When we started planning this trip, and I mean really planning (booking flights and cars and hotels), not just dreaming, we expected to arrive in Europe in late August (like the 25th or later). This plan however, didn’t work to meet up with John and his battlefield tour, so, we juggled some things around and left August 18th. This meant our car rental would have us back in Paris on Oct 16th; too early to leave for Nepal.

Side note: the only way to affordably rent a car in Europe is to decline insurance coverage. It means a difference of $30-50/day. Our travel credit card covered us for 40 days so that was the length of time we planned our road trip for. After making some calls I realized that we could drop off our original rental in France somewhere other than Paris at no charge. So, I reserved another car in Nice (to drop off in Paris) for another 8 days. Different rental, different credit card so insurance was covered again.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, we now only had to be in Paris on October 24th, which was a perfect time to fly to Nepal.

We arrived in Nice on a rainy day, but that took nothing away from the beauty of the water. It was an unbelievable turquoise colour. It wasn’t cold, but it was too cold for swimming, so we hung around the beachfront and took in view while they figured out our rental situation and then decided to go to Monaco. It’s was only about a 30 minute drive from Nice, and added a country to our count. It’s also one of the richest places in the world (we’d fit right in, lol).

We ogled the gigantic yachts in the harbour, walked the streets a little and paid a visit to the famous Monte Carlo Casino. While we were walking amongst the yachts we ran into a staff member coming off of one of the boats. We struck up a conversation and he filled us in on how much they cost (the one he was on was 30 million Euros), how often they get used (maybe 2-3 months/year) and maintenance costs (5 million Euros/year). There were boats from the Middle East, Caribbean and Europe….we saw one with a helicopter on the top. The amount of money in boats, cars and buildings was hard to believe. The casino was also opulent and we kept an eye open for James Bond. We were allowed in the lobby to look around, but didn’t fit the dress code for the actual casino section (for the record, we did take the kids into the lobby, but were going to take turns  going onto the floor – we didn’t leave them in the car).

We found a great rental in Vence, France (in the hills overlooking the sea between Nice and Cannes). We stayed there for two days and explored the beaches of the south of France. Cannes was ok. They have a great daily market near the waterfront, so we bought food there and ate in the park. The beach was great, but the water colour was nothing like Nice. We weren’t expecting much, but it didn’t exceed our expectations. It was cool to say we’d been there, but I wouldn’t rush back. There are better beaches and more interesting towns all along the coast.

We began to make our way north. We had a plan to surprise the kids by taking them to Europa Park (large amusement in Germany, just across the border from France) before we left Europe. It was about 8 hours north of Nice, so we slowly made our way there over a few days.

We had a couple of Roman sites to visit. We began our Roman day in Arles, France. There’s a Roman amphitheatre there. The Romans used it for gladiator battles and chariot  races, much like the Coliseum in Rome. It was built in 90 AD and has some medieval towers added on after the Romans left. After the 5th century a whole town was built in it, with over 200 homes inside. Today it’s a UNESCO Heritage sight and used for bull fights.

Roman site number two was the Pont du Gard (also a UNESCO site) an ancient Roman aqueduct. There was a fantastic museum that explained how it was built and filled us in on the amazing engineering facts. The aqueduct was used to bring water to the city of Nimes and was about 50km long with a gradient of 2.5cm across the whole thing. I won’t go into all the details, because there’s a lot of interesting info, but you can read all about it here if you want.  So far it was Mark’s favourite architectural site; hard to believe it was 2000 years old.

We drove to Avignon to see the Pont d’Avignon (you know the song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon). After coming out of the underground parking lot we were faced with this huge, beautiful building. Little did we know that for about 70 years, back in the 1300’s,  it was the home of the Pope. So, another UNESCO site under our belt.

Even though Europa Park was in Germany it’s actually really close to France. There were some other things we wanted to explore in the Alsace region of France so we decided to base ourselves there in a town called Epfig  (I’ve figured out an easy way to insert links and decided to put them in for places we’ve stayed or visited when possible).

There are wineries and hills all over the Alsace region and scattered on these hills are castles….so many castles. Every few kilometres ruins could be spotted peeking out from the trees. One day we decided to hike up and explore two of the castle ruins, Chteau de Ramstein and Chateau d’Ortenburg. They’re both on the same hill, a few hundred metres apart, but Ortenburg was much better in terms of access. We were able to walk in the ruins and see where things were, like the kitchen and the lookout posts. It’s easy to see why castles were built where the were. From the walls you can see over all of the land below. So the inhabitants could keep an eye on their land and as well as see any approaching danger.

The area of Germany over the border from where we were is called the Black Forest. It’s well know for the inspiration of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty, as wells as, cuckoo clocks and Black Forest cake!! But, this area is also know for its mineral/thermal springs. So, after our hike we headed to Keidel Mineral and Thermalbad near Freiburg. We forgot it was a Sunday so it was busier than we expected, but the pools were huge and ranged in temperature from comfortably warm to really hot!! The air was cool and the water was warm; we left feeling like rubber. No cameras allowed, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

On our way back we stopped in Freiburg to see the cathedral. It’s a neat building and we’ve begun to enjoy comparing the different cathedrals we see.

Perhaps we should have saved our relaxing day for after Europa Park, but we live and learn on our journey….

We did manage to keep the amusement park a secret from the girls until we were just about there. They spotted the rollercoasters and excitedly asked if that’s where we were going (we had told them we were trying to find another castle) and they squealed in delight when we said we were. It’s beside this tiny town called Rust, in the middle of an open field, I think that’s why it took them so long to catch on to where we were headed. I remember Wonderland being like that once upon a time too.

The park is comparable to Wonderland in terms of rides, and that’s really all my kids are interested in. We had a great day trying all the new rides. After paragliding, nothing was really off the table. Mark and I held on as long as we could but after our second time on the Silver Star we were done. I think I went on more rides that day than I have in years. We stayed to the bitter end (which in fall season is 7:30pm) and headed back to pack up for our final leg back to Paris.

We broke our final drive up into two days, stopping in Reims for a night to do laundry, shop for essentials, pack, and mail some things home before leaving for Asia. We ate the last of our food and relished apartment living for one more night. For the next 7 weeks we would be living in tea houses and hotel rooms.

Our drive to Paris went smoothly, although we were a little late returning the car; Paris traffic is insane!! But the lady at the rental place was so understanding and didn’t charge us any extra fees. We gathered up everything we had onto our backs, which was a big change from the last 2 months with a car, and took the train to the airport.

We left with mixed feelings. On one hand there was excitement for the upcoming adventure in Nepal, but on the other, sadness to leave a place we feel we just scratched the surface of. We met so many people that enriched our experience and we know the girls have learned that it’s the people you meet and the connections you form that make travel so interesting.