Leaving Milan on Tuesday morning, the real heart of our trip (for me and Jacob at least) began as we set off to conquer Alpe D'Huez. With our trusty Google Maps directions in hand, we drove from one autostrade (Italian for highway) to another, a quick stop for one of the best lunches I've had in a while, and then on into France.
Our lunch stop... delicious
First a few points about driving in Italy and France.- Petrol is expensive (€1.50 / litre = $10.60 / gallon, makes that $4 gas seem like a good deal, huh?).
- Tolls are even more expensive.
- Driving up mountains is both insanely fun and insane depending on if you're driving or in the passenger's seat.
So, once we got into France, things got interesting. Despite being the best (true that, double true), Google Maps is also completely out of it's mind. I'll direct your attention to steps 25 - 42 on the following directions. This is where we left the nice, fast, safe highway (with it's expensive tolls), for the craziest, most switchback-y roads I've ever driven on. First, up the Col du Glandon, where we got our first taste of the real alps.
On top of the Col du Glandon
Luckily we made it to the hotel (which was on top of another mountain, with fantastic views), and planned for the approaching day.
View from the hotel
On top of the Col du Glandon
View from the hotel
3 comments:
Not too shabby a view! I remember it being much more fun to drive those mountain roads than to be the passenger! Great pics! Now stop stringing us along and give us the scoop on the Tour!
I LOVE this picture of the Alps out the window. We must go back there. Or maybe to another area with Alps. Switzerland perhaps?
yeah, i'm also dying to hear more about the tour. good post regardless.
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