Europe trip 29

Monday 1 October

 Today we had quite a long drive from Thorens Glieres to Cleremont Ferrand which is quite a large city in the middle of France. On the way we stopped in the second biggest city in France called Lyon. We walked around Lyon for four and a half hours looking at all the sights and buildings.

We walked around the town and saw one church up on the hill that was amazing. It was called Fouviere. It had a framed version of the Hail Mary in Maori,amongst 20 other languages The road was really steep leading up to it and when we got to the top and walked inside, we discovered it was packed full of paintings and gold embossed frescoes.

 There wasn’t even one centimetre of plain wall. This church inspired some of the early Marist priests. They later came to New Zealand and set up schools like Saint Bede’s.

 In the late afternoon we hit the road to Cleremont and finally got to our tiny apartment around 8pm. Tuesday 2 October We woke to a grey day and decided to drive to Bordeaux via the famous Dordogne Valley and the country roads. We aimed for Tulle which is famous for lace making but, as it was a raining, we just had a quick lunch then jumped back in car and hit the motorway all the way to Bordeaux.

We got there earlier than expected so had to sit twiddling our thumbs for over an hour before the guy came with the keys to let us in. We stayed on the eight floor of an old apartment building which had great views of the city. Mum was delighted as she discovered not one but three kettles and teapots – most places we have stayed at so far didn’t even have a kettle so she had to boil water in a pan to make her tea!

 After we unpacked and got sorted out, we walked 30 minutes into town and had dinner with Florence and Patrick, who are friends of my Aunty Stacy. Stacy met Florence when she lived in Bordeaux many years ago. They took us to an English pub, where I watched soccer, and then for a delicious dinner – Dad and I had duck linguine.

Europe trip part 28

Saturday 28 September

 This morning we drove granny and granpa to Geneva airport and wished them “bon voyage” as they were heading home to Scotland. We will see them again next year I hope. After that we went to the shopping mall near Geneva airport to buy a few things, then came home mid - afternoon and had a chill day.

 I played soccer kicks on the trampoline with Dad and we had an early dinner of chicken pasta which was lovely.

We decided to feed Pumba, the 20 year-old cat, and Nala, the beautiful collie dog, salami because the owners of the farm weren’t there all day. They were about to eat our fingers off they were that hungry! Tonight, we watched Gangsta Granny which was fun!

 Sunday 29 September
 Today we went to the French alpine resort of Chamonix which is very near Mont Blanc, one of the highest mountains in Europe. We decided to go up the cable car so we had to buy some socks and change into the warmer clothes that were in the suitcase in the boot to keep us warm because we just had shorts and t shirts on.

Up the mountain, it was only 2 degrees and there was a 65 kilometre wind blowing (pretty cold)! When we went to where we could buy our tickets it was heaving with people. As we were deciding whether to wait in the queue or not, we saw a message flash up that said the mountain was closed due to the wind, so we ended up going back to the car and changing again. We then decided to go to the theme park, which turned out to be not that good.

When we tried to pay for our toboggan tickets (the only thing worth doing), we discovered that only French credit cards were working that day for some reason, so we couldn’t even do that which was sad! When we realised what the problem was, we counted up our cash, which wasn’t much, so we decided to go to Italy which was closer than Switzerland to try to get some money out of the ATM. We drove to the Mont Blanc tunnel but we discovered we had to pay 45 euros each way to drive through it, which we couldn’t do, so we just went home praying that it would be fixed by tomorrow.

 Today we were jinxed!

Europe trip part 27

Friday 27 September

 Today we went to a beautiful French village called Annecy. The town was very clean and tidy – much different to Italy. The old part of town had several churches, a number of canals and an old chateau which had been turned into a museum.

We got lunch in the old town and I got a massive burger. It was double the size of my face! We took an hour-long boat trip on Lake Annecy seeing some beautiful villages and castles. The tour guide said that the homes on the shore were some of the most expensive in France – one was for sale for 7 million euros and it wasn’t that big or nice! Once we got off the boat we watched a man sit really still so that birds came to eat off his hand which was quite cool.

 We then tried to take a bus tour around the town, but they just left us there, due to not enough passengers which we thought was a bit rude! We walked around a bit more then had a farewell dinner with granny and granpa in the old town as they were leaving the next day.

 Saturday 28 September
 This morning we drove granny and granpa to Geneva airport and wished them “bon voyage” as they were heading home to Scotland. We will see them again next year I hope. After that we went to the shopping mall near Geneva airport to buy a few things, then came home mid - afternoon and had a chill day.

 I played soccer kicks on the trampoline with Dad and we had an early dinner of chicken pasta which was lovely. We decided to feed Pumba, the 20 year-old cat, and Nala, the beautiful collie dog, salami because the owners of the farm weren’t there all day.

They were about to eat our fingers off they were that hungry! Tonight, we watched Gangsta Granny which was fun!

Europe trip part 26

Wednesday 25 September

 Today we went back into Stresa to take the boat around Isola Madre to Isola Bella which is a tiny island just offshore on Lake Maggiore. The boat trip was very expensive considering it only vtook 10 mins each way – it coast almost the same as the whole trip to Locarno and back! We walked around the Palace which is decorated in the Baroque style – very luxurious. It is a bit like the Vatican with the frescos, paintings and tapestries and took 400 years to complete! At one time, Napolean (the ruler of France) stayed here.

 We then walked around the garden which was lovely with white peacocks and an amazing wall feature that had all sorts of mythical creatures attached to it. Granny had a swollen foot from mosquito bites and she needed to rest so we headed home and had dinner.

 Thursday 26 September

 Today we left the lake and headed to Thorens-Glieres in France which is near Geneva, so that granny and grandpa could fly home from there on Saturday.

 We took the scenic route up over the Swiss Alps. We got to over 2000m and we were driving through the clouds for a short while at the top. We then came down the other side of the mountains into Switzerland and drove along the Rhone river valley. The valley was packed with grape vines – no wonder they make lots of wine here. We then went around the top of Lake Geneva and had nice views of the cities of Montreux (which Dad thinks has a famous jazz music festival) and Lausanne.

 This trip took us nearly 6.5 hrs in the end due to the GPS telling us to take the ferry in the middle of the alps (think she was having a moment!!) and then going around in circles due to road works near Geneva – mum was a bit stressed by then. We ended up driving through Geneva so we saw the Jet d’eau on the lake again. We finally checked into our lovely farmhouse late that afternoon – it had some nice views of the French Alps.

Europe trip part 25

Monday 23 September

 Today it was raining so I caught up on my blog in the morning. It cleared up after lunch so dad, mum and I drove into Stresa and went up the Mottarone gondola.

We went part of the way up then had to change to another gondola which took us the rest of the way. When we got out, we were 1500 m above sea level and were greeted by a group of donkeys which was quite bizzare! We then walked 5 mins to the chairlift which took us to the Alpyland toboggan. It was 1.2 kilometers long, with lots of turns and loopty loops.

 I was supposed to do 4 laps but mum gave me one of hers and the lovely guy in charge let me have the last one of the day for free, so I had lots of fun! At the top there were very good views across to Milan’s airport (on a clear day you can see the city) and to the alps in Switzerland. In the distance we could see Jungfrauoch, which was the mountain we could see up close when we were in Switzerland.

 Tuesday 24 September

 Today we got a train called the Lake Maggiore Express. We left at 9:45am and headed for our first stop Domodossola and then changed trains to the scenic route through the Swiss Alps. When we arrived at Locarno, we got lunch. I got a burger.

We then went into a hair dressers and got a haircut. It was $60, he washed my hair twice and dried it to make it look okay (not what I was expecting)! Mum nearly had a fit because it was so expensive!! We hopped on the boat and headed home. It was an 8 hour trip all round (we left at 9:45am and got back home round about 7:30pm)!

 We had dinner in the piazza in Stresa then headed home, tired but happy.

Europe trip part 24

Saturday 21 September

 Today we are packing again for the 11th time – 13 more to go. Before leaving we felt sorry for the cats so mum opened a tin of tuna and fed them that which they loved! We drove to Lake Maggiore which took us about 4 hours.

On the way we stopped at a nice service station for lunch. Mam was in a panic as we never got a toll ticket leaving Sestri Levante because it was not working. All main roads in Italy operate a toll systems so she wasn’t sure how to exit the motorway later on. Luckily a nice man helped us out at Arona, before driving up the lake side.

 It was a lovely drive around the lake. Stresa is the main town and it looked really pretty. Our house was very nice, it had a spectacular view over the lake but the driveway was very tight and we had to do the “dance of death”!

Every time we came home dad had to get out and stand on the corner whilst mum turned the car around in an another drive way. She had to wait for dad’s signal before crossing the blind corner and entering our drive which was quite scary!!

 Sunday 22 September

 Today we had a chill morning. We watched Scotland v Ireland which was very disappointing because Scotland got smashed 27 - 3 at the Rugby World Cup. After lunch we drove to Stresa, we looked around and did some shopping. There were lots of Gelato shops so we had to try them. When we got back home, we ate dinner and watched a movie that grandpa liked about a famous football manager called Bobby Robson.

Europe trip part 23

Thursday 19 Sept

 Today we went to the village of Sestri Levante which had 2 beaches. Dad and I went for a swim in the Bay of Silence where we threw the ball around and did catches. Mum went for a walk around the shops and bought me flip flops. After some super market shopping we headed home for a swim in the pool.

I nearly lost the ball because of my diving header going over the fence, thankfully it got stuck in a tree. Otherwise, it would still be rolling down the hill which was very steep!

 Friday 20 September

 Today we went on a ferry to Portofino. On the way we stopped at a tiny village called San Fruttuoso. This village has a population of only 36 people but it had many cafes and tourists. It had 2 small beaches, it was only able to be reached by boat or on foot and had a nice Abbey (church). Portofino was a little busier.

It was full of designer shops, super yachts, and very expensive restaurants. We paid $60 for a little nibble and cups of coffee! Dad and I went to the beach in Sestri Levante after the boat trip. We walked to a changing room and got changed then we went for a nice long swim.

We did swimming races and catches, we both won a swimming race. Then I swam out 100 meters and went to the pontoon which was covered in bird poo. When we got changed, we walked back to the car and met up with mum, granny and granpa.

 They had been shopping for new hearing aid batteries for granpa. I also had cuddles with the two grey/stripey cats that hung around the house. They were thin but I think someone looked after them although when we gave them some meat scraps and they demolished them so I think they were hungry! We then went back home and watched a movie, after dinner, called Surfs Up.

 We had to take two sun loungers into the lounge area as there wasn’t enough comfortable seats for us all!