Hello everyone. We have not had access to wifi at our new "B and B"; the repair service has their own schedule=unknown when it will be repaired! So we have to go a few miles down the road to the sister Hotel to use the wifi in the dining area (away from the beautiful surroundings). Check out the website at www.sienaholidays.com; we were staying at L'Aia. Therefore, I will give you a brief overview of the last several days and Art will post pictures later. He is out in the countryside riding and I will spend the afternoon relaxing at our "B and B". Italian motorists make me nervous, so I don't think I'll be fulfilling my Sag Driver duties today! The "B and B" folks printed a map for Art and he thinks he has the details down, so that he won't spend the day feeling lost.
Our current "B and B" was recommended to us by a bicyclist from the Folsom area at home. He would bring a group here annually for tough training. We have a kitchen, clothes washing machine, refrigerator and yes freezer with ice cube trays so I can finally ice my knee. The only negative is the wifi being down. We have BBC on TV if we want to watch. This place has a large pool, table tennis, volleyball, bad mitten, a workout course, swings, and lounge chairs all surrounded by olive trees. Very nice and peaceful.
On 9/13 we went to the ancient part of Siena for sightseeing. Locating parking is a nightmare! We had escalators taking us way way up; however, we had lots of walking up and down all day. Very challenging on crutches. There is no way to use a wheelchair here at all. So I am doing pretty good but my leg is swollen a bit and very sore. We had lunch by the big plaza (pricey of course). We talked to a lady from Germany and of course she thinks all Americans are lazy simply because we don't know multiple languages. I didn't take the time to set her straight! We had a cup of "hot chocolate" Italian style = warm chocolate mouse for $10 each, YIKES! Oh well. It started to rain hard so at least we were under an awning and we watched everyone vacate the city center.
Of note all over this part of Italy, lots of folks of all ages on scooters. Traffic is just controlled chaos.
While driving our GPS tells us to turn too soon or too late. The signs are confusing and for biking not well marked (much better in France). The GPS spent a lot of time "recalculating"! Our car beeps at us if we are going over the speed limit for the area. My bad leg is getting sore from applying the brakes for Art!!!
On 9/14 we were going to go to Florence but you need to buy tickets for attractions a few days in advance and we didn't know with not being able to look at wifi at the B&B. So we made reservations for 9/16 in Florence.
9/14 the weather was rainy off an on so Art couldn't ride, so we went to the ancient part of San Gimignano. We were close to the area and we saw a pedestrian laid out on the road, police were there and ambulance on the way. Tough time parking again, so Art left me at the top and located a parking garage. We used Rick Steves' travel book to direct us to the attractions. Lots of English speaking tourists.
Next we drove to Volterra. On the way there was a car passing on a solid line and with oncoming traffic. The oncoming car went as far over as possible and all three cars took the full road. Crazy! Lots of American tourists, tour buses, and groups of students. Great views of the region from the top. I climbed up a skinny old brick staircase to the top; a lot of work but worth it. Lots of shops and places to eat, definite tourist trap. We had some excellent gelato. I bought a hand made horse out of some sort of metal. The artist works right in the shop that he sells the items of all types.
Next we drove to Monteriggioni. I think this is a wannabe attraction. This is not listed in Rick Steves' book on places to see. It is ancient and cute, it was nice because there were so few tourists. Art had a lemon cake snack and we just took a look around. There was one restaurant with stuffed Pigeon on the menu for $25 euros. Lots of pigeons in the area, I guess the unlucky ones end up on the dinner plate. The town hosts concerts during the year. You can look it up at info@monteriggioniturismo.it
We saw a lot of country side today. The higher altitudes have lots of trees but the further south there are big rolling hills but fewer and fewer trees as you go south. Our host at the B&B said you cannot build new homes on the land in the region You can buy property and do renovations on existing homes but it all has to look like the old homes. All in all the driving and parking situation was getting to Art; me too as a passenger constantly applying pressure with my right foot to the floor as if I could apply the breaks for him and making my knee sore!!!
9/15 We slept in and after breakfast came to the Hotel to look at email and Art found that our Cap 1 Visa had fraud charges. So he had to spend time getting the card cancelled. It is our backup card for the trip, so we are still fine. This is about the 5th time this year our Cap 1 has had fraud.
Art went on a bike ride and had a good time; didn't get too lost. He talked to a woman at a shop in a small town and she is a cyclist too, so she gave him info about his route. I enjoyed the rest at the B and B. I soaked my swollen leg in the pool. It actually needed to be a bit cooler but all in all it was refreshing. I saw a dead frog in the pool. At first I thought it was alive, then I thought it was possibly fake. Stefano at the "B and B" told me frogs get in the pool and can't get out and die. So it was in fact a dead frog. Poor thing. We had a good dinner at a local restaurant "Fontabecci". Very busy place; the owner is one of the waiters. There was a strange dynamic between he and a young waitress; not sure if they were related but he was highly critical of her. She was nice one minute and understood English and then didn't the next minute...very strange!
9/16 we went to Florence by bus.Very hot and humid all day, the weather report said rain but it did not rain- they are not better at forecasting than at home! We only had tickets for the Ufiti Museum. It was overwhelming. We walked around the area and took pictures. We took a picture of chalk art on the street; the two artists drew the Mona Lisa. There were two old women hunched over holding out a cup for money and moaning. We also saw a man sitting on a sidewalk begging; he had no ankles or feet.
At lunch we ordered Coke and the waiter said, "Pepsi, the same ok?". I said "no, it is different". He brought Coke, but we also ordered water which he never brought and then tried to charge us for it....
Way too many people for our taste! I wanted to go to a particular church to hear Gregorian Chanting; however, it was too late in the day to locate the bus and it was way too far for me to walk. My leg was very swollen and I was done for the day! So we took the bus back and it had no AC, a very hot and stuffy ride back to Siena. We ate dinner at the same place as the night before and it was very good and less crowded; more tourists than locals.
9/17 our last breakfast at L'Aia. Anna, one of the owners, showed us around the garden of their family home. The brother,, Stefano lives in one home, Anna lives in one and their parent's live in another and they are all connected to the "B and B". The garden was beautiful and she told us of family history with the property. She gave us a ceramic wine cork to take home. It is beautiful.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Siena
On 9/11 when we were traveling to Siena I ate something bad at lunch in the town of Verona. As I was eating I was thinking something didn't taste right and boy was I right. That night after dinner I tossed cookies :(.
In Verona I missed a photo op: a clothing store named Prozak!! We attempted to get cash from BNL as it is a B of A affiliate. Even though we called before leaving on the trip they blocked our transaction for cash (often if we pay cash for lodging there is a discount). The instructions were to call from a land line! Good luck with that; Art was able to do a chat online with the bank that night from the B&B and all was well.
The Italians often drive over the line in both lanes, very interesting. Bad eyesight? Or they think they own all of the road. Our license plate is from France and is red-denoting rental I guess. We stand out in any case! We have noticed our rental car has no internal door locks; not sure why.
The son of the owner of the B&B Podere II Pero speaks pretty good English and has been very helpful. The B&B is very beautiful and is surrounded by hills and trees that hide the highway in the bottom of the valley. All we hear is traffic 24 hours a day- it is like being backed up to I-80 or HWY 50. Can't leave the windows open at night. There is also a dog that barks constantly up the hill. During the day a group of dogs barks all day. Not a bid deal in the day but I was recovering and napping most of 9/12 from the food poisoning.
On 9/11 before we went to dinner I needed an item at a pharmacy. There are pharmacies with Red Crosses on the sign and Green Crosses on the signs. A man in the store was trying to be helpful with English and told the clerk the price was $12 euro (for 8 pills). I noticed she looked shocked, I asked her the price again and she stood firm on the price the man told her....highway robbery. On 9/12 I was driving in the foothills attempting to locate a new B&B while Art was riding. The pharmacy with the green cross sold me a box of 30 pills, I asked for generic and they were $4.50; nice honest folks.
We had two great dinners at a local restaurant in the hills--Montalbucchio. The place is constantly busy. Oh ya dinner is after 8 pm here. A lot of places are closed in the early evening.
9/12 the day started with a somewhat comical breakfast. The Italians put yogurt on cereal and not milk. The only milk was in a sippy carton. So we tried to open it to make it work for putting on our cereal and we kept spilling it on the table and trying to be discrete!!! Art also had difficulty getting the cereal out of the dispensers.
Art went on a ride for about 5 hours. He was constantly unsure of the route map and had to keep stopping and trying to find someone to ask and going back on the route. He added a few kilometers to the ride with all of this! At one point he almost called me to have me pick him up. Every time he would call and check the phone would startle me!
9/13 we will move to a country side B&B, nice and quiet. We will tour the old ancient part of Siena and on 9/14 a day trip to Florence.
We will attach photos and videos this evening.
Happy Birthday Mom. It is1:14 am in California and it is 10:14 here.
In Verona I missed a photo op: a clothing store named Prozak!! We attempted to get cash from BNL as it is a B of A affiliate. Even though we called before leaving on the trip they blocked our transaction for cash (often if we pay cash for lodging there is a discount). The instructions were to call from a land line! Good luck with that; Art was able to do a chat online with the bank that night from the B&B and all was well.
The Italians often drive over the line in both lanes, very interesting. Bad eyesight? Or they think they own all of the road. Our license plate is from France and is red-denoting rental I guess. We stand out in any case! We have noticed our rental car has no internal door locks; not sure why.
The son of the owner of the B&B Podere II Pero speaks pretty good English and has been very helpful. The B&B is very beautiful and is surrounded by hills and trees that hide the highway in the bottom of the valley. All we hear is traffic 24 hours a day- it is like being backed up to I-80 or HWY 50. Can't leave the windows open at night. There is also a dog that barks constantly up the hill. During the day a group of dogs barks all day. Not a bid deal in the day but I was recovering and napping most of 9/12 from the food poisoning.
On 9/11 before we went to dinner I needed an item at a pharmacy. There are pharmacies with Red Crosses on the sign and Green Crosses on the signs. A man in the store was trying to be helpful with English and told the clerk the price was $12 euro (for 8 pills). I noticed she looked shocked, I asked her the price again and she stood firm on the price the man told her....highway robbery. On 9/12 I was driving in the foothills attempting to locate a new B&B while Art was riding. The pharmacy with the green cross sold me a box of 30 pills, I asked for generic and they were $4.50; nice honest folks.
We had two great dinners at a local restaurant in the hills--Montalbucchio. The place is constantly busy. Oh ya dinner is after 8 pm here. A lot of places are closed in the early evening.
9/12 the day started with a somewhat comical breakfast. The Italians put yogurt on cereal and not milk. The only milk was in a sippy carton. So we tried to open it to make it work for putting on our cereal and we kept spilling it on the table and trying to be discrete!!! Art also had difficulty getting the cereal out of the dispensers.
Art went on a ride for about 5 hours. He was constantly unsure of the route map and had to keep stopping and trying to find someone to ask and going back on the route. He added a few kilometers to the ride with all of this! At one point he almost called me to have me pick him up. Every time he would call and check the phone would startle me!
9/13 we will move to a country side B&B, nice and quiet. We will tour the old ancient part of Siena and on 9/14 a day trip to Florence.
We will attach photos and videos this evening.
Happy Birthday Mom. It is1:14 am in California and it is 10:14 here.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Sag Driver Adventures
Hello everyone. Yes I am here too! Due to limited hours and locations for wifi we can't always make a post.
I'm able to drive the Renault Kangoo without difficulty. I was following Art along the routes in France and we will post some of my pictures later. There were luckily places for me to pull over and wait for Art and to let other cars go by. Some of the time the roads were wide enough for one car only.... luckily I didn't encounter cars on those sections. The weather has been very nice 60's to 80's. I am a rookie Sag Driver, I lacked confidence to hand him the bottles of water while he was riding...the roads were too windy and narrow! He wanted what is called a sticky bottle, this is when a rider holds on the the bottle and lets the car pull him along for a bit! It is cheating. I guess I figured he shouldn't cheat because he has these lofty goals on these rides so he should not have help!!!
9/8 was a travel day. We had some tunnels to drive through and one was through Mt. Blanc...toll was $43.50 euros; then we had another of $38 euros.....unexpectedly pricey. We were caught in a late afternoon traffic jam getting to Bergamo.
9/9 was sight seeing in Bergamo, the ancient walled city. Every night at 10:00 the church bell in the walled city is rung 100 times (automated). We are on the other side of a hill from it; so unless we were outside listening we can't hear it. I did a whole lot of walking with the crutches.... I was pooped last night. Lots of cobblestones, hills and uneven walkways. It would have been impossible to use the wheelchair. What I find strange is pedestrians nearly run me over as if they don't see the crutches or they just don't care! Very strange. Must be a cultural thing in France and Italy. However, I have seen a few folks on crutches here in Italy but not at all in France.
Dinner time is always difficult. We have had some suggestions the B&B folks but some days one restaurant is open and the other is not. The driving through this area of Italy is totally nuts. I need a sedative or a blindfold as a passenger! Or a strong drink, but they have weird customs at some restaurants you cannot have any hard alcohol until 10:00 at night. Last night I wanted a White Russian before dinner but that was a no no.... the waitress was shocked.
Luckily Art just drives like the locals; you have to be aggressive and quick. I prefer the country driving. So today 9/10 I am resting my body and my nerves at the B&B. I will spend the day reading, resting, meditating and enjoying the lovely surroundings. We have two flights of stairs to the room but they are wider and easier than our first hotel. We were the only guests here the first night but last night a couple from Germany arrived. Art is on his own today on a Bergamo Grand Fondo Route. He should return in the late afternoon if all is well. He is brave!! The hardest part is getting out of the busy city and onto the route without being run over.
We will post pictures of the adventurous driveway leading to the B&B! The mirrors of the vehicle fold in and we barely fit between two walls to start up the driveway to the B&B. I get out of the car to give Art directions so he can squeek through. The garbage truck was here yesterday and he had no issues. He just went through like it was nothing!!
I'm able to drive the Renault Kangoo without difficulty. I was following Art along the routes in France and we will post some of my pictures later. There were luckily places for me to pull over and wait for Art and to let other cars go by. Some of the time the roads were wide enough for one car only.... luckily I didn't encounter cars on those sections. The weather has been very nice 60's to 80's. I am a rookie Sag Driver, I lacked confidence to hand him the bottles of water while he was riding...the roads were too windy and narrow! He wanted what is called a sticky bottle, this is when a rider holds on the the bottle and lets the car pull him along for a bit! It is cheating. I guess I figured he shouldn't cheat because he has these lofty goals on these rides so he should not have help!!!
9/8 was a travel day. We had some tunnels to drive through and one was through Mt. Blanc...toll was $43.50 euros; then we had another of $38 euros.....unexpectedly pricey. We were caught in a late afternoon traffic jam getting to Bergamo.
9/9 was sight seeing in Bergamo, the ancient walled city. Every night at 10:00 the church bell in the walled city is rung 100 times (automated). We are on the other side of a hill from it; so unless we were outside listening we can't hear it. I did a whole lot of walking with the crutches.... I was pooped last night. Lots of cobblestones, hills and uneven walkways. It would have been impossible to use the wheelchair. What I find strange is pedestrians nearly run me over as if they don't see the crutches or they just don't care! Very strange. Must be a cultural thing in France and Italy. However, I have seen a few folks on crutches here in Italy but not at all in France.
Dinner time is always difficult. We have had some suggestions the B&B folks but some days one restaurant is open and the other is not. The driving through this area of Italy is totally nuts. I need a sedative or a blindfold as a passenger! Or a strong drink, but they have weird customs at some restaurants you cannot have any hard alcohol until 10:00 at night. Last night I wanted a White Russian before dinner but that was a no no.... the waitress was shocked.
Luckily Art just drives like the locals; you have to be aggressive and quick. I prefer the country driving. So today 9/10 I am resting my body and my nerves at the B&B. I will spend the day reading, resting, meditating and enjoying the lovely surroundings. We have two flights of stairs to the room but they are wider and easier than our first hotel. We were the only guests here the first night but last night a couple from Germany arrived. Art is on his own today on a Bergamo Grand Fondo Route. He should return in the late afternoon if all is well. He is brave!! The hardest part is getting out of the busy city and onto the route without being run over.
We will post pictures of the adventurous driveway leading to the B&B! The mirrors of the vehicle fold in and we barely fit between two walls to start up the driveway to the B&B. I get out of the car to give Art directions so he can squeek through. The garbage truck was here yesterday and he had no issues. He just went through like it was nothing!!
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Now THAT was a challenge. . . .
Starting the descent to Anglefort after having just completed the 2nd summit from Culoz
That's Lac du Bourget in the background
It's official. I have been named a "Grand Master" of the Brotherhood of the Feles du Grand Colombier (Feles loosely translates to "cracked", as in "cracked in the head"). Similar to the Cingles of the Mt Ventoux (Cingles = Nuts) where you become part of the club by climbing the three paved approaches to the summit of Mt Ventoux in one day.
After I did that in 2010, I came across the Grand Colombier challenge, which is completing the four approaches to the summit of the Grand Colombier , also all in one day. I'm not sure which came first, but Mt. Ventoux is more famous because of its inclusion in, and history with, the Tour de France. And, bless its rocky soul, Grand Colombier just doesn't offer a great deal of mystique--none of the 4 ascents is particularly beautiful. It's shrouded in tress, which is good to keep the sun off, but there is very little in the way of views. There are no photographers posted along the climbs to take pictures as you climb to sell to you later (like on Ventoux and l'Alpe d'Huez).
The four approaches totaled about 81 miles with 15,761 feet of climbing. By comparison, Ventoux was three climbs, 85 miles, and 14,436 feet of climbing. Thank goodness Linda was willing to stay out on the course all day watching out for me. If not for her I would not have been able to get the water I needed it when I needed it. As it worked out, I needed to refill my bottles at the finish of each ascent, but there is no water source at the top of the Grand Colombier. If not for Linda being there with fresh water bottles, I would have had to go the next 45+ minutes while descending to the next town and then having to look for fresh water once I got there. All I wanted to do when I got to the bottom is turn around and go back up. The last thing I wanted to do is spend time and energy looking around for water.
Food was a bigger problem in that I didn't know where to go in each of the towns to find good stuff to eat. I had plenty with the stuff I brought--bananas, Stinger Waffles, Skratch chews--but I usually like a little bit more.
I underestimated the difficulty and
overestimated my readiness. This was more difficult than
"Club des Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux". But I am 5 years older, and my
training was inadequate this time. It took 9.5 hours and I was
dreadfully slow. But I finished it. I started off poorly due to
problems getting to the start. I wanted to start in Artemare no later
than 0900. It was 1030 before I got on the road.
I followed the organizer's suggestion to start in Artemare first (the toughest approach), followed by Culoz, Anglefort, and
Champagne. The ascents from Culoz and Anglefort share the same final 9 kms while the Artemare and Champagne ascents share the final 4 kms.
The ascent
from Artemare was by far the most difficult. I descended
to Culoz and, frankly, I was already doubting if I could do it. The
first kilometers out of Culoz almost finished it for me in my mind.
Then it eased off and I felt better the rest of the way up. So much of
the task was in the mind.
Physically,
I had no serious problems with water (thanks to Linda as mentioned above), but my electrolyte intake was a
minor problem as cramps began in earnest in the final 2 kilometers.
Food, on the other hand, was an issue. I needed more calories. The
breakfast here at our hotel in Saint-Jorioz is not suited for long rides
by bike. And I could not find stores open in Culoz or Anglefort, and I
did not even go into town in Champagne--I found the sign for the start
of the climb and that was as far as I wanted to go. I was running out
of daylight and was afraid I was going to finish in the dark--I had to
get started immediately.
Artemare 15.9 kms (9.9 miles), 7.87% avg, 22% max (kms 9-12 were extremely tough, including the 22% stretch--I didn't realize how steep it was until it came time to descend the same road at the end of the day; I used a lot of brake)
Culoz 18.3 kms (11.4 miles), 6.89% avg, 14% max
Anglefort 15.7 kms (9.7 miles), 7.97% avg, 14% max
Champagne en Valromey (the "easy" side) 19.2 kms (11.9 miles), 6.75% avg, 14% max
I finished late. We drove home and darkness fell quickly after we left. We ended up eating at a McDonald's somewhere along the way--it's all we could find that was open. We got back too late to reasonably expect to get up early the next day to do another sizable ride. I had planned to ride a Tour route the next day, right from our hotel. But the Grand Colombier ride wiped me out and I decided to just take it easy and recover. I kind of regret that now, but at the time I don't think there is any way I could have gone out the next day and done 90+ miles and another 8k-10k feet of climbing.
Ascent No. 1
Ascent No. 2
Ascent No. 3
Ascent No. 4
I finished late. We drove home and darkness fell quickly after we left. We ended up eating at a McDonald's somewhere along the way--it's all we could find that was open. We got back too late to reasonably expect to get up early the next day to do another sizable ride. I had planned to ride a Tour route the next day, right from our hotel. But the Grand Colombier ride wiped me out and I decided to just take it easy and recover. I kind of regret that now, but at the time I don't think there is any way I could have gone out the next day and done 90+ miles and another 8k-10k feet of climbing.
Headed to Champagne late in the day to begin the final ascent.
Headed up the last few kms from Champagne.
Rounding the last corner before the final summit and then one more (steep, hairy) descent to Artemare.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Inititiation Complete
Yeesh--it's been two days already since we left (or so it was when I started to write this). In my last post, when I said we'd be leaving "in about an hour"? It ended up closer to two hours before we got headed onto Hwy 50 west. Still, we got to SSFO to meet up with Marisa close to 12:30--still plenty of time. We said "hello" to Aunt Helen real quick then I had to admit that I was anxious and we needed to get going. I'd hoped we'd be able to go have a quick lunch with Marisa and Aunt Helen before leaving, but that was no longer in the cards.
It's a good thing we had the time in hand that we did. Everything had been going well. Well, I guess, except for the inability to get ourselves away from the curb when Marisa dropped us off. I grabbed one of those luggage carts (didn't have to use my "wafer"). I grabbed a bad one, though. It's one of those things where you either lift up, or push down on a handle to release the brake. It is far easier to push down and push forward than it is to lift up and push forward. I was stuck having to lift up and push because pushing down didn't release the brake to the right rear wheel.
We were stuck at the curb for a good five minutes trying to stack things well enough to just move--starting, stopping, losing bags to the ground after hitting the small lip at the curb (including my oversized laptop in a minimally padded case--but it appears to be working as that's what I'm typing on now). It probably took no time at all, but it felt ridiculous. The cart kept wanting to turn right (because the right brake wouldn't release). We finally did make it to the ticket counter to check our bags. Linda was sitting in the wheelchair at this point. It gained us a bunch of goodwill from the ticket counter attendant, Gustavo.
I have to say, seriously, that the British Airways experience, at least from my point of view, was outstanding. The bags were checked easily with no issues. They didn't even measure the personal carry-on, the allowable size of which had just been reduced by the airline. They didn't charge for the bike box. Bikes alone cost us $800 in 2010 when we flew Swiss Air. We were out of there in no time. On to security, quick through that and then plenty of time to relax and eat lunch. Perfect.
Except I didn't get through security.
I had been worried because I was carrying two trekking poles that Linda had bought on the recommendation of Dr. Tai. They are long, tubular, and have a semi-pointy end. I asked the first TSA agent I saw about the poles, hoping to head off a problem. He grabbed one, went and asked a superior, and came back and said, "no, these are fine".
They chose my bag to be examined, thinking that there would be no problem since the poles were already cleared. I had a torque wrench to use on my bike that I didn't want lost so I packed it in my carry-on. The TSA guy picks it up, looks at the case, opens it. Asks, "what is this?" I tell him what it is. He excuses himself to ask about it, while I'm still thinking "no big deal, it's just a torque wrench and a very small one at that".
After a couple of minutes he comes back and says, "you can't take this on board." It's too long, apparently. It was 8 inches, it couldn't be more than 6, or something like that. I ask for a challenge, actually thinking it might make a difference. He brings over his superior, his superior looks at it and says "it's too long". He added, "they put planes together with those things." At first I thought he was trying to make an interesting point. Then I thought he was trying to be funny. Then I realized, "he's serious".
Crap.
So I either leave it, or I go back to try to check it in. Thank goodness we had plenty of time. I left Linda on the good side of the security check, while I ventured back out into it to the BA ticket counter. Gustavo was still there, bless him, and he said, "no problem, we'll just bring the bag you checked back up and you can put the item in it and we'll send it back down. No problem. It's going to take 15-20 minutes for them to bring it up, but no problem."
Cool!
Good thing we were there way early. That was about 2:20 pm. At 2:45 I asked to make sure it was coming. They said it was. At 3:00 I asked again. "It's coming." At about 3:10 I was going to give up because I still had to go back through security and get to the gate and I was getting nervous. Just as I was about to do that, up walks the ramp worker with the bag (I have realized talking to other travelers, and looking at this guy, that in all your travels, if you fly, the one group of people you have to worry about are the ramp workers). They are the ones that are going to lose or damage luggage. I used to think it was the TSA that would ruin luggage during inspections, etc., . . . but the gov't farms that out, thank goodness.
We changed seats a couple of weeks ago in view of Linda's knee injury, thinking the more legroom the better. The best row for that is the front row of each section that faces up against the cabin dividers. The risk was, this is also the row where they put the babies.
Sure enough:
But you know what? The kid was a fabulous little traveler. He fussed just a tiny bit early on, but he must have slept for a good 8 hours of the 10 hour flight. He was on his way to meet his grandparents in England (dad's side). Oh, by the way, the British Airways first class looks awesome.
So 10 hours to fill. . . how to do it? The airline had a fabulous selection of newer movies, not just one, or two that they used to show, regardless of what you wanted to watch. Age of Ultron! That took up 2 1/2 hours. I listened to a little over 2 hours of "The Martian" audiobook. The rest of the time was spent watching news shows, sports shows, some music, and a whole lot of this stuff:
I get mesmerized by this series of screens. It will scroll between this one (my personal favorite) and several other screens showing distance to destination, the time of day at destination/origin, out side temp, altitude, etc.
Heathrow is a zoo. . . . It was incredibly busy and so many people from all over the world--the number of languages heard was pretty cool. Again, Linda's injury came into play and the security attendants pushed us through to the front of the line every time: from the passport check, to the security search. Through like a breeze.
Once in Geneva, we received good treatment again in getting Linda out of the plane and gathering bags. Everything arrived on the same flight (unlike in 2010) and my bike box was in one piece (and when checked on Thursday morning, everything inside was fine as well). And we got another free luggage carrier thanks to the guy helping us out.
The one problem we DID have once in Geneva was retrieving the auto rental and getting out of the airport. The guy helping us out with Linda and the baggage asked if we needed the "Swiss or French sector" and I messed up by answering "Swiss". After I called for the car (which was a joke since the guy couldn't understand me, and I couldn't understand him) I found out we were nowhere near where we needed to be, so we had to huff it over to the French sector. By this time we'd graduated to my being able to push the luggage cart with one hand and Linda in her wheelchair with the other.
The Renault guy said to meet him out front of the French sector, I looked for what looked like an "arrivals" door, but all I could find was a door to a parking lot (Renault's Eurodrive program is run out of an office 4 kms from the airport). I finally had to grab a guy taking his smoke break from his airport job and ask him to speak, in French, to this dude that I was trying to find and who was looking for me. That helped. The e-kit burner phones I bought for the trip are garbage, by the way. Barely functional. I turned out we'd passed each other in the parking area. I'd been asking how I'd recognize him, what he'd be driving, but he couldn't understand me. His car didn't say "Renault" on it, and it wasn't even a Renault. The company he works must be under contract rather than direct Renault employees. I don't know how long it would have taken to find each other if I hadn't interrupted that dude from his smoke break.
Turns out the young man from Renault was very nice and we could understand each other much better without the phone interfering. I tried to pay close attention to how we got to the pick-up location as I'd have to drive back by myself to pick up Linda. I forgot to bring my Garmin with me, but I also knew that the Renault came with GPS so, if I needed it, I figured, I'd just use that. Plus, it was only 4 kms--about 2.5 miles. How hard could that be?
I did make one wrong turn, got panicky, than thought I'd pull over and try the car's GPS. It does have GPS for France, which is great, but the airport was in Switzerland. I was less than 2 miles from the nearest airport and the Tom Tom unit wouldn't list it. I couldn't figure out how to change countries, if it can even be done at all, so I gave up and backtracked the way I'd come and started over. That worked. I recognized where I'd gone wrong earlier and once I corrected that, it was almost a straight shot back to the airport.
That's when the real fun began. For close to 90 minutes I tried to find the front doors to the "new arrivals" terminal. I must have gone around and around 2 dozen times. I knew which building it had to be, but couldn't figure out how to get down to it. I knew it was on a lower level, but I'd try one way, find out I was either in a dead end, or a parking lot, or at a gas station, or at the departures terminal. It was crazy. Each time I'd go past and end up where I didn't want to be, I'd have to go back around and try again. I finally saw some signs indicating "arrivals" which pointed to the left, but there was no follow-up signage to assist. I went around probably 3-4 more times before I parked out where all the tourist buses were picking up their clientele,and ran in to pick up poor Linda, who had been sitting in her little wheelchair for an hour and a half wondering what had become of me.
By the time we left for the car we discovered that it was easiest for me to push the cart and for Linda to simply grab onto the cart with one hand. Now we know for the return trip. So that was good.
We had hoped to drive to the hotel and have dinner by about 7 p.m. We ended up arriving at 8:45. We knew that the kitchen closed at 9, and they were gracious enough to not be too peeved with our later arrival. It was a long, long day.
Thursday--wake at 9, breakfast, build up my bike, dink around, go to the bike shop to get some CO2 cartridges, headed down to Annecy to look around and have lunch, make a run to the grocery store. I rode around Lake Annecy in the afternoon just to loosen up, about 25 miles. They have superb trails almost all the way around the lake.
Friday--Grand Colombier
It's a good thing we had the time in hand that we did. Everything had been going well. Well, I guess, except for the inability to get ourselves away from the curb when Marisa dropped us off. I grabbed one of those luggage carts (didn't have to use my "wafer"). I grabbed a bad one, though. It's one of those things where you either lift up, or push down on a handle to release the brake. It is far easier to push down and push forward than it is to lift up and push forward. I was stuck having to lift up and push because pushing down didn't release the brake to the right rear wheel.
We were stuck at the curb for a good five minutes trying to stack things well enough to just move--starting, stopping, losing bags to the ground after hitting the small lip at the curb (including my oversized laptop in a minimally padded case--but it appears to be working as that's what I'm typing on now). It probably took no time at all, but it felt ridiculous. The cart kept wanting to turn right (because the right brake wouldn't release). We finally did make it to the ticket counter to check our bags. Linda was sitting in the wheelchair at this point. It gained us a bunch of goodwill from the ticket counter attendant, Gustavo.
Gustavo, British Airways
I have to say, seriously, that the British Airways experience, at least from my point of view, was outstanding. The bags were checked easily with no issues. They didn't even measure the personal carry-on, the allowable size of which had just been reduced by the airline. They didn't charge for the bike box. Bikes alone cost us $800 in 2010 when we flew Swiss Air. We were out of there in no time. On to security, quick through that and then plenty of time to relax and eat lunch. Perfect.
Except I didn't get through security.
I had been worried because I was carrying two trekking poles that Linda had bought on the recommendation of Dr. Tai. They are long, tubular, and have a semi-pointy end. I asked the first TSA agent I saw about the poles, hoping to head off a problem. He grabbed one, went and asked a superior, and came back and said, "no, these are fine".
They chose my bag to be examined, thinking that there would be no problem since the poles were already cleared. I had a torque wrench to use on my bike that I didn't want lost so I packed it in my carry-on. The TSA guy picks it up, looks at the case, opens it. Asks, "what is this?" I tell him what it is. He excuses himself to ask about it, while I'm still thinking "no big deal, it's just a torque wrench and a very small one at that".
After a couple of minutes he comes back and says, "you can't take this on board." It's too long, apparently. It was 8 inches, it couldn't be more than 6, or something like that. I ask for a challenge, actually thinking it might make a difference. He brings over his superior, his superior looks at it and says "it's too long". He added, "they put planes together with those things." At first I thought he was trying to make an interesting point. Then I thought he was trying to be funny. Then I realized, "he's serious".
Crap.
So I either leave it, or I go back to try to check it in. Thank goodness we had plenty of time. I left Linda on the good side of the security check, while I ventured back out into it to the BA ticket counter. Gustavo was still there, bless him, and he said, "no problem, we'll just bring the bag you checked back up and you can put the item in it and we'll send it back down. No problem. It's going to take 15-20 minutes for them to bring it up, but no problem."
Cool!
Good thing we were there way early. That was about 2:20 pm. At 2:45 I asked to make sure it was coming. They said it was. At 3:00 I asked again. "It's coming." At about 3:10 I was going to give up because I still had to go back through security and get to the gate and I was getting nervous. Just as I was about to do that, up walks the ramp worker with the bag (I have realized talking to other travelers, and looking at this guy, that in all your travels, if you fly, the one group of people you have to worry about are the ramp workers). They are the ones that are going to lose or damage luggage. I used to think it was the TSA that would ruin luggage during inspections, etc., . . . but the gov't farms that out, thank goodness.
We changed seats a couple of weeks ago in view of Linda's knee injury, thinking the more legroom the better. The best row for that is the front row of each section that faces up against the cabin dividers. The risk was, this is also the row where they put the babies.
Sure enough:
But you know what? The kid was a fabulous little traveler. He fussed just a tiny bit early on, but he must have slept for a good 8 hours of the 10 hour flight. He was on his way to meet his grandparents in England (dad's side). Oh, by the way, the British Airways first class looks awesome.
So 10 hours to fill. . . how to do it? The airline had a fabulous selection of newer movies, not just one, or two that they used to show, regardless of what you wanted to watch. Age of Ultron! That took up 2 1/2 hours. I listened to a little over 2 hours of "The Martian" audiobook. The rest of the time was spent watching news shows, sports shows, some music, and a whole lot of this stuff:
I get mesmerized by this series of screens. It will scroll between this one (my personal favorite) and several other screens showing distance to destination, the time of day at destination/origin, out side temp, altitude, etc.
Linda en route
Classic airline cuisine. As much as I liked British Airways, no airline has spent enough time improving airline food.
The changeover at Heathrow was trouble-free. Linda's injury got us plenty of attention. We received a private ride through the bowels of Heathrow
Heathrow is a zoo. . . . It was incredibly busy and so many people from all over the world--the number of languages heard was pretty cool. Again, Linda's injury came into play and the security attendants pushed us through to the front of the line every time: from the passport check, to the security search. Through like a breeze.
Once in Geneva, we received good treatment again in getting Linda out of the plane and gathering bags. Everything arrived on the same flight (unlike in 2010) and my bike box was in one piece (and when checked on Thursday morning, everything inside was fine as well). And we got another free luggage carrier thanks to the guy helping us out.
The one problem we DID have once in Geneva was retrieving the auto rental and getting out of the airport. The guy helping us out with Linda and the baggage asked if we needed the "Swiss or French sector" and I messed up by answering "Swiss". After I called for the car (which was a joke since the guy couldn't understand me, and I couldn't understand him) I found out we were nowhere near where we needed to be, so we had to huff it over to the French sector. By this time we'd graduated to my being able to push the luggage cart with one hand and Linda in her wheelchair with the other.
The Renault guy said to meet him out front of the French sector, I looked for what looked like an "arrivals" door, but all I could find was a door to a parking lot (Renault's Eurodrive program is run out of an office 4 kms from the airport). I finally had to grab a guy taking his smoke break from his airport job and ask him to speak, in French, to this dude that I was trying to find and who was looking for me. That helped. The e-kit burner phones I bought for the trip are garbage, by the way. Barely functional. I turned out we'd passed each other in the parking area. I'd been asking how I'd recognize him, what he'd be driving, but he couldn't understand me. His car didn't say "Renault" on it, and it wasn't even a Renault. The company he works must be under contract rather than direct Renault employees. I don't know how long it would have taken to find each other if I hadn't interrupted that dude from his smoke break.
Turns out the young man from Renault was very nice and we could understand each other much better without the phone interfering. I tried to pay close attention to how we got to the pick-up location as I'd have to drive back by myself to pick up Linda. I forgot to bring my Garmin with me, but I also knew that the Renault came with GPS so, if I needed it, I figured, I'd just use that. Plus, it was only 4 kms--about 2.5 miles. How hard could that be?
I did make one wrong turn, got panicky, than thought I'd pull over and try the car's GPS. It does have GPS for France, which is great, but the airport was in Switzerland. I was less than 2 miles from the nearest airport and the Tom Tom unit wouldn't list it. I couldn't figure out how to change countries, if it can even be done at all, so I gave up and backtracked the way I'd come and started over. That worked. I recognized where I'd gone wrong earlier and once I corrected that, it was almost a straight shot back to the airport.
That's when the real fun began. For close to 90 minutes I tried to find the front doors to the "new arrivals" terminal. I must have gone around and around 2 dozen times. I knew which building it had to be, but couldn't figure out how to get down to it. I knew it was on a lower level, but I'd try one way, find out I was either in a dead end, or a parking lot, or at a gas station, or at the departures terminal. It was crazy. Each time I'd go past and end up where I didn't want to be, I'd have to go back around and try again. I finally saw some signs indicating "arrivals" which pointed to the left, but there was no follow-up signage to assist. I went around probably 3-4 more times before I parked out where all the tourist buses were picking up their clientele,and ran in to pick up poor Linda, who had been sitting in her little wheelchair for an hour and a half wondering what had become of me.
By the time we left for the car we discovered that it was easiest for me to push the cart and for Linda to simply grab onto the cart with one hand. Now we know for the return trip. So that was good.
We had hoped to drive to the hotel and have dinner by about 7 p.m. We ended up arriving at 8:45. We knew that the kitchen closed at 9, and they were gracious enough to not be too peeved with our later arrival. It was a long, long day.
In Annecy early Thursday.
Thursday--wake at 9, breakfast, build up my bike, dink around, go to the bike shop to get some CO2 cartridges, headed down to Annecy to look around and have lunch, make a run to the grocery store. I rode around Lake Annecy in the afternoon just to loosen up, about 25 miles. They have superb trails almost all the way around the lake.
Friday--Grand Colombier
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Nearing Departure
We'll be heading out in about an hour for S San Francisco to meet up with my cousin Marisa who has been kind enough to take a whole day off from work to meet us and drive us to the airport. Things are a little anxious, and it will be a relief to be on the way.
This basic trip outline is the one we were going to follow in 2014 and, due to sad circumstances, had to cancel.
We are flying from SFO to Geneva via Heathrow. We should get into Geneva at 4:45pm on Wednesday September 2nd. We will head due south towards Annecy for our first stop.
Lake Annecy, according to a friend of mine I happened to run into Saturday and who has been to Lake Annecy, is the clearest high alpine lake in the. . . I think he said "world". Is it? I have no idea. He also said it's a constant 80 degrees. Could it be? I guess we will find out.
The ever reliable Wikipedia had this to say about Lake Annecy:
"It is the third largest lake in France, after the Lac du Bourget and Lac de Grand-Lieu, if the French part of Lake Geneva (which is also partly in Switzerland) is excluded. It is known as "Europe's cleanest lake" because of strict environmental regulations introduced in the 1960s. It is a popular tourist destination known for its swimming and water sports."
Maybe my friend meant the "cleanest" lake? "Clean" and "clear" aren't necessarily the same thing. And it was only more modestly linked to "Europe" rather than "the world".
Whichever--it's pretty.
We are staying a little south of Annecy proper in a town called Saint-Jorioz at the Hotel Les Tilleuls.
Hotel Les Tilleuls
After a brief scare about the weather earlier this week where it looked like it was going to be a wash out, the forecasts have cleared substantially as the actual days approached. Should be fantastic.
I ended up adding an additional day after watching the Tour de France this year. After looking at the area I could easily see spending the entire 26 days in this region--just so much to do if you're into cycling. We're looking at exploring 4 key rides this time:
Grand Colombier
Montvernier
Cormet de Roseland
Etape du Tour (stage route from 2013 TdF)
Grand Colombier was the main impetus for starting in Annecy. After doing Mt Ventoux's three asecents in one day in 2010, there was a link to a "club" that tackles Grand Colombier's 4 ascents in one day--so that's the target.
http://www.felesducolombier.fr/english/home
I'll have my name added to a cute little list of achievers. I wonder how anyone will know it's there? Here's my name from 2010:
Oliver finished Ventoux
I have to get my name out there somehow.
Montvernier was featured in the Tour this year, famous for it's switchbacks, though it is not considered a particularly difficult climb:
The intended route:
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9554036
Cormet de Roseland was on our agenda to ride in 2006 during my first trip to Europe (and the trip where Linda and I first dated). Due to logistics it had to be cut out of the trip. It is widely considered one of the most beautiful passes in Europe so it has been on my list to ride since 2006.
The intended route:
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7240890
Every year the Tour de France organizers invites the general public to ride a stage of the Tour ahead of the actual race. In 2013 the Etape du Tour visited the Annecy region. I tailored the route to start and finish at Les Tilleuls, but it covers the same ground.
The route:
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9592029
This should be exciting and fun. We are about packed as I write this. I'd better go get showered and load the car.
This basic trip outline is the one we were going to follow in 2014 and, due to sad circumstances, had to cancel.
We are flying from SFO to Geneva via Heathrow. We should get into Geneva at 4:45pm on Wednesday September 2nd. We will head due south towards Annecy for our first stop.
Lake Annecy, according to a friend of mine I happened to run into Saturday and who has been to Lake Annecy, is the clearest high alpine lake in the. . . I think he said "world". Is it? I have no idea. He also said it's a constant 80 degrees. Could it be? I guess we will find out.
The ever reliable Wikipedia had this to say about Lake Annecy:
"It is the third largest lake in France, after the Lac du Bourget and Lac de Grand-Lieu, if the French part of Lake Geneva (which is also partly in Switzerland) is excluded. It is known as "Europe's cleanest lake" because of strict environmental regulations introduced in the 1960s. It is a popular tourist destination known for its swimming and water sports."
Maybe my friend meant the "cleanest" lake? "Clean" and "clear" aren't necessarily the same thing. And it was only more modestly linked to "Europe" rather than "the world".
Whichever--it's pretty.
We are staying a little south of Annecy proper in a town called Saint-Jorioz at the Hotel Les Tilleuls.
Hotel Les Tilleuls
After a brief scare about the weather earlier this week where it looked like it was going to be a wash out, the forecasts have cleared substantially as the actual days approached. Should be fantastic.
I ended up adding an additional day after watching the Tour de France this year. After looking at the area I could easily see spending the entire 26 days in this region--just so much to do if you're into cycling. We're looking at exploring 4 key rides this time:
Grand Colombier
Montvernier
Cormet de Roseland
Etape du Tour (stage route from 2013 TdF)
Grand Colombier was the main impetus for starting in Annecy. After doing Mt Ventoux's three asecents in one day in 2010, there was a link to a "club" that tackles Grand Colombier's 4 ascents in one day--so that's the target.
http://www.felesducolombier.fr/english/home
I'll have my name added to a cute little list of achievers. I wonder how anyone will know it's there? Here's my name from 2010:
Oliver finished Ventoux
I have to get my name out there somehow.
Montvernier was featured in the Tour this year, famous for it's switchbacks, though it is not considered a particularly difficult climb:
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9554036
Cormet de Roseland was on our agenda to ride in 2006 during my first trip to Europe (and the trip where Linda and I first dated). Due to logistics it had to be cut out of the trip. It is widely considered one of the most beautiful passes in Europe so it has been on my list to ride since 2006.
The intended route:
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7240890
Every year the Tour de France organizers invites the general public to ride a stage of the Tour ahead of the actual race. In 2013 the Etape du Tour visited the Annecy region. I tailored the route to start and finish at Les Tilleuls, but it covers the same ground.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9592029
This should be exciting and fun. We are about packed as I write this. I'd better go get showered and load the car.
Five Years
We have been waiting five years to use this.
Alka Seltzer?
Communion wafer?
Necco Wafers?
(For those too young to remember, or to know, these are Necco Wafers):
Five years ago during our last trip to Europe, at the airport in Toulouse, we used those little rentable carts to carry around our luggage. You drop a Euro into a little slot and the cart is released. When you return the cart and lock it back up the Euro is returned. This little plastic piece is the same size and shape as the 1 Euro coin. You drop in this wafer as if it was a Euro. Somehow we ended up with this extra one which, naturally, I kept, rather than offering to the next person who might have been able to use it right then and there. It was kind of like ending up with two bags of M&M's dropping from the auger dispenser in the coin-op vending machine at work. Like winning the lottery.
I'm using that wafer today in London or Geneva (or is it tomorrow?). Anyway, they've probably changed the whole system, or it's a system in use only in Toulouse, and we'll end up with a useless plastic wafer. It will come in handy somewhere. MacGyver would find a use for it.
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