Last entry of the trip - sitting at the bar in Heathrow with a couple more hours to kill before we leave for Abu Dhai.

We spent the last few days on the French Reviera from St Tropez to Nice.
St Tropez gave us just a taste of what we were going to witness over the next few days. We thought the marina, boats, cars etc were impressive here, but it was just an entree.






At first we though the drive was a little disappointing compared to, say, the Great Ocean Road, until we got closer to Cannes. Then we started to see why people rave about this area.









We were lucky enough to have timed our trip to Cannes to coincide with the eve of the 65th Cannes Film Festival and the city was buzzing.


The traffic was absolutely bananas and negotiating the traffic and parking was a pretty daunting experience. I had to improvise a little to get anywhere near our hotel.






There were stages, lighting, red carpets and paparazzi everywhere in readiness for the stars to arrive.












We finished off our day in Cannes with a pretty sizable evening with a couple from Brisbane we met at a rib joint in the lively centre of town.

More than a little dusty we packed our bags next morning and headed off for the short drive to Nice. We checked in to our awesome 5-Star hotel (little treat for our last night in Europe) and then jumped on the train for Monaco.



Even the lift kept up the white leather and marble decor.


It was nice not to have to drive in the traffic for the day, and the train from Nice took us right to the heart of the little country of Monaco. It was a perfect day for seeing the city by foot, so we headed for the peak of the Palace and a view of the city and bay.








Preparations for next weekend's Formula 1 Grand Prix were well and truly underway with most of the barriers and lots of grandstands already erected. Even the rooftops are ready for the city's biggest event.






Couldn't not get a photo on motorsport's most famous corner, or without a few shots of the bombs the poor people here are forced to drive.









(yes, that is a Veyron)

We weren't really dressed for punting with the rich and famous, so we settled for a beer opposite the Casino and the famous Hotel de Paris. Gosia was on the lookout for famous people, but no luck...

We decided to stay in Monte Carlo for dinner and catch a later train back to Nice, and as it happened we stumbled on La Maison du Caviar - a little restaurant which served the confit duck that Gosia had been searching for for much of our time in France. Said duck was minutes away from being served when I spotted a familiar gangly man with an even more familiar voice walking into the restaurant right by our table. Gosia wanted famous, and I think dining a table away from John Cleese qualifies.

Duck was the most divine dish either of us have ever tasted, and we even managed to resist doing Ministry of Silly Walks to the bathroom. Much deliberation about two more serves of duck for dessert ended with a walk to the train instead.


It was a fantastic way to finish our honeymoon and this part of France is definitely on our list to visit again (even for the duck if nothing else.)



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Location:Au Revoir France

French Alps with Great Friends

Our last day of cycling took us from Gordes to St-Remy-de-Provence (the birthplace of Nostradamus). The easily flat ride saw us arrive too early to check in and so we acquainted ourselves with the local bar and brews.
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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Gorgeous Gordes

After the monster day that was climbing the Ventoux, we transitioned to our second stop on the cycle tour, Gordes.

The ride was what would normally be a comfortable 40km, but somehow it seemed a little tougher than that. The ride itself was fantastic (save for some very French roadworks with no detours and no notice given) as we wound our way through a bunch of little villages and riverside towns.







The real highlight though was reserved for the end of a 5km climb that finished the days ride and got us into the middle of the town of Gordes. We were literally plodding along through stoned walls and a pretty steady incline, not knowing what to expect, when to our right this scene appeared from nowhere:



Unbeknown to us, we had climbed to the lookout over the town of Gordes, which we eventually established was only meters from our hotel here.









The aspect of the town is amazing. The terracing is so steep that you are often next to the roofline of the next terrace down as you weave the little stone-covered alleys.



Apparently the first of the counter-sunk cave-style dwellings here pre-date the Romans, but the town has been abandoned and the re-inhabited a few times in its history. When times of prolonged peace made people more comfortable they would head down to the fertile plains below.


And then when conflict broke out they would again (literally) head for the hills. We actually went into some of the cave-style dwellings for a quick tour and saw where they had underground olive-oil presses near the top of the peak about 400 years ago.
There is some serious history here - even the little lockable stone hut that our hotel has given us to put our bikes in is from the 16th century!!!

As well as some riding out of this base, we have done some warlord-style damage to a couple of the local patisseries in town. Citrus tart for me, almond croissant for the wife.



We leave Gordes tomorrow after three great nights and take what should be a pretty easy cruise to Saint-Remy-de-Provence for out final night on the bike tour. From there we get our car and drive North to the foot of the Alpes and the edge of lake Annecy to meet friends coming down from Poland.

One more breakfast on the terrace before then.....






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