Day 6 Thursday- Thusis to Grenoble
This day was pretty much a writeoff. There was a moderate amount of rain, Chamonix had received a fair amount of snow, so we opted to route around and take the highway from Thusis to Grenoble, via Zurich, Geneva, etc. Nothing much to report except highway driving. At one point we ran into a GT3/M3 convoy, they blinked us a thumbs up. Ran into an AMG CLA at a toll booth, who expressed his admiration. This is the road which I got flashed by the one camera the SpeedCheetah didn't pick up.. figures.. But it was only for 5kmph over the limit.
This is also the place where I may have rev’d the engine briefly beyond the 4500rpm limit. I had stopped too far away from the toll booth ticket machine, and in pushing off to reach for the ticket, I accidently placed my foot on the corner of the accelerator and rev’d the engine. It was only for a moment, as I initially thought it was someone else rev’ing before I realized that it was me. As someone put, hopefully no issues, and I have no idea what RPM I hit. Anyway, we stopped briefly at Annecy, which was nice but clearly in 'off season' mode: The canal was mostly drained for repairs, restaurants were shut down until late dinner time, and the number of people was relatively small. It was still quite pretty and worth the bathroom stop. Finally, we arrived in Grenoble.
Unfortunately, the garage by the hotel had tight little parking spaces, but fortunately for us, the garage was mostly used during the workday and afternoon. Considering we were only staying overnight, we had no problem finding a spot with no other cars around. In any case, each garage spot had door "bumpers", which I thought was rather clever, and hadn't ever seen before.
We stayed at Grand Hotel Grenoble Center, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the room and bed. We had a lovely old town/mountain view with a nice balcony. Very nice place, highly recommended. For dinner there are two inexpensive french bistros, which exude traditional french bistro: ie- awesomeness. Good food, good wine, good price. L'Ardoise (which we couldn't get into) and Le Lyonnaise, which was fantastic. I had the veal or calf head. I was a bit disappointed not to actually be served the entire head, eyes and all, on my plate. Rather it was various cuts of meat that they had already shaved off the head. Gloriously fatty, gloriously salty, and spectacular with the basic house Bourdeaux. As a whole, Grenoble was far nicer than the pictures on Google images, so I definitely plan on returning for a proper visit one day.
Day 7 Friday- Grenoble to Menton
Knowing we had a long day of driving ahead, we enthusiastically jumped out of bed at 6:30am, while still dark outside, feasted upon the endless bounty of the buffet breakfast, and got our car out of that tight little garage before the enthusiastic throng of French worker bees showed up. We planned on a combination of Route Napoleon (from Grenoble to Gap) and Routes des Grandes Alpes (from Mont Dauphin to Menton).
As I already mentioned, the Route Napoleon was a great drive, and I finally got to open the car up a bit on the back roads. The southern French Alpes can usually be driven this time of year since they appear to be 10-15F warmer than the Swiss, Austrian alps up north. So we drove over to join up with the Routes des Grandes Alpes at Col de Vars. Unfortunately, there was a sign in Mont Dauphin that informed us that Col de la Bonette (which was supposed to be my crowning achievement) was closed due to snowfall overnight. Nevertheless, we at least wanted to see Col de Vars. Col de Vars was a beautiful drive, different in its own ways from the Swiss passes. There was really no one else on it, which made it all the more fun. Mid way through the climb, we passed at least 10 camouflaged Mercs that I guess were being tested or on a press drive. That was a pretty cool sight.
Just look at that glorious road !! Just
look at it ! And it is empty ! Those surface cracks could not be felt in the car, so the pavement was actually much smoother than it looks.
When we got to Jausiers, which was the start of Col de la Bonette, we saw a sign that now stated the pass was open until 7pm. I was ecstatic, yet cautious. So, knowing that this meant there was snowfall yet enough had melted to ‘open’ the pass, and equipped with the knowledge that the temperature at the peak was forecast for 50F in an hour (it was 1pm at this stage), we had another one of our “How bad can it be” exchanges, and proceeded up. What a spectacular drive. Essentially no other cars anywhere (since the pass was opened just for the afternoon) and relatively warm temps in the 40s. A few areas had some slush on the road, but with such warm temps, it was no issue. Col de la Bonette is simply spectacular!
Once again, how amazing is this road? Absolutely love it.
My attempt to get artsy.. didn’t work so well
Little panorama
In the valley after Col de la Bonette, we encountered some amazing fast roads, with wide lanes and sweeping turns, just a glorious drive. We also encountered a large flock of sheep being herded down the road, since the road is pretty much the only flat surface in that valley. That was pretty interesting, as at one point all the cars essentially forced themselves through the flock of sheep, with an ocean of sheep all around us. After that little experience, and with my car thoroughly christened by animal manure, we drove on.
More small towns, more climbs and descents, and on to Col de Turini. The road surface at parts of Col de Turini needs to be redone, but overall it was a nice drive. Unfortunately, since it’s below tree line, the views aren’t always up to par with the alpine passes, and it’s near impossible to take any good pictures of the road. Oh yea, did I mention we almost front ended a bus? That was fun. I was surprised it had taken this long for a near miss given all the blind hair pins throughout the trip. Fortunately, we both were driving sensibly/slowly and I had CCB’s, instantly bringing my car to a stop. If I had the regular M brakes, we would have all been dead. ;P I kid.
These roads were also a pretty good drive, because you could actually carry some decent speed in places.
Col de Turini
The sign for Route de Grandes Alpes
We easily made it to Menton, where we stayed at Hotel Napoleon. Above average place, but probably the best in the area. They have secure parking, which was my primary criteria. Found this little guy in the parking outside the hotel.
We had booked dinner at Mirazur that night (Sam Pellegrino Top 50 World Restaurants, #11
Mirazur), which was another highlight of the trip. Local ingredients, many picked that day from their private garden, coupled with typical fall flavors of squash, game, truffle… Just fantastic. Top ten meals of my life, which says a lot.
Mais oui, my bouche is most amused !
Sweet breads? Bien sur ! Neither sweet, nor bread. But glorious.
I think my brain blew all its dopamine on this dish: White truffle, game bird (forgot which, I was too drunk by now), foie gras, barley
Have many more food pics, but didn’t want to bore the forum with more. PM me if interested :P