We left first thing Friday morning on the IdTGV. We were booked in the Zen section meaning silence. Meant we all slept really well. 5 hours to Nice. A quick lunch and off to the Avis to get our car. Chad and I managed in all French to get the instructions. Bonne chance and a GPS location of Monaco first. Going to see if I can win at the Casino Montecarlo!!!!
Turns out this is my kind of Casino. An aptly named hypermarche, no gambling for me. I am way too cheap and things were way too expensive to spend much time or money in Monaco. The boats were gigantic here, loads of money required. My Fodor's book even joked about what to do with your first 10 million dollars. Did my best to channel Princess Grace. I already found my prince though, dewey!
Zoomed back to Nice where renting the smallest car possible was the best advice ever received. Our hotel had a few spots in a tiny underground garage. We gave our name to the reception worker and he had us all checked in when we returned from the underground adventure. We hit the town. Took in the east end of the Promenade des Anglais right along the beach lined with palm trees. Oh so pretty. 
The Madame travel planner and wife extraordinaire!
The Monsieur and my chauffeur for this trip. Nothing better than sitting next to Chad all day!We loved Nice. I wish we could have more time, maybe later this month? I love the beach, Nothing like feeling small and staring out at the beautiful water. October was ideal, a bit easy on the crowd but nothing like I imagine in July. We were so inspired by Nice, we managed a quick morning run along the west end of the Promenade before pulling out of town and heading west to Cannes.
Who is that in dark glasses on the red carpet. No autographs please! Nike Dri fit is what I am wearing!
Being silly with the film cutouts. I felt a bit of a timewarp as I already have several me and Austin pictures from Phoenix living with Luanne and her cutout.
My favorite, Han or Chad in this case with Chewy. I love Han! All and all, I would skip Cannes. Too expensive, lots of the high end shopping but I don't even pay full price at Old Navy. Back in the car for the jingle from my childhood, "Bain du Soleil for that St. Tropez Tan."
St. Tropez is a beach front town ergo the ice cream stand is essential. Crowds were thick, there was a regatta of some sort. Plus everyone was taking in the beautiful bay, ships and sun. Obscene number of sail boats, yachts and even a few dinghys. No Bardot sighting.
We parked illegally in St. Tropez. We hurried up and got out of the mass of people after a little time on the shore, at the bar and walking the streets. I saw the depannage truck with the bridle lift so we hightailed it back to rescue the car. Don't need to know what words I would need to get a car out of Cote Azur hock. On to more coastline viewing and our hotel for the night was a bit aways from St. Tropez and the multi-millionaires.
Bandol. Oh my goodness, gorgeous and no crowds, my kind of place. The boat size was reasonable here so this is were the real people live. We ended up at a great Italian place for dinner after some sangria and olives at a very nice brasserie. Our hotel was at the point end of the port. Loads of free parking available! All legal spaces too!
This was how still my husband's hands are, and how still the port' water was at night. Stunning. Just beautiful.
Here I am at the bay. It was lurking in the dark, just on the other side of the port from our hotel. Oh my, port and bay, how lucky can we get. We stopped back at the brasserie for a quick petit dejeuner (breakfast, our cheapest and largest of the trip). I would love to see Uncle AL post us there in Bandol. I wouldn't cry one bit.
Here we trugged on to Cassis. No we didn't get there with enough time to see the Cliffs by boat, they are stunning, google Cassis and find the Calanques. I know, we just didn't have time!
This sign just made me smile. No beach wear on the beachfront street. We also encountered a girl who thought that seeing the parking space was like dibbs. We quickly told her the priority belongs to the one with the next car, not the car close by. Kind of a good laugh. She didn't fight too much, figured we might have run her over. Car wins every time!
Vineyards perched along the cliffs. A chateau was perched out the seaside of this same cliff. I don't feel bad for the residents there at all. Again back in the car and up the hillside to Aix en Provence.
The Lovely Cours Mirabeau. All of the roads in Provence had this same pattern with huge plane trees almost making a canopy. It smelled fantastic as well. Not that the beachside cities we visited were smelly but there was a lingering smell of burnt oak in all of Provence. I don't care if it is to cover the rotting corpse smell, it was so nice. Like a good fresh barbeque or campfire.
I did get us going in the wrong direction but I got this picture to show for it. We stayed in Salon de Provence, a quaint little town. We were a bit nervous to find a open restaurant on dimanche other than Quick burger or McDo. We did find a nice couscous place, so much food. We owe the waiter a postcard from our trip.
Who is that in dark glasses on the red carpet. No autographs please! Nike Dri fit is what I am wearing!
Being silly with the film cutouts. I felt a bit of a timewarp as I already have several me and Austin pictures from Phoenix living with Luanne and her cutout.
My favorite, Han or Chad in this case with Chewy. I love Han! All and all, I would skip Cannes. Too expensive, lots of the high end shopping but I don't even pay full price at Old Navy. Back in the car for the jingle from my childhood, "Bain du Soleil for that St. Tropez Tan."
St. Tropez is a beach front town ergo the ice cream stand is essential. Crowds were thick, there was a regatta of some sort. Plus everyone was taking in the beautiful bay, ships and sun. Obscene number of sail boats, yachts and even a few dinghys. No Bardot sighting.
We parked illegally in St. Tropez. We hurried up and got out of the mass of people after a little time on the shore, at the bar and walking the streets. I saw the depannage truck with the bridle lift so we hightailed it back to rescue the car. Don't need to know what words I would need to get a car out of Cote Azur hock. On to more coastline viewing and our hotel for the night was a bit aways from St. Tropez and the multi-millionaires.
Bandol. Oh my goodness, gorgeous and no crowds, my kind of place. The boat size was reasonable here so this is were the real people live. We ended up at a great Italian place for dinner after some sangria and olives at a very nice brasserie. Our hotel was at the point end of the port. Loads of free parking available! All legal spaces too!
This was how still my husband's hands are, and how still the port' water was at night. Stunning. Just beautiful.
Here I am at the bay. It was lurking in the dark, just on the other side of the port from our hotel. Oh my, port and bay, how lucky can we get. We stopped back at the brasserie for a quick petit dejeuner (breakfast, our cheapest and largest of the trip). I would love to see Uncle AL post us there in Bandol. I wouldn't cry one bit.
Here we trugged on to Cassis. No we didn't get there with enough time to see the Cliffs by boat, they are stunning, google Cassis and find the Calanques. I know, we just didn't have time!
This sign just made me smile. No beach wear on the beachfront street. We also encountered a girl who thought that seeing the parking space was like dibbs. We quickly told her the priority belongs to the one with the next car, not the car close by. Kind of a good laugh. She didn't fight too much, figured we might have run her over. Car wins every time!
Vineyards perched along the cliffs. A chateau was perched out the seaside of this same cliff. I don't feel bad for the residents there at all. Again back in the car and up the hillside to Aix en Provence.
The Lovely Cours Mirabeau. All of the roads in Provence had this same pattern with huge plane trees almost making a canopy. It smelled fantastic as well. Not that the beachside cities we visited were smelly but there was a lingering smell of burnt oak in all of Provence. I don't care if it is to cover the rotting corpse smell, it was so nice. Like a good fresh barbeque or campfire.
I did get us going in the wrong direction but I got this picture to show for it. We stayed in Salon de Provence, a quaint little town. We were a bit nervous to find a open restaurant on dimanche other than Quick burger or McDo. We did find a nice couscous place, so much food. We owe the waiter a postcard from our trip. We scurried out of Salon first thing this morning and headed along more tree lined streets with the burning oak smell to Avignon. We had to see the Palais des Papes.
Where the popes relocated during a political struggle in Rome during the latter part of the 14th century. They came to France and Avignon seemed ideal. People have been living in Avignon for 5000 years. Seems like a place everyone likes, why not stash the popes here for a few decades.
We didn't have much time but we did see the entire Palais. More importantly we saw the tasting room and bought the coffret du jour, box of two bottles of Chateauneuf du Pape wine. A 1995 and a 2005. 2005 was like the perfect storm year for most regions of wine in France. So excited to get this one open soon.
Where the popes relocated during a political struggle in Rome during the latter part of the 14th century. They came to France and Avignon seemed ideal. People have been living in Avignon for 5000 years. Seems like a place everyone likes, why not stash the popes here for a few decades.
We didn't have much time but we did see the entire Palais. More importantly we saw the tasting room and bought the coffret du jour, box of two bottles of Chateauneuf du Pape wine. A 1995 and a 2005. 2005 was like the perfect storm year for most regions of wine in France. So excited to get this one open soon.
We returned our Fiat Punto to the train station and got back on the train to return to Paris. I would love to return to Nice and Avignon. I could easily live in Bandol. Maybe a return trip or trips will be required in our last year. J'adore Provence et la Cote Azure!
1 comment:
OOO!! I love that port picture in Bandol. Kudos go to STILL hands. Did he make himself a human tripod?? :)
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