Jun 3, 2016 - Back home through Luxemburg ... statistics

Hey ... the end of the adventure ... thanks to follow me; hope you enjoyed! So from Hamburg I get to Luxemburg for a last night outside home and the get to Grenoble in the rain (driving in the rain !) I found the vegetables had grown but still not ready for eating . Statistics: 5 weeks 11500 kms 170 hours driving 8 different countries crossed 1209 pictures plenty of souvenirs

May 30, 2016 - Monday - Grenoble to the Alps

There are still some petrol queues so we fill up on 3/4 tank. I only check that I am putting diesel in about 4 times now. So keen to get it right. If we thought the mountains were steep before they are really steep now. Chris hardly jumped/screamed at all today though the road works do present a challenge when I am told to drive on the wrong side of the road. My constant brain reprogramming effort goes haywire - should I be on the right or left???? Sometimes you are to give way to your right - that remains a challenge. The roads less...

May 29, 2016 - Wet Sunday Grenoble museum day

Rain was predicted and duely arrived though not too much. Instead of walking we trammed it, easy. The Grenoble Museum a has huge range of 18th to 20th century art from lots of famous people. How come the Germans didn't take it all when they occupied the place? Form what we saw in the Resistance Museum yesterday they spent a lot of time ferreting them out. The modern art section failed to thrill me. Lunch again with the locals, but we wanted to come back to the museum afterwards. So I told the lady at the desk we would go, have lunch and...

May 28, 2016 - Saturday and off to Chateau Vizzle

Off to the local chateau at Vizzle. Here the French Revolution got underway. The day of the tiles was when the locals threw their roof tiles at the Kings soldiers who were making sure more taxes were collected.We learnt about the 3rd estate, tennis court oath and lots of killing people who disagreed with other people or changed their minds, or thought they changed their minds. Seeing what went on and how much got destroyed it is amazing there was anything left of the place after the revolution. It was a cruel time. We also saw what else...

May 27, 2016 - Grenoble and the resistance museum

Ah the local markets. Not sure how local (mangoes from Peru) but the locals were out. A friendly bunch though their dialect seemed very strong. We have a great kitchen so are cooking dinner for the next 3 nights. Fruit and vegetables, along with a bit of meat. It may be horse, depending on the translation. Some of the markets have been in the same square for 100's of years. Such provenience. Off to a picnic lunch with the locals in a city garden in the sunshine. Then on a cable car up to a fort at the top of the hill for you guessed it -...

May 26, 2016 - Riviera to Grenoble

Getting ready to leave Chris broke a glass while washing up. She explained to the owners it was broken in her best French. This translated as "the glass no longer works". More narrow winding roads, this time some deserted so it was comfortable driving. Ah the scenery. Majestic. Thrilling even. Again steep mountains, snow topped, changing vegetation, even cattle and the usual crops. So green and lush. Morning tea was delicious and such embience. We followed a river (Var?) for a lot of the trip and beside it was a railway line. So many...

Dec 24, 2015 - Noel en famille/ Ski entre amis

Je crois que tout est dit dans le titre :-) On profite des fetes de Noel pour retrouver toute la famille au grand complet. Puis rien de tel que la montagne pour s'oxygéner un peu avec Steph, Alexis, Anna et Leo. On aura meme eu la visite de Xavier et Virginie, Jeanne et Antoine et la cousine! Bref TOP!

Jul 27, 2015 - Bourg d'Oisans to Neyruz

Today was about three things. 1.Getting the car fixed. Definitely priority no.1. Everything else we wanted to do revolved around this one thing. 2.Riding up Alp d'Huez. No! Not my thing! Goodness. That was Alex's No.2 priority. Mine would have been going up to the glacier on the gondola at Les Deux Alpes. But circumstances did not allow that one. 3.Getting home to Neyruz to the Quintens. We only have a week left here in Europe (oh no!! Don;t mention that!) So back home to spend some more time with our dear friends in Neyruz. It's such a...

Jul 26, 2015 - Sunday at Les Deux Alpes

Who wants to leave here? Not me. Not Alex. It is like Hanmer on steroids! Busier yes, but there's so much to do here. First though, we have to: 1. Get hold of the owner of this apartment and see if it's free tonight. We've been trying to get him from yesterday, and still can't get hold of him. 2. Find some other accommodation for tonight. 3. Pack up this apartment. Eventually we got hold of the lovely French guy Mica, who is the manager of these apartments, and is the contact person that the owner Fabien has put in charge of his little...

Jul 25, 2015 - Spectators at Alpe d'Huez Stage of the Tour!

Our day at le Tour de France - Alpe d'Huez The thrill of the race, the excitement of the caravan, the heat of the day, the walking up the mountain, the crazy mad spectators - this was a day to be remembered, and perhaps never again repeated! Certainly a special stage of the Tour, especially this year as it was the last stage before the final day in Paris. So this was the stage that could make or break it for the yellow jersey holder Chris Froome for Sky team. He had to hold onto his lead, which had been belittled slightly yesterday, the...

Jul 24, 2015 - Two tourists, One Cyclist at Le Tour de France

Two Tourists at Les Deux Alpes That was Johanna and I. We had a girls day today. Loads of fun and even included some shopping at the cutest little shops you could ever imagine. One of the shops (this was in Venosc) was so cute Johanna wanted to buy the whole entire store, AND the lady who made all the stuff and bring her back to Blenheim too. She was a clever lady. Although when I told this craft lady that she was "very clever" she didn't know what that meant in French. I didn't think to do my google translate, but I should've! Dear lady it...

Jul 23, 2015 - From Italy to France

Travel from Italy to France Today was an amazing day of travelling. Although we were only in the car the amount of hours it would take us to drive down to Queenstown, it felt like a long time and we were exhausted when we finally got to our destination. You would have seen me curled up in recovery position on the couch :) .... and it wasn't even me driving. Alex did very well! So we got up early to pack and get the house ready to leave. Alex spent an hour or more on an urgent job, and Johanna seemed to take forever to get herself packed...