France Day 9: To Italy!
[Written 26 August 2014. Yay, same month!]
On this lovely Friday we packed up all our stuff and Finnur took the kids on a RPG-related shopping excursion while I cleaned the house. Cleaning when it’s warm is no fun. Ugh. Really no fun. It did get done though.
We were finally all set to go at 12:30, and drove an hour south-east to Chambery, where we ate a late lunch. We got back on the road without looking into any of the shops I wanted to visit, and continued driving south-east-ish towards Asti in Italy.
Of course, this first Friday in August is a popular travel day, so we had to wait in traffic for almost an hour before we got to enter the tunnel that goes between France and Italy, but aside from that, the drive went relatively smoothly. (I think that was the only traffic jam?)
We met up with our friends, Holla and Óli, at a supermarket in Asti to buy groceries. They’d left their house in Chambery about the time we departed Lyon, so they arrived at the house we’d rented ahead of us, which was great because we were running quite a bit behind schedule, and the lady with the keys had dinner plans.
Anyway, onto pictures! (32 imagest total)
Finnur: “A small shop in Lyon, France, displaying piles and piles of… well, stuff really. Note the chair in the photo. It is probably the only thing not for sale – it’s where the salesperson sits. “
All our stuff out of the house, and about to get stuffed into the car.
Bye, bye Lyon!
Fun rock formations on the way to Chambery. The maximum speed on the fancy highways is 130 km/80 mph.
Finally at a restaurant in Chambery. Here’s poor Bjarki completely out of gas and blood sugar. It’s soooo unfair that Emma gets to sit in a stroller while he has to waaaaalk! Wheeeen will the food arrive?!
Anna doing fine.
Emma doing fine.
Finnur doing fine.
Bjarki in his my-life-sucks mood.
Hey, look! A smile! Thankfully, it’s usually not so hard to find.
Gaaah!
The food arrived and was promptly decimated. This meal marked the only time a wasp visited our table, probably because of the sugary-fruit-water.
We accidentally let Emma drink a lot of milk before her food arrived, so she hardly touched her actual food. But, like with almost all our restaurant visits, the food on the table somehow mostly disappeared.
We peeked into this small church for a minute on our way back to the car.
Getting closer to the Alps.
Fancy views.
In the long pile-up of cars entering the 13 km tunnel linking France and Italy.
Back-seat kids. We fed them at regular intervals to minimize the moaning and ‘are we there yet’s. Anna’s mostly gotten the hang of traveling, but Bjarki… ooof! We did have a car-GPS which constantly displayed the estimated time of arrival, but that didn’t stop Bjarki for asking when we’d be there.
Yay! At the toll gates! Finally!
Inside the Fréjus road tunnel.
Italy! See the flag?
Views!
More views! We were surprised by just how many tunnels we ended up driving through, some up to 5 km long. None of them had the same driving restrictions as the super-long tunnel though.
In the tiny town of Rocca D’arazzo, by Asti in Italy.
Our house! Or should I say mini-mansion?
Emma heading upstairs.
The hallways had high ceilings, and tall doorways.
Emma, Finnur and I slept in this room. We were the only ones that had a mosquito net. Emma got a brand new travel cot, with an extra mattress.
The bathroom next to our room. All the bathrooms had butt-basins, much to the enjoyment of the little kids who loved splashing in the water. (Seriously!)
The view out of a second floor window. The house was very secluded. We could see a few houses up on neighboring hills, but that was it.
Kids up in the attic.
Nice space for the kids! Anna was the only one who consistently slept up there though. Holla ended up with all her girls in her room, while Bjarki and Óli split the room next to them. Óli’s mom had a room all to herself.
COMMENTS