The Bon Vivant | Join me on my six month sojourn

- Alptastic
  
  Posted at 9:50 am by mondeuseandmountains, on May 12, 2018
  
  I would love to share some of the beautiful mountain scenery encountered on our trip around the French/Swiss/Italian Alps.
  
  The above photo was taken at the top of Mont Blanc. Don’t be fooled by the sun, it was a bone chillingly cold -25c and I couldn’t feel my fingers.
  
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  These daredevils were about to ski from the top of Mont Blanc into Italy. A big ‘nope’ from me!
  
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  I love all the different shades of blues and the whiter than white mountain in this photo. It was actually a really crappy day for snowboarding, icy and hard packed so it wasn’t fun if you had a tumble. I think it has a real ‘phone wallpaper’ feel to it, maybe I’ll sell it to Apple…
  
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  I had to stop and admire the beautiful stratigraphy of this mountain.
  
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  Windy day! Better to stay inside and admire from afar.
  
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  Lunch with a view at our local mountain La Clusaz. Mountains as far as the eye can see!
  
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  The majestic Matterhorn took my breath away at every turn.
  
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  ‘As pure as the driven snow’
  
  Arty farty shot of mini mountains in front of mega mountains.
  
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  My favourite place to enjoy a refreshing beer is on a mountain after a long day of snowboarding.
  
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  I hate to pick a favourite but Verbier certainly ticked a lot of boxes. Gorgeous village, huge skiable area, reliable snow, great restaurants, and a fun apres scene.
  
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  Italy this side, France the other and a beautiful glacier in the middle.
  
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  On a mission for fresh powder.
  
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  This was taken in Courmayer, Italy. If you zoom in you can see three adventurers hiking up the left hand side of the mountain in front.
  
  Posted in Mountains, Travel, Uncategorized | 8 Comments | Tagged Alps, Chamonix, Courmayeur, La Clusaz, Mont Blanc, Mountains, Verbier, Zermatt
- Wine tasting in Burgundy
  
  Posted at 10:20 am by mondeuseandmountains, on March 17, 2018
  
  I’m ashamed to say I didn’t realise Burgundy and Bourgogne were the same place, Burgundy is just the name in English. Boeuf Bourguignon is one of my favourite meals to make at home and I never clicked. I also didn’t realise how ignorant I was around French wine, so needless to say our little adventure to Bourgogne was an eye opener.
  
  Having no plans for the week, I thought we were overdue for a wine tasting getaway! We drove to the historic town of Beaune and spent the afternoon wandering around the beautiful cobblestone streets and the Hospices de Beaune. The hospice (hospital) was set up in 1443 primarily for the poor & disadvantaged and focused on good diet. Naturally wine is essential in a balanced diet, so they acquired several hectares of vineyards close by and are still producing wines to this day. It is no longer a working hospital, so they have a big famous wine auction every year and the proceeds go towards the new hospital and the the upkeep of the old building. So we had to buy a bottle.. for charity.
  
  The next day I signed us up for a wine tour. Being Australian I thought we would drive around to various wineries, have more than a few tastings and generally get a bit shlozzled, but no, this is France and that would be very unbecoming. We only went to one tasting but the tour was amazing, I learnt so much and had no idea how different it is to Australian wine in every way.
  
  I had heard of old vs new world wines, but I just through it was a geographic classification. Oh no, it is much more than that!
  
  Old World wines, like the ones produced in Burgundy, must follow strict rules around the grape variety that they grow, the specific area where these grapes are grown, and the wine making process.
  
  In contrast, it seems Australian wineries can grow any type of grape they want, blend whatever they fancy, use new and innovative techniques, and put a cartoon cat on their label if they want to.
  
  In Burgundy each vineyard is categorised according to their ‘Terroir’ or the environmental characteristics of the particular plot. The classifications start from Appellations Regional, to Villages, to Premier Cru, then to the big guns of Grand Cru. So you can have one winemaker who was lucky enough to get their Grand Cru rating and then across the the path, 10 metres away, you might get a winemaker who is stuck with the ‘Village’ category. If you believe your Terroir is up to the next level, the process of applying with the French governing body can take decades.
  
  Reading French wine labels makes a lot more sense to me now. I would get confused because it wouldn’t say what type of wine it was on there. Turns out you are just supposed to know. Burgundy = Pinot Noir, Beaujolais = Gamay, Rhône Valley = Syrah, Bordeaux = Merlot or Cab Sav. The information on the label is usually the vineyard’s location and terroir classification. So there you go!
  
  I wonder when the French learn this stuff? School? Around the dinner table? Anyway, I have a lot more respect for the history, process, and culture of French wine now. Santé!
  
  Romanee Wines from this vineyard are some of the most expensive in the world, fetching up to $10k per bottle!
  
  Posted in Burgundy, Travel, Wine | 5 Comments
- Express to Espresso
  
  Posted at 2:11 pm by mondeuseandmountains, on February 14, 2018
  
  I’ve been looking forward to saying ‘Want to duck over to Switzerland and Italy next week?’ It is such a novel thing for an Australian to travel to another country in a few hours and not have to fly. The Glacier Express and Bernina Express were both on my list and I also had a hankering for pasta so we did a little loop around the Alps, via Zermatt, Chur, & Milan – all covered under our Eurail pass.
  
  Zermatt is a gorgeous chocolate box of a town and fittingly the Matterhorn, which looms majestically over the town, is featured on the Toblerone box. It has a very old ‘old town’, mostly old barns and store rooms that look like they are about to topple over because they are built on stilts and rocks. They have been that way for 500 years and now some are used as apartments and bars so they must have done something right.
  
  We had a fabulous day of snowboarding. I think Zermatt takes the cake (I’ll stop with the sweet references soon) in the number of ways to get up the mountain. We took a Funicular through a rock tunnel, a cable car so big it has its own Wikipedia entry, a very scenic mountain railway, lots of different Gondola types, and then the good old chair lifts and Pomas.
  
  I wanted to do both the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express so I would know which one to recommend, and we had the time (not sure if I’ve mentioned I’m having 6 months off ;).
  
  There is something so pleasing about train travel when done right. It is such a privilege to sit there, gently rocking back and forth with nothing to do but admire the breathtaking scenery with a sparkling wine in hand.
  
  Both trains were fabulous, The Glacier Express is on a more practical route, you can have a nice lunch service at your seats, and it has a better name. The Bernina Express wins on the dramatic scenery front and seems to have more glaciers than the Glacier Express. It will also satisfy anyone with an inner train nerd (or traveling with one). It climbs to 2253m without using rack and pinion (360 degree spiral viaduct anyone?). This was all very exciting to my husband whose inner train nerd is becoming more and more like a regular train nerd.
  
  One of the 196 bridges and viaducts on the Bernina Express
  
  Spectacular views of the glistening snow from our seat
  
  Souvenir Swiss Army knife with our Swiss Cheese
  
  After the Bernina we had a couple of nights in Milan. I had pretty low expectations of Milan, no-one I know has raved about it but we really enjoyed ourselves. We were good tourists and did La Scala and the Duomo which were beautiful, but the highlight for me was the food. I definitely got my pasta hit and feel ready to go back to French cheese and baguettes.
  
  Posted in Mountains, Trains, Travel | 14 Comments | Tagged Bernina Express, Glacier Express, Matterhorn, Zermatt
- King of the castle
  
  Posted at 2:04 pm by mondeuseandmountains, on January 22, 2018
  
  It was a rather significant birthday for my husband in January. Being the selfless wife that I am, I thought perhaps a stay in a castle might take his mind off the fact that he is now officially middle aged. Plus it is 800 years old, so waaay older than him!
  
  We set off early and stopped enroute in a charming spa town called Aix-Les-Bains. No time to check out the thermal spas this time but I put it on my extensive ‘research’ list for next time. We were wandering around in search of a café au lait (yes we sometimes rebel against French culture and have a milky coffee after breakfast!), then I spotted something out the corner of my eye.
  
  Aix-Les-Bains has a cat cafe! Cat cafe’s don’t work so well in Australia because of all our rules and regulations, but here they can pretty much sit in your lap whilst you sip on your coffee like these handsome chaps did. I like to think it was because they could sense I was a cat lover, but I think it could have had something to do with my muffin.
  
  Alas we had to leave our furry friends and carry onto our castle.
  
  Wow. What a castle! It took our breath away as soon as we arrived.
  
  Château de Bagnols, originally built in 1217, is perfectly placed amongst the Beaujolais vineyards and is a sight to behold. As you can imagine over 800 years it has gone through several periods of disrepair and then revitalisation, in 1970 some of the ceilings fell in due to an airplane’s supersonic boom! The recent loving and meticulous restoration also subtly included all the modern conveniences of a five star hotel so it really ticks all boxes.
  
  This is library where we had our aperitifs (my kind of library).
  
  Our beautiful room overlooking the vineyards really made us feel special. The walls are covered in frescos or magnificent original tapestries.
  
  Fabulous tub for a soak! Almost as big as our entire apartment in Sydney.
  
  Throne room
  
  Of course this opulent castle comes with a Michelin starred restaurant. The stunning dining room has the largest gothic fireplace in Europe (possibly the world, according to our waiter).
  
  The food was exceptional.
  
  Each of our outstanding five courses was delivered to us under silver cloches with a theatrical flourish. Even the bread and butter was next level!
  
  Overall I couldn’t have found a more perfect place to celebrate a special occasion.
  
  Happy Birthday darling husband!
  
  45.916626 4.608311
  
  Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments | Tagged Beaujolais, castle, ChâteaudeBagnols
- Christkindlmarkets/Marché de Noël
  
  Posted at 2:48 pm by mondeuseandmountains, on January 1, 2018
  
  Ohhh the smells! Glorious aromas of mulled wine, gingerbread, sizzling sausages, melting cheese, spiced hot chocolate, all waft through the air.
  
  Perusing each twinkling stall and wondering how have I gone through life without any Christmas baubles. So many choices.
  
  Best not to rush any decisions and have a raclette or a crepe whilst I ponder.
  
  It’s starting to softly snow, time for a warming mulled wine or two.
  
  I’m still not sure what to buy.
  
  Wait, what’s that? I get distracted by an enormous pan of bubbling cheesey potato dumplings. I should really try that.
  
  I decide on a pair of lace snow flakes and some birch candle holders.
  
  Posted in Food, Travel | 12 Comments
- Beth yw castell drawiadol!
  
  Posted at 12:14 pm by mondeuseandmountains, on December 30, 2017
  
  Our next destination was Wales via Heysham to find the church where my parents got married.
  
  St Peter’s dates back to the 13th century, although it’s believed a church in some form has been on the site from the 8th century. Around the side of the church there are some impressive medieval coffins carved into the sandstone. It’s in a beautiful spot on the bay and as usual for England we had lovely weather (seriously). Great choice mum & dad!
  
  It was sweet to think I was in the same place as my parents on such a happy day for them. Mum tells me that Dad was wearing an apricot coloured shirt to match the apricot coloured flowers in her bouquet, how delightful!
  
  We arrived in Conwy, Wales just in time for a quick visit to Conwy Castle. It was perfect timing as we had the most spectacular sunset (at just after 3pm) and no-one was around – another reason why I like to travel in the off season. Conwy Castle was built by Edward I in 1283 and is incredibly impressive and well preserved. He sounded like a bit of an arse but he can sure build a castle!
  
  Queen of the castle!
  
  I’d never been to Wales and to be honest didn’t know much about it, I was pleasantly surprised to hear so many people speaking Welsh. I had heard it was a dying language but people all around us were conversing fluently, there was even a TV channel all in Welsh. It’s such a funny looking language, vowels don’t rate highly. According to my trusty google translate, ‘I’ll have a beer please’ is ‘Bydd gen i cwrw, os gwelwch yn dda’.
  
  The next day we went to Snowdonia, which sounds like a ski themed adventure park but it’s actually a large national park. The scenery here was different yet again. Sharp and imposing slate cliffs which were accentuated by the dramatic eerie mist. We went for a beautiful walk around Llyn Ogwen where I half expected dragons to come swooping down from the mountains… maybe I have been watching too much Game of Thrones.
  
  I could have easily spent more time in Wales but gingerbread and mulled wine were waiting for me in Europe.
  
  Posted in Travel | 11 Comments | Tagged castle, wales
- The North
  
  Posted at 8:28 am by mondeuseandmountains, on December 6, 2017
  
  The motorway signs just say to ‘The North’, my mind conjured up images of us driving our rental car to a big white wall, but 3 hours later we were in York.
  
  Arriving in York Sunday afternoon, I foolishly thought we could just drop into one of the pubs that I had researched for Sunday lunch, but what I didn’t know about York is that it is busy. Even though we are in the middle of November, there are tourists everywhere. Why would anyone voluntarily go to the north of England in 2 degrees and not even close to Christmas? Who are these people? Well me I guess!
  
  You will be relieved to hear that I did get my Sunday lunch complete with Yorkshire pudding the size of a small child.
  
  York is busy with good reason, it is a fascinating and beautiful town whose history goes back to 71AD. It was such a big deal when my primary school in Perth reached 100 years, going to York certainly put me in my place.
  
  It seemed like everyone had a go, the Romans, Vikings, Normans, and that’s only up to 1200AD. The centre is still full of incredible medieval buildings that look like they are about to topple over yet somehow house ye olde Zara and The Body Shop.
  
  Jorvik Viking centre had recreated a Viking village with lifelike figurines that moved (with the odd real human to throw us off), you go around it in a motorised chair which was pretty funny. I wonder what those Vikings would say!
  
  Andrew was fairly keen to try another UK culinary favourite; curry. The young Indian man serving us was obviously at least first generation English, as when we said we enjoy Indian food in Australia, he replied ‘why would anyone want to eat a curry in a hot climate?’ Clearly hasn’t been to India.
  
  The Yorkshire Dales are breathtaking. We drove through the gently undulating hills of many colours that I don’t really see in Australia, purple, rust, olive, it must have been the inspiration for tweed.
  
  We were driving along a small road and I suddenly see ruins. Always keen to check out a pile of rocks, we stopped . It turned out to be Pendragon Castle, rumoured to be built by Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur. Where else can you go for a drive and stumble across a 12th century ruined castle in the middle of nowhere with hardly any signage?
  
  Even though the distance between the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District is only an hour or so, the scenery is very different. We moved from the rolling hills to bigger, cragier mountains although still keeping the Derwent pastel colour pencil scheme. Actually as I write this I realise the lake we are staying on is the Derwentwater – coincidence?
  
  Keen to test out our hiking boots, we naively asked our B&B host to recommend an easy-ish walk. Turns out an easy-ish walk is a 4 hour hike up to 1234 feet but it really was incredible and was definitely a wow moment. It was around zero degrees but this meant the path was frozen mud not slushy mud and was crisp with icicles
  
  View from the top!
  
  I really loved the Lakes District, we only had two nights there but could have easily spent a week.
  
  Next stop Wales.
  
  Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments
- Go West
  
  Posted at 4:27 pm by mondeuseandmountains, on November 25, 2017
  
  ‘I’d like a relaxing beach holiday’ was a frequent request over my years as a travel agent.
  
  ‘What about Western Australia?’ I often replied.
  
  ‘No, I’d like to go overseas’. So Bali or Fiji it was.
  
  Not to detract from these destinations, there is definitely a time and a place for reasonably priced cocktails and a fantastic kids club but, if you are after a pristine white sand beach with spectacular sunsets that melt into the water, you really can’t beat my lovely home town of Perth. Sunshine is pretty much guaranteed from November to March and you don’t even have to pay for parking (I hear audible gasps from the Sydneysiders).
  
  These pictures were taken on my daily dips and I’m sure you would agree Denarau and Kuta don’t even come close.
  
  Sure, Great White Sharks are also fond of Perth beaches, but pick a spot where there are at least another 4 people and you should be fine!
  
  It was my nephew’s 7th birthday and he was allowed to watch Star Wars for the first time. My sister put my hair in Princess Leia buns and I got creative in the kitchen (ok, I bought biscuits and drew Chewbacca faces on them). Check out my ‘Wookie Cookies’ below – except for the top left one, just ignore that one.
  
  The last time I spent a significant amount of time here (more than the usual 4 days) was in 2008 when the mining boom was on. Everything seemed so expensive for average quality but this time I’ve had many fabulous meals and coffees and the prices are roughly the same as Sydney, so when I’m back at work I’ll be flying the flag for W.A. Tourism.
  
  Go West
  
  Life is peaceful there
  
  Go West.. in the open air
  
  Go West..where the skies are blue
  
  Go West..this is what we’re gonna do
  
  Did the Village People write this song about Perth?
  
  After Perth we flew to Singapore for a night to break up the trip. We stayed at the Park Royal on Pickering, which I can highly recommend (apart from the $8 coffees – I had flash backs of Perth 2008). It is refreshing to see a hotel embracing environmental principles more than just changing the sheets every other day. Normally Singapore is just a few days of work craziness and I never get to see anything touristy, but this time I made it through half of the Gardens on the Bay which were lovely.
  
  Next stop London on British Airways, Toodle-oo!
  
  Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments
- Plan to gallivant
  
  Posted at 3:00 am by mondeuseandmountains, on October 2, 2017
  
  It’s almost here! 6 months off work… let the gallivanting begin!
  
  The idea of writing a blog is a bit daunting in this day of 140 character count but I did keep a diary when I went on exchange in Chile in 1993, so surely I must be able to engage that part of the brain again, and at least this time I don’t have to handwrite it!
  
  I love the word ‘gallivanting’.. I just looked up the official meaning and it came back with two definitions:
  
  1) To go about usually ostentatiously or indiscreetly with members of the opposite sex
  
  I’ve never found French men to be overly attractive, plus I have a husband and not sure how he would feel about that, so I guess that one is out..
  
  2) To travel, roam, or move about for pleasure
  That is exactly what I plan to do, whether it be from Mont Blanc to Montreux or from the kitchen to the lounge room, it is my goal to make the most of every opportunity and find happiness every day.
  
  We have been planning this trip for a couple of years now, a lot of it formulated in places like our spa with a view in Santorini – how can you not sit here and wonder what it would be like to be on holidays for 6 months!
  
  We also wondered the same thing many a time after few après drinks in Whistler
  
  And we also spent every Saturday morning plotting at our favorite breakfast haunt in Darlinghurst
  
  So what’s the plan?
  
  First stop Perth early November
  
  What a great place to ease into unemployment! My beautiful hometown where I plan to spend quality time with the fam, lie on the beach, and forget how to merge lanes.
  
  It coincides with my nephew’s 7th birthday – he currently has no front teeth and has his hair long in braids because he wants to look like Legolas from lord of the rings.
  
  Next onto the UK
  
  More family catch ups including my darling nonagenarian Gran. A few days in hip & happening London, including catching The Book of Mormon which I’ve heard is hilarious.
  
  We are then going to head North for a short road trip, inspired in part by the 2010 movie ‘The Trip’ where two comedians eat their way around Yorkshire & the Lakes district, and also a desire to visit the cute 8th century church in Heysham where my parents got married.
  
  We purposefully start our trip in York on a Sunday so that I can find the best Sunday Roast and Yorkshire pudding!  I thought we would drive back via Wales but really don’t know much about that area. I do like a good castle – suggestions anyone?
  
  Then off to the mainland.
  
  I’m going to catch up with my dear friend Johana who I met on a Peru ‘educational’ (free work junket) and who has since moved back to Prague.
  
  We are going to spend my birthday in Salzburg doing the sound of music tour (Andrew is thrilled…)
  
  Then we start a Christmas markets tour with Andrew’s mum that goes from Oberammergau to Wurzberg. I’m a travel agent and I’m embarrassed to say that haven’t heard of these towns, but I know I will love them because they are big on gingerbread and mulled wine.
  
  And then our plans get less planned. We have rented an apartment in Annecy for 3.5 months! It is seriously beautiful – google it!  Or just scroll back up and look at the main picture.
  
  Why did we choose Annecy?
  
  Like many people all over the world, there are so many aspects to French culture we love. The food, wine, music, cinema, history, architecture, the language, did I mention the food?
  
  Even the cat’s number one choice of box is Le Creuset
  
  We also love the snow, mountains, and snow boarding but didn’t want to stay in a transient ski resort with lots of other tourists. Annecy has four mountains within an hours drive so it definitely ticks that box.
  
  So the plan is to go up to the mountains when the conditions suit, and then when they don’t, travel, eat cheese, and drink wine!
  
  And this is where you come in! Most of my amazing friends & clients have done more gallivanting than myself in this area (referring to the second definition, although perhaps the first too?!?).
  
  I would love any ideas, recommendations, advice on what we should do, where we should go, what we should eat, for these 3.5 months, so please leave your suggestions below.  We have a car and a train pass so if you feel like there is something we shouldn’t miss, let me know!
  
  If you were wondering what Mondeuse is, it is a red grape variety that comes from the Savoy (Annecy) area. Randomly enough I first heard of it on a wine tasting day trip in Canberra. The people at the Mount Majura vineyard also told me how to pronounce it so I can sound cultured to the locals. ‘Mondeuse rhymes with furs’
  
  Maybe see if your bottle shop stocks it next time you are in and have a virtual drink with me!
  
  Posted in Travel | 18 Comments
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