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Published: April 12th 2008
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Train to Nice
Us enjoying our sandwiches, freshly and expertly prepared by me ;) Salut!
It's been awhile since my last post, and therefore I find myself back in front of my computer screen searching for creative and witty ways to explain to you my experiences. This past week I had the privilege of hanging out with my Mom and her good friend Joy in Nice, Villefranche and Paris. They arrived in Besancon a little scraggly from the long cross Atlantic flight 😉 and I cooked a nice dinner of pasta and green beans. Mom discovered the joy of Magnum bars (a decadent ice cream bar only available in Europe and South America).
The next morning we headed off to Nice, my first time in the south of France. The train ride was long, but gave us plenty of time to catch up and bicker. And once we arrived in Marseille for our connecting city, the train ride was beautiful as we followed the southern coast of France. We got to watch the Mediterranean in all it's bright blue glory. We arrived in Nice, found our hotel, and ventured out in search on dinner. After much apologizing on my part, we settled on a Mexican restaurant. I felt so bad that we weren't
eating a French meal, but my desire for Mexican won out. And it was delicious. The next morning, we checked out Nice's daily farmer's market. IF YOU ARE EVER IN NICE GO TO THE MARKET! It was unbelievable. Several blocks long, filled with stands of gorgeous flowers, produce, spices, olives and other native products. I stocked up on the lavender products that the French Riviera is known for. After a couple hours of exploring the market, it was off to the next city.
We decided to spend the majority of our time in the south of France in a town called Villefranche. It's quite small in terms of size, but this was honestly to our advantage because it was not a bit touristy but at the same time there were sufficient restaurants, beaches and supermarkets. We basically camped out on the beach for two days there so I could soak up the sun. It's always cloudy in Besancon...which gets a little dreary, but it wasn't in the south! We had perfect weather--it was like a dream. 75 and sunny all three days. I even bought a bathing suit because the forecast was only in the low 60s so none
Train to Nice
Vineyards and palm trees out the train window! of us thought to bring one! We didn't even bring sunscreen. Remind me not to do that again, that was a $28 mistake. Other than the amazing beach gong experience, we just relaxed. In fact, the only blogworthy experience outside that is that the last night there, we went out to a restaurant we had been ogling the whole time. It was very nice, and I thought since we were on the water, I'd order a seafood dish. So I ordered a dish that included a mixture of three different kinds of fish, even thought I didn't recognize the third one. I thought, Hey, I don't know every food in the French language, but no worries, I'll be adventurous. Well, it arrived and my dish was calamari (which I like), shrimp (which I also like) but unfortunately with all the heads and legs on and eyes staring right at me. The third fish were whole anchovies, also complete with eyes of course. And since I don't know the French etiquette for sending food back, I braved my way through it. So much for my culinary adventure.
Then it was off to Paris! And since I've bored you with two
Train to Nice
Our first glimpse of the Mediterranean. other entries on Paris, I won't go over all the touristy details again 😉 There are some repeat pictures, but now with my Mom, Joy and I in them. Also, yesterday we got to go to Versailles, which was pretty darn cool. I hadn't been yet. It's the castle where the last four French Kings lived in case you're not up on your French history. At the beginning of this trip, I was not looking forward to coming back to Paris, I was thinking, "Been there done that." But now as I'm sitting in the hotel lobby reflecting on the week, I'm so grateful that I was able to share this experience with my Mom. And also that she could see why I like this country so much. When I dropped her and Joy of at the airport earlier this morning, I only cried a little bit, but I will be missing her very much until August when I can bug her again.
A bientot!
SFech
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