Last Days in France

Well since the last blog we were one more day in Paris doing our duty as good tourists. First stop was to be the Cathedral of Notre Dame but as usual we got off the metro and walked in the wrong direction heading for the Louve. Massive queue that went for miles but with our Paris Museum Pass we were able to join a much smaller queue and didn't have to wait long at all. Oh my god how big is this place and how many people only that I felt compelled to see the famous Mona Lisa, I think I would have sortied(exited) out of there.
Next was the Musee D'Orsay- a prestigious collection of impressionist paintings in an beautiful old, massive railway station that has been converted.
Then we trekked back to the Cathedral. Another very BIG day we were exhausted.
Paris is a city where you could spend weeks but it is very expensive.

Us at the entrance of the Louvre

Crossing the river Seine to get to the Notre Dame in the background

Mez's inventive way of getting clothes dry over the lamp shades and below how she did the ironing.

Friday we left Paris by picking up the car a Peugeot 308- very compact zippy car. Driving out of Paris was an experience thank god for the GPS. Only got tooted a few times but the best was when a motorcyclist tapped on the window of the car telling us to move over. In Paris the motorcyclists create their own lane in between the existing lanes and it is an unwritten rule that the cars move over to the left as far as they can- of course we learnt this by experience.

Our trusty mobile and the closest I will get to an MG(always wanted one) as part of the number plate is MG.

We were planning to travel to Dijon but decided to go to Beaune, near Dijon thinking it would be a smaller country town and not as busy. On arriving we tried to get accommodation only to find that we had landed ourselves in the Hunter Valley Wine Region of France. Think we got the last room in the place.
Buying petrol in this country is interesting most places are not manned and we were struggling to understand when we finally worked it out that if you press a certain button you get instructions in English- very confusing.
The other thing that has us baffled is the toll system, one minute you are taking a ticket the next you are paying by credit card, again instructions in French , the next you have to put notes in and then it will want coins. Well let me tell you we have had queues backed up behind us on more than one occasion.
The roads in France are great to drive on but we have paid about $140 in tolls in three days.


Before hitting the road again we stumbled on a wonderful market place that had the best produce France has to offer, we were in heaven. Bought cheese, salami and of course the delicious French baguette. Sim you will be impressed to know we found our first  Aldi in OS land and bought 1.15 euro( $1.60) wine which is actually good but could give us a headache tomorrow.

Market place in Beaune better that I not live near this place bad for the waistline.

Stopped for lunch to eat our goodies bought at the market and continued on till about 3pm when we decided to find a place to stay before going through the Mt Blanc tunnel and into Italy.

Typical French picnic minus the wine

Mez at our first picnic spot on the road

Another mistake there are no places to stay the night in this part of the woods. After roaming around small towns for two hours and trying to communicate with the locals, who I don't think have come across too many Aussies, we found a little Hotel in Cluses.
Our last meal in France ........... yes it was not French but Thai.

Small town of Cuses with hotel behind Mez's head

Today was my first driving day and headed to the Mt, Blanc tunnel and into Italy. Only came across a few very tight bends in the road and had to slow back to first gear in the car, I'm sure to the cursing of those following but better to be safe than sorry. Think Mez copped ok as she is usually the worst passenger in the world. This part of the world is so beautiful as we passed snow covered mountains and alpine villages.

On the road through the Alps

Stopped for the usual homemade lunch of ham, cheese and tomato baguette and are now in Alessandria in Italy. We decided to get smart and book this hotel before we left Cluses. Staying here two nights and then down to Cinque Terre - small fishing villages on the coast that are very touristy but looking forward to staying a few days.
Hope you are all well and happy.