Blogs from Rhône-Alpes, France, Europe - page 4

A cold has knocked me down for two days. Had to cancel lunch with Franck. Susan has had to take herself out. Just bits from before: - meeting Marley, a gorgeous steel blue Great Dane so big and so friendly that when he leaned against my legs and wagged his tail, the action almost knocked me off my feet. - the two incredibly friendly and helpful clerks at our local grocery store, who always greet us with big smiles. - finding more good restaurants, including a one Michelin star where lunch was worth every penny. - being given "our" table at L'Eau Salee. - sunshine on the Saone through our front windows. That's all I got for now. Feeling better but no energy. Adding some pics for you. The menu is from La Mere Brazier, THE ... read more

NOW I know “bouchon” is French for BLOCKAGE!!! Sheesh. Technically, it can mean either “cork” or “traffic jam”. You get the idea. It is ALSO the name of a traditional Lyonnais restaurant, where huge amounts of pork products are served. Along with huge amounts of pretty much everything else they can possibly cram into a customer, it turns out! Our volunteer guide this morning, the charming Anne, recommended a really good one only steps from our apartment and we thought we would give it a shot as we wandered homeward after the tour since we would walk right by it anyway. The place was empty except for a family party of four. The waiter seated us efficiently at the very far back, at a table for two on a small landing right next to the kitchen. ... read more

As we left Beaune on Friday, October 4, there was a misty rain falling. Our GPS guided us to the motorway and most of our trip was on the beautiful French superhighways. They are beautiful because they are all toll roads and not cheap! Our toll from Beaune to Annecy (250km) was 19.50 E or around 28.00 Cdn. Our trip took us south toward Lyon and then east towards Geneva, Switzerland. The further east we went, the higher the mountains became. We travelled through three long tunnels. The rain intensified and even though the traffic was not heavy, there were a lot of transports on the road which made for a somewhat stressful drive at times. We were relieved when we left the motorway and headed towards Annecy on a two lane highway. The secondary roads, ... read more

Saturday 28th September Rest day. As we went down to breakfast there were some cyclists setting off "A Ventoux " they said. We wished them luck. (We later found out they were on ebikes). Breakfast was quite simple but adequate and there were the gluten free crackers for me and lots of milky coffee. It was leisurely as we were not going anywhere in a hurry. There was a large relief map on the wall and this again confirmed we had chosen the harder route yesterday. After a 'washing' session we had a wander around Sault. There was much more life to it than last night but it was a much smaller town than we had expected. It was quite touristy with lots of gifts shops and every now and then there would a strong smell ... read more

Thursday 26th September 54 miles Breakfast was upstairs from our bedroom in another lovely room very artistically put together with some very old things. Florence had got me some gluten free bread and there was home made stewed apples, yoghurt and jams. We bought 'trois fromage baguettes ' and yoghurts before setting off. The guide book had said there would be no shops for the next twenty four miles. We had to walk through the market that was on and there were lots of lovely local produce for sale including cheeses, meat, honey, olives, hand made soaps, scarves and jewellery. If we had been in a car I could have easily have bought lots of things. Most French towns have these markets and they always seem busy. Out of town and towards the gorges. The Pont ... read more