We visited a couple of stunning places in the French Alpes in our camping car. To get there, we travelled on the motorways where the speed limit was 130km/hr. We loved the tunnels under the mountains where the speed limit was reduced to 110km/hr. These tunnels are not new, and the engineering involved in them is phenomenal.
Tunnels under the French Alpes
Aix-les-Bains
We visited Aix-les-Bains which was a little village with a great camping car place right across the road from the lake. The water was crystal clear and quite warm (ish). We didn’t go swimming because we are completely soft Australians who wouldn’t dream of entering the water unless it’s about 25 degrees. Also, why would you swim in a body of water where there is absolutely no chance of being eaten by a shark or a croc or stung by a jellyfish? Where’s the fun in that?
Aix-les-Bains
There were plenty of restaurants to choose from in Aix-les-Bains right on the waterfront. I ordered a local specialty called Tartiflette. For anyone who has ever said “why can’t potato bake be a whole meal?” then this dish is for you!
Annecy
We also visited Annecy which is a very popular tourist spot – and you can see why. The town is very beautiful and sits right on the lake at the foot of the Alpes.
Beautiful Annecy
Continuing our food theme from above (and why not – food is an integral part of the France experience) we ordered our first and no doubt last fondue. Here’s Ivan all gung-ho at the start.
But the fondue beat us. We couldn’t finish it and we both ended up in a cheese-induced coma for about 10 hours afterwards. Who knew that eating about 1kg of cheese in one sitting wouldn’t go down so well? I mean, my body is hardly a temple, but I won’t be going there again.
Once we’d recovered the next day we took a walk around the countryside where we saw the happiest looking cows. Their bells sounded like music.
English 
French