Vacation in Europe:
Bourg St.-Maurice and Avignon, France
days 12 - 14
After lunch in Turin, we drove leisurely over and through the beautiful Italian and French Alps. This is a big ski area - the road wound its way down, snaking back and forth across the mountain. The road must be closed in the winter, because the ski lifts run right up the mountain - we passed under the same ones at least a dozen times - so the ski slopes must go right over the road. We arrived in Bourg St.-Maurice in time for dinner. The town itself was cute but rather bland; since it's a ski town, there was not much happening while we were there. The propriétaire at our hotel told us that it's a madhouse in the winter.The next day we went whitewater rafting. (We went rafting in the Costa Rican rain forest several years ago and swore then that we would try to go rafting in all of the most exotic places in the world.) The water was something like 4 degrees Celsius. It was very hot out and the rafting company provided wet suits, so we were pretty well insulated from the water, but that first splash of water was a real shock! Plus, the water was too cold to get accustomed to, so every time we got splashed, we were cold all over again. Once the raft capsized, and I didn't think I would ever feel warm again.
Towards the end of the 22 kilometer stretch of river, they made us all stand up to see how long we could last while paddling and going over the rapids, and only one other person and myself made it the entire 3 or 4 minutes. In addition, my husband actually fell out of the raft at one point (while we were sitting), so I got to do a lot of bragging about how much stronger and more dextrous I am. :-)
After the exhilarating rafting trip, we drove into the next town, a tiny place called Aime, and had a delightful lunch in a tiny pizzeria. We were the only customers and the propriétaires made us feel genuinely welcome. Then we drove on to Avignon, where we found an outrageously expensive hotel and a nice crêperie. There were a lot of tourists and it was very hot, so we were kind of uninspired. The next morning we visited the Palais des Papes, and then decided to continue on to Provence rather than hanging around in Avignon for another day.
Next stop: Arles Vacation Index
Would you like to share your travel stories or comment on mine? Visit the forum and tell us all about your adventures, in English or en français.
The free, twice-weekly About French Language newsletter keeps you informed about changes to this site, including new lessons, articles, and forum discussions. Subscribe today!
|
