Friday, October 8, 2010.
Driving to Nice, today. Plan is to take the highway to near St. Tropez, visit there, and then the coastal road to Nice. We got to St. Tropez, walked around a bit, oogled the mega-yachts (which make it so that you can’t see the water from your café, but good people watching…). Sat at a café and had lunch. And yes, a bottle of Rose.
Then we started driving on the coastal road. Pretty enough, but even before we hit Cannes, we were done with the coastal road. Back on the highway to Nice. Arrived in Nice, and our hotel was easy to find as it was on the Promanade de Anglais (at the end, near the old city). Check in, and because my hubby travels too much and uses Starwood a lot, we got an upgraded room at Le Meridien Nice. OMG! We have this great room with this huge bed…bigger than our king at home…on the top floor with a huge balcony with lounge chairs and a partial view of the sea. The bed faces out the floor to ceiling windows/doors which run along the whole side of the room. I’m a person that likes it pitch black to sleep in, but I had to leave the curtains open all night to see the view over the city towards the airport and sea (besides, we were higher up than anybody, so privacy wasn’t an issue).
Strolled outside
Thursday, October 7, 2010
We drove to Cassis today. It is a cute little port town on the Mediterranean Sea. For once, we just had takeout paninis and no wine at lunch! Reason? Cuz after lunch we hiked to the Calanques close to Cassis. We got to the second one before turning around…it was about an hour there, and the hike was probably harder than when we hiked in the Cinque Terre in 2007, as the stones were loose and slippery (they’re limestone), vs. dirt and rocks. The Cinque Terre was a longer hike, though, and we were dead the next day (did the whole 5 towns in one day…).
Anyway, the water was beautiful, and some people were actually swimming in it. Temps were in the mid 70s, but remember the wind? Not swimming myself, thank you…but did get my feet in long enough to get this picture…
Afterwards, we didn’t have time to go back to Aix to clean up and change before dinner, so a quick splash of water and a change of clothes and off to Marseille we went to meet an old aupair of ours, Anne, and her boyfriend. Michael and I walked around a little bit before meeting Anne, and weren’t that impressed with the city. It did have not 1, but 2 Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese places within 3 blocks, and a bunch of African and Middle Eastern type restaurants. Apparently Marseille has a large immigrant population. Anne joked that the second language in Marseille is French…Anyway, I had been dying to have bouillabaisse where it originated, so Anne found us a restaurant that made it. Very good, but they didn’t debone the fish very well…Michael got us a good bottle of Cotes du Rhone, though.
It was great seeing Anne, and her boyfriend is really nice. He obviously cares for her a great deal, and seems to have a great head on his shoulders. He is currently in the French Navy, working on Nuclear Submarines. He is hoping to take that experience and work in the nuclear medicine field when he retires….he’s got a ways to go, though, as he is only 25. Anne also told us that the car we were given at the rental place (Dacia) is a dump. Worse than Renault. Sure feels like it is going to fall apart at any minute, but it is getting us around. We were supposed to get a VW Golf or similar…
On the drive back to Aix, the highway is closed and we are re-routed. Great. I have NO idea where we are, nor where we are going. Oh, and at this point, I am really tired of the lack of street signs in cities. And don’t say get a GPS…Anne had one and got lost. I at least was able to get us there using google maps and my trusty map. Anyway,*IF* street signs exist, they are on the corner of a building, and not on every corner. My neck has been contorted is so many different directions trying to find out what damn street we are on! So we have been getting honked at quite a bit cuz we have no earthly idea where we are. Now, because of the highway being closed, we are lost and I have no idea where! Luckily, we end up in Aix, and from there we just keep going round and round in various traffic circles until we see a street sign that we want to take. Then to the next traffic circle to go around it a few times till we figure out where we want to go…kinda like Laurel and Hardy. I’m liking these traffic circles for that. Oh, and the day we got to Aix, we ended up driving through what I am pretty sure is a pedestrian only section…WHERE ARE THE EFFING STREET SIGNS??? And google maps is zero help. For example…left on Avenue X, slight right to stay on Avenue X…then right on Avenue Y. So I’m looking for the street to bear right…nope…and of course, since there is no street signs, we are lost, and missed the turn for Avenue Y. After 6 days, I have finally figured out that when google maps says slight right, it means ignore google maps and go straight! Google maps puts way too many details in their directions. Whatever happened to stay on Ave. X for z miles to a right on Ave. Y? Simple. We did finally make it home.
In France’s defense, Italy is the same way (with the street signs on buildings…).
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Up early and off to visit some hill towns in the Luberon region of Provence. First stop is Village des Bories outside of Gordes. This is a whole village of stone huts like the one we saw the other day. People actually lived in them up until the 18th century. It is believed that this particular village was inhabited from the 16th – 18th century. The only thing holding up the stone roofs is stones. They had to lay the stones in a certain way to make sure the roof didn’t cave in. Genius.
Then to Gordes, where we walked around the cute little town and got some coffee.
Then we drove to Rousillon, where we had lunch overlooking the valley. Across the valley one can see the red clay that gives the town its color (houses are various shades of red, with blue shutters, quite pretty). Another bottle of Rose…
Then we drove to Aix, stopping along the way at Pont St. Julien, a bridge constructed from 27 BC to 14 AD and still used until 2005 for vehicular traffic! A new bridge is now used, but the old bridge is still used for bikers and hikers.
Arriving in Aix, we check into our hotel and then go out to explore the city. Very pretty city, it is a university town. We stop at a café on a square and get a ½ carafe of rose…Michael has his one and only conference call here, then off to stroll the city and find a place for dinner.
We ended up at an Italian place. We were the only ones in it for a long time. Another note to self…don’t eat at places that are empty. They are empty for a reason…nothing that a bottle of Chianti can’t fix, though…
Tuesday, October 5, 2010: Avignon & Les Baux
Drove to Avignon today. We managed to get there in time to take the walking tour given by the Tourist Information Center. It also included the Pope’s Palace, and was 11 Euros a piece. There were only 5 other people with us, which I liked. I try to usually get private tours as I find that I don’t get much out of group tours. I especially only get private tours when we are traveling with the kids. This one was good for its price, and since it is off season, the group was small. We saw this original marble carving depicting the Passion of Christ by in (church name). A copy was later installed in the Pope's Palace.
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Cool clock tower on top of city hall. We all wondered if the boy and girl went around (like some coo-coo clocks). Nope. Apparently, the girl used to ring the gong, but she didn't for us. :-(
After the tour, we did a walk suggested by my buddy Rick, and then tried to find a place for lunch. Michael really wanted to be in the thick of the action, so we did like tourists and ate at one of the eateries in the Plaza outside the Pope’s Palace. Late again, and the waiter…well…let’s see…I would describe him as what most Americans…wrongly, by the way…think of as “French.” Not pleasant at all, definitely no plat du jour, and when I asked for a panini, he told me “non possible.” Salad or sandwich that didn’t need to be cooked. I was able to get carpaccio and frites…Michael got spaghetti pesto…don’t know why he was able to get that, and don’t frites need to be cooked? Also, said that there were no half bottles of Rose…so we got a full bottle…and saw people after us getting half bottles…oh, well, a bottle of vino makes everything better!
Left there and went to Les Baux, a ruined Medieval Castle up on a Rock. Very cool. So I go in, trying to follow the tour, and Michael, like Pavlov’s dog, heads straight for the Medieval Weapons of Mass Destruction…um, what about this church we just passed??? Various sizes of catapults (all with different names, but basically all throwing a rock or rocks some distance at the enemy), some of which took 20 people to operate, and some of which the women operated! Yeah for us! Oh, and a battering ram…
So the story goes that Les Baux
Then back for a nap and dinner.
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