The Grass IS Greener

Leaving the Alsace, we're heading south through Switzerland, where we're planning on staying a night in the Alps.  once we hit the border, the scenery changes.  (But first--we have to buy a pass that allows to drive in Switzerland for a year-----for $40----even thouh we're not going to be there for 24 hours)  The landscape goes from the farm fields in France to the greenest fields that rival Ireland. Then, we notice the livestock,  huge cattle, goats, and sheep, all with the traditional bell around their necks.  When we slow, we open the window and hear a symphony............

We have a choice of driving over the Alps or taking a car train though them, which is my preference.   It's the coolest thing-------you pay your money, get in line, much like the ferries at home, and then you drive onto specially designed train cars that you park on.  Then, you take off thought the darkest tunnel you can imagine, at a speed that you can't fathom, all whicle sitting in your car listening to a book on tape.  Twenty minutes later, you end up on the other side of the Alps, in a beautiful valley between the Swiss Alps and Italian Alps.  Our plan is to spend a night in a small village-----which turns out to be an ugly city, so we head over the Simplon pass, one of my favorite drives, and head to Stresa on Lake Maggiore for the night.  We stayed at the same hotel we were in about 20 - 25 years ago, right across from the Lake.  Had dinner and hit the rack.  Breakfast was nondescript, and we headed to Liguria on the Italian Riviera.  The plan was couple of days there, but the weather was questionable so we headed on to Antibbes to find a place to stay.  (This was our first ad lib of the trip and it wasn't much fun.  It was a Sunday, the town was crowded, the TI was closed and it seemed hopeless.)  So we headed up the road ten miles to Cannes to stay there..........no such luck...........there was a HUGE television convention with companies like HBO, Showtime, Nat'l Geo and the like-----------from ALL over the world.  the cheapest room we could find was over $300 a night so we headed to Nice.