Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Spent the day exploring Avignon. A visit to the Palais du Papes. The palace of the popes. A huge castle of a structure with not much in it. Then a quick visit to the Petit Palais, which had some Botticelli paintings. A tour of the local market building, which involved a half dozen oysters and then a quick crepe for lunch and a nap, it was off to the famous Avignon bridge. Originally built in the 13 century, it got wiped out by flooding a number of times, and eventually in 1686, they stopped rebuilding it. It was quite a feat though, as it was almost 1km long and had 22 arches. At the moment only 4 survive. Found a nice restaurant for dinner and had an excellent lamb shank and green salad. A brief rain shower came off and on through dinner but weather is forecast to be sunny again tomorrow. See dinner pictures here: Restaurants

Palace of the popes

Live wall of central market building.

Tuesday September 11, 2018

Today ended up being a pretty long day, with a 5:45am wake up to walk down to a 7:00am bus. That took me to the airport in Lyon, at 10:40am, after a stop in Annecy. From there a couple of hour break and then TGV at 12:30pm to Avignon TGV station and then local train one stop to center Ville. From there a 15 minute walk to the AirBnb with a brief wait to be given the keys. The apartment had evidently just been cleaned, or should I say sanitized, as the smell of bleach was overwhelming, so I opened all the windows and went out. Avignon has lots of narrow streets and is quite challenging to navigate. The 90degrees plus temperatures are a show after being in high altitude an cool Chamonix. Glad that I chose A/C as a criteria when selecting my rental. I took the tourist mini train thing around for an orientation, and did some walking but still haven’t got a grasp on it. Tomorrow I have time to explore the city, Thursday I have an all day wine tour booked (Vacqueras, Gigondas) and Friday afternoon another small wine tour (Chateau Neuf du Pape).

Phone charging by pedaling at Lyon Airport TGV station.Gare D’AvignonThis is an amusing pun on the French term for mistress. That being your cinq a sept, or your 5:00pm-7:00pm

Le pont D’Avignon which ends mid river. gazpacho aged beef with pesto and cheese sauce.

Monday, September 10th 2018

Final day in Chamonix, got a late start as I was making arrangements for Avignon. Had planned to do a segment of the TMB but the lift was closed from Plan Praz to Brevent, so ended up on a different hike. First I went up the lift to the mid point and enjoyed a coffee as I watched the para-gliders circle in front of the view point. Apparently there were decent thermals there as one after another came in and circled, gaining in altitude. A glider even showed up and used the thermals as well. After that, went back down and hiked down valley for a few hours. Lovely walk low enough to be in pine forests, came out near the Bossons glacier and caught the bus back to Chamonix. A certain amount of laundry and housekeeping to do before my 7:00am bus tomorrow morning.

You can see the Aiguille du Midi there, little pointy tower on top of that mountain. Lift up is closed at the moment.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Off to a slow start this morning, town filling up again with shoppers and others. After coffee and some walking around, back to the apartment to say goodbye to Mai and Fabien as they head for Paris. Then headed up to the Petit Balcon Sud. This is a lower level trail through the forests that goes up and down the valley but below the Grand Balcon Sud trail. Still ended up being a rigorous few hours of hiking with the lovely Chalet Floria mid way. Came out in Les Praz and took the train back to Chamonix at the end. I managed to arrange my trip to Avignon on Tuesday, the best routing I found involves a 3:40min bus ride to Lyon airport then TGV of 1:54 to Avignon. Luckily it was a discount TGV, so only 15 euros. Got a response from the AirBnb hosts so have what looks to be a nice apartment reserved in Avignon. Found a wine tour on Thursday that will get me to Gigondas, Cairanne and Vacqueras.

Saturday, Sept. 8th 2018

Started with a buckwheat crepe for breakfast, then off to the Saturday farmer’s market. The whole town has tents up in front of all the stores, and a massive influx of people. Must be the end of season sales. After a quick regroup we headed up to the midpoint of the Aiguille du Midi tram, called the Plan du Midi. The second part of the tram to the summit is closed due to a problem with the cable and reopening is uncertain but they are hoping by Christmas. Mai and Fabien were disappointed to not be able to go to the top, but without summit access, the lines were non existent. From the halfway point we did the North Balcony hike over to the Mer de Glace and its cog train. This was similar to yesterdays hike on the other side of the valley although with much more up and down and took us around 3 hours. Spectacular views with lots of paragliders aloft. The Mer de Glace, or literally the sea of ice is a glacier that has visibly melted a lot. The train is a wonderful old cog railway thing that takes about 20 minutes or so to descend from the glacier. I was pleased as the previous visit this had been out of order.

Looking down at Chamonix.Lots of paragliders, they seem to be able to get enough lift to stay aloft as long as they like.This is the Mer de Glace, sea of ice glacier above Chamonix.

Friday, September 7, 2018

Woke up to a rainy cloudy day, but it seemed to hold promise of improvement. After a breakfast of cheese and sausage it was off to find some decent coffee. Then a walk along the river with Mai and Fabien to the nearest town of Les Praz-de-Chamonix. An excellent brief lunch on the terrace of Le Castel, and then we took the lift up to La Flegere. We walked the Grand Balcon Sud trail, a brisk roughly 2 hr. Hike with fabulous views above the valley. We had to move right along because the last lift down from Le Brevent was at 5:00pm. As it turned out we had plenty of time, but better safe than sorry. Then to the Irish coffee place for a quick apero before heading back to the apartment.

Here is the rental apartment in Chamonix.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Started the day with a nice hotel breakfast involving cheese, cheese and some charcuterie. Then a morning walking around Annecy in light rain. Took at 12:15pm bus to Chamonix, about an 1.75hr ride. Chamonix in mixed rain and clouds, but the place is just stunningly beautiful. The airbnb I arranged is smaller than it looked, but well located, has a great view and will work for all of us. Here are some pictures of both the morning and the view from the apartment.

Breakfast of champions!

Mai and Fabien

Chateau of Annecy

Old town Annecy with river running through.

This is the view from our balcony in Chamonix.

Dinner at Atmosphere, duck, foie gras.

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018

We took the train from Lyon to Annecy, a relaxed 2 hour ride. A brief walk to the Hotel Allobroges and then off to dinner. It was a relief to be in a quiet hotel with A/C. This morning we got up to a stunning locale, Annecy is on a 7 mile long lake of very clear water. There is a bike path that circles the lake, 40km, so after doing as much work on the hotel’s buffet breakfast we were off to rent bicycles. It was a beautiful ride with a few hills in the first half and then mostly flat. Lots and lots of paragliders above us the whole time. We attempted to stop for lunch, and had a typically French experience. It was about 1:20pm, the restaurant said they were “complet” meaning full even though they were way less than half full. Then they said they were done serving food, even though others were still being served and there was a full staff on duty. They also had a beach that no one was using because they were charging 15 euros to cross the sand. This is the unique French idea of customer service which some what parallels what Basel Fawlty believed, eg. Everything would run better if it weren’t for the customers. Anyway, we ended up pulling over on a public beach and having a nice swim in cool waters while watching paragliders across the lake. If you haven’t been to Annecy, I would highly recommend it, although I can guess that in season it is way too crowded. September is a great time to visit.

With Mai and Fabien

Lake Annecy

Old town Annecy

Monday, Sept. 3 and Tuesday Sept. 4, 2018

Arrived in Paris a touch early, but lots of walking and lines to get out. Luckily a woman took mercy on me and let me into the priority line which got me to the TGV with about 15 minutes to spare. A quick 2 hour ride and arrived in Lyon. My hotel was a charming old building that the proprietor had restored from a bad state. I cleaned up and went for a good solid walk around. The hotel is on Presqu’il, or “almost island,” a peninsula between the confluence of the Soane and Rhone rivers. Lyon was the capital of the Roman Gaules, Haile Caesar and all of that. After a nap, I walked over to Vieux Lyon and found a place for dinner. Had a nice saddle of lamb and a couple glasses of local wines. Then back to the hotel to call it a night. Unfortunately, no AC and lots of street noise. First night sleep when massively jet lagged is never that much fun. Currently at Lyon Part Dieu station waiting for friends Mai and Fabien to arrive. We will go find lunch and then take the train to Annecy.

Roman coliseum and the early design for Airline seats.

Place Bellecour

Saone River

Sunday, Sept. 2nd, 2018

I’m at San Francisco International airport, waiting for a 3:00pm flight to Paris. Aircraft will be an A380, one of those double decker behemoths you see on occasion at international airports. According to Wikipedia, the Air France variant is designed to seat 516 passengers! Wow! More as things go on. I’m hoping for an on time flight, as I have about an hour to make it to the TGV for a train to Lyon. Photos etc. to come!Wine selection at Air France lounge SFO.

A380, note double decks.