France

This post was continued from the previous one. France is a beautiful country, with different sceneries ranging from old stone houses and walls to lavendar farms and not to mention the Alps. Their architecture varies in style as well. Contrary to popular belief, the people here are really very nice. We were wary of pickpockets throughout the trip, to be on the safe side, but most of the people we met are really nice to us. I really like the French cuisine since the dishes are very widely varying. I deliberately planned it such that we will be in Paris on our second anniversary, for a reason, of course. Travelling with dearie makes the whole trip very comfortable and a lot less strenuous. Many memories were etched in this country and it will stay with us forever.

30 June 2018, London > Paris, Sunny

We arrived in Paris by the Eurostar. At the Gare du Nord, a nice security guard helped us find our way to Pigalle. This was our first experience with the French, and he was really nice. We took the metro to Pigalle and found our hotel: La Villa Royale. We were given a free room upgrade to the Jean Gabin room, and it comes with a Jacuzzi. I was really thrilled. We put down our stuff and went to the nearest store to buy some fruit and water. We also bought quiche and meringue from a nearby pastry shop. We then had a long and clean bath before resting for the night.

1 July 2018, Paris, Sunny

Today is our second anniversary in a relationship. Of course, I would not let the day pass just as if it was another day. We woke up and checked if we had a free breakfast. Unfortunately for us, it is a no. We ended up trying their McDonalds', to find that their servings are really small. Our first stop is the Arc de Triomphe. It was a lot bigger than we thought. It was simply majestic. We took a few pictures and selfies there before continuing to walk down Avenue des Champs Elysees. Since there was a festival of some sort, the roads were blocked and navigation became a pain. We bought a croissant along the way. Our lunch was at a LGBT friendly restaurant, in a LGBT friendly street. I find it nice that there is such a street in Paris. It was a very interesting and enjoyable meal since the waiters are very lively and entertaining. After lunch, we walked towards the direction of the Louvre Museum. We passed by a tall monument and a few nice buildings before finally seeing the iconic glass pyramids. There were a lot of tourists here.

We did not enter the museum, but took many pictures of the vicinity. We then walked down the park towards the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. We liked the Petit Palais more. We also made a small stop at the Pont Alexandre III. Here, we first saw the Eiffel Tower. We continued walking in the same direction along the Jardin D'Erivan. It was quite pretty indeed. We took a picture with some locals who attended the festival. Finally, it was time to decide on a dinner place. To our dismay, many restaurants are closed since it was a Sunday. We ended up in an Italian restaurant. The food was expensive, but not that great. After dinner, we looked around for shops selling wine and foie gras, as we were planning to picnic at the garden near Eiffel Tower. We managed to get rose wine from a small shop, but was unable to find any foie gras. We then walked to the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to walk to the other side of the river, and this made dearie very tired. Her mood became not too good, which made me quite worried because of what is going to come next for her. We finally reached the other side, which was a lot prettier with the water jets and the lights. We found a cozy spot, sat down, and I opened the rose wine so that both of us could enjoy. We simply just sat on the grass and watch the Eiffel Tower while the sky gets darker and darker. I softened her up by singing a song for her. The lyrics of the song describes how she is my one and only. Soon, Eiffel Tower lit up. At about ten, I got her to stand up so that I could take a night picture of her and the lighter up Eiffel Tower. I got her to back face me so that I can get her back view, but actually, I was fishing around in my bag for the ring box. I opened the package and put the box in my pocket, then got myself in the kneeling position. I then told her to turn around so that I can get a picture with her face. I bluffed her, saying that she was too far, so I asked her to move nearer to me, and nearer and nearer she came. When she was just in front of me, she knew something was coming. "What are you doing?" she kept asking, while I took out the ring box from my pocket and opened the box. The box came with light, and revealed a very shiny and reflective diamond ring. I did not make a long speech before I asked the question. It was short and sweet. My heart raced while I wait for her to answer me. She was too excited, but slowly, she managed a yes. I put the diamond ring on her finger, got up and hugged her tightly, then kissed her. Unknowing to us, a random passer-by took a picture of me when I was kneeling, and she approached us to get my email so that she could send the picture to me. I was really grateful for her doing that! We let our mood settle down and we went back to the hotel.

We bought a small cake at the same pastry shop near our hotel to celebrate our two year anniversary in a relationship, and now, as an engaged couple. 

2 July 2018, Paris, Sunny

Since we had an extremely tiring day yesterday, we slept in until quite late. When we finally got the energy to leave the hotel, we went to the Montmartre region. We found many interesting shops in Montmartre. Finally, we decided to buy some local pastries for breakfast. We sat along the benches and ate the pastries. It was really quite enjoyable. Next, we went back to a local french shop to buy cheesy potato and sausage. The staff in this shop was really friendly to us. After eating, we went to find the Wall of I Love You. There, we took a very cute picture. We then climbed up the hill to Sacre Coeur. 

Sacre Coeur is pretty. We entered it and walked around, then coming out to the viewing gallery outside. The view of Paris from here is quite good. We then walked around the Montmartre region to look for the nice pink shop. When we are done here, it was already quite late, so I suggested we find a place to eat here. We settled for a very local looking (people sitting outside) French restaurant, and this meal turned out to be the nicest meal (my opinion) in Paris. The two local ladies sitting next to us were really nice. One of them stopped dearie from eating the yellow fat surrounding the foie gras and taught us the right way of enjoying it, that is, to go with the bread and caramelized onions. As you can see, the French can be really nice. We returned to our hotel early today.

3 July 2018, Paris, Sunny

Our breakfast was bread from yesterday's dinner, plus some foie gras mousse we bought. Our first stop of the day is the Eiffel Tower. This time, we are seeing the tower in bright daylight, and it was still a sight to behold. After taking some pictures, we moved on to The Pantheon. The Pantheon is a place where many famous people are resting. There was a pendulum with an extremely long distance length, and a person will come and adjust it from time to time such that it shows the time correctly. We also visited the chambers. After the Pantheon, we walked to the Latin Quarter to find some food. We bought some local sweet crepes and continued on to Notre Dame, our last stop in Paris.

Notre Dame is majestic. We queued to enter it. The insides looks like most churches, complete with tombs, sections, and stained glass. The doors into the Notre Dame are really intricately carved. The access to the bell towers is ticketed, so we decided to give that a miss. When we're happy, we crossed the bridge northwards, since our hotel is in that direction, and walked along the river. We saw the Conciergerie along the way. I think we deposited our postcards somewhere around here. We walked back to the same monument we saw on the first day, and sat down on the grass to chill for a while before finding a dinner place. We settled for dinner at a local restaurant. I remember the indoor seating was very stuffy but the outdoor seating is a smoking zone. In the end, we chose the outdoor seating. The food was decent. A very nice couple was sitting beside us. They taught us now to enjoy the snails, and even shared their wine with us! They introduced the type of wine to us, which is named after the region the grapes were grown in: Cotes du Rhone. Coincidentally, our next destination is not far from this region. They also told us about the nursery song about Pont d'Avignon, when they found out that we are going to Avignon. So, yet again, we were very lucky to meet nice locals. We visited the pastry shop yet again, so I guess at this point, the shop owners recognized us as tourists who can't make up their mind what they want to buy, since we always take a long time to decide what we want.

4 July 2018, Paris > Lyon > Avignon, Sunny

We woke up rather early to catch the speed train from Paris to Lyon. Breakfast was self made, and to use up all the leftover foie gras. We really do like the foie gras mousse spread over bread. We arrived in Lyon just in time for lunch. After exploring the area for a while, we sat down at a place near to the train station. Lyon is well known to be the food capital of France, and this meal proves it to be true. It was not expensive, and the taste is decent. I had a half cooked tuna steak and dearie had calamari rings, both of which were really quite good. We lazed around until it was time to take the train down to Avignon. We arrived in Avignon in the afternoon, and we carried the luggage to our BnB house. For most other BnBs that I have stayed at, I could unlock the door using some instructions given by the owner beforehand, but this time, I forgot to ask, and I didn't check my email. In the end, we went to the house and knocked the door, to find that the owner was not in. I called the owner and arranged a meeting place for her to pass the key to me. This is a case which could have turned out to be a disaster, but I was glad that it didn't turn out so badly. I just had to run around the city in the blistering heat. After we put down our luggage, we went to check out the Palais des Papes and the Pont d'Avignon. Palais des Papes is quite beautiful. The palace itself is quite nice, but what made this place exceptional is the area surrounding the palace. The views from the palace walls are amazing. Perhaps it was because it was a beautiful sunset, the entire region looks amazing. The stone houses are really charming, and the river complements the entire scenery.

There was some music playing from a band nearby. I can't explain just how perfect and relaxing the evening was. We made our way to the bridge and got a few beautiful pictures. There was a small lavender patch, and we knew this was the teaser to what is coming up tomorrow. We had dinner at a decent restaurant. Dearie had duck confit while I had pork filet mignon. We ordered the Cotes du Rhone rose wine, as recommended by the French couple. I enjoyed it, and got a little tipsy afterwards.

5 July 2018, Avignon > Lyon > Chamonix, Sunny

We woke up early and checked out, carrying our luggage with us to the tour. Yes, we are having a Lavender half day tour. This was also the main reason why we have decided to come to Avignon instead of staying in Lyon. Soon, the van left Avignon and took us to Roussillon, a small rustic little town. There was a market going on. Dearie went to buy some lavender products while I went to get ice cream. Next the van took us to the main event, the lavender farm.

It was really beautiful. The lavender farm did not stretch as far as the eye could see, but it was still huge enough to be marvelous. We spent a good twenty minutes here taking pictures, but it still wasn't enough. Our next stop is the Gordes town picture spot. The sun's angle makes it really quite pretty. Our last spot is the Senanque Abbey. The monks still live in the Abbey and they make a living out of selling lavender products. Me and dearie bought a few of their products to support them. The abbey itself is also quite beautiful. We then returned to Avignon central. We took a short train ride to Avignon TGV station and ate some sandwiches before taking the train to Lyon. This train was delayed, but it did not affect our travel plans. At Lyon, we went for another nice Lyonnaise meal. Dearie had fish which was cooked in a paper bag, and it was really tasty. After the satisfying meal, we began on a long bus trip towards Chamonix. We reached Chamonix really late at night, and it was cold and slightly rainy. After a while, I managed to find where our little room was, and we went in and rested for the night.

6 July 2018, Chamonix, Cloudy

This was the first day in our travels where the weather is bad, so we consider ourselves really lucky already. Since we were very tired from our travelling yesterday, we woke up pretty late. We started our day by exploring the immediate vicinity and was happy to find that a supermarket was nearby. We bought some food for breakfast there, as well as food for hiking. By the time we were ready, and went to the tourist information centre, it was already about noon time. Since it was already quite late, and the weather was bad, there were not a lot of options available. After getting the information we needed to plan our next two days, we bought the two day multi-pass, allowing us to go to many different places. Our first stop in Chamonix is Le Tour. We took the bus there, and took the cable car up, then a ski lift further up. It was pretty cold on top. There, I brought my dearie on a very dreamy hike in the clouds.

We were walking in the direction towards the french/swiss border line. On a clear day, this route is supposed to show us views of both Switzerland and France on two different sides, but of course, we couldn't see anything except for fog. We did see ice on the ground, which was quite interesting for us. We walked around the area for quite a while, in a path that was not in the map. I kept a close watch on google maps to make sure I know where we are. We slowly navigated our way towards the Vallorcine cable car station while enjoying the dreamy cool hike. I could see that dearie is really enjoying the hike although she was a bit worried about getting lost in the clouds. Soon, we found the cable car station, and that is where we know we are safe. Here, we took out the drone and took some really cool pictures. We then descended the mountain back into the valley. We explored the Vallorcine area for a while before taking the train back to Chamonix. Our dinner was a pot of soup at a shop; and sausage and fries at another shop. We bought more food at the supermarket nearby in preparation for tomorrow.. We also did our laundry. We rested early today, since we know that tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

7 July 2018, Chamonix. Clear

The clouds cleared overnight and the weather is perfect in Chamonix. We woke up really early in the morning to avoid the queue for Aiguille du Midi. This is the highlight of our trip in Chamonix. At about seven, we took two cable cars up to Aiguille du Midi, raising from about 1030m to 3842m . The scenery (and atmosphere) on top is simply breathtaking (literally). It was beautiful, probably because as people living in the tropics, we hardly get to see icy mountains.

This is my favourite shot because I can get both the ice mountain and the sea of clouds. We took many pictures here. The stairs here nearly made dearie faint since the air was so thin. We queued to experience the 'void', which is basically a glass box where you can see below you. A staff will help you to take pictures using your camera. He didn't really know how to use my camera, however. Mental note to myself to set it to auto-mode for others to help me take pictures. The Aguille du Midi area is really a lot bigger than it seems from the bottom. There was also a tube and ice tunnel. When we're done experiencing everything here, we took the cable car down to the midway point. Luckily, dearie suggested that we take the train to Mer de Glace instead of hiking there. This was a good move since we save time, and energy walking under the sun. We confirmed our plan with a staff, who has an office with the best views in the world, before making our way to Montenvers train station. There, we first checked out the Mer de Glace from the top. At first, I thought it was nothing much. It just looks like a lot of dust on the top of the glacier. There was small tunnel, where we get to see a lot of crystals. We then sat down at some shaded benches and had our lunch, lovingly prepared by dearie. It was really enjoyable to have a lunch by the ice mountains. After we have regained some energy, we decided to take the cable car down to the ice caves. After we took the cable car down, we saw how far down we have to walk in order to reach the ice caves, and it was all stairs, and it was hot and sunny. Naturally, two questions came into mind. Is there really an ice cave below? Is it worth to climb all the stairs. I was more adventurous, so I definitely would want to check it out. I dragged dearie with me down. The ice cave was like a dream world. Mer de Glace is perhaps the most fascinating thing that we saw in the whole trip. In the 24C summer heat, the ice caves does exist, but is slowly melting. It sure is hard to believe that underneath all that dust is ice. In fact, the entire thing is ice!

We don't even know how much ice is actually there since we don't know how deep the valley is beyond the ice. So, the answers were, yes, the ice cave really is there, and yes, it is definitely worth climbing the stairs in the sun. Mer de Glace is one perfect example of a glacier that is experiencing glacial retreat due to global warming. This was truly a jaw-dropping experience. Next, we took a train, then bus to Les Houches. The cable car was just us and a biker, so that was a good hint to us that there was nothing much up there. We went up anyway. It was slightly disappointing. However, we did get to see a very different side of the Alps: green fields. Dearie gave me a small panic attack when she went to the toilet without me knowing. We didn't stay here for long and we went back to Chamonix. We decided to try the Chamonix luge. Fortunately for us, we managed to make it there before it closes, and the staff allowed us to go for one ride even when our multi-pass did now allow. We shared one luge. I was trying to drive it properly since dearie was a little scared, however, at the end of it, she enjoyed it so much that she wanted to go a second time. We couldn't do it though, since we don't have the tickets for it. We went to have a comforting ramen dinner before returning to rest. We really used our multi-pass very well. What an eventful day it has been!

8 July 2018, Chamonix > Milan, Sunny

We woke up early again, had our own breakfast, and went to catch the bus that will take us to Courmayeur. Going through the Mont Blanc tunnel with my dearie, I was reflecting on our trip in France. There was only one word to describe the whole experience: amazing. I am really thankful that everything went so smoothly till that point. This also marks the end of the travels in France, and the start of travelling in a new country. Italy, here we come.