First and foremost, we were all blown away by the French Alps. If you ever have a chance to go, DO IT! I’m an ocean girl, so the Alps weren’t even on my radar when planning this trip. But it was one of Doug’s “must-dos” and I am so glad. It’s everything they say it is. Beautiful. Majestic. And the air is so clear. It’s almost otherworldly. There’s a reason people have long associated mountains with God.
Our destination was Chamonix, France, for a two night stay. Given the terrain, getting from the sea to the Alps is quite a journey and, believe it or not, the fastest route was through Italy. So YES! Of course we took that route. It saved us nearly two hours of drive time, and allowed us to visit two more countries: Monaco and Italy!
I will write more in another post about our full day in the Alps, riding to mountaintops and descending into glaciers, but this one travel day has enough in it for an entire post of its own.
After our 2:30 a.m. arrival the previous night, we slept in, grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel, and headed out before 10:00 a.m. Our end destination was Villefranche, a little town just east of Nice on the Mediterranean Sea. So, once again, we had a long drive ahead of us (7.5 hrs) and two stops along the way! (And BTW, I had to upgrade my account for more space but that means I can now include VIDEOS!!!)
Considered one of the largest and best-preserved medieval fortresses in Europe, the Medieval City of Carcassonne rests on a hilltop that has been fortified in one way or another for nearly 2500 years.
After a very late night at Disneyland Paris Pride, we slept in on Sunday and headed to Disneyland Park in the late morning. We rode Big Thunder Mountain a second time and then went on a few rides we hadn’t been on yet. We also watched the DLP version of Mickey’s PhilharMagic.
When Doug visited Paris in 1989 with his brother, David, he was 20 years old and traveling on a limited budget. With the cost for a ticket to the top of the Eiffel Tower at 12Fr (way back when they were still using francs) they settled for a ticket to the lower platform. He saved 7Fr, but he regretted that decision for the next 34 years!
That regret became a sort of benchmark for our trip: Do you want to do ____________? If you don’t do it, will it be your Eiffel Tower? Don’t let it be your Eiffel Tower!!!
So, obviously, going to the top of the Eiffel Tower was a must. Imagine our dismay when we missed the ticket onsale! Thankfully, while timed-entry tickets are released online 60 days in advance, if they sell out for the day of your visit (or if you don’t know when you’ll be there, or want to wait for good weather) you can just show up and wait in line like the olden days. So that’s what we did.
We expected a wait. What we didn’t expect was a crash course in French culture.
Visiting France has always been a family dream (75% of us ARE French after all!). So when Doug and I realized that in 2023 we would celebrate our 30th anniversary, Jacquelyn’s 30th birthday, AND my 50th birthday, we decided this was the year!!!
I opted not to blog during the trip, which has its disadvantages (like will I remember anything correctly?), but also has its advantages: first and foremost, I was able to be more present in the moments because I wasn’t constantly in my head writing.
TRIP OVERVIEW
We spent 4 nights in Paris, 3 nights in Disneyland Paris, and 11 nights on a road trip around France. This series is a combination of personal record, information, photos, musings, and meditations. If you’re just here for info about traveling or eating gluten-free in France, look for section titles, bold type, and links, or do a word search to find what you’re looking for.
Sunset in Big Sur. Photo Credit: Christina Perreault (used with permission)
How do you capture the sky a sunset over the ocean?
Is there some enchanted glass
I can hold in my hand
whisper and watch
as the satin tapestry
of seascape
hanging before me,
gilded blue and molten
shimmering
rippling,
gathers at the hem
and slips
like a cool drink
past that vial’s lip,
the bottle’s neck
funneling
fabric into
folds of sunlight
wave upon wave
pooling
rising
until the last frayed corner
bends
the last thread
dips
below the rim,
filling the crystal flask
with fireball pink
coppers and golds
luster and light
of the night’s first star?
How do you capture the longing
vast
infinite
wonder
fear that tingles in the toes
something like worship?
Is there a vessel
glazed
in magic
for what these hands
can never hold?
Day 11. What a beautiful day. Blue skies. Sunshine. In the 70’s. A little heavenly really.
As much as I love road trips, I don’t feel like I’ve experienced a place – really connected with a place – until I’m outside, breathing its air, walking its paths. So this day, as we hiked the hills of the Quiriang (pronounced kuh-rang) and walked along country roads and climbed through fairy pools, I felt alive. Alive in Scotland. The clear skies and warm sun probably helped a bit, too.
Coastal Views Everywhere
We started with a drive up the eastern coast of Skye toward the Quiraing, and watched the sun break through the clouds to the east, kiss the water and turn it silver. On the horizon, rows of mountains faded into lighter and lighter shades of blue.
MORNING IN SKYE
MORNING IN SKYE
MORNING IN SKYE
Old Man of Storr
We drove by the legendary Old Man of Storr, an unusual rock formation jutting up from the hillside, which can be seen for miles and miles. When surrounded by these kinds of things, one begins to understand why the Scots so easily believe in fairies and sprites.
MAN OF STORR FROM THE SOUND
MAN OF STORR
MAN OF STORR FROM THE NORTH
Kilt Rock
Next stop: Kilt Rock. Just look.
KILT ROCK
Gorgeous right? These pics were a favorite among family and friends on social media. Some day I would love to see these cliffs from the water, but for now this will do.
The Quiraing
We didn’t have a lot of time to dilly-dally (I’m going to claim that’s a term a picked up in the UK) because we wanted to walk the Quiraing, and apparently, with one single lane road in and out, the place gets a little crazy between 10am and 4pm. And remember…we were driving the Red Dragon. So onward and upward we went.
I find myself putting off these last few posts. Partly because the vacation glow has almost entirely faded, and I’m fully back to what we know as “the grind”. But mostly, I think, because I feel completely, wholly, entirely, incapable of conveying to you the beauty and wonder of this place known as the Isle of Skye.
On the Way
Having driven the northern route days before, we took the southern route along Loch Ness toward the Isle of Skye. On the way we stumbled upon cafes nestled in the trees, little paths to the loch, waterfalls and this bridge which captivated us all:
❤
Exploring
He’s waving away the midges not waving at me.
In one small town, we were waved over to the shoulder by a police officer passing by in his car. When he came alongside the red dragon, he told us we had to wait for an oncoming extra-wide load to pass. “Extra-wide load” may have been an understatement. More like “super-massive-immense-ginormous-extra-wide-and-extremely-long” load. These babies mystified us for a day or two:
Thar she blows!
Look at that baby…
The looked like airplane wings without the flap, lights or anything mechanical at all. Then, a couple days later, while discussing alternative energy sources, I shouted, “Hey! I bet that’s what those big white things were! Windmill arms!!!” Because there’s LOTS of windmills on this windy island.
Not gonna lie. I was pretty proud of myself. #winning
Finally in Skye
Just before arriving in Portree, the capital of the Isle of Skye, we stopped at the Aros Visitor Center so Jean could ask some questions about the various sights in Skye. But funny thing…in Scotland, just about any place can call themselves a Visitor Center. Even if they have absolutely no information helpful to visitors at all, except perhaps to point them to the real visitor center, which is where we went after lunch. I had a pretty tasty grilled cheese (or “toastie” in Scot) and if I’d known that would be the best meal I would have for the next three days, I might have savored it a bit more.
Soon I will be coming to the most anticipated part of our Scotland road trip, the Isle of Skye. But first, can we take a moment to chat about laundry? Specifically, the adventure of doing laundry in the UK?
About halfway through our trip, while in Inverness and the Isle of Skye, we stayed in rental homes instead of hotels. Excellent timing for doing laundry. One would think, anyway.
Laundry Adventure, the First
Our first rental home slept 12 – 14 people.
Our rental home in Inverness
From which one might easily conclude that said home would include at least one washer and dryer. Our last rental home in Orlando slept 18 and came with two, not one but TWO, super-size washers and TWO super-size dryers. But that was America. And this was Scotland.
The house in Inverness did, thankfully, have a washer and dryer. We located the front loading washer straight away. (See how I got all British on you there?) Yes, we found the washer straight away. Now it was a small washer. But that’s to be expected because pretty much everything is smaller in Europe. (Except the beers. The beers are definitely bigger.) We bought a German dishwasher a few years ago and for the longest time, I called it my mini-dishwasher. But the machine washes so well and so quietly, I grew to love the tiny little thing. So I was expecting smaller, yet good quality appliances.
But where the heck was the dryer? We figured they couldn’t possibly have a clothesline with the kind of rain they get. Finally, after searching for 20 minutes…maybe longer…we found the dryer, which had been right before our eyes the entire time. Why, you ask? Because the washer and dryer were actually one and the same machine.
Yes. I am serious. That is actually a thing. One machine that actually washes and dries your clothes. One tiny machine for both washing and drying.
There’s the scientific wonder.
And yes. Yes. YES! They could have made room for a dryer somewhere in the 3000 square feet of house. Even a stackable would do.
We were so stunned you would have thought we’d just stumbled on an alien civilization. What? Why? How? Why? Trying to wrap our brains around the scientific wonder that is the washerdryer combo, Jean and I started to explore the functionality. We’d already come to accept that the machines…I mean machine….was small and that, as a result, doing laundry would require more time.
And we were slowly accepting that if we wanted clean socks and underwear (which, in case you’re wondering, we did) we would need to entrust our clothes to this foreign machine of the future…or the past…maybe it was new-fangled thing that went bust. I mean, a logical person would have to assume that a machine that both washes (makes clothes wet) and dries (makes clothes unwet) will have to sacrifice the quality of at least one of those two actions. Right?
OK, well whatever. We moved past that. And we started analyzing symbols and pressing buttons (come to think of it, we were kind of deciphering alien technology) and here’s the kicker guys: to wash and dry one (miniature) load of laundry would take five hours. Five hours! FIVE HOURS!!!!!! FOR ONE. TINY. LOAD. OF LAUNDRY.
HOW DO THESE PEOPLE LIVE?!?!?!
Do they have real washers and dryers in their own homes? If not, how often do they wash their clothes? Do they actually wash their clothes? Do they wear disposable underwear? Do they wear underwear at all? Do they wrap their kids in plastic? HOW DO THEY DO IT????!!!!
OK. OK. Well I’ll tell you what we did: a grand total of two loads of laundry in that house, almost entirely consisting of socks and underwear. The best part was seeing Doug’s jeans. Maybe it was the small tub and lack of fabric softener but his jeans came out of the washerdryer wrinkled like crumpled newspaper and so stiff they practically stood up on their own.
Jean and Steve opted to wait until we got to the house at the Isle of Skye. A risky choice if you ask me. Which you didn’t. But you’re going to find out anyway.
Laundry Adventure, the Second
Isle of Skye. Our house there was located on a hill overlooking a firth. Absolutely stunning views. Cute little home. Nice neighbors.
Not our house but the view from our house.
But the laundry situation? Well, the clothes line out back should have been our first clue. The second clue? Our towels…rolled up nicely and placed in our bedrooms. When I picked ours up off the bed and moved them to a dresser, I noticed they seemed a little damp. Nah, I thought. They’re probably just cold.
We found the washer. And no joke guys…NO JOKE…it was smaller than the previous washer. More like a half washer really. Looking at the half washer from the front, it seemed normal enough, but look from the side and you’d see that the half washer was indeed only about 12 inches deep. I AM NOT KIDDING.
HOW DO THESE PEOPLE LIVE????!!!!
The dryer? Oh we found it, alright. Folded up next to the washer. A drying rack. (In the very space large enough to house an electric dryer.) Oh and there was a hanging rack above the washer. And of course the clothesline.
Thaaaaaat explains the damp towels. After my shower that night, I used one of those towels, which provided enough absorbancy to dry my face and left arm.
Clotheslines are nice, I guess. Charming. Economical. Effective even…in places like New England in summer or the mid-west or the desert. You know…places where the sun shows her face and the sky DOESN’T RAIN 364 DAYS OF THE YEAR!!!!!
Just grabbing clothes off the line minutes before leaving the property… PC: Jacquelyn
Let me ask you, are these people just so used to the rain that they’ve completely given up the fight? Just thrown in the towel? (Though not in a dryer, obviously!) Has dampness become a way of life for the Scots? Do they just think, why bother? I’m going to get wet again later anyway.
Oh, we used the teeny, weeny washer. And the drying racks. And when that didn’t work, the clothesline. Which made the whole washerdryer combo in Inverness seem like a luxury appliance.
Thankfully, we had beautiful weather those two days. Even so, when we drove away toward Fort William, we did so with damp clothes in the van.
Why, Scotland? WHY?! There are better ways to live!!!
God bless America. Land of washers and dryers. Big ones. Fast ones. Separate ones.
Lightning Bug 