A Drinker's Guide to St. Tropez: Day 1

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I haven't had time to update for the last week or so for obvious reasons. I woke up at 8 or 9 in Paris at Hotel Le Bristol. I had packed my bags the night before since I decided not to go out after dinner the previous night. It didn't seem like a good idea to stay out late with an early trip, especially when I wanted to have maximum energy for night one in St. Tropez. Checking in for the flight proved be a huge ordeal and I'm still not sure why Europeans love having nonsensical setups on most forms of travel registration. There was a mass of people funneling into 2 lines, but no one from the airline was there to tell people what line was for which flight, which was to get your ticket (because I could not reserve a seat beforehand, just space on the plane. Despite calling Air France the night before you need to wait on line for no reason so they can have you decide then which seat you want) and which was to check your bags. Eventually I get to the front of line #1 and after I get my ticket I ask if there is Business Class on this flight (even though I had been told early there was not). He confirmed there was no business class but said there was some other class (Tempo maybe?). I asked if he could upgrade me to that, but he informed me that would require waiting on another line on the other side of the terminal. I declined. With my piece of paper in hand, I then walked back near the rear of the line I had just been on to wait on the line next to it which was to check in (with your ticket) and check your bags. When I got to the front of this line I learned that the U.S. carriers are not the only ones looking to gouge extra money out of their customers and as an added bonus the euro makes everything even more painful. Checked bags must be a maximum of 20 kilos, and as my bags were 25 and 27 kilos respectively I was told I would have to pay an overage fee. I asked if there an upgrade to Business or whatever the Tempo class was (because I wanted the extra space anyway and to avoid the overage fees) but he told me again I would have to go wait on another line. I said fine and offered to pay the fees so my bags could be sent along, however this was also not possible. In order to pay the overage fee he instructed me I would have to go to the Air France ticketing office on the complete other side of the terminal, wait on another line, pay the bill then come back and show him the paid receipt so he could take the hold off my bags which he would tentatively check and send through pending my payment. The incredibly rude woman at Air France asked where I was coming from and I told her Paris she said "don't tell me Paris, we are in Paris obviously I know this. Where were you before this..." I wasn't clear if she wanted my country of origin, where I had been immediately before Paris or what but after an overly long history of my journey from NYC to this line she seemed satisfied and allowed me to pay the 96 Euro overage (Really!? Are you kidding me?) and entered something in her computer she assured me would take the hold off my bags. Since she told me there was no Tempo class or Business class and no one seemed to have their stories straight I decided to cover my bases and go back to talk to the first guy as well, despite her assurances my bags would arrive ok. After waiting on probably the 8th line of the day, the guy confirmed my bags would arrive and I went through to security (which took probably 1/100th the time and hassle as checking in for the flight did). I learned that none of my credit cards get me into the Air France Airline lounge and that I still don't care for CDG as an airport. I passed out for most of the flight to Nice but managed to wake up and catch the approach which is mostly over the water and rather pretty. I have been listening to "theme" music when I arrive in each destination, in Reykjavik it was "Tropical Iceland" by Fiery Furnaces and "Immigrant Song" by Led Zep, in Paris is was "Ca Plan Pour Moi" by Les Sans Cullottes. Upon arrival here, I put on "La Mer" by Charles Trenet as a final moment of peace near the ocean and then by the time I neared baggage claim "World Hold On" was blasting into my earphones and I was ready to go. There was of course the small issue of the incredibly lousy drive from Nice Cote D'Azur to St. Tropez. I met my driver once I had my bags and tried to fall asleep to make the ride go quicker but to no avail. It's physically not very far from Nice to St. Tropez, but the roads are lousy and there is tons of traffic so it ends up taking around 2 hours (sometimes much much more). As we neared the center of town and closed in on Hotel Le Byblos on Ave. Paul Signac I was pretty pumped. There was of course another delay as my room was not immediately ready (they plied me with free booze...good choice). The manager came out to speak with me while I was checking in and said "Welcome Home..." and I must say every summer when I come back here it seems impossible to believe it's been 12 months or more since my last stay. I guess the intensity of the time here sears it permanently and vividly into my mind. There have been changes since my last time here and it's seems odd to say this but it's almost like the staff at the Byblos take their jobs seriously now and care. Previously the gym had been full of ancient equipment, most of which was broken. Now the new fitness area has brand new (working!) equipment. The slapped together spa near the "gym" has been replaced with a more extensive and coherent spa. The TV's which once has maybe 20-30 channel (we would just leave FTV aka the Model Channel on 24/7) now have over 900 channels (tons of Abu Dhabi and Dubai stations for the lousy oil money and channels from esoteric places like Liberia...weird). There's even a GPS in the hotel shuttle that runs to the beach clubs. Drinking began in the room, as it often does. Some Germans and Brits I had spoken to on asmallworld were going to be in St. Tropez at the same time I was and we decided to all meet for drinks. It was 11:30ish or so by the time I headed down (already slightly buzzed) to the pool bar at the Byblos (which has also been improved greatly). I got a drink and took one of the tables when my phone rang. The British people were apparently no longer coming as the person I spoke to drunkenly told me in between fits of laughter that they had gotten incredibly drunk at Nikki Beach in the afternoon but still thought driving home was a good idea. Shortly thereafter their car was upsidown in a ditch and they were hanging from their seatbelts (uninjured of course) very amused by this turn of events...oh St. Tropez. The Brits would later call me back (several times) once they decided they were over their car accident and that they wanted to come, however they ended up getting so drunk they never made it out. I met up with the German's who were from Munich, one of the few places in Germany I like and (I believe) where my family originally came from back many generations ago. After more drinks at the pool bar it was off to Les Caves du Roy which for some reason has gone no smoking (sort of). You can smoke in many of the restaurants in St. Tropez and pretty much everywhere else, so it made very little sense for one of the most popular nightclubs to ban smoking. Especially because the other night clubs don't and especially because the jolly fat manager/owner guy used to always have a cigar with him in years past. At any rate, smoking is not fully banned as they have a smoking room with its own bar, but still. As an aside, the drinking is structured like this. You wake up between 12-2PM and you are probably not very happy with yourself and your head probably hurts. You take a shower and head to one of the beach clubs. There are 3 main choices Cinquant Cinq (which is too family oriented for my tastes, tame atmosphere and small children is not a winning combo), Nikki Beach (which is not my favorite, hard to describe why) and La Voile Rouge (my fav.). You arrive between 2 and 4 and you have lunch (with lots of drinks), then around 4 or 5PM most people are finishing their meals, the music becomes much louder and the drinks start coming in waves. By 6 or 7PM you are very drunk and you either try to push through (this move only works for the first few days, typical rookie mistake), or you go home and take a nap. Post-nap it is time for a shower and a few cocktails to get you going again, then dinner starts sometime between 10-11 (or rather the reservation is in that time frame, you never actually arrive within 30 minutes of your reservation and the service is always incredibly slow). If you finish dinner before 1 or 2am, you head to the pool bar at the Byblos for more cocktails. Depending on your preferences, you head out for the evening in earnest between 1 and 2am. There are 3 main nightclubs as well, they all have their pluses and minuses. Papagayo is the worst of the bunch (in my opinion) then based on your group or your evening plan VIP Room or Les Caves are the quality options. I don't think there is a hard and fast closing time so you can stay out quite late (always until at least 4 or 5). Then, if you're still standing it is back to hotel after parties, after parties at people's houses etc... You are most likely going to sleep with the sun up, your head is most likely going to hurt again the next day. Once you've destroyed yourself in this manner for a few days you get wise to the idea that such a pace cannot be maintained for a week. The best way to go about it is to choose either day drinking or evening drinking. This works well in theory but come 5 or 6pm you almost always figure it's close enough to dinner time and the Rose begins to flow. This can be done (in theory), but it is key not to try and be the All-Star who kicks it off at noon every day and only sleeps for 2 hours this will not end well for those who attempt it. That was an incredibly long tangent and I apologize. So, after drinks at the pool bar the Germans and I went down to Les Caves around 2 and amazingly, the bouncer who I see for a few seconds as I walk past him on a handful of nights one week a year remembers my name and face and welcomes us in. Like I said, the service is improving. I was pretty deep into the alcohol at this point and I can't say I remember anything outlandish happening. This was easily the most tame night of the trip (up until this point) and I was probably in bed by 4:30 or so, it may not even have been light out yet. How humiliating!

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Photos

Hotel Le Bristol
Facade of the Hotel

The Gardens
Hotel Le Bristol is like a rectangle with these gardens in the middle.

Le Bar
The lobby bar and seating

CDG
Sitting at the gate waiting for my flight to Nice

Hotel Le Byblos
The pool area. The hotel is meant to evoke a mediterranean fishing village. It's interesting

Bathroom
Another bath tub, excellent

My 1 window
meh

view
only 1 window but it least it had a view

zoomed out
Same thing just less zoom