Road Tour - Europe (Day 3, 8 Aug 09, Chamonix)

Chamonix

We found the trip from Geneva to Chamonix was excellent because we started to approach the Alpine area.


Chamonix is a small down at the foot of Mont Blanc (not the pen that you bought at Petaling Street – it’s the highest mountain in Europe at 4810 mtrs) bordering Italy. There’s another town on the Italian side of Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco as known by the locals) called Courmayeur that we will visit soon as well. Back to Chamonix, beautiful sceneries, mountain-climbing cable cars (at least 4 of them and the tallest one goes up further than 3,000 mtr high), scenic train rides, glacier, paragliding, hiking trails, restaurant above 2,000 mtr high etc. You get the idea and this is just during summer. The place must really comes alive during winter (maybe next trip). As we were approaching our destination, the views from the road started to change and with every change, they just kept getting better and better - as in more beautiful and magnificent. We just couldn't wait to get to our hotel and the kids started having plans of playing in the snow....in summer?????


We arrived in Chamonix at 5.30 pm after leaving Paris at 9.30 am (and hunting for a parking space in Geneva). The hotel, Mercure Chamonix Centre was excellent. We got a 1 double bedroom apartment attached to a living area with sofas that convert into another bedroom with 2 single beds. Overall, quite comfortable.



The great things about the hotel are the excellent location for exploring Chamonix, the beautiful architecture and especially our room, the window that opens to a beautiful alpine scenery. The 1 bedroom apartment also comes with a balcony facing the same scenery which was a bonus.


Some views from the room...


From around the hotels, the views are better. The Mont Blanc was clearly visible and all around, the sceneries were simply incredible.



By the time we settled in, rested a bit, solat, had our belated lunch (or did we have it after Geneva along the way?), we went out to explore the area. It was quite quiet by then as most of the attractions were closed for the day – we did notice the cable cars were not moving when we looked at them from our room window.


However, we then managed to find out way to the town centre and it was bustling with activities – no shopping but restaurants, people walking around and the beautiful surreal surrounding with beautiful building, cobblestones streets, clock towers and various other things that make the fake ones like the one in Bukit Tinggi look...well, fake. There was also a river crossing the town centre (L’arve) which is actually a glacial river – standing on the bridge over it felt like being in a freezer due to the cold air from it.



The town-centre is car-free zone and we spend an hour or so walking around soaking in the atmosphere. Interestingly, as the days get darker the peaks of the mountains, including Mont Blanc were still lighted by the sun giving them such a fantastic focus from afar.




Back at the hotel, it was a quick dinner of Brahim’s rendang, bread and sausages.

Road Tour - Europe (Day 3, 8 Aug 09 - Paris to Chamonix)

Paris to Chamonix via Geneva

Day 3 was officially the travelling day. It’s about 540m to Geneva and a further 80km to Chamonix. Everyone must have heard of Geneva but why Chamonix? Well, we’ll come to that. We initially did not plan to even stop at Geneva but when we realised that it’s right along the way to Chamonix and it has some halal restaurants, we thought it would be a good stopover.


Prior to entering Switzerland, you must pay for the ‘tax disc’ costing us EUR30 – apparently it’s valid for 1 whole year and you need one regardless of how short you are going to bring your car into Switzerland.


Also remember to change your EURO money to Swiss Franc (CHF) as that’s the currency there. Geneva is pretty, clean, slow-paced, full of trams (which makes driving stressful) and have ZERO parking spot.


We found some halal restaurants indeed – in fact we found a lot of them; but we couldn’t get a parking space. I know this sound silly. We even went into one of those underground parking area and ended up driving out again after a few rounds. Well, to be fair, if we tried further and spent 24 hours instead of just 45 minutes looking for parking, we probably would have just found one but we decided we have better things to do. That’s Geneva for us.

Road Tour - Europe (Day 2, 7 Aug 09 - Paris)

Day 2 started with a big breakfast of sausages, baked beans, scrambled eggs and bread. We then took the Metro (again) to Musee de Lourve - you know, the famous museum where the Monalisa is exhibited.


Nice place and high expectation of introducing the kids to the masterpieces of the world. From the metro station, we entered the Lourve’s compound and found ourselves in front of the famous glass pyramids.




Tickets are sold inside the main pyramid where you take the escalator down. The queue was short (must be the combination of us being early and the fact that it was a working day) and we soon found ourselves inside and under the glass pyramid. Many happy snapping moments as well in there. The Lourve complex is huge and we got ourselves a location map to plan our outing there.


However, while we were busy planning, the kids being observant as they usually are, came up with some confounding statements and observations. To cut the story short, at the risk of being art-blind, we ended up NOT going in to see the exhibits due to what the kids deemed as a lot of the exhibits being unsuitable for those below 12 years-old. Having been to the National Gallery in London, and not wanting to jeopardise the values that we have been working hard to instill in them all these while, we have to agree with them. We did stumble upon the inverted pyramid (made famous by the 'Da Vinci Code') among other things.


After spending about 30 minutes wandering around in the complex, we found a Sortie and suddenly found ourselves near the Jardines de Tuileries with its merry-go-rounds and ferris wheel.



We spent an hour or so in the park and kept walking across it until we got to the ‘pencil with golden lead’ according to my son. We then walked-up (or was it down) Champ de Elyssee.....a metro took us back to the hotel for a snack-lunch and solat before the afternoon driving outing.



In the afternoon, we drove to Versailles for the Chateau. We had planned to only view the external and the gardens based on recommendations and we feel that was the right decision unless you are interested in antiques and period furnishing that are just as obscene as the gardens. Hmmm....yup... obscene. That’s how we would describe the Chateau in one word – and this struck us from the social perspective. It’s just so obscene to think that the royal family was living in such a gigantic, out of this world, 17th century version of Neverland. Now, putting that thought aside.


The Chateau de Versailles is huge...gigantically, enormously huge. As we entered the garden area from the path in between the main building and one of the wings, we were greeted by a huge lawn with flower beds of various sizes and ponds with fountains. The area is easily bigger than 10 football fields.








The edges at the sides are waist-high of solid stones. After a long walk, we got to the sides and all our thoughts of resting on the low fence evaporated when we realised that we were actually standing on a roof-top garden.


The HUGE garden that we saw which is just on one wing of the Chateau is actually just a roof-top garden. Far below from the viewing area (the ‘seats’), are more gardens that we later found out to be a citrus garden (like “dusun”) which can be accessed by walking down a huge staircase at the furthest end of the roof-top garden.




Only when we got to the bottom of the staircase did we realise that further out are more gardens....and then after climbing back up the HUGE staircase and walked to the middle area of the Chateau did we see the expanse of the ‘garden’ – sejauh mata memandang..... that’s how it’s like and no wonder they rent golf-buggy to visitors who wish to explore the gardens – and even then we doubt that they got to cover everything.



Unfortunately we found out about the buggy when we were done and were walking back. Anyhow, if the standard of the Chateau de Versailles is to be used, then none of our kings’ palaces in Malaysia are big. The look like store rooms probably in comparison. Therefore...obscene in our view.


From Versailles, we decided to hunt for dinner (we had sort of decided on having instant/self-prepared meal alternated with eating-out meal). Keying in the address of the halal restaurant we found on the internet in the Nuvi brought us to the Colombes area. The restaurant was closed unfortunately but we did find a few others including a Mc Doner (in case you don’t know – it’s Doner Kebab). We ended up having some nice kebabs in a joint called Ali Pacha – the owner did not speak English and we of course speak French very well .... provided nobody needs to understand us. Anyhow, we managed to place our orders and the food was good (EUR30 for 5 kebabs and drinks).


We also bought some provisions from a supermarket nearby – Le Eclerce or something like that. The necessities – bottled water, bread, snacks and juices. Interestingly, the supermarket has a whole frozen section of halal food. How we wish these are available in Sainsbury back in the UK.



From Colombes, we decided to drive around Paris at night, including a brief stop in front of the Notre Dame. Nice architecture.

Road Tour - Europe (Day 1 - Paris)

Paris:


2 nights at the “Citadines Apart'hotel Voltaire République” in Parmentier were good. For a family of 5 we ended up in a 4 beds apartment (it’s very difficult to get a unit for 5 people and we don’t want to stay in separate units during the trip). The apartment comprises 1 room, 1 bathroom/toilet, a kitchenette and a living room that double as a bedroom when the large sofa is converted into a queen size bed. The hotel also provides parking for an extra EUR18 per night.


After solat and a quick rest we started our adventure in the city of Paris. We decided to go to the one place we had been more than 10 years ago and after consulting the front-desk, we opted to take the Metro (Paris’ version of the Underground / LRT / MTR etc). We took the Metro from Parmentier station which is a short walk from the hotel (less than 200 meters away) to Ecole Militaire. We had gotten ourselves 10 single tickets costing us EUR11.60 (child pays the same cost as adult). From the station we walked across the park toward the Eiffel Tower. It was blazing hot and it’s good that we had bottled water ready.


Apart from enjoying the sight from far and walking at the base of it, Eiffel tower can be climbed (via staircase, if you are up to it or using a specially designed lift). All 4 legs of the Eiffel tower have access to the top. One of the legs was closed for refurbishment and of the other 3, 1 is for walk-up access and the other 2 are for lifts. We decided to go for the lift. For access to the 2nd floor, it costs EUR8 for adult and EUR4 for under 12 (EUR6 for 12-16).


The notice at the base said that the 3rd floor is closed but at the ticket counter we were informed that tickets may be sold on the 2nd floor for access to the 3rd floor. After a not so short queue, we got into the lift and was quickly transported to the 2nd floor, where the view was simply...magnificent. The 2nd floor is made up of two levels and there are quite a lot of facilities there (food, souvenirs etc).


We ended up buying the tickets from there to the 3rd floor and the view from there was simply....more than magnificent. The “3rd floor” is actually at the very top of the Eiffel Tower. After snapping loads of photos (lucky these are no longer the days of film photography) and a quick rest + checking the distance from there to Malaysia, we went down. A short changeover at the 2nd floor brought us back to the base and au revoir tour de Eiffel........


From the base of Eiffel Tower, we strolled across River Seine towards the.......again, trying to find the spot from where we had taken a photo of the Eiffel Tower before (and a very good spot to do so still).


By then it was nearly 8 pm and we continued along Avenue Kleber toward the Arc de Triomphe.....have to admit it was quite a walk and on a hot day like it was on the 6th of August, it was very tiring.


From there Arc, we took the metro from Charles de Gaulle station and went back to Parmentier and shortly thereafter, we were back at the Citadine. After solat and shower, with everyone being so tired, dinner ended up being instand noodles - cepat dimasak, sedap dimakan....

Road Tour - Europe (Day 1 - 16 Aug 09 - London to Paris)

London - Folkstone: We left our house at 7 am with a lot of excitements, a bit of anxiety and plenty of du'a that our trip will be smooth, safe and sound. We headed for Folkestone to catch our 920 am EuroTunnel crossing to Calais. EuroTunnel is a fast train service carrying cars (and even trucks) across the Channel Tunnel.


Folkestone is about 120km from London and not far from Dover where people cross the channel on ferries. The latest time to check-in is 30 minutes before departure and we barely made it (a note to ourselves – in future, leave at least 2.5 hours driving time and don’t underestimate crossing the city especially on a working day).


Folkestone – Calais: The crossing itself was very convenient and relatively comfortable. After checking in at the toll-both, we are given a tag with an alphabet on it (ours was “M”). We just had time to park at the departure complex and let the kids go to the WC before the announcement for “M” tag-holders to proceed to departure. After passing through the French Immigration, a short drive took us to the train and we proceeded in a single-file to the top-deck of the train (the Euro Tunnel train carries cars on two levels). During the 35 minutes journey, we were comfortably sitting in our car and before we knew it, we saw the sky of Calais, France.

Calais – Paris: At exactly 11 am we disembarked from the EuroTunnel train. Before you think it’s a typo, it was indeed 11 am. The clock moves forward 1 hour in Europe. “Think Right....Think Right....Think Right.” That’s the main thing to remember as they drive on the opposite side of the road on the continent. The journey to Paris was quite smooth on one of the main highways. And....even before we can start to miss Malaysia, we are reminded again of the infamous Toll payments. It costs about EUR20 from Calais to Paris ~300km.



A few other things about driving there; max speed limit on the highway is 130km, they drive on the right, there are good signages generally, the slow lane is on the right because they drive on the right, there are a lot of ‘viaduc’ – bridges, the overtaking lane is on the left because they drive on the right, the rest areas are well equipped (though the fuel station operator, the restaurant staff etc will pretend that they don’t speak English), and they drive on the right (if you think the driving tips above is insufficient – just keep repeating the last one).

With one stop for fuel and lunch (Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng and Moist Apple Cake, both homemade – our best meal for the next 9 days) and refuelling, we arrived at our hotel at around 3 pm. We also noticed the very hot weather there. It was 30 deg C outside.

Road Tour - Europe - Planning

One of the main thing we had planned to do whenever we get the chance is to do a driving trip across Europe (Western Europe) with the kids. So, with summer approaching, we decided to do it this year instead of later as experiences have taught us that sometimes, postponing means not doing at all. However, we only realised quite late (mid of July) that we only have early August to do the trip as Ramadhan is approaching and will begins in the 3rd week of August.

Our scramble to plan for the trip started earnestly by 3rd week of July (very late and something we would not recommend) and after charting out our major destinations, we started to plan the driving days and distances. We finally settled for 10-days trip covering Paris, Chamonix, Lauterbrunnen, Innsbruck and Amsterdam as our major destinations. The only place we wanted to visit in Germany is Munich but looking at the map, it was quite out of the way. We finally settled on just passing through Germany but with a stop in Frankfurt on our way from Innsbruck to Amsterdam. But of course, plans are made to be changed as we shall see later.

All the hotel bookings were made in advance via the internet. We also booked our return journey on EuroTunnel in advance based on our intended itinerary.

Some tools we had used are;

• www.rac.co.uk - for driving distance and general directions on the map
• www.booking.com - for finding hotels - highly recommended for searching for family rooms as it provide options to search by 'Family Room'
• www.accorhotels.com - another hotel booking site
• www.venere.com - another hotel booking site
• www.theaa.com - for driving tips in Europe
• www.eurotunnel.com - for crossing the channel
• various personal blogs found from googling in search of halal food in the destination cities - we found these to be more useful than zabiha.

The next item to plan for is food. We decided to split our meals between self-prepared and eating out generally 50:50 - mainly due to combinations of availability of halal food in the destinations, cost, convenience and of course choices. We ended up with a luggage bag full of instant noodles, baked beans, canned sardines, sausages, eggs, a loaf of eggs, croissants, crepes, biscuits, sweets and asam (for the long drives), instant coffee, orange juice, cereals and some bottled water. We also added in there disposable cutleries, food containers, a frying pan, a small pot and an electric kettle. Generally, some of the accommodations are apartments with kitchenette and most of the hotels don't have coffee making facility.

We also purchased a big road atlas of Europe, a "GB" sticker for the car, a reflective vest which is compulsory in France and a car beam reflector to avoid glaring opposite direction vehicles when driving at night. All these are available from AA or RAC. Apart from that we also packed a torchlight, first-aid kit and basic repair tools. Of course the most important item during the trip that we highly recommend is a Sat-Nav with updated European map. We have that in our Garmin unit that we bought in Malaysia.

We checked the car to be in good condition, made sure we have insurance coverage for Europe (check with your insurer) and ensured we have vehicle breakdown coverage in the continent - AA or RAC are good options.

Finally, tried to stay healthy, packed some medicines, vitamins and minyak angin, and most importantly, lots of du'a to Allah SWT that our trip will be safe, smooth and beneficial to us and the kids.

Fruit-Picking

One of the favourite activities overseas - fruit-picking. Last weekend we took the kids to Parkside Farm about 45 minutes away from London for an outing in the farm. The main activity there is fruit-pickingwhere you get to pick fruits which you later purchase. Apart from the novel experience, beautiful sceneries and yummy fresh fruits to take home, the walk around the farm is also a great exercise for the whole family.

The favourite with the kids are the Strawberries. The farm has two types of table-top strawberries, the "Everest" and the "Sonata". "Everests" are generally bigger but "Sonatas" are more uniform shape-wise and also tastier.

Apart from Strawberries, there were also Blackberry, Raspberry, Sweet Corn (another favourite with the kids), onions, beetroots, french beans, courgettes and squashes. The kids were really excited with the experience of picking up their own corns from the trees and later had them boiled and served after dinner.