The White Cliffs Of Dover

Casey writes:

We knew that we only had four days to get from Marseille to Calais in order to catch the ferry to London. And so began our manic sightseeing frenzy which covered Nice, Monaco, Turin, Zermatt, Troyes and Reims.

It was absolutely pouring rain when we disembarked the ferry in Marseille. Our small umbrellas were fairly useless in shielding us AND all our bags from the wet, so we made a beeline for the car hire outlet from where we picked up the car that would be our transport for the next four days.

Arriving in Nice (still in the pouring rain) we discovered that the hostel we had booked which had advertised that it provided car parking, in fact did not. An hour and a half later, and a massive fee, and we finally secured an underground carpark in the middle of the city for the night. The grumpy half an hour walk back to the hostel in the rain wasn't my favourite moment of the trip!

We debated whether visiting Monaco was worth it. Of course it was! But was it worth another thirty minute walk through the teeming rain, combined with waiting at the bus stop for another twenty minutes? Yes! We travelled the short distance by bus along the coast as the sun was setting (at least I think it was setting behind the dense grey clouds, because it suddenly got dark), and arrived in Monaco in time for dinner. Well, we would have eaten dinner if we could have afforded it. The restaurants were well out of our price range, and had it not been pelting rain, we perhaps would have walked on until we found something more affordable. Instead, we opted to share an ice cream sundae (which, mind you, was still out of our price range), which tasted absolutely awesome, but also made us freezing cold given that we were still soaking wet from the rain. We tried to enter the Grand Casino, but the security guard took one look at us in our grubby wet clothes, identified us as backpackers instead of highflying gamblers, and we were 'encouraged' to visit the poor man's casino next door instead. Suffice to say, we didn't become millionaires by playing the pokies. But our fleeting visit to Monaco was certainly memorable.

Upon returning from Monaco, our short time in Nice was pleasant, mainly because the rain had finally stopped! We ambled through the old town and had a couple of drinks and photo stops, before collapsing into bed near midnight.

Up early the next morning, we headed out of France, and drove into Italy, enroute to the city of Turin. There was no official border crossing, and we only knew we'd crossed countries when the road signs started appearing in Italian (oh, and that it suddenly magically stopped raining). Once in Turin, our goal was to find San Giovanni Cathedral which houses the 'Shroud of Turin', and equally as importantly, to eat lunch. The cathedral was very pretty, and, although the shroud is rarely on display, we admired the replica and learned a lot from the information that was provided. The shroud was last on display in 2010 and will next be on public display for a couple of months in 2015 (who knows, we might make it back then). Lunch was an obligatory pizza before we headed back on the road, bound for Zermatt.

My goodness, Switzerland is stunning! Driving into the Swiss Alps, I had my eyes on the scenery as much as I did the road. The mountains took our breath away, and every kilometre we travelled had a mountainous landscape more beautiful than the previous. We stayed the night in Tasch, a small village with gorgeous old lodges, set in the middle of the mountain range. We had chosen this location as a launching point to get to Zermatt to view the Matterhorn. By dusk, it was zero degrees, a far cry from the 45+ degrees temperatures we were enduring only days earlier in Tunisia.

Zermatt itself is fantastic as well. A ski village for the incredibly cashed up people of the world, we couldn't justify staying overnight, but it was from here that we took a series of cable cars up to just below 4000m, to stand practically face to face with the Matterhorn. Words can't describe this mystical mountain that I have only previously seen pictures of in books. It is stunningly beautiful, and its unique shape means that it dominates the skyline, despite not being much taller than the surrounding peaks. We could see Mt Blanc in the distance, and we could have admired the panoramic views all day, if it wasn't so viciously cold! We were blessed with clear blue skies, making for some excellent photographs of the region.

Leaving Switzerland after only a brief 24 hour stint, we drove back into France and stayed the night in a lovely quaint town called Troyes. It was dark when we arrived, so our only activity for the night was to eat dinner and go to bed. We found a great little restaurant in the old town, housed in a building that was built in the 1400s. We couldn't leave France without eating the local cuisine, so my dinner consisted of escargot in garlic butter, and a plate of cheese, while Richard opted for tripe sausage. We wouldn't normally reach for a plate of snails, pork stomach and intestines, but hey, we were in France! And they were actually very tasty.

Our final day of driving through France took us through Reims. We thoroughly enjoyed the Notre Dame Cathedral (where many a French king was coronated), Palais du Tau and St Remi Basilica. We also perused the wine shops and emerged with an obligatory bottle of French champagne (you kind of have to when you're in the region of Champagne!)

Arriving in Calais in the late afternoon, we drove past an incredibly large gathering of African migrants attempting to secure a ferry passage to England while being monitored by a contingency of surrounding police. A few months ago we were laughing that the media was sensationalising this illegal immigrant issue, but now we are not so sure, as it did appear to be a very real and prominent situation in Calais. We returned the hire car safely and made it easily to our accommodation before dark. A short walk through Calais to admire the world heritage listed Beffroi de Calais (bell tower of the town hall), and a final French meal (and glass of champagne), before retiring to our hotel for our final night of our trip.

And finally, the moment arrived... early the next morning we boarded the ferry bound for Dover, and watched the white cliffs grow bigger and bigger in the distance. Our passage into England was seamless (the long tiring walk to the Dover train station wasn't), but we enjoyed our final train ride before emerging two hours later at Charing Cross Station in the heart of London. We were met by our friends Rosie and Gareth, who helped to make our arrival all the more significant. We were also met by heavy rain that set in for the entire afternoon (I would not have wanted to arrive in London any other way!) To Richard's delight, we ended up at a Wetherspoon's pub for lunch and drinks, before an extremely brief sight-seeing walk through London to Westminster station. 

Mission accomplished! What an amazing feeling! Nearly 70,000 kilometres and 31 countries, without a single flight.

And so our amazing journey has come to an end. We have learnt so much about the world, about ourselves, and about the basics of human nature. We have thousands of memories and have made many new friends. Now, London awaits, and we can start planning our next adventure, whatever that may be!