The first part is here.
After lunch we came around past Turin on the bypass and west toward the long Fréjus tunnel. Signs warned us that there was a backup leading up to the tunnel, which is something you just have to expect; maybe even more with Mont Blanc’s tunnel closed. It seemed to us that some sort of accident had caused the backup, because at one point an ambulance came up from behind. But even after an obstruction is cleared, it takes time to get the backup through, since cars have to go at a reduced speed and at wide intervals.
I think we sat in the traffic jam for… hm, ninety minutes? Sixty? Simon got impatient but I felt positive. Once we got to the tollbooth it was smooth sailing.
Out of it again, though, and it was mountain driving. I am permitted to drive the car here, we paid for the supplemental driver, but I think neither Mark nor I wanted me driving it in the mountains. I hate mountain driving even in good weather and in my own car, let alone this behemoth in the rain. Mark drove, and I was confident in his abilities on the well-maintained and just-wide-enough twisty roads through the gorges, but I heard some alarmed mutterings and a couple of “Yikes!” from the driver’s seat.
The gorges were, uh, gorgeous but very twisty, and Simon was carsick into a sturdy plastic grocery bag we had given him just in case. We complemented him on his fortitude and presence of mind, and drove on. Leo helped him find something to clean his face with. Part of a cardboard box, I think. Eventually we emerged into a town still decorated with flags from, I think, when the Tour de France came through.
That’s most of the remaining adventure from yesterday, I think. More adventure later today, and also some tomorrow; then perhaps work.
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