Gelato

I've done extensive research and firmly believe that food tastes better when cooked by someone else. This is my primary motivator for not cooking. I like food. I like tasty food and I will just mess it up.

I need a new research project. Does food taste better in other countries than at home? I think I need to do some additional research on this, but I did come to that conclusion during my last trip abroad. I really like gelato. I don't eat ice cream at home. But I ate gelato every day when in Europe.

I drink more vine in France than at home.
I drink more beer in Britain than at home.
I eat more fish & chips in Britain than at home.

I guess...when in Rome..... I wonder what I will like better in Rome when I am there in September.

St. Tropez

St. Tropez is also in "the book" but I don't really know why. It isn't a beach town, but it does have a lovely port. It does have beaches, but they are several miles away.

St. Tropez is difficult to reach and not really worth the effort.

Lunch in Cannes

Cannes, France is home of the famed film festival, and the home of the Carlton Hotel. The Carlson was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief." The hotel is in "the book" so of course I went in for visit. It looks different than I expected based on the movie, but it is a very pretty hotel.


And the beach is much smaller than I expected. But, this was our best weather day of the entire trip so we ate lunch on the beach at a restaurant that Brad Pitt alledgedly ate at.

Bridges and Tunnels

We drove the Grande Corniche from Nice, over Monaco. We then drove through Menton, along the Mediterranean, to Italy. It was Andy and Jill’s first time in Italy – new country alert for them.

We found a Mediterranean café and had some proper Italian food – lasagna and spaghetti.

We decided to take the highway back to France. The A10 in Italy connects to the A8 in France. This road is a series of tunnels and bridges. Very high bridges! We never drove on normal road. It was an odd and unique experience. I admit to being anxious, probably because I wasn’t driving. And it was raining. I kept thinking of Princess Grace and her horrible death.

Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence - in "the book."

I was very conflicted on this one because I am a big fan of Rick Steves, and he said Aix is not a must see. It doesn’t have ruins, or significant museums. But it was a quaint town so we drove around, found a main thoroughfare and had a fabulous dinner.

Les Baux-de-Provence

Les Baux de Provence - in “the book.”

The very top part of Baux is known as the Dead City….ruins from long ago. It was very difficult for me to imagine living there – now or when it was built. I also can’t imagine how they built it. I think I can guess why they built here – easy to defend, and…..

The views in this area are breathtaking. But the wind was intense. Andy threw a rock and the wind brought it right back to him.

The lower part of Baux is a restored village filled with quaint shops and little restaurants. I did some shopping – hoping that part of the money I spend in places like this goes to helping keep it for future generations.

Baux is out of the way, but I am glad we made the trip.

Vincent Van Gogh was in a mental institution near here.

Arles Amphitheatre

Arles Amphitheatre - in “the book.”

It is pretty easy to find a huge coliseum / amphitheater / arena in a small French town. Arles has many Roman ruins, but the coliseum is the main feature. And…the ruins are in a compact area thereby limiting the amount of walking required.

The coliseum is being restored, but it is in really good shape considering its age. I am so amazed at what people built thousands of years ago without the technology we have today. The coliseum has many creepy, dark alcoves and hiding spots. I would not want to be there in the dark.

The other impressive ruin in Arles is the Ancient Theatre. The stage is now very modern, but most of the seating is original. Lying around the area are some of the original columns and other artifacts from Roman times.

Arles is also known as the city where Vincent van Gogh lived and worked near the end of his life. He apparently painted many of his masterpieces here, but the local museum does not have any original art; so we skipped it. Van Gogh was living in Arles when he went mad and cut off his ear.

We visited a local cathedral. It is not an ornate cathedral – pretty plain actually – except for the beautiful stained glass. One section of the cathedral contains boxes with remains. I saw a skull. I could have skipped this part.

Vieux Nice

Vieux Nice = Old Nice

In "the book."

This is the type of neighborhood where you want to get lost. Don't use a map. Just wander around and see where the winding streets take you. You can't really get lost because of the geography, so just go with the flow!

We walked through a market on the edge of Vieux Nice.



I stopped in a chuch that was built in 1640. I lit a candle there for the baby of a colleague. (This one's for you Kaylee Hope!)

I saw maybe a dozen art studio/stores. I love to buy from local, struggling artists. I didn't buy anything though because I saw too many beautiful things and couldn't decide.

I saw pretty fountains and was mooned by a pigeon who was bathing in one of them.


I ate passion fruit gelato.

I ate in a Dutch restaurant. (Yep, this was a bit strange in this part of France, but it was tasty.)


We climbed up to Castle Hill and saw beautiful panoramic views of the Mediterranean. We also stopped and played in a playground.

We saw a Shiba Inu as we were walking down the hill. He was just as stuck-up as my Shiba. I always miss my pup when I am traveling. (My prayer to all of the missing Shibas and humans in Japan.)

Mediterranean

I love the Mediterranean!

Yes, this is the entire post.

Boscolo Exedra hotel in Nice

I don't usually write posts about hotels that I stay in, but this one is special.

It is the biggest hotel room I've ever stayed in while in France.
There are benches in the elevators.
There is a spa in the hotel; with pool, sauna and steam room.
There is a pool table (billiards) in a room off of the lobby.
The door handle is a rose.
Bathroom has a bidet.
We have two balconies (ledges) - one off of the bathroom and one off of the main room.
We are four blocks (approx) from the Mediterranean.
We have four different fragrance options for bath products (shampoo, etc.)


This hotel allows dogs, so we also have a barking dog two doors down. I have a dog and love her to death. I like how much French people love their dogs, but I don't really like dogs barking in my hotel.

DH and Andy have their own room, which isn't quite as nice as ours. They only have one balcony; and their bathroom is separated from the main room by a curtain, not a door.

I think this hotel is in the top 2 of the nicest places I've ever stayed. Number 1 is still the Halekulani in Oahu, Hawaii.

Eze

Eze is a medieval town in France between Nice and Monaco. And, it is in "the book."

I applaud the courage and determination it must have taken all of those years ago to build this town on a cliff. What a huge challenge, but worth the view and location! It was cloudy when we arrived so we couldn't see the Mediterranean, but I can image what it should look like.

Eze reminded me of Mont Saint Michel - narrow, winding streets that were not built for high heels. I wasn't wearing high heels because I know better!

Eza had a really cool garden.


There are many cute, quaint little shops on/in Eze. I have mixed feelings about that part of tourism, on a site that is so important it was included in "the book." I suppose selling stuff to us tourists helps everyone here financially, but I didn't go to Eze to buy stuff.

My little rant - I was reminded in Eze of something about France that drives me crazy -- the lack of public restrooms. Very frustrating! But a very nice man who runs the Eze gas station (yep, there is only one) let me use his bathroom. We "rewarded" his generosity by buying a bottle of water from him that we didn't really need.

A change in plans

I like frequent flier miles. I use them to take international vacations with my family. By international I do NOT mean Canada. (Love my neighbor to the north, by the way.) I save my miles for as long as it take to get tickets to Europe and Japan.

I cashed in 180,000 miles nearly one year ago for three tickets to Tokyo. A friend woke me up Friday, March 11th (my birthday, by the way) to tell me there was an earthquake in Japan. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Japan has earthquakes - no big deal.

I woke up 30 minutes later and turned on the tv to watch the news. It was a huge deal! Narita airport was closed and tsunami warnings were issued for Hawaii.

I was sad. Sad first and foremost for those affected by this tragedy. And sad for me and my family. What was going to happen to our vacation? A trip we planned for nearly one year.

I've never tried to plan an international trip on short notice. It isn't as stressful as I anticipated. I checked major cities in Europe to see where we could go with the minimum number of Delta miles. I came up with London, Paris, Nice, Venice and Athens. I then checked the weather forecasts for all cities. I really wanted to go to Venice, until I learned it was supposed to rain every day. Every day.

We are going to Nice! The French Riviera isn't going to be warm enough for beach and swimming time, but we will still have fun.

Andy is very sad we aren't going to Japan. We made him watch the news to help him understand why we made the right decision to go somewhere else.

Paris for my 35th birthday

Before getting to Paris, we (DH now, but this was before we were married) went to London first. And....before London, we changed planes in Iceland. I am counting it as a country I've visited even though I never left the airport.

We spent a few days in London, doing the typical touristy stuff. And actually... we didn't see anything that I haven't already blogged about, so now to Paris.

There were three highlights from this trip, all in the "book":

1. Mont-Saint-Michel - we drove to Normandy and spent the night on this little island in a building that was like 400 years old. We first spent the day wandering around the town, and visiting the abbey.

I love the ocean, so this was a huge treat. The views were amazing and I spent a little time in the water checking out the local mussel populations. It was very peaceful - especially at night when the island "closes" and the day tourists leave.

2. Taillevent - this is a restaurant in Paris and it was amazing. It was the best restaurant I had ever been to, and I have to admit I felt a little out of place. I probably wasn't as dressed up as I could be, and my French is not very good. The waiters were nice though - not snotty. It did help tremendously that DH's French is quite good.

3. Chateau de Versailles - don't all girls love an amazing castle? It is incredibly beautiful. The gardens were awesome. Sometimes I am very easily impressed, and this is one example of that.

We also visited the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and some of the other places I have already mentioned in other blog posts.

I did not go to Paris for my 40th birthday - as planned - but I went on a cruise and it was awesome. That will be a future blog post.

Paris for my 30th birthday

My first trip to Paris!! I spent the weekend of my 30th birthday in Paris. (I'd rather not reveal the date, but I guess context is needed - 1996.) It was just long enough to give me a taste of this awesome city. I remember being very tired and jet lagged, but tried to see as much as possible.


(Never buy new shoes before a trip like this.)

I went to a bakery every morning to get a fresh baquette. I love bread, cheese and wine. The French have a good thing going!

I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I didn't want to come down. I could have spent the whole day there, except for the fact that I was craving a crepe. It was a good crepe.

I went to the catacombs - and I don't need to ever visit that again.

I also really enjoyed walking through Jardins de Tuileries. I spent an afternoon in the Louvre; which isn't enough time - but again, just enough to give me a taste.

I knew before I arrived in Paris that I would love it and would want to return.......often.

Probably the best birthday present I ever gave myself.

Europe 2009

These are the places from "1,000 places to see before you die" that we visited on this trip.

London
The Connaught Hotel
Tea at the Ritz
Paris
Hotel de Crillon
Cathedrale Notre Dame de Chartres
Biarritz
The Dordogne
St Emillion
Madrid
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
San Sebastian
La Cathedral de Toledo
Catalan National Art Museum
La Sagrada Familia
Figueres

Spongebob en francais

This happened a few days ago, but we are still laughing about it.....so I think it deserves a post.

Our last morning in France was low key.

DH did laundry, went shopping, and browsed through a local hardware store. He came back cursing 3M's France marketing team because the store he visited had no 3M tape.

I uploaded pictures to Facebook.

Andy and Jill watched Spongebob Square Pants in French. They both laughed and laughed - partly at themselves for watching Bob.....they are, after all, teenagers. Both agreed that they did not need to understand French to understand the action in the cartoon.

Getting lost

Rudy Maxa has several general travel recommendations, and one of them is to get lost. We've gotten lost -- and trapped -- twice now.

The first time was in Sarlat, France. We found our way into town just fine, and wandered around without any navigational issues. Our problem came when we tried to leave. Our desired route was under construction and no detour was posted. We drove around, and around, and around -- three times. Then we spotted an auto ecole (student driver) and followed him. That worked! We finally found our way out of town.

Our next time was leaving San Sebastian, Spain. We drove up the hill to get a better view of the beach and bay. Must have missed a turn because we ended up on a high, winding road. I got so excited when I spotted - in the middle of nowhere - a Pepsi vending machine. I still smile when I think about it. My first Mountain Dew in a long, long time!

We finally wound our way off of the hill. It was scenic - lots of horses, sheep and cows. We found our way to a small village - Kukuarri. It was cute and quaint, and we could see the highway running over the village; but could not find an entrance. We drove around this town four times. Each time we saw a man walking his french bulldog. We worked him into our story because we used him as a landmark to know where we had already been. (Turn left when you see the bulldog.)

We finally found our way to Orio - where they do have an entrance to the highway.

France / Spain

Vineyards everywhere you look! We visited St. Emilion in the Bordeaux region. Another quaint little French town where every other store is a wine store. I think we bought about 10 bottles of wine.

Biarritz, France was our next stop. This is a great seaside resort town. I am in love with this town, and really hope to return someday. We played in the surf, watched the surfers and then ate our fill of mussels.

Au revoir France. Hola Espana.

Spain, so far, is much more mountainous than France.

We stopped in the Spanish seaside resort town of San Sebastian. Another great beach, and we saw lots of cute perros (dogs). French dogs were quite snooty. Spanish dogs are friendlier.

All three places are in "the book."

Dordogne

We drove very fast from Tours to Les Eyzies because we had a reservation to see a cave (Grotto - Fond du Gaume) with incredible and very old paintings. The paintings are estimated to be between 15,000 and 17,000 years old. They were amazing.

We then went to Sarlat and walked through its medieval section. We visited La Roque-Gegeac, believed by some to be the most picturesque part of France. It is lovely. We also drove through Domme and near Castlenaud.

Tonight was the first night we didn't have a hotel reservation, which turned out to be a good thing since we did not make it to Bordeaux as planned. Third time's the charm because the first two places were booked. Then...we had a very difficult time finding a place to eat at 9 pm. The local McDonald's was closed. We finally found a pizza kiosk in the parking lot of a Home Depot-style store.

Dordogne is in "the book." It is a river with lots of cute and quaint towns on its shores. Andy would have loved some time to fish, but we didn't build that into the schedule.

Castles and Cathedrals

Europe has lots of both. The US doesn't. I was in college when I first toured England. I saw several castles and cathedrals and did not really appreciate them. My teenagers have grown very tired of visiting castles and cathedrals. I am slightly amused by their reaction, because I remember my own first visit. I hope they will appreciate their grandeur and beauty later in their life.