It was just a few weeks ago that we woke a little dazed and confused (possibly the result of the 14 hour drinking session that was to mark our leaving potentially the best ski resort in the world), in unknown surrounds (we had spent the night at our local bar) and with an ambivalence of apprehension and anticipation given that we were leaving the place we had made our home. A hurried pack of our belongings (most of which is newly acquired ski gear) – thanks Alex for picking us up as there is no way we would have carted our shit out of Val ourselves – a last visit to Chevallot and final kisses good bye to all our friends (yes I even kissed the blokes as this is the done thing in France) and we headed off towards Switzerland. Of course it wasn’t more than an hour into our journey that I had to ask “Nic where did you pack that electronics bag?” Following a total unpack of the car, the realization that I had in fact shoved it somewhere in the pocket of another bag and seeing the relief on Alex’s face that we didn’t have to go through the drama of retracing our steps, we were actually ready to proceed!
Anyway, without boring you all our about our luggage again – why is it that I seem to be so obsessed with it? Is it because there is much more of it now? – we spent the weekend getting acquainted with our hosts Alfred, Barbara, Fabian and the rest of their extended family. It didn’t even feel like we were intruding too much given that there were 6 other guests in the house on our first night. We enjoyed Alfred’s impressive wine cellar (just for all you Frenchies and quasi Frenchies that I managed to offend by stating that Aussies make the best wine in the world I will admit that the better French stuff is quite reasonable … not as good as a Barossa Shiraz but then again what is?? :)) and drooled over his vintage cars – he has a 300SL Mercedes in his quiver of 6 collectors cars (and a total of some 15 vehicles). Visiting the walled city of their home town Solothurn with our very knowledgeable tour guide Alex was also a highlight.
Come Monday morning however it was business as usual, or not so usual for us, as under the initial pretext of a guided tour of every watch factory around Biel and Bienne we found ourselves visiting numerous dentist surgeries around Switzerland. As it turns out, Alex’s good friend Joel (aka Disco Joe) is a medical instruments rep who having lost his license for drink driving has managed to recruit numerous friends of his to drive approximately 1500kms a week for him around the country while he attends to his job – great work mate!! My shift happened to be Tuesday morning and whilst driving around with Disco Joe we managed to visit, if only briefly, Zurich, Luzern and Laussanne and became very well acquainted with the freeways of Switzerland. We also had two days in Bern which is quite a stunning place. We look forward to seeing more of this beautiful country upon our return.
It wasn’t until Tuesday evening, when after constant badgering over the preceding days about this promised rental car, that the A5 Carrosserie Mobile arrived! We hadn’t really known what to expect nor the specifics of the car (I had thought it was going to be a diesel) but least of all had we expected to see in bold bright green lettering “A5 Carrosserie Biberist www.A-5.ch” plastered all over the car. I mean despite this taxing itinerary that Nic entertained herself with devising while bored out of her brain at work in Val, our next purpose hadn’t at all been clear to us. Really how were we to know that our new mission was to spread the word? To advertise this grand business we had never seen? To travel through Europe pretending to be Swiss people who had crashed their car and taken the courtesy car on holiday with them? :))
So with our purpose established, bright and early on Thursday May 10, or around 11am as us Goulaszes don’t like to get up before 8am, we packed the back of the Fiat and headed south towards the French border. The drive through the Berner Alpine region, where we had to put our car onto a train that takes you through a mountain, was an exceptionally scenic one to start our trip with. Seeing signs towards Verbier along the way meant also that we couldn’t help stopping in just to check out another resort potentially worthy of vying for the “Goulaszes Meillure Station du Monde” award – we may have to spend next season there :). After this we descended down into the Chamonix valley, which is without doubt one of the most beautiful valley’s either of us has ever seen! The 3 glaciers that flow into it are absolutely spectacular and the 2500m vertical rise from the bottom of the valley to it’s peaks is pretty awesome.
From Chamonix we took the Grande Route Des Alpes through Grenoble, Serre Chevalier, Briancon to the Gorges du Verdon, where prior to checking our Europe’s largest canyon we also learnt first hand that you need sufficient food and fuel on a Sunday as pretty much everything is closed! Following a walk to a 9th century church which overlooks Castellane in the heat of the day that resulted in Nic getting that dreaded heat rash (thank god it’s gone now 10 days later), we did a stunning walk through the steepest part of the gorge, visited the magical town of Moustiers, before paying a visit to my work colleague Dimas and his wife Christine in Sisteron.
The next day we headed south to Nice where we found ourselves at a campsite with a 5 star view overlooking the French Riviera! From here we explored Nice, Monaco and Eze for a few days. Next we confirmed again that internet advertising is all too often misleading, if not all together fraudulent when we paid double what we had expected to board the ferry to Corsica. There we spent 4 days advertising the A5 Carrosserie - hard work I tell you! I had no idea that it was in fact French! Nor that it was called Corse, nor that these confused people look, act and live very much like Italians. Did I mention that they speak a dialect of French that has every characteristic and intonation of Italian too? Having said that, Corse has some amazing natural scenery, from beautiful beaches to grand mountains, as well as some very unique Citadels.
Moving on from an island where the people thought they were Italian, onto the Italian Riviera where we headed straight for Cinque Terre. We spent a fabulous 3 days exploring this World Heritage listed site which consists of 5 fishing villages all linked by an excellent and very scenic coastal walk. We also took our first refreshing dip in the Med which is just like a big swimming pool! Having thought very highly of the French Riviera we felt the need to check out it’s Italian counterpart by visiting its’ most exclusive location of Portofino. Now I wouldn’t have minded so much that they charged us 6 Euros for a coffee (that’s 10 buck kiddies!), perhaps the location is worth it but there’s no way we should have accepted those glasses of hot milk that they brought us when Nic ordered 2 macchiatos! I thought these guys invented the stuff? I mean you’re supposed to stain the coffee not the milk you morons! It took me a while to get over this incident (in fact I’m not sure I’ve quite let go yet) but it was time to move north towards Slovenia, with a short stop in the lovely city of Verona where again we had a 5 star view over the city from our camp site!
We are now recuperating at stunning Lake Bled in northern Slovenia for a few days. The weather is a bit wet (it is exceptionally green here though so we are expecting quite a bit of rain) but aside from that we are enjoying the fabulous scenery this place has to offer. After this we head south to Lubjiana, then onto the Skocjan caves and the coast before venturing south for the Adriatic Coast and Croatia for some more relaxation!!
So from our first night in Chamonix trying to light that petrol single burner that Disco Joe convinced us was all we needed for our trip, while we sat freezing on Nic’s sarong in front of our brand new tent that had missing bits and a bit of chewy stuck to it, we are now quite comfortable with our nomadic existence and thoroughly enjoying the adventure!
That's all for now folks, we'll bring you more news in another month or so when the creative urge strikes again and we find the time (or encounter lots of rain) to sit down and pen another blog entry.
