SuperDave's Adventures in Eastern France's Wine Country COMPLETE!! 6/13 - Page 18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
We got home Saturday night late. I haven't started the TR yet as I'm working on photos.
Looking forward immensely to the TR! It's a lot of work with photos and notes etc. as we both know, but will be worth it!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
Thanks! It was enjoyable to say the least! One of the best I had on my trip!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Thanks. It was a real good one and a gem of a place!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Well, today begins my final week in France! Not too sad as I have six whole nights ahead of me! Today was a another travel and bus day as we'd be leaving Beaune and Burgundy country for the French Alps and the ski town of Chamonix. The first Winter Olympics were held here back in 1924.
The Beaune area is not mountainous like Chamonix in any way and it's amazing how much the terrain can change in just over three hours driving time!
Got up at around 7 am and had breakfast downstairs shortly after at around 7:30 a.m. It was pretty much my standard one for this trip in orange juice, coffee , croissant and a yogurt. We'd be leaving at about 8:45 a.m for Chamonix and the French Alps. This would be quite a change from the wine country of Beaune.
After breakfast, I checked my room to make sure I had everything and brought my bags outside to a small alley near the courtyard, where all our bags would be kept until we walked to our bus. Walked around town a bit a little more and checked things out a bit. It was actually drizzling a bit this morning and a bit cool.
At about 8:40 we gathered our bags and walked a few minutes to our bus, which was parked on the wide ring road in town. There isn't much room for buses to park on some of the narrower streets in town, so this is what you have to do. Not a big deal.
At 8:50 a.m. we began our trip and headed for Chamonix. On the way there, our director Toni played some French country music on the trip as well as some selections by notable French singer Edith Piaf. Never heard French country music before. Now that is something, I wouldn't have expected! It wasn't bad either.
Made a highway rest stop at about 10:40 a.m. about 90 miles from Chamonix. Not much change in the terrain of the area yet. It will change quite drastically shortly. Had a double espresso from an automated machine, which was quite good!
After, spending twenty minutes at the rest area, we left for Chamonix at about 11 a.m. Along the way we passed along the outskirts of Lake Geneva and the Switzerland border. It was quite pretty in this area. Tried taking some photos, but as the bus was moving at a good rate of speed, they didn't come out all that well.
As we got closer to Chamonix the terrain did change quite drastically suddenly as it became more hilly and lots of snow capped mountains were appearing. We also traveled through numerous tunnels along the way. Some of the views were quite spectacular and soon we were arriving in Chamonix at just before 1 p.m.
We took a short walking tour of Chamonix and Toni just pointed a number of things out in town such as ATMs, cafes and where to take the lifts to Mount Blanc from. Chamonix is not a big area and most of it is concentrated on the main drag and a few side streets in about a mile or so area. Quite compact and typical of a ski town. Today actually marks the end of the ski season in Chamonix and the town was quite crowded. It would change quite drastically tomorrow as many businesses and cafes would start to shut down for the season! Not to worry as their is still plenty to chose from.
There were a lot of nice views of the snow capped mountains from the center of town. The town center is actually at quite a high elevation at 1,035 metres or about 3,400 feet. That's just over a kilometer or 2/3 of a mile, so it's quite up there.
Still quite a bit of snow on the mountains in May.
Next, we were given an hour or so for lunch. We'd then meet and make the short walk to our bus, grab our bags and walk to the hotel.
On the main drag in Chamonix, there was plenty of restaurants and cafes to chose from. Although, there was plenty of outdoor seating, few people were dining outside as it was probably only in the low 50's and partly cloudy. You couldn't quite see the top of Mount Blanc as it was obscurred a bit by cloud cover. Still, some nice views of it.
I walked the town a bit and decided on a restaurant in the town center. Quite a nice walking area with many restaurants lined on both sides of the street.
Very top of the main street in Chamonix
Just a bit farther down.
Went to lunch at Le National Restaurant. There were quite a few people in here, but not overly busy. I started off with some bread, water and a glass of Chardonnay, While, I was waiting for my entree to arrive there were four people at a table about 15 feet away from me. All of a sudden one of them accidentally knocks over the fondue pot that was on the table! It was a bit scary as the pot is on a flame based burner. There was some flames on the table, but some of the restaurant staff were quite fast and put it out quite rapidly! Could have been worse and made my lunch that much more interesting! Glad everything turned out ok and a great heads up on the staff.
Shortly after, my entree arrived. It was frog legs in a garlic cream sauce. They were quite good, but took a lot of work as I had to eat them by hand and were quite messy with the sauce. Even more so than bbq spare ribs! I really had to wash up some after this meal!
After my lunch at around 2:30 pm our group gathered near by to walk to the bus, get our luggage and walk to the hotel.
My hotel in Chamonix
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Checked into Hotel L'Arve at around 2:45 p.m. The rooms are configured strangely as the numbers don't correspond to a particular floor. I was on the third floor in room 41. It had a hallway that meandered like a maze and took a bit of getting used too. The elevator was quite a bit away from my room, so I felt it was easier to used the stairs.
The hotel is quite nice, with a small bar in the lobby and a lounge here and another one in the next room as well, which also included a pc, which I used to check my emails etc. for no charge.
I checked into my room on the third floor which was quite nice. It had a nice balcony, which overlooked the rushing Arve River below. I would spend quite a bit of time here, over the next couple of nights with a great view and sounds of the river!
Views from hotel room balcony and the Arve River. The sort of blue/grayish color of the water is due to that the water flows into here from the glaciers in the mountains.
A couple more views from my hotel room balcony!
At around 4 pm, I walked into townto get some photos, get a feel for this nice town and check out the shops.
Like the above one with the church and the alps behind it!
While walking along the main street in town, decided to go into a cafe and have an expresso. It was mainly a bar as I may have the only one in here not having some sort of alcohol drink. Many of the bars, restaurants and cafes in town are owned and staffed with mostly British it seems. Not sure of the reason, but may have to do with being a ski resort and the English language. Perhaps, someone here could supply the reasoning behind this?
Did more walking in town and looked through many of the different shops. Not really, looking for souvenirs or anything, but just want to see what they have. I did go into a small market and picked up a bottle of red Savoie Mondeuse, which is a medium red, which is produced not far from here. Did some more walking and just checking out the incredible views of the French Alps and Mount Blanc in town.
More great views of the alps, especially the above one with the mist of the clouds!
Got back to the hotel around 5:45 pm. A few from my group were in the adjacent lounge just relaxing and some having a glass of wine. I decided to have a glass of the wine I got in town, before we'd head out into town for dinner at around 7 pm and hang out and relax with a few of my France companions. We had a good time and the wine I just picked up was quite enjoyable.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 10-27-2013 at 03:47 PM..
The scenery certainly has changed! Both types of terrain are beautiful, but the air changes when you're in the mountains and it always feels so good. It's so odd when hotel room numbers don't have anything to do with the floor they're on. They do that at BLT also and I'm always pressing the wrong elevator button!
The scenery certainly has changed! Both types of terrain are beautiful, but the air changes when you're in the mountains and it always feels so good. It's so odd when hotel room numbers don't have anything to do with the floor they're on. They do that at BLT also and I'm always pressing the wrong elevator button!
Just amazes me how much the terrain has changed throughout my trip! This is a country that is the size of Texas. The room thing was a bit odd and just took a while to get used to.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
You're right about the change in scenery. That was scary at lunch - I guess the staff in there have to deal with that from time to time, so obviously knew how to handle it.
You're right about the change in scenery. That was scary at lunch - I guess the staff in there have to deal with that from time to time, so obviously knew how to handle it.
Wasn't expecting that during lunch. A bit entertaining, but not the type I was expecting!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Great pictures from Chamonix! What a beautiful area!
Glad you're enjoying the photos of Chamonix. The scenery is amazing! The photos will even get better, so stay tuned!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Beautiful pictures of Chamonix and Mount Blanc! I couldn't help thinking of Frankenstein during this update. While trying to clear his mind Victor travels to Chamonix and climbs Mount Blanc only to discover his monster has found refuge in a cave in the mountains. I had a powerpoint that I used to give my students a concept of this area. Your pictures would have made a good addition to this if I were still teaching.
Beautiful pictures of Chamonix and Mount Blanc! I couldn't help thinking of Frankenstein during this update. While trying to clear his mind Victor travels to Chamonix and climbs Mount Blanc only to discover his monster has found refuge in a cave in the mountains. I had a powerpoint that I used to give my students a concept of this area. Your pictures would have made a good addition to this if I were still teaching.
Didn't know that about Frankenstein. Been a long time, since I've seen the original movie!
As much as you like the pictures now....well....enough said!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Not too sad as I have six whole nights ahead of me! 
, croissant and a yogurt. We'd be leaving at about 8:45 a.m for Chamonix and the French Alps. This would be quite a change from the wine country of Beaune. 
It was a bit scary as the pot is on a flame based burner. There was some flames on the table, but some of the restaurant staff were quite fast and put it out quite rapidly! 
Glad everything turned out ok and a great heads up on the staff. 
That was scary at lunch - I guess the staff in there have to deal with that from time to time, so obviously knew how to handle it. 
Been a long time, since I've seen the original movie! 
Hybrid Mode
