Holidays Over: Back To Reality

Geneva Airport

Unremarkable airport (why is that? It makes your last day blah and well, unremarkable) in a boring-looking city (concrete ugliness around a big lake) in an extraordinarily beautiful country. I'm smitten with Switzerland (except Geneva). 

A fab time even if it was at times hot and clammy but that was on the Cote d'Azur in the south of France and you do have the option to get in the sea and cool off. I salute the Kuwaitis wandering around in hijab and full-length clothing; you have more stamina than we do.

Over 1000km of driving by yours truly through some gorgeous scenery. Sadly the Earth, Wind and Fire concert in Antibes was rained off due to a freakish storm and I'm still trying to get a refund which is proving very difficult from jazzajuan.com - Not impressed.

I'll start in reverse order as I'm pretty knackered and I'm typing between putting in 6 loads of washing.

28- 30 July - Drove through Italy from Cannes to get to Chamonix it was a very long six and a half hour drive through crazy Italy but some stunning scenery. It would have taken less time if we didn't have to queue for 45 mins to get into the Mont Blanc tunnel and if the Italians were to have a few road signs and toll instructions in English, at least they are ready for Brexit. They have introduced very strict safety rules after the horrendous fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel which we googled [link] whilst waiting to enter the tunnel leaving me somewhat concerned - 24 March 1999 A truck fire at 6.7km into the Italian part spread to 35 other vehicles, creating intense heat and toxic fumes that killed 39 people. Fire duration = 53 hours. It seems there were no sprinklers or fire protection.

We survived the tunnel and reached our quirky Rockypop Hotel in Les Houches, Chamonix, for dinner with stunning views of Mont Blanc from the outside. What a cute fun place. My daughter had her friend come to visit and stay over. We were supposed to stay only one night but decided to cancel the boring Geneva booking and stay one more night in delightful Chamonix. Can thoroughly recommend the hotel and Chamonix, breathtaking views and much welcome cooler temperatures.

Welcome to Rocky Pop Hotel

Breathtaking views from up the mountain via cable car

Mont Blanc in all her glory.

Loved the view could have stayed forever. 

P.S. These shoes really are so comfy. 

Only 26 more days to blog and I will eventually get around to it, if only for the sake of posterity and for my daughter. And until I can figure out how to upload the pics faster until then there are many photos on the Instagram account if you are interested.