Title disclaimer-I have grown up on a more than required dose of Mills and Boons / romcoms. France with my beau has always been my cherished dream. From the beau days I have transformed into this family of three, brooding mother hen but the dream always remained
If Amol had to write this blog he would have titled it France - A Drive in holiday A6/Quattro/3L/330hp.
BTW he can't pen anything more than official letters but thinks a lot otherwise. Ahem!.
Nice---pronounced as neece
French disclaimer #1 - लिकते कुछ हैं और बोलते कुछ अलग ही हैं
A coastal town by the famed French Riviera , a hot bed for all my teenage M&B on a sunny yet cool day is where we began. Amol incensed with his dose of Bond movies vroomed to Antibes . An ancient village , white brick walls, a road that winds around the Riviera and a food van that served lovely fish n chips had got all our elements covered.
Every single pebble on the coast was rounded. Mother nature has been indeed very kind to them.
A looong night drive to Montagnac- Montpezat.
A cardinal sin on the day one has just landed in the country with barely a few winks of sleep between a movie marathon on the Qatar infotainment in the past 24 hours.
But God is also kind to tourists in France....
We were richly rewarded by the most succulent lamb(slow cooked for 7 hours apparently) accompanied by the French red wine n slipped into a quick food coma.
Drive to the Verdon Gorges-
French disclaimer #2 - One wants to stop at every passing scenic spot for a picture but keep driving on with a steel grit. The final destination can blow you away (literally)
Patience pays
A narrow ledge overlooking a very deeeeep gorge with green water flowing down and wind that was blowing so strong that I had to hold on to dear life on the railings.
Col du Galiber
A spine chilling drive to the heights of French Alps. Missed lunch due to the very strict French policy of no food outside 2pm and missing Adi's cues of La La Laa La at every restaurant point before 2pm.
Hot omelette n coffee served by septuagenarians at that height, peppered with his stories told with a toothy grin, heightened our experience at the Col
The Final Destination - Valmeinier
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| the Nordic bath |
The autumn colours were at its best on the Rhones Alps...coloured, shaped, crisped to perfection
The best host hosts of our trip prepared a Nordic Bath ( an open air hot 38 C bath with a 5 C cold mountain air blowing on the face) and a hot dinner of tartiflette (a traditional Rhone French recipe with potaoes ,cheese and ham) to follow, in a cozy yet all containing stone and log cabin. We set new standards for our European holidays with this single day in our trip
French disclaimer #3- The French are thin because they eat up their consonants in the words - calorie free ; guilt free
(Saint Lazaras- pronounced as Salazar)
Col de Iseran
Coldest day of the trip 0 C
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| a young man in shorts clicked this photo at 0 degrees |
Roads- windy and drive into nothingness on the mountains ,as if we would fall over at the end of it. The feeling that sailors must have had while sailing in vast oceans , when theydid not know the world was round
Chamonix
A charming valley in the Alps that has a view of the snow capped mountains from every single spot in the village.
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| Hike to glacier Bossons |
A trek to humour me in the morning and an amazing paragliding off the peaks in the afternoon (more about it later) rounded off with pulled pork burger and steak n fries in the evening. Net flix in the Air B&B accommodation scored over the lovely view of the bossons glacier view from the balcony
Paragliding - the HIGHlight of the trip
A cable car ride to Plan de Aiguille normally would have had us all excited . But what followed with our 3 copilots for the tandem flight was breathtaking. Refer
French disclaimer #2
A cool 30 minutes flight like a bird with wind beneath the wings.Over the glaciers ,valleys, tutorials about the thermal currents lifting us HIGHER, letting us maneuver the flight, some mid air acrobatics(felt like a cool roller coaster) . an item ticked off the bucket list.
Drive to Borges-
French disclaimer #4- 100 residents ,a dozen villas , 1 castille, lots of hiking paths n cycling trails and a big car showroom makes for a French village
A long drive through the French motorways, toll gates intercepted perfectly with a nice coffee break in a sleepy village Paray-Le-Monial
we ended up with beautiful fotos , designer shoes for Amol and the coffee was btw
We reached our destination accomodation real late and the place was deserted.
Barking hounds, creaky iron gate, broken dongless bell, empty estate, wind rustling up the fallen autumn leaves, horse piss suddenly filling the air and a really wrinkly old lady as the host. She ran her bony gnarled fingers up Adi's cheek and said,"you have a nice face". I was sure she had marked her meat for later. That dark night had all 3 of us cuddled up in a single bed . By the morning we saw the autumn leaves had carpeted the ground in multiple hues, 2 real horses by the stable and real big lovely dog called Nyha. But "you have a nice face" will remain as a Mahaldar heirloom spook.
French disclaimer #5
From the French revolution till now the French common man is still troubled by their huge taxes
On to Paris
Lake Geneve/ Lac Leman as the French call it- The French border is midway in this lake ,more so a fresh water sea. I ran along its shore and emerged with the distinction of running between 2 countries. Amol humoured this too.
Stopped at Versailles for a half day tour of the palace.Crowded, Arty, historical and very huge.A train ride around the much touted gardens gave some solace to our aching feet.
Pari finally......................
Eiffel...The first thing we saw as soon as we entered the famous city
Traffic ...what we saw after the excitement of Eiffel settled
The city was all that I grew up on.The books and the movies showcase the city and the city has lived up exactly for so many years, in the same way.Amazing
River Seine intercepted intermittently richly with the archaic bridges
The love locks wherever Parisians can find a hook(much like our holy threads around our banyan tress)
The Notre Dame Cathedral- (translates to Our lady ie Paris) the stain glass and the facade
The Louvre-The Monalisa and the pyramid
The Arc de Triumph- like our Gateway of India in Delhi- similar history too
Champ de elysse- The shopping mecca
All by foot powered with different flavours of crepes
Lived the dream ..... will continue living the dream
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| sunrise over the river Seine |
An early morning jog to the Eiffel and back through the grand sights of the city chuffed the runner in me . The dream was getting dreamier. Is that even possible...is that even a word...{the lady Bard in} me
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| by the night |
View of the city at sundown from the Eiffel is for the luckiest people on earth and I knew 3 that day.... lights , cold crisp winds, more lights and more cold crisp winds, the dazzle every hour on the Eiffel, Adi clicking snaps of Amol n me ,uncaring of his cold fingers time has frozen that moment forever for us.
The mandatory flea market shopping in every city , lots of the famed French beauty elixir shopping for me , a little of the French moda for the fashioista in me were the final parting shots of the city daylights.
Sundown from MontParnasse and to see the Eiffel light up and even glitter for a few moments is what we will remember this holiday by......glitteratti
# dreams do come true #
Jog to the 
