The french Raffetto's have been spotted throughout France for the past 16 days. They show up with their black berets at museums, restaurants, hotels, churches, buses and other non-descript places. They ask foreigners or any other willing body to take pictures of them. The latest was at the marina in Nice.
We have our last dinner tonight with the tour group. It will be bittersweet...we have made some new friends. Tomorrow morning is an early day...our flight leaves at 7:25 am. We catch a shuttle at 5:00.
Friday, October 8, 2010
The mediterranean
Nothing like the beautiful water of the mediterranean. The blue of the water is a cross between the color of glacier water and the color of the stone torquoise. Tom took the opportunity to swim immediately upon our arrival. The beach here is composed of rock, little flat rocks. No sand. Had there been sand it would be perfect.
Dar and Tom checked out the marina and all the huge yachts this morning. We understand that neighboring Monaco had a yacht festival within the last two weeks...we joked that the leftovers were here in Nice. There is a yacht/ship for sale in the marina, 183 ft long, Lady Christina. Evidently her owner fell in love with another ship and launched her last week.
Cilla and I hoofed it all over the old city of Nice to shop for last minute souvenirs. The french have a Target like store, the Monoprix that has become our home away from home. We have found some great buys but also toothpaste, hair spray and a French to US converter for our new French camera.
Nice has a strong Italian influence. It has only been part of France for a little over 100 years. The colors of the buildings are almost identical to the colors on the Italian Riviera.
At lunch today we ate risotto and pasta. It was fantastic!
We have seen other Italian influences, like Ferrari's, Versace and Vespas'.
Dar and Tom checked out the marina and all the huge yachts this morning. We understand that neighboring Monaco had a yacht festival within the last two weeks...we joked that the leftovers were here in Nice. There is a yacht/ship for sale in the marina, 183 ft long, Lady Christina. Evidently her owner fell in love with another ship and launched her last week.
Cilla and I hoofed it all over the old city of Nice to shop for last minute souvenirs. The french have a Target like store, the Monoprix that has become our home away from home. We have found some great buys but also toothpaste, hair spray and a French to US converter for our new French camera.
Nice has a strong Italian influence. It has only been part of France for a little over 100 years. The colors of the buildings are almost identical to the colors on the Italian Riviera.
At lunch today we ate risotto and pasta. It was fantastic!
We have seen other Italian influences, like Ferrari's, Versace and Vespas'.
The search for a pair of great tits
Ann from Chicago is a world birder, I mentioned that in an earlier blog. Dar was harassing her on the bus yesterday that there are not any birds in Nice so she needed to give him her binoculars. Dar mentioned that he could use the binoculars to scope out the bathing scene in Nice...especially since they tend to go topless. Ann got out her bird bible and sure enough, there is a bird called a Great Tit. For those of us in North America, they are called chickadees. Ann suggested to Dar that he start his search for a pair of Great Tits in Nice, the bird type.
As we drove into town along the promenade, Dar had his first sighting of a pair of Great Tits, you decide which species they were from....
As we drove into town along the promenade, Dar had his first sighting of a pair of Great Tits, you decide which species they were from....
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Nice is awesome!
We are in Nice, our last stop. Our hotel is on the main road, right across from the beach. Spectacular view from our third floor room...with a balcony and chairs. Dar and I had a glass of wine and soaked up the sun for about an hour before we left with the group to explore. Tom and Cilla went across and swam in the ocean.. I think Nice is great!
Heading to bed but will write again tomorrow. Have a great story about bird watching in Nice...
Heading to bed but will write again tomorrow. Have a great story about bird watching in Nice...
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Vaison la Romaine
What a beautiful little town in the Provence region of France. We arrived here yesterday after stopping in L'Orange. They have a roman theatre that is in incredible shape...we toured the Arena and then watched a film. On the way out we exited stage right...and accidentally came out on the stage...we immediately realized our mistake and Cilla came barreling out... Along with her came the saleswoman telling us to get our butt back in there...we left our mark on L'Orange!
We came into Vaison at dusk...this town not only has a roman ruins area but also has a midevil and modern area. We climbed the hill and we stayed the night in the 15th century neighborhood.
This morning we toured the roman ruins and Vaison also has a roman theatre...not as well in tact as L'Orange but none the less unique.
At 11:00 we met at the bus and off we went to our last wine tasting at Domaine de Mourchon. A beautiful winery that is run by a Scottish family. Walter, the father took us through the vines, talked about the grapes, then we watched a load of grenache grapes get dumped into the conveyor system to be cleaned, pressed and put into the vats. The family bought the winery 12 years ago and they actually built the wine making area. It is a wonderfully efficient process, we will show pictures later.
We had lunch in the garden of the main residence, drank great wine and petted their two dogs and three cats. Fantastic!
Another great day...this part of France reminds me of Italy, more mediterranean looking with Cypress trees and rolling hills.
We came into Vaison at dusk...this town not only has a roman ruins area but also has a midevil and modern area. We climbed the hill and we stayed the night in the 15th century neighborhood.
This morning we toured the roman ruins and Vaison also has a roman theatre...not as well in tact as L'Orange but none the less unique.
At 11:00 we met at the bus and off we went to our last wine tasting at Domaine de Mourchon. A beautiful winery that is run by a Scottish family. Walter, the father took us through the vines, talked about the grapes, then we watched a load of grenache grapes get dumped into the conveyor system to be cleaned, pressed and put into the vats. The family bought the winery 12 years ago and they actually built the wine making area. It is a wonderfully efficient process, we will show pictures later.
We had lunch in the garden of the main residence, drank great wine and petted their two dogs and three cats. Fantastic!
Another great day...this part of France reminds me of Italy, more mediterranean looking with Cypress trees and rolling hills.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Vaison la Romaine
Hi all. Awesome little hill town called Vaison la Romine nestled in the middle of wine country...Cotes du Rhone country. We are safe and fully aware of the travel advisory's. We travel in a small group and we are in very small towns. Don't worry...we are careful. Our hotel doesn't have internet access so i am sitting in the lobby of another hotel. I will blog tomorrow. Love you all,
Mare and Dar and Tom and Cilla
Mare and Dar and Tom and Cilla
Monday, October 4, 2010
Annecy and Chamonix
We left Beaune on Sunday...it turned out to be a beautiful day, sunny and warm, around 75. We arrived at Annecy at about noon. This town is on a lake about 1.5 times the size of Payette lake. It sits pretty close to the base of the french alps. The mountains jut straight up from there. It was a lovely little town, about a population of 25000 and the surrounding community adds about another 25,000. We toured the lake by boat...unique history dating back to the 15th century.
We left around 4:00 and headed to Chamonix. The autobahn is pretty straight thru this area but we did go through a number of tunnels. I still think Idaho should consider these...really slick!
We arrived in Chamonix, with breath taking views of Mont Blanc and all the french alps in early evening. Tom and Cilla have the best views from their room. We have a good view but not of Mont Blanc but that doesn't matter today, we had a storm come through today. And doggone it, they shut the lifts and gondolas down becuase of high winds. We managed to get out and walk a trail, the petite balcon sud trail. About 2.5 hours, and the views were beautiful.
Lwt's talk about the food...they eat meat, potatoea and cheese!
We left around 4:00 and headed to Chamonix. The autobahn is pretty straight thru this area but we did go through a number of tunnels. I still think Idaho should consider these...really slick!
We arrived in Chamonix, with breath taking views of Mont Blanc and all the french alps in early evening. Tom and Cilla have the best views from their room. We have a good view but not of Mont Blanc but that doesn't matter today, we had a storm come through today. And doggone it, they shut the lifts and gondolas down becuase of high winds. We managed to get out and walk a trail, the petite balcon sud trail. About 2.5 hours, and the views were beautiful.
Lwt's talk about the food...they eat meat, potatoea and cheese!
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