So one thing I forgot to add about France: We saw a KFC in Nice. That's not really a surprise given the number of Burger Kings, McDonalds, etc. in France, but the surprise for us was that it was called "KFC" not "PFK" like it is Quebec. Strange. And I just remembered a really funny story from Paris that I forgot to blog about earlier. Amy had the hiccups. She'd tried pretty much everything to get rid of them, but it wasn't working. Neil suggested drinking water upside down. Now, that probably sounds weird if you've never heard of it before, but I've tried it at it does work, so I backed him up on the suggestion which eased Amy's skepticism. But here's where it varies from my experience with drinking water upside down: I poured ... read more

We day tripped to Eze, a small town teetering precariously on the peak of a mountain.... But first we went to the Russian Cathedral in Nice while we waited for our train. It was pretty cool, but it only took five minutes to see, then we did some quality sitting around. Upon arriving in Eze, we found out that we could either hike for an hour and a half to get to the mountain town, or take a bus for ten minutes. We opted for the bus, but we had to wait an hour for it. Neil and Amy went to a nearby restaurant with a sea view for lunch while I elected to purchase a sandwich from the shop next door. I ate it on a deserted beach on the Mediterranean Sea. Not bad. Not ... read more

We took a day trip to Pont du Gard and Nimes today to see some Roman.... stuff. I can't call them ruins because of how immaculately preserved they are. Pont du Gard is an enormous aqueduct bridge across a valley. It's very impressive, especially since the Romans built all of this stuff without the help of Sir Isaac Newton... I guess they just guessed and got lucky a whole bunch. We hiked around a bit to get some good veiws, and some good pictures. My only complaint is that we had to spend about 6 euro to take the bus there, and another 6 euro to take the bus to Nimes, so it was kind of pricey for the 20 minutes worth of sightseeing we could accomplish there. Still, it was cool. Nimes, like Avignon, only ... read more

We left Barcelona and headed for the medeivel city of Carcassonne. Along the way, we past all of the seasde towns that I want to visit someday. But I'm not sure I'd ever come back. I could see myself just sitting back, making some wine, and tending to my grapes while I stare at the beautiful Mediterranean sea... and drive my Porsches, and hang out with my model girlfriends.... I really hope there's a bunch of oil in my basement when I get back to Edmonton... or gold... or diamonds... that would be helpful. Carcassonne is pretty cool. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be (another theme of the trip). It looks just like the cities in the board game.... Except you can't find the board game here anywhere. I don't know why. ... read more

We left Paris super early in the morning, and headed for our 7 hour stoppover in Montpellier in the south of France. We took the TGV, which is very nice, and very very fast. When we were stopped at a station along the way, another TGV rocketed by. I'm pretty sure it took less than 2 seconds to pass us. Montpellier is a neat town. There's lot's of things going on in the streets. There was a market selling all kinds of stuff, a beach volleyball tournament, what I think was a breakdancing tournament, or possibly a yard-stomping contest.... and a bunch of street performers. We grabbed lunch at a creperie recommended by Neil's guidebook. It was delicious! Mostly we just hung out in parks. We were pretty burnt out from our four day bonanza in ... read more