Blogs from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 212

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Cannes July 12th 2005

Hi Just a quick entry, the internet is hard to get onto at times and we don't have long today. We just arrived in Cannes, it is beautiful! Going for a quick swim soon before heading off to our hotel near Nice, then to Monaco to hit the casino tonight. Spent the last two nights at a chateau in county France (can't remember the exact name!). The first night was party night, theme 'Bright and Tight', we had lots of fun with that. Second night turned into party night again, them 'Pimps and Pros', Amy and Amy went as pimps and Dana and I were their pros, along with another guy we dressed up in a skirt and makeup. Mum/dad, you might want to ignore this bit :-) We had low cut tops on, a condom ... read more

Cocktails in Monte Carlo

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Cannes July 12th 2005

Living it up in Monte Carlo

Fitravelling

After spending the day in Cannes at the beach and shopping we went to Monte Carlo for the evening. The drive was stunning, Monaco is absolutely beatutiful, and so ritzy! We walked around the palace and then headed to the Grand Casino. Unfortunately it was closed because there were big celebrations all around as it was the day that Prince Albert officially became prince. So we went to another casino, equally as stunning, and sipped cocktails overlooking the ocean while the sun set. There were so many big yatchs, ships, boats, with so many wealthy beautiful people. We all sat there dreaming about what life would be like. The girls all talked about how romantic a holiday would be here, and suprisingly even the guys were taken back by it all and said it would be ... read more

Claustrophobia Anyone?

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Avignon July 7th 2005

Avignon Pope's Palace

AX Solo

Today was truly a travel day. The bus ride from Nice to Barcelona was scheduled for 10 hours, and that's under the best of conditions. We didn't encounter the best of conditions. We did get to see a furniture truck reduced to a pile of ash - literally. Apparently, wooden furniture and diesel fuel burn pretty well together.... That kept the highway a nice parking lot for close to 2 hours. The stopover before that in Avignon was nice, but short. I was surprised to see that Avignon's walls are almost completely intact. I was also surprised to see the size of the pope's palace. I knew it was opulent, but I didn't realize it took up half the town centre! The official story if I remember is that the two resident popes were recalled because ... read more

Day at the Beach

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Antibes July 6th 2005

Antibes

AX Solo

The original plan was to spend a day in Aix-en-Provence. That pretty much went down the drain last night when I went on S.N.C.F's (French train company) website. A return trip from Nice to Aix would have run me almost 60 euros. I really shouldn't have been surprised; I knew train travel in France wasn't cheap, and that the Côte d'Azur regional trains are merely exceptions to this rule. Hence, having no three hour (per direction) train trip to look forward to, I let myself sleep in today. I needed it, as one of my dormmates almost matched the record I observed set in my London hostel for the most inhumanly loud snoring ever. Anyways, with some time on my hands, and no real desire to wander through the shopping paradise that is Nice, I got ... read more

Côte d'Azur

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Cannes July 5th 2005

Monaco from the Palace

AX Solo

I woke up rather late today at 9:30. I was actually very tempted to just go back to sleep or down to the promenade and vegetate all day. In the end though, the "gung-ho" part of my travelling personality won: I'm only in Nice for 3 days, and I'm not going to be stopping at Avignon. In other words, this is it for the French Riviera. Thus, I hauled myself to the train station and got on a regional train to Monaco (€6.5 return). The minute you get out of the train station into the area around Port Hercule, it becomes very clear that this is the playground of the rich. I wasn't even aware some of the larger and more extravagant yachts lining the harbour existed. I didn't really feel all that comfortable in Monaco ... read more

Playground of the Rich and Famous

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Nice July 4th 2005

The Promenade

AX Solo

Today was one of those days where you just roll with the punches. Our guide on the bus coming in warned us to take the 10:30am train out of Riomaggiore into La Spezia to make sure we make the 12:00 bus pickup. All 17 of us were extremely responsible and got there by 10:15am. You've gotta love Italian scheduling though. The 10:30 train was first delayed by 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, then cancelled. The 11:00am train was then delayed by 30 minutes, 45 mintues, and finally 50 minutes. We actually started calling Busabout to tell them that everyone who was supposed to get on at La Spezia was stuck at the train station. The irony is that the bus apparently had a few stragglers in Pisa (surprise, surprise), and ended up being 40 mintues late, ... read more

Nice was nice

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Nice July 4th 2005

Jeanette Halm

Happy fourth of July to all my family and friends on the other half of the world! Unfortunately, I will not be able to blow off any fireworks because A) they don't sell them here and B) there is a thunderstorm tonight and not the best weather for doing just about anything. Kinda sucks. I was at the Cote d'Azur this weekend taking in some much needed sun. I went with two friends to Nice, Monaco and Cannes for the four day weekend. Spent most of the time baking in the sun with the exception of a few hours when we went to see the Matisse Museum which was actually quaint and nice. Spent too much money in one day in Monaco and was glad that it was only a day trip...my friend paid close to ... read more

Bye, Europe!

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Saint-Raphael » Brugge July 2nd 2005

Courts

Wow, this is officially my last entry for this trip. Today I leave for Brussels to catch the Eurostar train to London, and then go to the airport and crash for the night until I leave tomorrow morning. I've had fun the past few days. Met up with a girl and the day before yesterday we actually rented bikes and went to this tiny town outside of Bruges called Damme. We also went to the chocolate museum (overrated, but the samples were good). After that we took one of the cheesy cruises down the canals. Funny how every town with more than 1 canal calls itself "the Venice of the north". But it was all good fun, we ate lots of pancakes and waffles. Yesterday we went with another Canadian girl to Brussels for the day. ... read more

I didn't know they were 12% beers!

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Saint-Raphael » Brugge June 28th 2005

Courts

Hello all....it's a beautiful day in Brugge, and why am I in an internet cafe, you ask? Pretty much because I've been hit hard by the Belgian beer : ) and there's too many tourists wandering about during the day for me to cope with at the moment. This place is much easier to get around at night when there's less people, and all the buildings and canals are lit by the sunset. I got here yesterday afternoon, and it's still pretty warm by Edmonton standards. Before that, Amsterdam was way, way worse, though. Thirty-two degrees during the day kind of worse. I had a lot of fun there, and met 2 guys at the hostel who were from Edmonton. We entertained each other during our stay by guessing which tourists were going to drop from ... read more

Sun N Fun

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur June 28th 2005

Danimal

Hey what is crackin' y'all! I am just kickin' here on the Mediterranean in a town called Cassis in the south of France. Just got done swimming on the Med. and jumping off some cliffs into the water. I met up with my fam the other day and the villa is fantastic. The weather could not be better. A great way to end my journeys. London was great...I went to Wimbledon!!!!!!!!!!! That was so freakin cool. Anyway...I'll have to update you all on that at some point...I gotta bounce.... read more

Brief history of France

Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II, France suffered extensive losses in its empire, wealth, manpower, and rank as a dominant nation-state. Nevertheless, France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader am...more history

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