day in Europe on Wednesday.
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