We left Parma, Italy with a plan. We left early. We had
hours to get to Milan for our train. Milan was only 1.5 hours away. No
problems, right? Until you hit a traffic jam of epic proportions. The traffic
slowed. The traffic stopped. I struggled with my manual transmission. First
gear, second gear, clutch, clutch. Stop.
As we waited for whatever was happening ahead to clear up, I
repeated my mantra to the girls. “ We don’t get angry at traffic. It probably
means someone got into an accident and we want them to be OK. Think about them,
not our inconvenience.”
Well, after sitting still for an hour. Getting out of the
car. Discussing our food stores (Sierra often hoards Nutella somewhere…) We
finally began moving again. Slowly.
My mantra of staying calm started to fray. The probability
of us catching our train to Geneva was getting more and more out of site. I
finally make it to the train station at Milan and have NO IDEA where to drop
off my rental car. There are no signs. Nothing. Circles and circles around the
train station. Probably breaking tons of traffic laws. First gear, second gear,
first gear, clutch.
After two phone calls, I finally get to the teeny tiny
garage and drop off the car. No extra charges. Score!
We missed our train. I cry at the ticket counter. I am
frustrated. We had to meet people in Geneva. Nothing I can do for four more
hours. The emails begin.
I email the ski-clothing rental guy. He offers to meet us at
the train station when we get in at 10:00!!! He says he will just have dinner
there tonight. How amazingly sweet.
I email the chalet. They agree to meet us when we get there.
Score! Apparently we aren’t going to be sleeping in the car tonight (although,
the idea kinda excited the girls)!
We drag all of our bags up to the American Steakhouse on the
top floor of the train station and enjoy a bottle of wine and some steak,
overlooking the rails.
After a 4 hour journey on the train to Geneva, we saw
beautiful mountains and valleys. We watched the mountains, as they began
showing caps of snow. Vineyards! Tons of terraced vineyards. Just like in the
movies. The sun set during our train ride and we arrived in Geneva,
Switzerland.
We ran outside and immediately found our clothing rental people. We stripped in the streets and tried on our ski clothes. The people of
Geneva goggled their eyes at us and some laughed, watching us try on ski pants
and jackets. We somehow stuffed all of the gear into our suitcases and left to
find our rental car.
Apparently Geneva is a city like Kansas City. Half in
Switzerland, half in France. We had to go through two immigrations in the same
airport. The French side waved us through without any concern…lol.
I get to the rental counter, about 12 hours later than my
reservation. They slightly scold me, but assure me they still have a minivan to
rent. RELIEF!
Until…I get to the garage and spy my behemoth of a van. It
is an enormous Mercedes 8 passenger van. It has seen better days and shows the
scars of bad turns and tiny alleyways. Scary!
The associate with the rental company just happened to be
walking through the garage as I discovered my vehicle and I protest! It is too
big!
Her reply was less than appeasing. She replied that it WAS
the car I requested and anything else they had would cost even more ( I had
already upgraded!). Due to our lateness to the chalet, we took the van and
headed into the darkness of the City of Geneva.
I actually did really well getting through the city and onto
the Interstate. Once off the Interstate I began the ascent to Morzine, France.
Like all mountain communities, the journey to get there is scary and
precarious. There are switchbacks and crazy drivers. We went up and up and up.
The cities shone below us. Getting tinier and tinier. It was scary.
Finally, around midnight, we arrive at the chalet. We were
warmly greeted by our chalet hosts, Joel and Siobhan. They even had dinner ready for us!!! The kids
looked at the food with sleepy eyes and went to bed. Chris and I ate a little
and also hit the sack.
The next 5 days consisted of the girls learning how to ski.
I say the girls, because, Chris and I quit after the first day. It killed our
legs. I was pretty sure I was going to die. We decided, “This doesn’t feel like
vacation to us” and decided to keep the girls in lessons and enjoy hot wine and
crepes at the restaurant at the bottom of the hill.
We really enjoyed our time in Morzine, which also included a
quick bus ride to Avoriaz for their water park. It was a unique experience and
very enjoyable.
After we were done skiing, I planned for us to head to
Dijon, France. Just for one night. We drove through the French countryside to
Dijon. It took about three hours. Dijon was a cute town with a lovely Notre
Dame and Ducal Palace. In Dijon they have a Chouette Walk, which is a trail of
little golden owls on the sidewalks. The trail brings you through all of the
important sites in Dijon, including the golden owl on the Notre Dame. We walked
through the city and enjoyed the ancient sites.
That evening, Chris and I headed out to dinner by ourselves.
We had some drinks at a local café and then were able to walk into a
recommended restaurant. The food was pretty divine.
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| The table's name! |
Our last stop this week was one night in Reims, France. This
is the place where they held the coronations of the monarchs of France. Reims is pronounces like “Rance”, which
rhymes with France. I wanted to go an see their Notre Dame too. It was
gorgeous! We HAD to stop in Epernay for the Champagne district. We decided to visit Moet and Chandon because of some family connections to the company in the past. We had to do the cellar tour and tasting!
Notre Dame in Reims
We have been to many, many UNESCO heritage sites at this point this year. I always tease the girls that "they may NOT touch the UNESCO Heritage Sites!" They always pretend to touch them anyways to mess with me! This time, we found the plaque for the UNESCO assignment and they were SOOOOO excited to touch the sign!
Isabel has learned all about Cathedrals at this point. She
loves to point out the flying buttresses. She has a favorite headless saint
that appears on the entrances of these churches. We had to Wikipedia his story!
‘
Out next stop is Paris. We have an apartment in the city
center, so we are very excited about the location. I know we have lots of
stairs ahead of us, but I hope they aren’t too bad.
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