Forget the Easter eggs, Easter 2009 presented a 4 day long weekend and we were off for a road trip through Southern France and train trip through Switzerland.
After much debate about whether or not we should camp it, we decided to pack lightly and do the hostel thang again. So landing in Marseille on Thursday night, Kim jumped in the drivers seat of a left hand drive for the first time in 4 years. After a few ‘tense’ moments and arguments with the TomTom lass, we found our hotel which was laughable.
Up at the crack of dawn we were headed straight to St Tropez hitting traffic along the way (apparently Good Friday is not a public holiday everywhere). We drove to some beaches and had a looksy then into the town for a wander through the streets. Designer chicks with designer bags and designer dogs everywhere! So this is how the other side holiday huh?!
Happy with crepes for breaky, we took the scenic coastal route to Cannes. We stopped loads of times on this road as the views were simply stunning! At some points you could look down the cliffs and see all the houses below with their swimming pools and designer gardens. I suggested to Kim that we buy one of the shops along that road and live there!
Cannes was beautiful, but quite upmarket and touristy – as was expected. Reminded me of Sunset Boulevard in LA! We found a parking spot (a challenge in itself) and went for a wander in the main part of town. After a wander and ice cream looking out over the Mediterranean, we hopped back in the car and drove through Nice to… Monte Carlo in Monaco!
Monte Carlo, although similar to the rest of Southern France that we’d visited really, just _felt_ different! It was pretty cool to be in another country, in a matter of seconds (scary seconds might I add, given the cliffs were damn steep on the way to get there). We had a wander around a very small part of town, saw the Casino, went inside to use the loo and admired the view of the palace from afar and the mega hotels everywhere. We bought our 8 euro magnet from probably the worst of all places to buy one from… the foyer of another casino! We spent some time just breathing in the magnificent views of Monaco before taking off for Nice to settle in for the night.
Traffic was horrendous trying to get through Nice to where the hotels were. But eventually we made it and after getting very frustrated trying to find one of the hostels on my list, we settled on a nice hotel that offered us a small discount. We were just happy to have a bed after one huge big whopping day on the road!
Next day we were up early again to see Nice itself. We walked down through Massena Square to the Old Town where the flower market blew us away (as did the awesome market strawberries – yum!). We considered walking up a very steep hill to see the view from the lookout point we could see. But there were storm clouds coming in and we thought it would be just typical that if we went up there (minus our waterproof gear), the heavens would open up when we got there. So instead, we found a packed lunch and jumped in the car for another mega day of driving…
So we headed to Trigance, a tiny little town in the mountains. Winding roads everywhere, we saw some gorgeous scenery on the way. Once there, we saw the gorgeous medieval town atop a pretty little hill, then headed for Gorges du Verdon, the deepest canyon in Europe. And boy was it deep! Photo’s just didn’t do this thing justice, the river was SO far below the bridge we were on, it was amazing!
Next we were off to a very specific 17km stretch of road that I’d heard on travel forums was a place not to miss. So about 2 hours later, we get there and boy were they right! Unfortunate for us, it was very bright and so the photo’s probably won’t do the view justice, but from the tiny towns that flanked this road to the rolling hills and wineries, this stretch of road is a photographers dream! It was the D90 between Beaumes-de-Venise and Malaucene by the way 
Not realising just how far away from Lyon we were, we rocked up at our hotel at 10pm and then realised that the reception closed at 9pm. Luckily for us, this trendy hotel had an atm that checked you in, took payment and spat out your room key. Sorted.
Easter Sunday… and we were up early again to drop the car off and catch a train to Switzerland! Finding the car drop off point was a nightmare, but by chance we found it and we were off and running to catch this train! A train change later and we were in Geneva! Initially slightly disappointed, Geneva did grow on me in the end. I guess that’s the problem with having expectations of a place. I had thought it was going to be more like what Lucerne turned out to be – beautiful mountains surrounding the city. But it wasn’t. Though seeing Le Jet D’Eau, St Peter’s Cathedral, the Old Town, Batiment Des Forces Motrices and the United Nations (although closed) made up for my initial reaction We paid a small fortune for some crepes by Le Jet D’Eau, but how often can you say you’ve done that?! Being Easter Sunday, we found a chocolatier and bought a bunny each. Yummmmm.
By late afternoon, we were on our way to Lucerne. Upon approaching Lucerne, we saw the huge snow capped mountains behind the small farms and we both started to get that excitement you get when you first start traveling. By the time we arrived at the central train station, we were hypo! We instantly fell in love with the place and everywhere we looked, it was another stunning view! After taking loads of photo’s, we found our hotel… a Jail-hotel! We stayed in one of the cells, kind of freaky and cool at the same time!
We had some time before the sun went down, so we went to see the Lion monument. This was truly touching and extremely sad… I have probably never been moved by any monument quite like this one. Luckily for us, it was evening and it was lovely and quiet. So we also visited the Chapel Bridge and went for a wander. Then at dusk, we took some amazing shots over the lake (well, we hope they turned out as good as they looked on the cameras at the time!).
Easter Monday and we were determined to conquer Mount Pilatus… in the modern way of course, bus then ski lift. Typically for us, the cog wheel train doesn’t start operating until May, so we had to take the boring way up! Though I was still terrified (as we all probably know by now!). Anyway, we spent a good few hours up there as it was an amazing view and feeling! The weather was just perfect for us – we were really lucky all weekend actually! Was also freaky to be absolutely freezing on one side (the dragon side) of that mountain and then sunbathing while eating Easter eggs on the other side?!
We had just enough time after that to take a 2 hour boat ride over the lake to Weggis for more stunning views. The sun was so gloriously warm that Kim worked on his sunglasses lines and I had to use sunscreen! We purchased the all essential swiss army knife for Mr Gadget Boy and hopped on a train for the airport. We jam packed this weekend, but it was well and truly worth it to see everything we did.
Entries (RSS)