Europe 2010/11 fourth leg: France (pt 2)

In transit: Venice to Chamonix

My bus to Venice airport broke down halfway, which would have been concerning had I not been paranoid and left super early. I still ended up at the airport with time to spare.

To get to Chamonix, in France, I first had to fly to Geneva in Switzerland before completing the journey on the ground. Venice to Geneva is not a busy air corridor and most flights require a connection, so I was fortunate to time my stay so I could catch one of the few direct flights per week. I love small planes - you get a better sense of actually being in the air, as opposed to just sitting down for a few hours - so it was great to see that our plane for the day was a turboprop. Despite the size of the plane - probably towards the larger end of the scale in terms of commercial passenger turboprops, but still small compared to the many of the more common jets - I counted probably less than twenty other passengers on the flight. The majority of the seats in the plane were left empty.

I took a shuttle bus from the airport (which wasn't large, but was nevertheless very busy) to Chamonix, the ski resort town that would be my destination for the next week.

Chamonix: Open wallet policy

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is one of the most well-known ski towns in France. It serves as a good base for several ski areas, including one in Italy. It can also boast to hosting the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924.

The sunset showcases several peaks surrounding Chamonix

I met up with Morgan at our hotel for the week - he was in Europe for a shorter period of time - and we set off to hiring some gear and me some clothing (as Morgan had packed heavier than I did and brought snow clothes). Being a shorter guy, it took me a bit longer to find everything that fit, but I eventually settled on an outfit, including women's snowboard boots and a helmet painted with silver reflective paint that would have fit in well in a ski-themed glam rock music video.

We tried to go to as many ski areas as we could so that we could make the most of the multi-area pass that we bought.

Le Tour was our first stop. There was no new snow on the ground, and it started off a bit icy, but did get softer as the snow melted away under the sunshine. I lost Morgan a couple of times, a result of his sense of direction, which was worse than mine. We went back there the next day and decided to take lessons since the conditions weren't really great for off-piste. As usual, I hurt myself during the lesson, I guess because I always push myself to try to improve whenever I take one.

We had a relaxed afternoon in Le Brevent and La Flegere, two connected ski areas, and the closest to Chamonix. In fact, you can walk from the bottom of one of the areas back into town, which is precisely what we did.

A few kilometres away from Chamonix is the small resort town of Les Houches, situated at the base of a more family-oriented ski area. It was the flattest, lowest altitude area covered by our multi pass, and also had the sparsest snow cover. Many of the runs were closed, and we mostly felt it worth the visit thanks to an oddly placed bathtub on one of the slopes.

Random bathtub in a ski run at Les Houches

Feeling optimistic about the AUD/Euro exchange rate, we decided to go on an off-piste tour of one of Les Grands Montets, one of the larger ski areas. The snow was icy and crusty at the top and the air was thin - I think it was the highest I've ever ridden before, and part of the route actually took place on a glacier. The beginning was very steep, too - it didn't seem like it when I was concentrating on sharp turns, but when I stopped to look at the horizon I was blown away at how vertical we were. The traverses were the hardest - very flat and at times uphill - and I wished, not for the first time, that I knew how to ski for tours like these (or, at the very least, knew how to snowboard really bloody well). It was tough work, but the views were worth it. Such a shame I didn't have my camera in tow.

The last ski area we visited was across the border, in the Italian town of Courmayeur. Its French-sounding name is likely a result of its proximity to France and/or due to past border disputes. I asked the guide but I've unfortunately forgotten his explanation for it. Chamonix and Courmayeur are connected via a tunnel that runs under Mont Blanc. The journey could take longer than the 11.6 km traverse through the Mont Blanc Tunnel due to strict border inspections at either end.

Courmayeur, the ski area, gave us the best ski conditions of the entire trip. We once again took a tour, and started off doing groomed runs. After lunch the group was split into two, with one taking on the easier off-pistes, while the other would tackle advanced terrain. I was feeling adventurous after the grappa we had had with our delicious meals, and I decided to join the advanced group. We did a lot of tree runs and hit a lot of soft patches of powder. It was tiring as hell but very fun. We ended the day with a long exit run - I suspect it was an out-of-bounds cat track, but I didn't question the guide, who seemed to know what he was doing - that led us all the way to the car park.

We spent our final ski day at Courmayeur, having enjoyed our time the previous day. Because we weren't with a tour this time, we had to take a large cable car the size of three small garages that connected the town to the ski resort. The icy path up to the lift was perhaps the most dangerous thing I encountered for the entire trip. The groomed runs were just that bit icier and the off-piste was just that bit more crusty that we didn't have as good of a time as the day before, and we ended up quitting early on, happy with the snowboarding on the trip overall.

Another thing covered by our multi-area pass was a cable car ride up to the top of Aiguille du Midi. The visitor centre at the summit gives some breathtaking (almost literally at an altitude of 3,842 m) panoramic views of the surrounding mountain ranges. In summer months, the Vallée Blanche Aerial Tramway crosses to the Italian side, and is an alternative way to get to Courmayeur. In winter, those skilled and brave enough can take on the infamous Vallée Blanche, a glacier route that is 20 km long with a vertical of about 2,700 m. It's something I'd like to do one day when I reach the skill level of awesome.

The view from Aiguille du Midi


A steep descent to get to the start of the Vallée Blanche

Being a ski town, it was not surprising that the night life in Chamonix was vibrant. However, being a couple of beer geeks, our main goal was to determine the best place to get some good, or at least decent, beer. Some Internet researched tipped us off to Micro Brasserie de Chamonix, more commonly referred to as MBC, a microbrewery started by some Canadian ex-pats. Sadly, the beers they made were mostly bland, probably so it would appeal to more people. On the other hand, we did end up going back there for the food, which was fantastic.

We stumbled upon another place called Berlucoquet, which stocked some French and Belgian beers as well as cheese and other goods. You could drink there or take away, and the owner was very hospitable, so it became our go-to for good beer.

As part of our extravagant spending, we also tried a couple of the town's fine dining establishments. The culinary highlight of the trip by far was dinner at La Maison Carrier. Our guide from the ski tours recommended it to us so I'm not sure if he was getting any commission from sending people their way, but it didn't really matter because the food was superb. My meal must have been the most perfect rack of lamb I've ever had. I can't even remember what Morgan had, but everything we ate and drank in that restaurant was amazing.

We went to another place our guide had recommended, but it was not nearly as good as La Maison Carrier. To be honest, we were more blown away by an appetiser from a Japanese place that consisted of green beans and what may have been peanut butter or sesame paste, or something similar. To this day I cannot figure out what that dish was, but I could have a main-sized serving of it any day of the week.

Of course, it wasn't all haute cuisine while we were in Chamonix. We'd found a central fast food place that served burgers and crêpes. The burgers were massive and the size of the galettes were almost equally impressive. I couldn't finish my burger, and Morgan was unable to get through his galette, but in a moment of glory I did manage to finish an identical galette along with some fries.

The most memorable thing from Chamonix happened when we were at the laundromat putting our clothes through a wash. We put the coins into the machine and as we were leaving to grab a bite while the clothes tumbled away, we couldn't seem to find the door handle. After several futile attempts to pull the door open in creative ways, we began to panic. There was a red button on a wall near the door that we thought may have controlled a mechanism to open it, but after pressing it we were still stuck. In the end, we only had our stupidity to blame. The side of the door, which looked like it was part of the door frame, was actually the handle, and we felt like idiots when we finally figured that out. I wonder what it must have looked like to passers by when they saw two guys by the door of the laundromat facing outwards and looking perplexed. That said, I'm probably more concerned that the red button I pressed set off some alarm in some guy's house and disturbed a nap or some sort of important task.

Fourth leg overview

Cities: Chamonix (7 nights), Courmayeur (2 day trips)
Weather: Ridiculously cold, mostly sunny
Times Morgan got lost in a ski resort: At least 3
Times stuck in a laundromat: 1

Flickr set: France

Europe 2010/11 second leg: France (pt 1)

So much for making up for a lack of blogging. Looks like I completely neglected (read: forgot about/too lazy to update) my story even though I've been back in the country (i.e. Australia) for over half a year now. But hey, it's tradition to be so behind on blog posts, right? In an effort to hurry things up, I'll write up a little bit about my time in each city instead of the usual play-by-play commentary.

Oh, and before I begin, I'll point out that photos from my trip are now up on my Flickr page. I'll link to them as I go, but here are the ones from England and Belgium.

In transit: Brussels to Nantes

I had my fears about checking out early on New Year's Day, but the biggest hassle I had to go through was trying to get the attention of the hostel staff, who were still partying on from the night before.

The trip to Nantes, my next destination, would involve an inter-city train from Brussels to Paris, a Paris Metro to a train station across the city - Paris doesn't have a unified central train station (this comes into play later) - then another inter-city train to Nantes. As inconvenient as that sounds, the trip itself was unremarkable. I even got a few precious minutes of sleep on the Paris-Nantes leg.

Nantes: A case of food poisoning

The city of Nantes is the 6th largest in France and is situated on the Loire, the country's longest river. Because of its location, it used to be the slave trade capital of France. It is also the historical capital of Bretagne, more commonly known as Brittany to English speakers. I stayed with an ex-co-worker and her family at their home there, and I think it's always nice to get the local perspective on a place that you're visiting.

Fresh produce at the Sunday markets in Nantes

One of the places my hosts took me was Trentemoult, a former fishing village on the south bank of the Loire. I also got to see Les Machines de l’île, a cool exhibit of Jules Verne-inspired steampunk inventions with both mechanical and animal characteristics. It was a shame that the main attraction - a giant steampunk elephant that would walk around the grounds, taking people for a ride on it - was shut down for the winter months. Speaking of which, another thing I wanted to check out but was closed at the time was the Jules Verne museum. Verne, a seminal author in the science-fiction genre, was born in Nantes.

An abandoned boat in Trentemoult


Steampunk elephant!

The highlight of the visit for me was perhaps the food. I got to try galette bretonne, a savoury version of the crêpe traditionally served with cider. Unlike other crêpes, which are made from wheat flour and have sweet fillings, galettes are made from buckwheat flour and filled with savoury ingredients like meat and cheese. The one I had had classic galette fillings of ham, cheese, and egg. Delicious. Galettes originate from Brittany and while Nantes is no longer technically part of the region, there still remains a Breton cultural influence, and the galette is an institution.

Unfortunately, one of the more memorable things about my time in Nantes was giving myself food poisoning. Since my hosts were kind enough to show me a bit about culture in the region, I wanted to introduce them to something from my culture. In particular, I decided to cook them one of the most iconic dishes from Filipino cuisine, adobo. What went wrong, you ask? I messed up pretty badly is what went wrong. I'd say the error was caused by a bad mix of overconfidence and lack of recent practice. That and too much vinegar. Anyway, the dish ended up being far from my best, but my hosts seemed to like it (and didn't get sick from it like I did), or at least were nice enough to pretend they did. What a bad ambassador to the Philippines, eh? The whole ordeal left me sick and drained for the next day or so, which meant I didn't get to see as much of the city as I wanted.

Rennes and an unplanned trip to Mont Saint-Michel

Under two hours away from Nantes by train, Rennes is the modern capital of Brittany. It is somewhat of a university town, with over a quarter of its inhabitants being students. My friend was studying there at the time, and catching up was the main reason for this stop of the trip. (Predictably, we had humongous galettes.)

Apart from the Parc du Thabor, through which I took a relaxing stroll, there wasn't really much for tourists in Rennes. My friend tipped me off to Mont Saint-Michel, the third most visited national monument in France. Having a spare day in Rennes, I decided to do a day trip there.

Mont Saint-Michel is a town on a tidal island by the sea. The island is dominated by the Saint-Michel monastery, from which it gets its name. The monastery has been there since the 8th century, and is surrounded by smaller buildings such as shops, hotels, and homes. Very few people actually live on the island, and it is mostly a tourist destination. Interestingly, Mont Saint-Michel has a counterpart in Cornwall, across the English channel, called Saint Michael's Mount.

Mont Saint-Michel

There are buses from Rennes that go to the monument, and it takes about an hour and a half to get there. The place itself is beautiful, and it's easy to cover the entire place in a day. In fact, thanks to a mistimed visit to the monastery, I walked around the streets several times because I missed the bus back to Rennes and had to wait another two hours for the next one. The return trip isn't cheap and the monastery costs money to enter, but it's well worth the visit if you have the time.

One of the areas accessible at low tide

It was a really cold day and it got foggy as it went along, so I wanted to spend some time indoors. Apart from visiting the monastery, I had lunch at one of the overpriced restaurants. Sadly, it was cold in there as well. I was also served by a stereotypically rude French waiter, and the food wasn't that good. Perhaps I should've eaten at the more expensive place instead.

When I got back to my hotel, I cracked open the Cantillon Mamouche (yum) that I had picked up in Brussels then had an early night.

In transit: Rennes to Montpellier

I caught an early train from Rennes to head to my next destination. I armed myself with three pain au chocolat for breakfast on the go. Some of the inter-city trains in France, I have to mention, go very fast. It's fascinating to look out to the roads parallel to the tracks and see seemingly stationary cars that are in fact driving at normal speeds.

I mentioned earlier that Paris did not have a unified central train station, and that one often has to make a connection between stations via Metro (or otherwise) before catching a connecting train. This meant one would need to leave sufficient time between trains. My train from Rennes would arrive at Gare Montparnasse, which was the Paris station servicing the west of France, and I had an hour to get to Gare de Lyon, which serviced the south, to catch my train to Montpellier. When I got to Gare de Lyon it took me a while to figure out where the platform was, and as I boarded the train the doors behind me shut. Talk about cutting it close.

Montpellier: Guess what? More clouds!

Located in southern France, Montpellier is the fastest growing city in the country. Many old structures still remain but the city feels very modern, a result of developments prompted by a population boom in the latter half of the 20th century.

Aqueduct St-Clément, built in the 17th century

Despite teases of sunlight peeking out of the clouds during the train trip, the weather was still not great when I arrived in Montpellier. In fact, I had not seen consistent sunlight since arriving in Europe. It actually started to rain a bit, too.

I was in Montpellier to visit a French acquaintance I had very briefly met years ago in a hostel in Quebec City, Canada - he needed to send an email and asked to use my laptop for a few minutes. He kept in contact with me after that, and offered his couch to crash on when he heard I was coming to France. This is one of the reasons I love to travel.

Anyway, my friend was at work when I arrived in Montpellier and I wasn't in the mood to do too much sightseeing in the poor weather with backpack in tow, so after a bit of walking around to get my bearings, I went hunting for good beer. Unfortunately, the bar I had read about, Up and Down, was not yet open, so I ended up at this dingy bar run by a guy who supposedly raced in the Tour de France at one point. There were Tour de France memorabilia and newspaper articles all over the walls. The Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World ukulele cover by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole played on the radio - in fact, this was not the first time I heard this song in France. They love it for some reason.

It was still raining the next day but, despite spending hours in Musée Fabre, I did actually get to see a good chunk of the city. I got lost (again) trying to find a kebab place my friend had recommended, walked around the Jardin des plantes de Montpellier for a bit, and got accosted by a scam artist at the Promenade du Peyrou. On the second attempt, Up and Down was open and I went there with my friend for a drink before dinner. It was a cool little hole-in-the-wall bar that served a good range of mostly Belgian craft beers and had a cramped area downstairs for live music.

The tiny live music area at Up and Down

Apart from the aforementioned kebabs, I also had confit de canard courtesy of my friend. I love that dish. Drinks wise I tried a few different things while in Montpellier. I had some Belgian and French beer, Italian wine, French cider, and limoncello, a strong lemon liqueur from Italy that puts hairs on your chest.

After two nights in Montpellier the trip continued south. Next up: Spain!

Second leg overview

Cities: Nantes (3 nights), Rennes (2 nights), Mont Saint-Michel (day trip), Montpellier (2 nights)
Weather: Cold and overcast, some fog, some rain
Favourite dish: Confit de canard
Times lost in the streets: 1

Flickr set: France

Update: I'm experimenting with mobile templates for the blog. Expect slightly more exciting backgrounds in the future rather than the default boringness.