Dad & Daughter in France: Food, ice-cream, views, and some travel drama!
I returned earlier this week from a father-daughter week in France with my elder daughter. A perfect follow up to my post on equanimity, because my ability to maintain equanimity was definitely put to the test in that we first nearly didn’t make it there, and then nearly didn’t make it back, eventually returning two days late. You can imagine the horror of having to be stuck in France for an extra two days. Zut alors! as my daughter would prefer me not to say.
I’ll share the drama at the end, but first a photo-heavy (warning this is a long photo-essay) look at some of the highlights of the trip. Dad-daughter trips are the absolute best, even if the dads can really infuriate the daughters at times!
In a perfect start, as we pushed back from the gate at SFO, what should come rolling past but the aircraft we were supposed to be flying on to Frankfurt - D-ABYQ, a gorgeous Lufthansa 747-8i.
Disappointing not to be on that plane, but great to be able to drool over it instead. The real fun though, was in our departure from SFO, which thanks to the weather conditions was an extremely unusual one - taking off from runway 19R, which requires a nice sharp left turn after departure to avoid colliding with the mountains.
Great views of the SQL airport as we made that quick left turn - runway 30 there being the only one that I’ve ever landed at (well, approached - wasn’t allowed to do the landing).
We had a few hours to kill at LAX, and spent it wandering through several terminals, gawking at a few airplanes, and cycling through all the lounges we had access to via credit cards, priority pass, and airline status. Highlight for me was definitely my pre-flight snack which included this chocolate chip skillet cookie with ice-cream
After that, time to board HB-JNB, our nearly 8 year old Swiss 777-300ER bound for Zurich
Pretty uneventful flight during which I manage to read a little of AB de Villiers’ autobiography and watch a cricket movie that actually turned out slightly better than expected. Slightly. Not quite “I watched it so you didn’t have to",” to be fair.
With a little under 2 hours in Zurich, there was time to use that airline status to get into the excellent Swiss Senator lounge, with binocular-assisted runway views, and an incredible all-you-can-drink whisky bar at which I did not partake.
And then more good news - a bus gate! People dread these, but I love them, because it means a ride across the tarmac, lots of great plane-spotting, and a chance to take pictures from ground level of your own ride. Which in this case was an E190 operated by Helvetic Airways, a new airline for me, and the 84th carrier I have flown with!
Onwards to Nice, and our cozy hotel - the Mercure Centre Nice Grimaldi. It served its purpose well as a base from which we could traipse all over town, though be warned that if you’re fearful of clowns or anything approximating them, you may not want to stay here given the bizarre artwork in the rooms (of which I failed to take a picture, sorry).
We hadn’t realized that it was Carnival time in Nice so it was a pleasant (?) surprise to stumble across this all-encompassing float that went round in circles while music from every movie you see pictured was played.
Blessed with stunning weather (well, Côte d'Azur, duh!) we enjoyed some fabulous Socca whilst enjoying the sun and lapping waters.
We then opted not to partake in this likely execrable offering we spotted in the shops (the one next to it doesn’t look a whole lot better either)…
… instead opting for a cone from the ever-reliable Amorino as a pre-dinner aperitif (Mango sorbet, salted caramel, and chocolate pictured)
Dinner was local cuisine at Lou Balico. I had a gnocchi with daube (a meat stew, forgot to take a photo) after we shared a vegetarian platter (excellent ratatouille, mediocre everything else). The highlight though was the absolutely outstanding tourte de blettes for dessert. A new one for me - a dessert tart made with swiss chard. Okay, it’s not quite Tavuk Göğüsü Kazandibi in terms of far out desserts (if you’re vegetarian, look it up, but if you’re not, have some before you find out what it is, as my old classmate Ali once had me do), but definitely not expected.
Next stop was Annecy, which I have to admit I knew little about, and was really pleasantly surprised by (after the 6 hour drive through incessant rain to get there, that is). Annecy, as I discovered, is known as the ‘Venice of the Alps’ and it was appropriately beautiful - the canals, the lake, and the old town with its cobblestone streets. We were also fortunate (?) enough to once again stumble upon Carnival time, and also a farmer’s market on the Friday and a borderline bizarre flea market on the Saturday.
The farmer’s market took care of brunch nicely, with some fantastic cheese tastings and the real star, a hummus stall that I only wish I could have wrapped up and brought home with me. So many varieties and each was just better than the previous.
And of course, we had to visit the Glacier des Alpes, noted as one of the finest purveyors of ice-cream in France. I haven’t tried all the ice-cream in France (yet) but this had to be up there. I went for mango and salted caramel, and in a move that made me a loyalist for life, they offered a bonus scoop (which they do with every scoop) - I had the citron. Not pictured is the additional scoop of fresh raspberry sorbet that I borrowed from my daughter’s waffle cone. Yum!
While the ice-cream was amazing, the outstanding experience of our time in Annecy was the dinner we had at Nuance, un unassuming little restaurant in the old town. We opted for the vegetarian tasting menu, and it was all great, but they truly had me at "halloumi wellington” and locked me in for life with the following assertion on the menu:
DESSERT (par personne... Parce qu'un bon dessert, ça ne se partage pas !)
Talk about speaking straight to the core of my existence. This is a fundamental truth that I live by - good dessert is not to be shared. It is to be enjoyed selfishly.
Next up was the drive to Lyon via the backroads rather than the motorway, featuring a stop at Aix-les-Bains for a delectable tarte-au-citron, and another stop when my daughter excitedly noticed that we were passing by the confluence of the Rhône and Isère rivers.
And then, Lyon, which was supposed to be just a pit stop for catching our flight home, but turned into a 2-day bonus period with more great eats and some remarkably squally weather that had us pretty much in our hotel room one entire afternoon (got a lot of work done that day though, which was maybe a plus?).
Galettes and crêpes at Briezh Cafe, an outpost of a place we favour in Paris was the order of the first night. I had a the coquilles St Jacques (scallop) and many other things special galette, and we shared a local artisanal honey crêpe (for which my request for beaucoup de miel was not quite honoured) and a caramelized apple crêpe for dessert. All were excellent, as was my daughters avocado-tofu galette main course.
A dose of reality the next morning, as the unexpected extension to the trip meant I spent a couple of hours at this beautiful laundry (good bonus reading time!) while my daughter explored Lyon. As a friend pointed out, there’s good foodie dad joke fodder around my French Laundry experience.
We then headed over to the absolutely wonderful Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse - an outstanding food market that I really need to go back to to a few more times in order that I can try everything that appealed to me (most food does, so that’s a challenge at times!)
I’m not a drinker in general, but when in France - how can one not do cheese and wine followed by a delicious chocolate mousse cake with passionfruit coulis? Breakfast (brunch) of champions!
More traipsing around followed, and while not everything was open, it being a Sunday, Glacier Terre Adelice most certainly was, so who was I to not partake? Two fabulous flavours - the Yuzu sorbet (I’m a sucker for yuzu) and Miel-romarin de l’Ardeche (rosemary honey - from the rosemary flower, not infused).
Didn’t eat at this next place we came across, but if you’re ever looking for that authentic Pakistani street-food meal of a tandoori sandwich with fries and a drink, here’s where you can find it in the old town of Lyon!
And then, time to head home. First step, an evening flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa. And then next morning, the flight back home. And this one was a real doozy. Not only did we fly on a 747-8i, the most fabulous passenger aircraft every built, but we flew on the OG. D-ABYA was the first 747-8i to go into commercial service in 2012, and it proved a wonderful vehicle to bring us home.
One other highlight to mention - the departures board at FRA, which thankfully has been maintained and has not yielded to a giant screen. And also a picture which illustrates why I am unable to take Condor seriously as an airline.
A beautiful day as we approach San Francisco - stunning views of the bridges (eagle eyed local cricketers might be able to spot Piper Park in Larkspur, home of Marin Cricket Club), the city, my alma mater, and SLAC - it’s always bittersweet to come home from a vacation (of sorts) but wonderful to have a reminder of how fortunate we are to live by the bay.
For anyone who got this far, I did promise a recap of the drama with our flights. I’ll share it in bullet point form for brevity.
We were due to fly out on Monday the 19th and back on Tuesday the 27th of February. All booked with miles.
Changed our return to the 25th as I had to be in Denver for work for our annual sales kickoff
Tried to go via England leaving on the 16th to sneak in a visit to my daughter’s grandparents (yes, my parents) but couldn’t get the seats we wanted.
On Saturday the 17th, Lufthansa announced a strike that would result in our flight on the 19th not operating
Spent several hours on the phone with Lufthansa trying to get new flights, and they declined to accommodate us, telling me it was United’s problem.
After multiple calls to both Lufthansa and United, I eventually found an amazing agent at United, who had issued our mileage tickets, and she forced us onto an SFO-LAX-ZRH-NCE routing on the 19th, getting us in close to our intended time. There went Saturday, but at least we had a plan.
Our return was originally booked with a 7 hour flight from LYS-YUL (Lyon to Montreal), a 4 hour connection, and then a 6 hour flight from YUL-SFO getting us in late at night.
We found an option that got us back the afternoon of the 25th, so we switched to that. This was all using Air Canada Aeroplan points.
Then just before midnight on Thursday the 22nd I noticed on my Lufthansa app that the FRA-SFO segment was showing as cancelled. This was only in the app, but not on the website
Called Lufthansa, and they said there was no cancellation and it must be an error in the app. Asked them to double check, and they did and asserted the same thing.
Shortly after, I noticed that the flight status on the LH website was also showing the cancellation.
Called Lufthansa again, and was told there was no cancellation. I asked the agent to please look at the flight status on his own company’s website. He did, and put me on hold for 10 minutes to investigate. He came back and told me that he’d checked with everyone and every system and there was no cancellation.
The itinerary on the website did not show the cancellation at this point (though the flight status did, and the in-app itinerary did) so I accepted this.
No sooner did I hang up than the itinerary on the website flipped to cancelled.
So I called again, and they this time acknowledged that the flight was cancelled, but told me it was Air Canada’s problem. I pointed out that it’s actually the operating carrier’s problem, after which the agent told me that the flight from LYS-FRA (also on Lufthansa) was not cancelled, therefore it wasn’t Lufthansa’s problem (huh?). She was pretty livid so I just politely ended that call and tried again.
The next agent first said it was Air Canada’s problem again, but then decided she would help me look for flights. She looked, but then told me she could only find revenue seats, and I was on an award ticket so she couldn’t do anything for me.
So I called yet again, and finally found someone who was willing to help us. He was remarkably patient and thorough, and looked at all sorts of options before finding us seats on the 27th, leaving Lyon at 6am. When I asked if he had anything out of Lyon the night before so that we could overnight in Frankfurt rather than have to wake up at 3am to go to the airport, he sorted that out as well. He didn’t have to, but he did.
At this point it was nearly 4am and time to get a bit of sleep.
The next day, I called the US based hotline to try and get back earlier. The agent I spoke to there was very apologetic and said we should have been sorted out yesterday, but now there were no seats back on any routing, and we’d have to stick with what we had.
Lemons, and lemonade people. It should have been handled better, but none of the people I spoke to caused the cancellation, and nothing anyone could do would magically undo it. Absolutely no value in losing your cool over it, nor any value in letting your life be ruined as a result. Equanimity for the win, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel any stress or irritation!