Cote d'Azur....How I Am Going To Miss You!

I left Avignon Sunday morning to catch the TGV train for Nice and then transferring to a regional train from Nice to Villafranche sur Mer, my base for this Cote d'Azur leg. I arrived at my place of stay too early to check in so I asked for the toilet but instead settled for their closed restaurant to get beach ready...left my bag with the reception guy and off to the beach I went to decompress from my journey here!

Villefranche sur Mer is a gem in the Cote d'Azur. It's a small beach village with a small low key lane of shops, one boulangerie, one tabac store and many harbor restaurants. It feels relaxing and it's beautiful and quiet. I am so excited to be based out of here. I love that even in these beach villages, you feel the French culture. I can never spend the amount of time as I have here in a place like Cabo .. no culture.. I'd get bored. Villefranche is also a very convenient bus ride away from the likes of Nice and Monaco... all buses in this region cost 1 euro!

I did a day trip to Nice and felt immediately validated by my decision to base out of Villefranche. Nice is beautiful too but different. It's big, glitzy, glamorous and definitely a lot more touristy with the promenade of beach vendors ready to help you to a beach chair and umbrella for 20 euros. Old Nice reminds me much of Italy ... it's predominate color of buildings is this vintage old mustard color. Fitting, I think.

During one of the non beach weather days, I also ventured out to Monaco. While Monaco is in the country of France, it isn,t really a part of the country of France. It's Monaco of Monaco with it's own Prince and Palace. The wide and curvy roads of this fun place is made for the Grand Prix  (Monaco- google for photos) and while I am not into car racing, the Grand Prix Monaco would be fun to watch here!! The Monte Carlo casino here makes the casinos in Vegas seem like a poor copy. In fact, Vegas should be embarrassed, IMHO. The feel of the Monte Carlo here is so much more authentic ... the people... definitely classier... dressed classier... there's culture.. not a feel of trashy at all! A glacier (ice cream) here is 3.90 euro vs Villefranche at 2.50. Nice is 2.90.

After Monaco, I detoured to this hillside village called Eze Village Mer. Nothing to write about really... not worth a visit but now I know! I did see a bunch of Liquigas riders out .. they looked way too pro to be posers. The bus ride back from Eze however was quite adventurous. The driver door was broken so imagine... windy roads, rain, slick wet roads and driver is driving with one hand as the other is trying to fix the latch on the door. Two bus transfers later and I am back safe and sound.

I've been here in the South of France for 5 days now and am so sad to leave tomorrow. A few things I've observed here on the Cote d'Azur... the French are very creative in the way thet change with a towel. I've learned a thing or two. The speeds at which folks know how to clear out a beach when it rains impresses me. There is no ryhme or reason as to when the tide comes in.. one day it's at 3:15...another it doesn't even show up.. oh but yesterday... it started to hit the sea wall from the get go. My book and sarong was soaked so spent most of the day on the sea wall with much company...improvise!Being at a small place like this for that amount of time, you start to make connections with familiar faces and I will miss those. The French grandma who shows up at the beach at 9:30 sharp with her chair and umbrella. Her posse comes later. At 10:20, this Italian Stallion as I refer to him shows up in his rainbow speedo... he and I usually tries to see who can stay the longest. The waiter at Les Palmiers... Bonjour Madame as I go there for my morning hot chocolat and usual dinner spot. Did I mention how sad I am to leave this place?

On to Paris and the last leg of my France experience tomorrow!

Provence.....Waterwheel hunting anyone?!

I left Bayeux on the morning of the 18th for Paris to drop off Matilda before taking the TGV down to Avignon. The three hour drive through rain and Paris traffic went something like this...freeway sign says straight...Matilda says exit Dxx. No Matilda!! Finally figured out, she does not like toll roads hence all the back country roads she opted for. Anyway, dropped her off back to Hertz scotch free and on to the TGV.

Arrived in Avignon and for the next 6 days...this will be my base! Uneventful train ride but leave it to me to always attract the crazies that like to talk to themselves! I covered more than I thought I would and many of the places I had on my blueprint ended up getting swapped out. Of the towns in Provence... I started with...

Arles. Took the morning train the next day to Arles known for their Roman Arena and while that was great and I spent a good amount of time sitting on the steps of this historic place reading and journaling, I was more excited about the market! I walked the maket twice but spent most of my time at this sausage table. The sausage guy was very charming... he made the noise of every animal that he had the variety off on his table! He'd point and make a noise. I walked away buying a thing of sausage from him which I had him slice for me... a baguette from another station and that was lunch and dinner for the day! Got back to Avignon and was able to hop on a 5 person tour that I thought about doing to the Luberon of Provence which included Les Beux, Gordes and Roussillon which turned out to be my favorite. A quick stop at a bridge built 2,000 years ago and we were back in Avignon and by then I was ready for bed! A visit to Provence would not be complete without hitting up these small villages with a color palette that you would imagine Provence to have. Funny note...at the beginning of our tour..this group of 3 folks from England where complaining about these lour Americans that were on their tour yesterday and how they kept following them everytime they wanted to get away. They asked where I was from after and I said with a smile "California". The ead guy then said in his British accent...oh no and we've started off already by offending you!!! I laughed and said no offense taken...I feel the same sometimes ;)

Next day, took the train to Isles sur la Sorgue which may turn out to be my absolute favorite place in France. It is a town full of waterwheels, colors and just a good feel to it. I ended up being there all day walking the markets and waterwheel hunting...all 14 or 15 of them I believe. A town that would bring out the hopeless romantic in anyone.

Day 3...took the bus to Aix en Provence. I walked to the town center to get a map from the tourist office and what do I see? An Ironman 70.3 expo for Aix en Provence 70.3. What the heck?? I am on vaca trying to avoid this stuff!!! For anyone considering it, don't!!! Bad venue in my opinion. A town known for their water fountains and main coffee boulevard except it reminded me of a slightly better Market Street in San Francisco near Civic Center. Took off early from Aix and ended on the bus back to Avignon then back on the train to a town called Orange. I had 90 seconds between buying my ticket and getting on the train! Once on the train, I realized ticket guy didn't give me the right tickets....two one way tickets...not one two way and what i thought would be an easy fix at the train station in Orange was not. Once I arrived in Orange, I explained the ticket lady what happened but she kept referring to the no exchanges and wanted me to buy another ticket. Ugh... WTF? Chances are if I was fluent in French, this may have gone down differely and while 5.60 euros is nothing, I wasn't going to give it to her. I left the station to explore the town without buying my return ticket..no way!!! Orange known for one of the oldest Roman Theatres and just a delightful little town...much better than Aix. After a few hours, I decided to head back to Avignon by finding the bus station. For 1 euro, I was on my way...would take 60 minutes vs the 15 but I'm on vaca and have all the time in the world and was intent on not buying a train ticket from dumb ticket agent women!!

Here I am now...my last day in Provence. I am at the point in my vacation now where I start to lose track of the days. The coolest thing about being in this area is I often see the bare rock mountain top that is Mount Ventoux ... will have to come back for that someday!! Spending today to explore the back streets of Avignon before taking the morning train for the Cote d 'Azur!

France 2012...Went to Normandy But Fell In Love With Brittany!

Bonjour!

After a smooth flight from SFO to Frankfurt and a tight connection ... I made it to CDG! After too long of an encounter with Mr. Hertz guy who kept trying to upsell me to a French made convertible...I was on my way. Driving on the highways of France...things were going smoothly until the Garmin GPS ran out of battery and my poor man's Mercedes charger would not charge...onto my google map printouts. About half an hour later...I come upon toll roads except I have no euros..I was going to wait until I got to my destination for all that! Anyway...French guy was nice enough to accept my dollars but severely under changed me but I was just happy to get through and have enough euros to get me through the next four tolls! Also, as I started to look around the car, I noticed a "navi" button...pressed it...ah ha! Navigation! In English! So glad I did not go with a French car!!

About two hours later, I arrived at my first destination, Honfleur. Nice picturesque harbor town that will serve as my launch pad to the rest of the Normandy region. Spent the rest of the evening getting settled, familiarized myself with the town and streets and had my first serving of moules & frites for dinner.

Next morning on little sleep, I started my drive to Mont St. Michel, a place I,ve always been fascinated with! This is also when I discovered my car has a bit of personality of it's own...unlike google maps and freeway signs..my car likes to guide me on back country roads..hence I decided car needs a name. The driving adventures of "Yi and Matilda" begin! Arrived in Mont St Michel through long roads leading to spectacular views of this place before actually arriving. I booked a room in a small B&B ran by a couple. Danielle, B1B owner welcomed me with the most friendly pleasantries. She asked, "Yi..you are alone and you drive?" I said yes to all. She said ah brave girl. While I appreciated it, I don't really like it when people say that during my travels...almost makes me feel a little less relaxed...like that time in Budapest..."You're taking the overnight train to Krakow? Alone?" Once settled, Danielle recommended I spend the rest of my day exploring the Brittany region. I thought Brittany?? That sounds far! Not sure I want to drive out there! 10 minutes or so later, Matilda and I are on our way to Cancale, our first stop in Brittany.

After a nice drive on narrow country roads, we arrived in Cancale, known for their oysters! After lunch on the waterfront, we headed to St Malo which would turn out to be my favorite in Brittany. Beautiful fun resort town...water front...off ocean swimming pool...great for people watching fun! Lastly, stopped at Dinan, an old medieval Brittany town before heading back to Mont St Michel. The next morning, visited the Mont early enough to avoid the crowds, I,ve concluded that Le Mont is much better marveled from afar on the outside than it was on the inside. Beautifully build! Stunning.

After Le Mont, Matilda and I headed for Bayeux, my launch pad for the D Day beaches. It happens to be a national weekend holiday in France and many roads in Bayeux were either blocked or one way...after much circling around trying to navigate to my hotel which happen to sit btwn a blocked road and a one way, I decided I had to do it, ignore the one way do not enter sign and go for it. I could see my hotel and it was only 1.5 blocks...!!! After careful waiting, Matilda and I went for it, we only got one dirty look from a local! Sorry! Well, not really. Spent the rest of the day exploring this lovely town of Bayeux.

Now today...I just got back from my day exploring the D Day Beaches, Utah Beach, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary. It is a little tough to fathom all that took place here...so rich in history!

Tomorrow...I bring Matilda back to Paris before hopping on the TGV to Avignon to start the Provence portion of my adventure! Matilda and I have not always got along as she constantly tries to get me to get back on the country roads as I'd ignore her for the highway signs...so far it's been all fun as I've taken in all the beauty of these little French towns full of narrow roads and roundabouts. All those roundabouts on TV as shown during the Tour de France...they all exist in close proximity!