We counted weeks, then days, and now we are counting hours…
Only 48 hours are left and then once again we set off for France on a summer touring trip of southern and western regions of this country. A short visit to Poland will be an added bonus.
Our summer holidays this year are divided into 3 stages: a 4-day stay in Antibes on the French Riviera, a 10-day stay at Les Grand Bornand in Haute Savoie and a 3-day stay in Poland. Our means of transport: a car – most convenient when you travel with a 7 year old.
Family meeting in the Alps
It all started when we planned a trip to the Alps. Actually, the trip was planned by Kasia’s family. Kasia has got four siblings, including two older sisters that are twins (one of them lives in Germany, the other one in the Netherlands), a younger sister and a younger brother (both living in London). So such family meetings in an independent territory are becoming our tradition. We didn’t want to let this tradition die, so we decided to start our holidays 4 days earlier in southern France. And on top of that, there’s also our cousin’s wedding in Poland. This year’s holidays are going to be real fun, as every part of the trip meets our various needs.
French Riviera
Antibes – it obviously stands for 3xS (Sun, Sand and Sea), though for us it also means discovering and getting to know the next bit of the French Riviera. During our previous stays there, we focused on the most popular tourist destinations on the Cote d’Azur, such as St. Tropez, Saint Maxime, Cannes, Nice, Monaco and Menton. We absolutely fell in love with Nice, a city where we quickly started to feel at home, spending long hours on Cours de Saleya, which became a fixed point on our agenda every time we stayed in the capital of southern France.
Then, there came the time for pearls like Antibes, Villefranche sur Mer, Saint-Raphaël and Cap d’Ali. Secluded beaches, picturesque coves and orange sunsets with a glass of pink wine in your hand. Is it going to work out? I hope so.
What the Alps mean to us?
And we treat the Alpine part of the trip somewhat like getting back to our roots. To mountain hiking, breathtaking sceneries, lunch at the summit you’ve just climbed and, finally, legs aching after long hours of walking. And one of the best feelings you know only if you’re an avid walker, when, after an active day, you finally sit down, have a well deserved rest and start discussing and planning the next expedition over a cup of tea, coffee or a drink. Our love for mountains has a long history, although as Jasio was born we replaced our summer mountaineering expeditions with skiing trips to Alpine slopes. It’s somehow easier for our 7-year-old Jan to spend six days skiing than go on a 6-hour mountain trip in the summer. So, a trip to the mountains will mark an official initiation of summer mountain trips for Jan.
After 5-days of our stay in Les Grand Bornand, my mom, who will fly to Lyon, will join our family gathering. After another 5 days spent in the mountains, all four of us will head for Poland for the wedding I’ve mentioned. The route is going to be really picturesque and exciting as usual – through Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and a short drive through Bavaria.
Travelling back to the UK
An overnight stay in the area of Kreuth, Bavaria will be a highlight on our way to Poland (and then further, to the UK), where we’ll visit the cemetery of Allies in Bad Tölz, where my grandfather’s brother (my mother’s uncle) was buried. As a pilot and a RAF captain, he died in a plane crash in 1942, when his plane crashed on the southern slopes of the Blauberge massif. This will be the first visit of my mother at the foot of that mountain and on the grave of her uncle. It’s a surprise – hopefully a really unexpected one, just like a real surprise.
