France, Switzerland, France Again - with Katie Lou!

Week 22 & 23: 02/09 – 02/26

Welcome to /miel/, a written account of my life and what my days hold here in France. Thank you for coming to read today.

Vacation ends today, and back to work it is tomorrow. But first, I’d love to recount my vacation adventures for you. Of course, there is too much to fit, so I’m going to try my best to keep it brief, but give you the gist. As always, feel free to ask questions in the comments or contact me on socials.

It’s long. Stay with me.

Unforgettable. That’s the word to describe this vacation. Amazing. Beautiful. Uplifting. Sunny. Happy. Perfect.

Katie arrived on Monday, February 13 into Paris where I went to pick her up. She landed at 6:10 am, so we had the whole day in Paris to explore and see the sights. We started at a café for a much needed coffee and pastry, before moving on to seeing the Saint-Eustace Church, and moving over to the Museum Orangerie. The Musee de l’Orangerie is known for having two beautiful panoramic rooms of Monet’s Water Lillies. It’s been on my to-do list for a while, and oh boy, it was well worth the wait. Monet designed these paintings specifically for these two rooms and it’s incredible.

We then ventured to the top of the Trocadero to spot the Eiffel Tower for the first time. We were blessed with bright blue skies, blinding sun, street music, and not too many people around. Of course we had to see it from the other side as well on the Champ du Mars, so we sat on the grass over there for a while, but I think the Trocadero was our favorite view.

For lunch, we went to Il Grigio, one of my favorite restaurants that have a view of the Eiffel Tower (and it’s pretty cheap). We had a delicious pizza, with an aperol spritz (Katie’s first!), and then we slowly ventured back to the train station to go to Noyon for the night.

Tuesday, February 14 (Happy Valentine’s Day!), Katie slept in until 10:30 and we had a lazy morning over coffee and “Friends” on Netflix. In the afternoon, we went to the Noyon Cathedral and went to the neighboring Museum of Noyon. The museum was mostly about the history of the Cathedral, and how the Cathedral has shown the resiliency of Noyon through the ages and wars. It was interesting… but I don’t know if I’d go again.

We tried a new bar in Noyon and it was excellent! The bartender spoke pretty good English, which NEVER happens in Noyon. Very, very few people speak English here, and they’re all English teachers! This was a pleasant surprise. Katie and I played some cards, ate a small charcuterie board, and even learned a card trick from a French guy that came over and taught us. I made white wine risotto for dinner, with grilled chicken and baked veggies. We watched Mamma Mia 2 and it was perfect.

Wednesday, February 15, we woke up and went to Compiegne for the day. We started at the Chateau of Compiegne (my favorite chateau that I’ve written about many times), which still stands to amaze me, and also equally amazed Katie. We walked throughout the chateau, the hunting grounds, the gardens, and then we walked to get some lunch! I had my first French “taco”, which are very popular around here. Alas, it’s not a taco. It’s like a big wrap that has meat, cheese, sauce, and FRENCH FRIES inside. Is it a taco? No… but does it taste good? Definitely.

We met up with one of my colleagues for a drink and some cards in Compiegne, before heading back to Noyon in the late afternoon. Later that night, we met back up with the same colleague to go bowling in Noyon! It was a fun night, even though Katie and I lost.

After we had unfortunately lost the game, we sat around chatting a while longer. We were talking about our trains for the next day and we checked the timetable (always should check beforehand), and we discovered our 5:20 am train had been CANCELLED due to a STRIKE. Was I surprised? Absolutely not. C’est la France.

We had a connection in Paris, at another train station at 7:53 am, and this was a TGV Lyria, which is a high speed train that has seat reservations and is direct. It’s kind of like an airplane, where the ticket you purchased is only valid for that flight/trajectory that you booked. So if we didn’t make our connection… it might be bad and complicated.

So we made a plan and we were going to take the 6:20 am train from Noyon to Paris in the morning and hope for the best.

On Thursday, February 16, we woke up early, and made the 6:20 am train to Paris. While we are approaching the train station, I tell Katie, “I think we might be able to make our TGV, but we have to run to catch the RER to the other train station.” So we get off the train, somehow manage to get on the RER (to the other train station, about 25 minutes away), and after some delayed departure, we get off with about 5 minutes to get on the train. We are flying through the train station, following the signs, finding the platform, and WE MAKE THE TRAIN with THREE MINUTES TO SPARE! It could not have gone more perfectly, and what a great start to our big part of our adventure!

We travel 4 hours by train to Lausanne, Switzerland. Upon arrival, after a quick Starbucks run, our first step is to go down to the lake. We are blown away by the crystal clear, bright blue lake, surrounded by mountains, with a small layer of fog at the bases, and again we were blessed by a blue sky and warm sun. We walked up the coast to the Olympic Museum to see what the big hype was about Lausanne, “The Olympic Capital”. It was cool! As you walk up the stairs, every stair is engraved with the year of Olympics, the place, and the torchbearer. We only saw the exposition, which described the new sports being added to the Olympics, like surfing, breakdancing, BMX, skateboarding, and sport climbing.

After this, we went over to our Airbnb, had a gorgeous view of the mountains, and took a load off for a moment. Once recharged, we went back into the city center to explore, and we saw a gorgeous sunset over the mountains and lake. Every second it became more beautiful, orange, red, purple. We finished the night with a drink and cards at an outside bar, listening to a street bagpipe performer.

Friday, February 17, Katie and I took another train from Lausanne to Zermatt. Zermatt is a small alpine town in the base of the Alpes and “at the base of the Matterhorn”. The train from Visp to Zermatt is all windows so you can view the mountains all the way to Zermatt.

This was the BEST DAY OF THE TRIP.

We arrive and are met with blue skies and sunshine (I know, you see the pattern here). We have some time before hotel check in, so we eat outside on a patio, have a coffee and a pizza. However the pizza we ordered (cheese and ham) didn’t come… instead we were given black olives, capers, and… anchovies. We ate it! Yes, Mom and Dad, I ate anchovies. Well, I ate one anchovy and then picked the rest off.

We checked into our hotel and it was 12/10 amazing. We had a small balcony where we enjoyed the sun in our t-shirts and no shoes, while we ate a delectable Swiss chocolate, and were as starry-eyed as ever. Once we settled in a bit, we walked on the one main street to see what we had gotten ourselves into.

It was out of a fairytale book. The small wooden houses, the colored shutters, the mountains surrounding us, the sun beating down on us as we wandered through this village-like place.

We settled down at an outside Apres-Ski bar and had an excellent view of the Matterhorn as we drank a Zermatt Bier, and listened to a local musician play. Eventually as the afternoon got colder, we moved to the couches and heaters, while we watched the sunset over the Matterhorn. We ended up talking to a couple guys next to us, Dennis (from Germany) and Karel (from Montreal), who work at a local ski rental shop, and we all went to dinner together to try fondue. It was very good. Bread, melted cheese, potatoes, what’s not to like?

Afterwards, our local tour guides took us to a club and an underground bar. It was the best night. It’s difficult to put into words.

Saturday, February 18, we woke up to go up to the base of the Matterhorn. It was beautiful, sunny, and blue skies (yet again). We soaked up the sun for a while on a bench next to a chapel up there, where climbers pray before ascending the Matterhorn, and eventually we worked our way back to the small town to catch our train. We saw the boys at the ski rental shop, and said bye and see you again!

We took the train from Zermatt to Lauterbrunnen, where we stayed for two nights. When we arrived at our backpackers hostel, we took another moment to relax and settle in. Finally we got hungry and thought we should source some food, so we walked into the city center about 15 minutes away, but it was a ghost town! Everything was closed, there was no one on the street, it was quiet, and it was a Saturday night! We were a confused why it was like this, but it was also a nice change of pace from Zermatt and Lausanne which were so busy. We ended up happily eating some ravioli for dinner and went to bed early.

Sunday, February 19, we went to the top of the Schilthorn mountain. Up here is the Piz Gloria, where the James Bond film, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” was filmed. So they are all about the James Bond paraphernalia up here. You can get a 360 degree view of the Alps up here, it was amazing. A little windy but bright blue skies and hot sun. We worked our way down the mountain via gondolas, and went to the next stop, Birg. Here, we did the “Thrill Walk”, where you can walk along the side of the mountain on a metal staircase, and do some different things, like walking on glass, walking along a suspended cable, and crawling through a chain link cage for about 20 feet. This was Katie’s favorite part of the trip!

We then took the next gondola down to Murren and walked through this cute little mountain town, to have a delightful burger in the sun, on a patio, and play some cards as we were surrounded by skiers, mountains and snow.

This night, we wanted to try the hostel bar as I had read it can be a really cool spot with lots of people and club vibes – but we were the only two people in the entire bar! After being made wildly uncomfortable by the bartender, we went to grab three Canadian boys that we had made friends with and were staying in our dormitory room and made them come down with us. We were the only 5 customers in the bar for about 3 hours, until the bartender had to shut the bar down because there wasn’t enough business! But, we made it a fun time nonetheless. Katie and I taught the Canadians some line dances, some swing dancing, and we just danced and danced.

Monday, February 20, Katie and I checked out of the hostel, said bye to the Canadians, and took a train from Lauterbrunnen to Lausanne. Here, we caught a Flixbus (kind of like a Greyhound bus service) to Chamonix, France. We left at 4:30 pm and were expected to arrive in Chamonix at 7:10 pm.

However… about 45 minutes in to our expected 2.5 hour ride, we pull over outside of Geneva on the side of the road. There’s only 7 people on the bus, and 5 of them are Italian and only speak Italian, including the driver. Katie and I are left out of the loop, until someone finally asks if we speak French or English and explains that there is a part that is broken in the bus. Someone is coming to look at it to fix it, but they’ll be here in one hour or one hour and a half. After a lot of deliberation, Katie and I decide to stay on the bus and wait it out.

Finally, 2 hours later, a French mechanic comes and tells us he can fix it but he doesn’t have the right tools. The tools are in his shop, and he’s going to grab them and he’ll be back in 30 minutes. And who goes with him to accompany the mechanic? THE BUS DRIVER. I’m chuckling as I write this because it’s so completely ridiculous.

Anyway, they return finally around 8:45 pm, and by 9:30 pm we are finally on the road again to Chamonix. We finally reach Chamonix at 11:00 pm. The bus driver flicks the lights as we are pulling in, Katie and I start putting our jackets on, and this crazy bus driver runs to the back to where we’re sitting and starts yelling in poor French “We’re here, are you getting off, where are your bags?!” Myself, frustrated, yelled back, “WE’RE GETTING OFF, YES WE HAVE A BAG UNDERNEATH.” We hardly had crossed in front of the bus before he sped off. What a guy.

We enter our hostel and are roomed with two older French guys who snore like freight trains. But, we were too tired to care.

Tuesday, February 21, we explored Chamonix, after having a delicious breakfast. Katie had a yummy acai bowl with fresh fruit, I had the best avocado toast ever with feta and pomegranate seeds, and Katie had her first pain au chocolat! We checked out the crystal museum, filled with crystals mostly extracted from Mont Blanc. (Grandpa, you have an email with pictures coming your way!) They were so beautiful, complex, intriguing, and I even got to TOUCH some!

We sat out on another patio, had a Mont Blanc beer, watched the sunset over the French Alpes, and worked up our appetite. We had a Poco Loco burger for dinner, a local burger joint that’s been there for years. They serve two patties, bacon, cheese, sauce, and a HASHBROWN on it. It was the best burger I had on the trip.

Wednesday, February 22, we decided to have a much-needed spa day. We booked a massage, and then also got to enjoy the sauna, steam room, and the outside pools (with surrounding views of the Alps). It was a wonderful afternoon and we agreed that next time on a two week trip, you need a spa/relax day about every 6 days.

Thursday, February 23, we took an early trajectory back to Paris at 6 am, and had a long 6 hours on the trains. We made it back, and were completely wiped. While we wanted to do a Seine River Cruise, or see the Eiffel Tower again, we were exhausted. Also, travelling with bags makes it more difficult to go into Museums, or events. There are storage lockers you can rent, but we had made our pros/cons list and we decided to just go eat some yummy food.

To cross it off Katie’s food bucket list, we had Raclette (melted cheese, potatoes, and chicken), Tartiflette (potatoes, cheese, ham, onions), and Escargots (snails in garlic butter sauce). It was all delicious! I even ate three snails, and they weren’t horrible.

We then made the journey to our hotel that was next to the CDG airport, Eklo hotel, and relaxed into our rooms. While Katie is the best roommate ever, it was really nice to have our own single rooms for a night. We got journals in Paris and spent about 6 hours writing our entire journey. Each person wrote their personal account of the day, then we switched, and the other person wrote a little note. It is the perfect souvenir of our trip.

Friday, February 24, I dropped Katie at the CDG airport bright and early at 6 am, and we had a hard goodbye.

She is my piece of home. My childhood best friend, my person that I can count on any day, someone that I have experienced the highs and the lows with, and who the highs are the highest with. I miss her already. It was so comforting to have her here, it was so great to show her around my life, to experience new things together, and to have a level of comfort I haven’t quite had since I’ve been here.

I’ll see her soon enough. Thanks Katie Lou, for an amazing trip of a lifetime.

The rest of the weekend has just been unpacking, relaxing, and preparing to go back to work tomorrow.

TL:DR

High: Katie visiting and making new memories with my bestie.

High #2: Having SO MUCH SUN for every single day of vacation.

High #3: Seeing Zermatt and already wanting to go back.

Low: The Flixbus situation …

Low #2: Having to say goodbye to my bestie.

New French Word:

Valet – jack (in playing cards)

Lesson(s) Learned:

1. Katie and I are going to buy a house in Zermatt, Switzerland someday.

2. Next time we’re in the Alps… we’re going to actually ski the Alps.

3. Is the 6$ Flixbus worth the hassle and your mental stability? Maybe, maybe not.

4. The best nights and memories are made when you’re least expecting it, and when you go with the flow.

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Until next week, I wish you all well. I miss you all incredibly much. Please send me a message, an email, some snail mail, whatever suits you best.

All the love,

Abigail

Below: Our view of the Matterhorn at the apres-ski bar in Zermatt, Switzerland