Back home via Paris and the Alps!

After a few restful days in Angers, it was time to hit the road again. The next stop on the way was beautiful Paris. The main reason for going to Paris was Annabelle's and Bruno's party in Montmartre in the evening, but since there were some people to see before that, we pretty much drove non-stop all the way down to Bagnolet, where we had a rendez-vous with Milene – and of course her and Kamel’s young newly-born son, Nael. Paula also managed to make it. Great to see both of them again, and to finally meet young Nael! (and let's not forget about the tasty cakes Milene served us ;-)

From Bagnolet we sped on to Pantin, where we were going to stay the night, at CoCo’s place. Great to see her, chatty and CoCo-ish as always – preparing for her holiday in Bali (she was flying out the next day). Since the sun was out, we quickly got ourselves ready for the party (which in my case took about 2 minutes – the time to put on a clean shirt basically ;-), and headed out to visit Paris. We decided to have an aperitif before going to the party, so CoCo took us down to the Canal d’Ourcq, a great area with nice bars and restaurants. After a nice hour or so sipping beer by the canal in the sunshine (we once again noted the low average age of the people around us – a bit of a contrast to the Cote d’Azur), we decided it was time to head to the party. A little bit like a late start to the Wappu celebrations (although not quite the same as 1st of May in Kaivopuisto).

Annabelle and Bruno have managed to find what many would consider a dream flat – located pretty much slam-bang in the middle of Montmartre. Doesn’t get much better location-wise than that... The party was great, although we didn’t know all that many people there (apart from Annabelle and Bruno there were Aude and Magaye). The theme of the party was the colour green (impressive how many great “green dishes” our hosts managed to come up with). I had a couple of Cuba libres too many, I reckon, so the way back to CoCo’s flat was all a bit of a haze... Thanks to Annabelle and Bruno for a great party!

Since CoCo had to get up early for her flight to Bali, it meant an early start for us too. So we jumped into the car and headed for our next destination – La Roche sur Foron. La Roche is located in the midst of some of the most stunning Alpine scenery in France, near Annecy in Haut-Savoie. The reason we were making a stop at La Roche was to pay a surprise visit to Flore & Christian (and the younger family members, Melody and Lilian, of course...), who moved there some time ago. We drove pretty much non-stop all the way to La Roche, so arrived in the afternoon. This was also a great opportunity to make acquaintance with the newly arrived family member, Melody, and check out their house. And what a great house it is – rustic and very typical for the area, yet modern, and with a nice, big garden as well as a rather large balcony (with some pretty amazing views over the surrounding landscapes...). Not bad, not bad at all...

After catching up on the latest news, we had a nice walk around town. La Roche is one of the better preserved towns in the French Alps – having managed to keep the historic centre pretty intact and unspoilt. After our quick visit to town, we made our way back to the house - after all that walking our stomachs were grumbling... Christian had prepared a proper Savoyard dinner for us – accompanied by some great local wines of course. So as one says in French: “on s’est bien régalé”. Having chatted some more over a nice digestif (some local stuff, naturally), we were ready for bed. After a good night’s sleep, it was time to say bye-bye, and carry on – last day of the road trip ahead.

After some deliberation, we decided to drive back through Italy, taking the Mont Blanc tunnel and going through Val d’Aosta. It’s apparently not only the quickest, but also most scenic, way back. The drive to the Val d’Aosta is truly a spectacular one, snaking through Alpine valleys, with quite magnificent views over the Alps (including, of course, Mont Blanc). The tunnel, which put as back a hefty 30 Euros or so, is an impressive 11.6 km long. On the other side, we arrived in the chic Italian ski resort of Courmayeur. We quickly drove on, and decided to stop in Aosta, which is the capital of the Val d’Aosta region. Aosta is a pretty interesting town, with a rich history, stretching back all the way to Roman times (unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit any of the Roman monuments). It’s also a bilingual town, like the Val d’Aosta region (both French and Italian are official languages). After a walk around the pleasant town centre, and a tasty pizza slice for lunch, we carried on.

Our journey then took us past Turin, down to the Ligurian coast, and back home to Cagnes from there, hugging the dramatic coastline (and feeling sorry for the poor Italians stuck in traffic going the other way on the motorway). So that put an end to our 10-day road trip through France. So how was the trip, then, in the end? We spent a lot of time behind the steering wheel, and the weather was not always what we had hoped for. But what's more important, we met up with many friends, ate and drank well (as one usually does in this country), and discovered many new interesting places. So all in all, we had a great holiday!