Weekend at the safari park!

I mentioned last year that we as a family have now decided to give experiences rather than gifts to everyone at Christmas in future (except for the littles, of course), so while I was trying to come up with some ideas Jen asked if I wanted to go in with them on a joint two-night stay at the Parc Animalier d'Auvergne. It got me off the hook so they bought tickets for everyone and I paid for the Airbnb. We ended up being seven adults, two five year olds and two littles, so it was quite a challenge to find somewhere that would accommodate all of us. I left that bit to Jen as she's a real ferret when it comes to finding these places and I just whipped out my bank card at the appropriate time. The house was not nearly as nice as the place where we stayed at the polar park, but very interesting in its own way in that had formerly been two houses which were knocked into one and the whole place was a bit Harry Potterish, with stairs everywhere, so not at all suitable for anyone with limited mobility!

There were four floors with two large bedrooms in the attic with what I considered to be pretty dangerous access stairs, but my two boys and their wife/gf plus the babies offered to stay up there, Charlie and his friend Milan had a double room with two single beds, Jen's mom and her partner had another double room and I had a double to myself. I had been dealing with the daughter while booking the place, but when she arrived to hand over the keys she came with her mom, who I found a bit "snippy" - maybe because she was worried about having such a large party in the house, or maybe because she'd already had bad experiences with other guests - but other than that feeling, the beds were clean and comfortable and the shower was hot so we were pretty happy with the place. Wherever we've stayed previously we've always left the place spotless, but I also took the precaution of taking pictures of every room before we left and accompanying the owner round on the final walk through, so I'm pleased to say everyone was happy in the end. I only mention this because a colleague of mine had once rented an Airbnb, had left the place spotless, and then the owner tried to say that they'd left it in a filthy state and would have to pay extra for a clean. Luckily she'd taken pictures before they left so the owner didn't get any more money out of them and my friend reported them to Airbnb! In the end, everything was fine for us but I just had a bad feeling about this lady - or maybe she was just having an off day when she let us in!

We'd arranged between us to take pretty much all food and drink with us, rather than paying park prices, although a few drinks and ice creams were bought inside the park all the same. It was a scorching hot and while the kids enjoyed seeing the animals, I think they probably enjoyed the rides more. Either way, it was a huge success!

At the entrance - there were loads of people
pouring in when we got there but the park
was big enough that it didn't have that
"Disney" feel to it!

Charlie and Milan probably enjoyed
the cooling stations the most!

After we'd checked out I thought we were just going to go straight home but Jen had other ideas and wanted us to stop off at what turned out to be a lovely medieval town called Cluny. It was way too hot for me so I sat it out listening to one of the guides by the church, Jen's mom went window shopping, and the kids followed a circuit that would take them to all the main features of the old town in about an hour. I probably would have enjoyed it too but searing heat and frizzy hair just weren't doing it for me that day!

Cluny!

I sat by the church to wait it out!

Since we didn't get back till late I missed our village fête which by all accounts was a roaring success as usual. The police have now taken to blocking off the main access roads into the village so you end up driving half way up the mountain just to get home, but if it keeps traffic away from revellers dancing in the street so much the better!

And finally, I was talking to my sister after I got back and she was saying that she'd started ordering in a few meals for my brother from a local farm shop. It's not a contract kind of think like Hallo Fresh, but they apparently make good meals and it will give her a break from always worrying about him. He's independent enough in that he worked all his life and has lived on his own since mom and dad died, but being quite severely autistic, he tends not to take the initiative and rarely does anything (like maintenance or cleaning) unless she specifically asks/tells him to. Anyway they were over at his place recently and noticed that the floor was looking a little the worse for wear, so they decided to get him one of those robot vacuum cleaners, show him how to work it, and hopefully that would put an end to her having to tell him to clean the floors. Well the other day he called her to say that the vacuum wasn't working - it had only cleaned the living room/dining room but not the bedrooms so she and my long-suffering BIL drove over there to find out how he'd buggered it up already. They set it off and it was indeed working correctly so they were perplexed at what was going wrong - that is until she asked him "Roy, was the living room door open"? His response "ohhhhh"! My poor sister, she has the patience of a saint, but I must admit it gave me a good laugh!

Facteur Cheval!

So I got back from Lake Garda at the end of the week and then on the Tuesday I had another trip planned, although admittedly this was only a day trip. Still it meant getting up at around 4 am to get to the bus depot in time to leave at 6 am. The old fogies club in St. Pierre were doing this trip two days after my trip (with the same bus company) but as I wanted to travel with my friend we booked up for the trip that was to leave two days earlier. This was to a place called Facteur Cheval and I had no idea what it was about, other than a few photos. Now cheval is French for horse, so I imagined it was something to do with horses, but I was so, so wrong. In fact Facteur Chaval referred to Facteur (mailman) Cheval (that was his name)!!! So the whole visit revolved around a certain Monsieur Cheval who had been a mail carrier!

Apparently, one day in 1879, he came across an interesting stone during his daily 32 km mail carrier route! I questioned that twice with our guide but yes, apparently, his route was almost 20 miles long every day on foot - so no wonder they weren't fat in those days! Anyhoo, he decided that this stone was so beautiful that he wanted to build a "monument" to it and so every day on his rounds he picked up stones to add to whatever vision he had for his final monument! It took 33 years and 93,000 hours of work!

Ferdinand Cheval!

As is our wont, my friend and I listened to the guide for a while and then wandered off on our own. While it's nice listeneng to guides and I certainly appreciate their knowledge, I find I just can't take in so many dates and, in the end, who cares anyway. Ferdinand Cheval was an incredible man who was not, ultimately, allowed to be buried in the grounds of his creation on land that he owned, so he subsequently spent eight more years building his own replica tomb in the grounds of a nearby cemetery! It was definitely an interesting experience!

My friend and I eventually skipped the guided tour and wandered round the museum and then went to get a coffee. If we had realized that the local market was on I think we would have skipped out sooner but hey ho, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes!

After lunch we headed off to a local chocolaterie and I have to be honest and say that this was the biggest disappointment. Of course we had a very personable young man to give us a 45 minute speech about their chocolates and how they are made and then we were each given a dish with six small chocolates where we had to "analyse" the taste - was it bitter, peppery, sweet, sour? I mean, give me a break, it was chocolate and to be honest I'd had enough after 10 minutes and one guy fell asleep in front of me so I reckon it wasn't just me! Admittedly the room was dark and hot but still, I'd had enough. After that we were invited to visit the shop but since I didn't like their chocolates anyway I bought a small packet of the only chocolate that I found palatable! Oddly enough, the St. Pierre old fogies club were to be doing the same trip with the same tour operator two days later and from feedback I've had from Martine (the club secretary) they were all very disappointed with the chocolaterie visit too. Still, time for positive/critical feedback to the tour company would seem to be in order on skipping this part of the visit next time!

Homeward bound!

On our last day the hotel supplied breakfast for us at 6 am in order for us to be on the road by 7 (thank you hotel staff). We are normally only allowed to travel so many hours at a time because the driver is obliged to stop and rest but even so we made good time to arrive at the Forti de Bard in time for our 11.30 guided tour. To be honest I wasn't overly enthused about the prospect of visiting this fort because I've passed it many times and always thought it looked "dreary". The valley at Bard is very narrow and the mountains are particularly high so the fort always seems to be sitting in shaded gloom, but I dutifully trudged my way up from the car park for our tour - and boy oh boy was I wrong about the place. It was such an interesting visit where our incredibly enthusiastic volunteer guide told us all about its history (most of which I can no longer remember of course). What I hadn't realized was that this region (Upper and Lower Savoy) had not only been fought over by the French and the Italians, but also what we now know as modern day Austrians had once controlled it! It's amazing how much I don't know!!!! At one point Napoleon was marching his men (plus mules and cannons) down what must have been a dirt track over the alps in order to do battle with Count von Whatever from Austria, and in order to take the enemy by surprise, they spread mule muck and straw over the track in order to muffle the sound of the cannon wheels - and that's about the extent of what I took from our visit!

We had to take three funiculars up to the top where our guide showed us round the central courtyard where they hold concerts and other cultural events. The fort truly was so much more interesting than I had given it credit for!

Il Forti de Bard

Looking down over the village of Bard!

Now you're probably wondering what a yeti, Hulk, Ironman and Captain America are doing in this blog post. Well it turns out that Marvel's Age of Ultron was filmed using the fort as a backdrop and the film-makers left behind some of their "props" as a thank you gesture, much to the delight of the group of young kids who were following us around on our tour!

Age of Ultron?

After that some caught the funicular back down to the village while others walked, after which it was supposed to be straight back to the depot, but a few people asked if we could do a quick stop at the hypermarket just before the French border. I believe cigarettes and alcohol are cheaper this side of the border but I usually just end up buying huge blocks of Italian cheese and then wondering what on earth to do with it all when I get home!

Walking back to the bus!

Our driver didn't have to stop at all as it wasn't on the programme but he very kindly did so and then cracked open the ubiquitous bottle of limoncello to hand round before our final run up to the French border (the drivers obviously don't drink)! When we made it back to the depot there was actually snow on my car so we really had been lucky to have such great weather in Italy. As we'd all left our keys in our cars in order for the staff to park them it was just a matter of rummaging round in the key box like a bunch of wife swappers to get our keys and a quick 15 minute drive home!

Circumstances being what they were, I had another day trip on Tuesday, but I'll have to write about that later, and then tomorrow we're off for a family weekend to an animal park, which is actually my Christmas present to the family. Seven adults and four kids - so better take the ear plugs and bottle opener then. I don't normally plan for these things to all take place at the same time, and indeed my next trip isn't until September when I'm off to Andalucia, but considering it all happened more or less at the same time, I have to say that, while tiring, it's been a really good couple of weeks!

Salò!

On our last full day we visited the small town of Salò, a name which caused much tittering amongst the "real French" (as opposed to me - the import). You see Salò is pronounced the same as the French word salaud, which means "b@stard"! Little things please little minds I guess, but I shouldn't laugh because many years ago, on the way up to La Clusaz, there used to be a sign advertising the services of a local mechanic called Gérard Bastard and it always tickled me to imagine if I'd married into that family, can you just picture me introducing "my husband" to family members - "this is Gérard and these are the little b@strds"! So I guess I'm no better than anyone else in the end!

Our guide showed us round one area of town and then those of us that wanted to wander off (i.e. me) could do so. She did compliment us all on being punctual and that induced her to recount one of her stories about working with a group of Sicilians many years ago - to which she said "never again". She said they were always late and on one occasion, around midnight, a group of them decided they were hungry so they broke into the hotel kitchen and started cooking something to eat! That little stunt got the entire group kicked out of the hotel in the middle of the night and she has never worked with Sicilians since!

The castle at Salò

I just managed to catch a glimpse
of a bridal party heading into
their reception!

Inside the one and only church I
wanted to visit at this point!

After lunch we headed out by boat to the Simione peninsula. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the beautiful Villa Isola del Garda (I think what would have interested me the most were the beautiful botanical gardens) as our driver was waiting for us on the other side of the lake to take us to a wine tasting!

Villa Isola del Garda!

This cave (that's what they call the place where they produce the wine) was a big disappointment, which was weird because whenever I've visited a cave I've usually found something I liked, but not this time. I think the feeling was pretty general too because out of 47 visitors I only saw three cases of wine being loaded into the bus's hold, plus a few individual bottles that people brought onto the bus. I tell you, this vacation was definitely looking like one of the cheapest ever with me only spending €10 so far on a wall calendar!!!!

When we got back to our hotel I got chatting with a group of Chinese tourists who had arrived the night before. They were apparently leaving the next day and I got the impression they were going to "do Europe in a week"! Errr, good luck with that!

Torri del Benaco!

After lunch in Verona it was time to board the bus again and head out to the little town of Torri del Benaco. While much of the scenery is not "new" to most of us as Haute Savoie is full of mountains and lakes, I think what makes the Italian side of the border so different is the architecture and the style of the homes. I love architecture so while the scenery may not have been that different to what I'm used to, there was very definitely an Italian feel to the place!

A google image of Torri del Benaco!

The 14th century castle

While this picture doesn't show much, in 2004
the villages on the slopes opposite were the
epicentre of a massive earthquake that spread
out over 100 km!

Nonna on her balcony watching
the world go by!

I sat on the lake front and had the
bright idea to treat myself to
a hot chocolate. I regretted it
for the next couple of hours!

Probably the best kind of car for such
a tiny parking spot!

Beautiful ornate windows!

On a side note, getting on and off these buses can be quite challenging for some of the less mobile travellers (the steps are pretty high) and in general we walked for hours, so while these trips are not specifically noted as being "easy", I'm always pleasantly surprised at just how much walking and climbing some of the less mobile participants can achieve. Often if we're waiting for a cable car or elevator, many will just start heading out on foot, but then I suppose if they've grown up in this area the're used to it!

Our group was a pretty nice group all in all and as we moved around at lunch and dinner I feel we got to know each other quite well. There was Mr. Cringe and his long-suffering wife (he was the first one to make an impression on me). On our first day he told the lady in the seat next to me to "put your seatbelt on" several times. The first couple of times she brushed it off saying she would do it when she'd gotten herself sorted, but by the third time she told him that she was an adult and would assume the consequences of her actions (she always did put her seatbelt on anyway). So he then told her that she had a sale caractère (basically she was a grump) but she just said no, I'm just an independent adult (all the while I'm cringeing in my seat)! Then when another man got up to use the bathroom, Mr. Cringe shouted out "so the old prostate's playing up again then" and my jaw dropped. His wife was quite a bit younger than him (I would put him at 80-ish) and he quite obviously had no filter, but luckily he calmed down as the trip went on and while he was still loud, he was more fun than offensive towards the end of the trip. If you're unlucky enough to have ever been somehow linked to your own Mr. Cringe, you can imagine how mortified his poor wife must have felt - I know I can!

Then there was the Brummie. One of the ladies asked me where I was from and when I said Birmingham she said "oh my husband's a Brummie too", so we got to chatting and both knew where the other one had grown up. When I asked him how come he'd ended up in France he told me he'd met a beautiful French woman while on holiday in France and was determined to marry her - and he did! They were quite obviously devoted to each other but he said that if anything happened to his wife before him, he would most likely go back to England as he had a son there. I told him not me and as a Libran who dithers about making a decision, it felt good to be so certain of what I want for the future!

Next was Mr. and Mrs. Sporty who I would guess were in their early 60s and were both absolute hiking fanatics. It was really nice to see how enthusiastic they both were about hiking in the mountains but then I guess that's much better than one of you having a passion for golf (or fishing, or bird watching, or whatever) and the other one being stuck at home bored out of their minds. Many years ago they had a smallholding and took in young people from all over the world to show them round the best hiking/skiing areas locally. Recently a man knocked at their door and when they didn't recognize him he handed them a picture and asked if they recognized the person. They did, as it turned out, and here he was as a 50 year old Englishman who had stayed with them when he was 18; he was in the area so decided to stop by on the off chance. These two were great company and full of really funny stories, so it was always a pleasure to sit with them at mealtimes!

And finally I got chatting with Laurence, who had been retired three years from one of the international organizations in Geneva. She and I got on like a house on fire and I can see that she is one of those people who never sits still - she's always off travelling, canoeing, going to art galeries or whatever. Another lady lives in Evian (where the bottled water comes from) and she took both our numbers and promised to let us know when they had interesting exhibitions on so we could all meet up again after our trip. So there you have it, a motley and diverse group who somehow pulled it all together to make pretty good travelling companions and (hopefully) a few new friends to boot!

Verona!

The following day we picked up our local guide before heading off to Verona, and oh my word, I just loved it! The place was an absolute labyrinth of piazzas and alleyways with seemingly a marketplace every 10 minutes or so. There were loads of schoolkids on day trips and I had to laugh when one of the older men said he hoped our guide wouldn't get the groups mixed up. Fat chance of that, I think, given that there was probably a 60 year age difference between us and them. On the night we arrived we had had to travel through a pretty nasty storm, but Bergamo and Verona had been hit by over 100 km/hour winds for about 15 minutes and the damage was considerable, although I believe - luckily - no-one was hurt!

My favourite spot was the biggest market place (of course) and while I'm sure much of the stuff was made in China there were an awful lot of beautiful leather bags and ceramic knick-knacks too - the latter being one of my great weaknesses. I was very good though because in reality I don't actually need any more bags (or knick-knacks for that matter) so I ended up spending a grand total of just €10 for a 2027 wall calendar. Gosh, I don't think I've ever shown such restraint!

The market square!

Dante - Dante's Inferno is
mandatory reading in local
schools apparently!

A google image - we couldn't get close
to the Romeo and Juliet balcony
because of the crowds. The balcony itself
was apparently the invention of
Franco Zeffirelli, Director of the
1968 film Romeo and Juliet!

As we were leaving the market square, our guide stopped to talk to a local restaurant owner and he introduced her to a young man with Down's Syndrome that they had just taken on to work with them on a temporary basis. It's always difficult to tell actual ages of Down's people because they look so young but he was oh so dapper in his black and white outfit and black bowtie. I would have loved to have taken his picture and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have minded either, but it's just not done to take other people's pictures, even if he looked like the bee's knees and knew it. Well done to that restaurant for giving him a chance!

The last part of our morning visit was spent at the arena. We weren't able to go inside as maintenance work was being carried out, but our guide explained that they still hold concerts there, it has a capacity of 30,000 people, and no microphones are used during the concerts as the accoustics are so good!

Arena

The main square next to the arena is pedestrian only and people whiz by on their bikes at quite an alarming speed. While I was sitting having a drink an older lady came off her bike and people rushed over to help her up. Fortunately she didn't seem to be hurt but any thoughts I may have had about getting myself an e-bike kinda went out the window after that - think I'll stick to my two feet and a pair of walking boots, just to be on the safe side!