Blogs from Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe

Hey everyone. So the last two days I spent in the frech riviera, Nice to be exact. They were amazing. The first day we went on a walk around the city and ended in a flower market. Our hotel is only 4 blocks from the water. One thing about the water and beaches here tho is that they are pebble beaches not sandy. I guess this is cause this area is where three rivers empty into the mediteranian sea. Either way, the place is amazing and the views are unforgetable. The first night we ate some local food and met up at a bar called the three devils. We didn't stay long before going home to bed. The next day way by far my best day on this trip so far. We started out having breakfast ... read more

9/1/09 - Provence - Cote d'Azure A long driving day today to get from the Italian Coast to Provence, France. We took the high road which overlooks all of the ocean towns. Great views without having to deal with the traffic. We went by Portofino, Genova, and San Remo before entering the French Riviera. Each town trumped the other one in beauty. In France we overlooked Monte Carlo, Monaco, Nice and Cannes. We have both been to these places so we just wanted to get to Provence. We entered a region called Verdon which was called the Grand Canyon of France. We went from beach to huge rocky mountains in hours. We virtually had the roads to ourselves. It looked like Colorado, not France. The roads started to narrow and we got onto a smaller road ... read more

Saturday 18 April When we took a walk around our “block”, we noticed this; Sixten’s got a home! And a bed as well. We got really warm in our hearts and felt a lot better about leaving him. After all, we are heading north any day now. And Sixten will be staying in lovely Bonson, and enjoy his comfortable bed. Puh! What a relief! Yesterday we went to Carrefour and bought 40 bottles of “The Best of France”, according to us; bordeaux, champagne, rose, calvados. We put it in towels and sheets and stuffed it in every corner of the trunk… and dreamed nightmares about the car being stolen… We also had a last chance to reach Plan du Var, the goal of my dream. This time we thought it would be really easy. Close to ... read more

Sunday 12 April Yesterday we got a visitor. Gustav. A member of the frog choir. We didn’t actually hear Gustav sing, he was quiet like a mouse. But his pals sang with strong voices. Just before we met Gustav we took a walk in the neighborhood, and noticed that the Mediatheque was open. We popped in and said bonsoir to the 5-6 people gathered in the tiny library. The librarian looked terrified and told us quickly “I don’t speak English”. I offered my usual: “Je ne parle francais”. And that could have been the end of the conversation in the Mediatheque. But I continued and asked about the mysterious sound in the night, and did a pretty cool attempt to recreate the sound, I think. And suddenly all of them could speak English! Well, at least ... read more

Tuesday 7 April Our beloved parents arrived Sunday morning in nice weather, which became even better the day after. Good to see the ol’ folks again! We made lunch and dinner for them and celebrated their presence with champagne on the porch (what else?), between the old-timers occasionally naps… (Alright, they got up at three in the morning, so it’s nothing much to say about that…). Monday was walking the village and shopping at Nathalie’s. After lunch some clouds turned up, and we decided to head for Nice and maybe the Matisse Museum. But when we got to Promenade de Anglais, the sun was all over the place, and the sea unusually calm, so we stayed on the beach until it was too late to pay a visit to Matisse. We walked the streets of Nice ... read more