Go South, Young Man

We flew into Zurich and Lucca was waiting for us in baggage claim, whining pitifully so he could go outside and take a pee.  Hey, you try holding it for 14 hours!  That dog has a bladder of steel.

We picked up our rental car and headed to France.  You can see that Lucca was anxious to get going.

It was dark by the time we got to our hotel in a remote corner of the Jura.  It was a small hotel but they had a great restaurant with a nice wine list.  Hmm, wonder why we picked it?  Usually French restaurants have great quality but small portions, while US restaurants are the opposite – huge portions but the quality is just meh.  This restaurant was a cross between the two – delicious food and so much!  We called it France Meets Fresno.

When we paid the bill we had a long conversation with the hotel owner, who went on and on and on about how screwed up things are in France.  She was especially peeved at young people who turn up their noses at entry-level jobs (like in her hotel) and accept welfare instead.  According to her, this was true of every single young person in the entire country.  Or as she put it, “tous tous tous tous tous !”  She then told us that the US totally has its act together.  We quickly disabused her of this notion.

The next morning we got up early and hit the road, anxious to see our beloved Provence.  We made a quick stop at my favorite wine shop in Burgundy to pick up a few tasty bottles.  Then it was drive drive drive to the south.

A few random observations from our first day:

French drivers are as bad as ever.

French croissants are as delicious as ever.  I ate two just to be sure.

The trees and fields were starting to come into bloom, more so the further south we went.  Just beautiful.

Ham sandwiches taste better in France.  Must be all that butter.

It is very strange to have an Australian woman’s voice on our GPS.  Crikey!  Gotta fix that.

It is even worse when the Australian woman sends you ten miles one direction and then changes her mind and sends you back the way you just came.  Women!

KVS