I had the best time exploring the coast and the rolling hills of Provence but if you know me or have been here before, you know that it's the mountains that I'm always the most excited for. A couple of years ago, Brian and I drove through a tiny portion of the Chartreuse mountains outside of Annecy, but seeing them for a moment only made me want to come back for more...so that's what I did. There was some odd road construction that wasn't accounted for on Google Maps, so I had to take quite a detour from my original route, but the scenery was stunning. My only regret is that I didn't take more time. I'd been watching the forecast pretty closely for about a week ahead of of my trip and it called for rain and snow in the Alps, so I moved my hotel rooms around and opted to spend more time in sunny Provence. But the weather ended up being absolutely beautiful so I'm super bummed I didn't just leave it alone and do some hiking while I was there. I guess I'll just have to go back AGAIN!
My final destination on that day was Gresse-en-Vercors, a tiny little village nestled in the Vercors massif with a population of 356 people...the majority of which I think may be seasonal and weren't even there at the time because it was pretty sleepy. When I tell people that I like to travel off of the beaten path, I'm not kidding.
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| Possibly the happiest horses on earth <3 |
My back and neck were so sore from a day of leaning forward over my steering wheel to take in the views of the mountains, so when I got into my room, I laid upside down on the edge of the bed for quite a while to stretch everything back out. I had no signal and the hotel didn't have Wifi, so I took a shower, found an English channel on the TV playing Rio, and slept like a rock.
The next morning, I went down for breakfast and then hit the road to Chamonix.
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| I had to stop and frolic in this field of poppies on the side of the road...it was one of the most stunning I've ever seen. |
Along the way, I drove through Megeve and fell in love! It's like the most picturesque little Alpine village and I was obsessed. There were tons of steep roads up into the mountains and I think I took them all.
I was a Saturday and there was a huge Flea Market in town with live music and some incredible stuff at some incredible prices, but I didn't have any room in my backpack for any souvenirs.
I arrived in Chamonix and walked around for a bit. It was kind of quiet, which I thought was odd. I couldn't even find a spot to inquire about parasailing because everything was closed, so I got lunch and checked into my hotel for the night and then just found a company and emailed them about going the next day.
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Just the casual view from McDonalds. When Brian and I first came to Chamonix 8 years ago (our first time in Europe), we got McDonalds from this location while we waited at the train station on our way to Geneva and couldn't believe that you could get a beer at a fast food joint. |
I got pizza at the restaurant in my hotel (since nothing else was open) and enjoyed an incredible sunset from my balcony.
I had breakfast the next morning and then went into town to catch the gondola to Aiguille du Midi. This is where Brian gave me the mountain ring that I wear on my middle finger and promised me a lifetime of adventures :)
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| I've since added to the collection <3 |
After taking in the views and having a snack, I met my parasailing guide at the lift station and we took flight. She really didn't like me very much, it was clear. And she wouldn't let me hold the GoPro and took all of the video facing us, so I didn't get any good footage of Mont Blanc or any of the glaciers that we sailed past. ...kinda bummed about that one. But it was absolutely beautiful and was such a perfect, sunny day.
From there, I drove to Briancon. If I took the route without tolls, it was a 7 hour drive, so I opted for the route with tolls and ended up having to pay 70 euros to drive through a tunnel! It saved me about 4 hours but still...
Brian and I stumbled upon Briancon a few years ago and loved it. Lilacs were in full bloom and it smelled heavenly.
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| This is really random, but can we just take a look at the windows in the eaves of the house in the forefront above? Just a 16" sliver of glass outlining the angle of the roof and I'm absolutely obsessed with it. |
I had a long drive back south towards Nice and there was a winter storm warning, so I made my way out of the mountains earlier than I would have liked. The drive was beautiful!
I made it to Cannes and checked into my room for the night and then ventured out for some Thai food.
My final day, I awoke to absolute torrential downpour. I'd been expecting it the whole time, but it finally caught up with me. I wanted to go to Eze and figured that maybe it would be a good time since not many people would want to venture out in thunderstorms. Traffic was insane getting there...between the rain and the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix, there were a ton of people out and about. Much of the highways is either elevated bridges connecting the mountains or tunnels through the mountains. On the open sections, the road would have several inches of water and as oncoming traffic would pass, they'd splash all of that water up onto you and you couldn't see anything. There was crazy lightning too.
But, as far as perfect little picturesque, storybook villages go, Eze was pretty dang cute. I will say though...those stone walkways are treacherously slippery when they're soaked. Thankfully, I didn't break my tailbone.
As hotel guests were checking out and tour busses were rolling in, the peaceful, romantic vibes started slipping and I decided that it was time to head out. I drove along the coast and admired the views and then sought out my new favorite Thai restaurant for a late lunch, early dinner.
My flight home went great (despite the ridiculous lines in Atlanta...at least 3 hours for security) and, coincidentally, Brian was in Phoenix for the week dealing with some family stuff and was able to adjust his flight back to Alaska so that he could pick me up from the airport. We went out to dinner and got a hotel room and then woke up at 3 am the next morning so I could take him to the airport for his flight and then drove home to see my poppies <3