OK, I’m just going to come straight out and say it. I wish I’d paid more attention in Year 8 French lessons with Miss what’s-her-name.
Last night we stayed with Laurence and Guy, and we met Guy (pronunced “Ghee”). He didn’t speak a single word of English, and the only French that I can remember was completely useless.
“Quelle heure est-il?” is the only only French phrase that I can recall, and from memory it means “What time it is?”
Absolutely no use at all when what you really want to ask is “Where is the nearest McDonalds?”, or “Will you call me fat if I eat 2 baguettes for breakfast?”
Anyway, Guy was scheduled to arrive at 9.00am to check us out, but we were ready to roll by 8.30, so we messaged him and he came straight over.
By the time he’d arrived – maybe 8.40 – I had already packed all of our stuff into Claude and we were ready to go.
Remember the photo from yesterday or the really narrow ramp up onto the carpark level? Remember how I had maybe an inch or two either side of the mirrors? Guy took that ramp in his little Renault minivan like he was practicing for the French Rally championships.
Crikey!
So there was lots of shoulder shrugging, and plenty of gesticulating, plus a little help from Google Translate, we managed to convey that we were done, that we’d had a lovely time, and that we’d left the apartment spick and spiffy.
The only remaining question we had from the check-out procedures was removal of the rubbish, and when we showed him the bag we were carrying, he pointed to an unmarked door which he opened with a special key, and then proceeded to usher us down some dark, concrete steps into the dungeon … er, basement.
Do you ever lie awake at night and wonder “how am I going to die”, and then suddenly find yourself in a situation where you wonder if this is it, and it wasn’t a possibility that you’d considered previously?
Like being tied up and starved in a cold, dark dungeon in Dijon?
I had that moment this morning walking down those stairs. But it was all OK.
So the rubbish was thrown, we had said our final “merci beaucoup” and “au revoir” and we were off.
While we really want to enjoy the scenery here and the medieval castles, that means taking the “no toll” option which saves a few Euros, but can add many hours to the trip. So if we just want to be somewhere, we take the toll road and part with up to 30 Euro (I think the most expensive toll road so far), and get there in super-quick time.
Today was one of those days. We just wanted to get to Annecy and see the sights. All reports are that Annecy is very beautiful.
Today is Monday, and just like in Australia, Monday has all of the little munchkins back at school – with the associated school zones and kids everywhere.
But we made it through the traffic and got onto the A39. We set Clause’s phasers to warp speed, and in no time we were hurtling down the A39 at 130km/h.
All repoprts are that the police here are both decisive and inflexible. If you get caught doing 5km/h over the limit, you get a fine and don’t even bother arguing about it.
So Claude’s cruise control is a very handy feature. Set and forget. 130km/h and point him at Annecy.
Nothwistanding what I have heard about the ruthless policing, there are still any number of other drivers on the road who seem to treat the speed limits as a suggestion rather than as a requirement. They go blasting past you like you are standing still, and vanish into the distance.
So because we spent a bit of time on the toll roads, we didn’t see a great deal of the countryside. But we were making good time.
We stopped at some little roadside rest area for a cuppa and a biscuit. They have toilet stops on the toll roads, but you barely see any facilities on the other minor roads, which is a bit of a problem for someone with a KMart bladder.
Those snow chains that we bought for Claude on our first day in France proved their worth today. Because Annecy is in an area known for snow and ice, becauase it is up in the French Alps, it is mandatory to carry snow chains.
I carry them, but I have no idea how to fit them and no intention of using them. The warning signs were all there, but the roads were clear and dry.
When we left the rest stop, Claude and Joséphine decided that they were no longer talking, and we could not get Google Maps to load on Claude’s screen. Argh!
But I’m please to report that they resolved their differences, and within a few kilometres they were happily communicating again, which meant that MBW and I were also OK because we had Google Maps again.
No Google Maps means that there is also not a great deal of happiness in the car 🙁
The most interesting part of the journey was the tunnels. Because this area is so mountainous, the toll roads typically go straight through the mountains. That is a huge time-saver, because I can tell you that the toll free option (ie over the mountain) takes a great deal longer and uses a great deal more fuel.
And it probably also significantly increases the risk of needing to fit those snow chains!
Now I have a confession. Ever since I watched that movie “Daylight” with Sly Stalone about a tanker explosion in a tunnel, I’ve had a bit of a thing about tunnels.
I avoid them if I can. But sometimes you can’t – like when you are on a toll road to Annecy.
I have to tell you that we must have gone through 6 or 7 tunnels today, all increasingly long and dark.
In fact, I have been through so many dark and winding tunnels today that I was starting to have flashbacks to my last colonoscopy.
Which reminds me, I must have another one coming up soon.
The infrastructure is pretty amazing here. Roads link into other roads and you find yourself just zipping from one road to another … clocking up tolls as you go, but that’s another issue.
The only real problem that we had was that Joséphine was a bit slow making up her mind about giving us directions, and there were a few times where we ended up not exactly where we wanted to be.
But that’s OK – it’s all part of the fun.
We had a slight problem with our accommodation tonight. The check-in time was 5.00pm and we were got to Annecy around lunchtime. We have also been warned about leaving Claude parked anywhere with our luggage still inside it.
None of that is something that we would worry about in Australia – we travelled 10,000km with Percy (the caravan) on the back, all the way through Queensland and the NT without any issues, but we have been warned about France.
So we got some stuff for lunch – a baguette and some ham – and we set off on a drive around Lac d’Annecy (Lake Annecy), one of the largest lakes in France. It is a very pretty drive of about 40km, but is forecast to take about 2 hours … which didn’t make a great deal of sense … until we started to do the drive.
Like all other areas of France where we have been so far – except for the toll roads – your trip is puncutated with speed up to 80km/h, slow down to 50km/h (and there is a trick to figuring out when you have to do that, because it is not actually signed as such), then down to 30km/h, then back up again.
And once you hit to gear, you are slowing down again. And then there are lots and lots of roundabouts, and all of the crazy French drivers.
So we set off and found a nice, quiet place to stop for lunch about one third of the way around.
There are some very pretty little townships surrounding the lake that just feel like little alpine villages. And then you come through a genuine medieval village that must be hundreds of years old.
In fact, we were reading some information about Annecy and it seems that parts of Annecy date back to the first (FIRST!) century.
We finished the drive, and parked back in the city. We kept getting a message about entering (or leaving) a low emission zone – which we Googled – and found that there are some zones in some cities where certain vehicles are restricted from entering.
That shouldn’t be an issue for us as Claude is brand new and meets all of the environmental standards, but … a Crit’Air stick is mandatory on all vehicles, and we don’t have one.
Not an issue for Annecy because they have no restrictions in place, but they do have restrictions in Lyon (tomorrow night), Nice (next week) …
Argh!
But that is future Geoff’s problem.
We got groceries for dinner, arrived at the apartment, met Ingrid (our host) and settled in for the night. And it is a lovely apartment too.
Now I promised an interesting story about Annecy.
We had never planned to come to Annecy, but when we were in the final stages of our bookings and accomodation we did a final check to confirm that we hadn’t missed anything. And we discovered that we had missed a night between Dijon and Lyon – we had miscalculated our days.
So we looked for somewhere to stay for just one night.
And we found Annecy.
Tomorrow we will get up early and go down to the markets by bus, and then come back and pack Claude before setting off for Lyon.
Ingrid (our host) said that there is nobody in the unit tomorrow night, so we don’t need to rush off. But we will plan to be gone by lunch time to make the drive – only a short one – to Lyon to continue the adventure.
We will be in Lyon for a few nights, so that will be a nice rest.
Ciao
#Europe2025