Nov 28, 2012 - France into Italy

It rained most of the night but it had stopped when we headed off at 11am. However, it soon started again and continued pretty steadily until we got near Chambéry where it cleared as we travelled through some stunning scenery and there was a dusting of snow around us. We went through six very impressive tunnels after this (paying €35.20 in toll road charges) and it was snowing softly as we got to Modane where we stopped at a supermarket and stocked up before heading to our intended camp (N45°11'39.7314", E6°39'50.868")for the night. Despite...

Jul 16, 2012 - Turin capitale du Piémont

Jeudi le 12 juillet Jour 18 L’heure est à refaire nos valises. Notre départ vert Turin se fait tôt en avant-midi de sorte à rendre la voiture et profiter de notre journée dans cette grande ville. Le trajet se fait bien…GPS aidant. Nous logeons à l’hôtel Mercure près de la gare des trains. Nous découvrons la ville en marchant avec le plan à la main. Turin est la ville de l’automobile Fiat (bureau chef)…si mignonne cette voiture !!! C’est aussi dans cette ville que se trouve le 2e plus grand musée Égyptien mais malheureusement nous n’avons...

Jun 14, 2012 - Italy - Torino

1st June 2012 (Bed 39) Our drive to Torino was very scenic with lovely countryside and mountains in the distance. We travelled through kilometres of tunnels and past over many bridges. When we arrived in Torino we took a stroll through the town and then headed to our hotel for dinner. That evening at dinner we struck up a conversation with the chef, who just happens to have a brother who owned a restaurant in Brunswick. He served a brilliant 3 course meal & wine for only €30 for the both of us and we promised to go and see his brother when...

Feb 28, 2012 - Torino

Just arrived in Torino, the camping grounds are located on top of a great big hill over looking Turino, awesome views of the city, We are going to Nice - France, tomorrow morning, so this is just a stop off. The internet connection is too weak for pictures so they will have to wait, we also had trouble with connections in Luzern yesterday, so we have plenty of pics to upload. I got bailed up instantly by a couple, they asked me are you English speaking, "Yes I am I said", then they produced a book and asked if I could read it to them,...

Nov 29, 2011 - Exploring Turin

Today is a day for exploring. Consulting the tourist map its easy to plan out the day - all the major "must see" places are grouped together in the central part of town. So all it takes is a ride on the No 13 tram to get there. By the way, we have worked out why Italy is such a financial basket case - no one wants to pay their way, and no one wants to make them!! We have spent the last two days using the Turin tram system without buying a single ticket, without being asked to show a ticket, and with no apparent way to buy a ticket - what a...

Nov 28, 2011 - Driving through the Alps

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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 view of the scenery. And even when we did, the air...

Sep 15, 2011 - Torino, Italy

Thursday 15th September 2011—Afternoon/Night Weather:-Still Hot Our arrival in Turin was punctuated by Herman saying “Well we made it again” but then we had the problem of finding our hotel, our information told us we were looking for the Four Seasons hotel at number 4 Via XX Settembre and Tom-Tom told us “you have arrived at your destination”. The only problem was--no street numbers and the Hotel is locally known as the Hotel Astoria, once found we had to play ‘ring a ring a rosie’ around the Turin streets until we found the hotel car...

Sep 15, 2011 - St Jean de Maurienne to Torino

Thursday 15th September 2011 Weather:-29 degrees Today’s objective was to see from close up some of the spectacular mountains that are ridden over by the Tour de France riders so instead of taking the Frejus Tunnel (13Km and a hefty Au$48 toll charge) we decided --after talking to some of the locals around here yesterday--that driving over the Col-Mont-Cenis was the way to go for us. This route was used as the main passage by which Charlemagne crossed with his army to invade Lombardy in 773AD and a road was first built over the pass between...

Dec 26, 2010 - Snowy Boxing Day

A fairly lazy start to Boxing Day saw our hopes realised – snow was falling. At first it was somewhat icy, almost sleet, but as the morning wore on the snow became increasingly heavy. Within two hours Boves was covered with 15cm of new snow. We made our way to Café Bianca and ordered coffee (hot chocolate for Zoe) and croissant marmalate (jam-filled croissants). Following breakfast we went for a stroll around the town, window shopping and taking photos. There was little traffic during the morning and it was quite peaceful. After an hour or...

Dec 25, 2010 - Buon Natale

After a full Christmas Eve we enjoyed the luxury of a slight sleep-in (which means, following the first bell chimes at 7.00am we got to stay in bed snoozing for another hour!). Just after 9.30am we drove to Jani’s and joined her family for breakfast and Christmas presents. Once again coffee and brioche started the day, and once again the warmth of the Giraudo family made for a very pleasant occasion. After swapping presents and watching Maya revel in her hoard of goodies, Ron joined Paolo for a walk into town to pick up fresh bread and the...

Dec 24, 2010 - Xmas Eve with our Italian Family

Christmas Eve was all about our Italian ‘family’. After a patchy night’s sleep (courtesy of the church bells, which chime every 15 minutes day and night!) we met Jani and the kids for breakfast at a café in the piazza outside our apartment. There are worse ways to start the day than coffee/hot chocolate and brioche. The girls then had a treat in store – Jani had arranged a massage for Barb and Zoë as their Christmas present. While Ron got some stuff from the car and pottered around town, the girls enjoyed a warm, relaxing massage. We then...

Dec 23, 2010 - Sesto to Boves

After a slightly early start, breakfast, email check and pack, we departed Sesto Calende at 8.45am on our way to Boves. We left Sesto in steady rain and drove most of the way in light rain and mist. The rain had cleared most of the snow en route so the road was quite good and we made good time. With just one stop (for a coffee and gas refill) we were in Boves by 12.15pm, where we joined Ron’s cousin, Jani, for lunch. We also had the great pleasure of meeting Jani’s two month old son, Daniel. We ate well (as always) and then made our way...