30/11/2013 - Today we headed back into France to explore the French Riviera before heading into Provence. Our first stop is a small town just over the border - Menton. The day starts out with a heavy layer of smog. Visibility is down to a couple of hundred meters. Real pea soup stuff (and still they drive at 130+ kph). I am officially an Italian driver. Ran two red lights, switched lanes three times without indicating, cut across two lanes to turn right, an...

28/11/2011 - Key word for today is TUNNELS. Driving thru the Alps you would tend to think of towering snow capped peaks, plunging valleys, and roaring rivers. Uh Uh. No such luck. After leaving Chamonix we get to the Mont Blanc Tunnel. After parting with 36Euros we entered the tunnel which is 10km long - so much for parting views of Mont Blanc. Once we emerged from the other side - the drive was a continual series of tunnels. So we didn't catch much of a v...

Just returned from breakfast here in the hotel. Have i mentioned it is COLD? Well, it's COLD!!! Breakfast was wonderful, and we just happened to get the chattiest waiter in France. Spent the entire time swapping details of each others' holidays (he had recently returned from Australia). He didn't quite understand why we were holidaying in the cold. We explained that coming from Nth Qld you get sick of the heat and just want a change of climate. It also means...

Key words for today are COLD, MOUNTAINS, SNOW, COLD, ALPINE, COLD. Did I mention it is COLD? Woke up this morning and the lake is shrouded in mist and fog. The temp is down around -2C. Doesn't look too promising for the drive to Chamonix. After a quick breakfast we say goodbye to Hotel Beau Site and Lake Annecy to head off up to Chamonix. Before long the fog has disappeared to be replaced by clear blue skies and sunshine (temp is still cold - about 2C). It...

Had a phone call from the kids at home - our missing luggage is still in Sydney, and the airline wants to know what to do with it (no Julie, they can't stick it there, won't fit). By the time they organise to send it over here, we will be on the road to who knows where, it will be playing catch-up until we get back home. Resigned to the fact we won't see it until we return. oh well, gives us a reason to go exploring in Annecy - shopping for clothes and sund...