Bon Jour -
It’s late Sunday (November 10) and we’re preparing for French Veterans Day tomorrow. I don’t know how it will be any different than in the U.S., but we’ll be sleeping in. We’re also preparing for Sophia’s birthday party, coming up this Saturday, the day after her 14th birthday. She’s invited about 40 kids and we’re preparing for something between 6 kids and 60 kids. Sophia says French kids don’t RSVP (isn’t RSVP French?) and they just show up, often bringing other kids. Apparently, the French kids have told Sophia they want an American party. Sophia says they think it will be more lively with loud music versus a French party, which is kids just sitting around and talking. Fortunately, we have a ping pong table, a nice area outside around a swimming pool, and after a purchase a nice i-pod/i-phone docking speaker(s). And, the French kids want American food (who can blame them?) So, it’s ping-pong, dancing and soda, chips, crackers and fruit. It’s an afternoon party, which somehow sounds a bit tamer than having it in the dark during the evening. It should be another learning experience.
Keaka’s winless hockey team played game #5 today. While they lost 7-0 to Avignon, it was all good as Keaka played his best game by far. He had played two of the first four games and struggled in each. The kids are not great players and they stress conditioning, rather than positional play, which is key to the way the game is played in North America. So, the transition is a bit of a challenge. They’re playing a 16-game schedule in a five-team league, so they play each of the other four teams twice at home and twice on the road. Most of the other teams are 90 minutes or so from Marseille. This also is another learning experience.
Back to the final day of the 15-day trip. Geez, we’re already trying to find the time to finalize our next trip, which starts December 22nd in Paris and goes through Belgium, to Holland and Germany, and back home. The last stop of the recent trip was back in France in Nice. We left Venice on a Friday morning (noticing that stores were closed), with a six-hour drive to Nice, by far our most challenging drive. We were back through the industrial, truck-dominated northern Italy corridor for the beginning of the trip. No trucks. Then we saw them all parked at the rest areas along the toll road. So, we figured it was an Italian holiday. Upon our return to Aix-en Provence the following day, we learned it was All Saints Day. So, now you know that November 1st is All Saints Day (at least in Italy).
We tried to leave early enough and move along briskly enough (we gave ourselves 8-1/2 hours from the Venice hotel to the Nice hotel), so we wouldn’t have to drive in the dark. We had no idea what the road on the Mediterranean coast was like between Genoa, Italy and Nice. Still can’t tell you much about that bit of roadway, as we hit darkness prior to reaching Genoa. The journey was very interesting. Again, lots of industry and lots of farming. And, still again, the Italian auto routes were terrific, though possibly considered pricey. North of Genoa we went from topography that looked like the Great Plains to topography that looked like the Appalachian mountains in about one mile. As it was getting dark, the road had more turns then the road to Hana, which had been our standard for curvy roads. We auto routed through Genoa (known to the Italians as Genova). Would have really liked to have stopped, but again you can only do so much in 11 months. Genoa is a big city and port city. We hypothesized about a later trip back to Genoa, but it’s about four hours from Aix-en Provence. The time isn’t the real issue, it’s that road. It wasn’t a picnic in the dark, but it might have been better than seeing too much in the daylight. It was an auto route from Genoa to Nice, but the road was well above the sea shore, with constant transitions between bridges and tunnels. So, there were lots of mountains and valleys (and the usual number of drivers going 90+ mph and weaving in and out, barely missing clipping our car as they went by). Too many glances off to the sides of the bridges presenting huge elevation drops (I mean huge or so it seemed from the lights I periodically glanced at below the bridges, just before barreling into another tunnel).
We passed by Monaco/Monte Carlo, which is right next to Nice, which you approach from a significant height. So, we got to drive into Nice in the dark at the end of Friday evening rush hour. That was a challenge, but we did reach our hotel (see photo – hotel with the awning and church next door). Our stay was only from 7 pm Friday to 3 pm Saturday, so we didn’t do the in depth Nice tour. I liked Nice more than Marlene (both of us had been there previously). She thought it too crowded, which it was on a Saturday, with no shopping available on Sunday. Back to the photos, the photo of the real nice building is the Hotel Exedra, which was just down the street from our accommodations and there’s another photo of the lobby (horse, etc.) I got up before the group on Saturday morning and went out for a reconnaissance walk. Don’t say it loudly, but it’s always easier to travel alone. Gobs of shoppers at 9:30in the morning. I discovered a huge indoor shopping mall in downtown Nice (I thought I was in the United States), went in and saw a big crowd. The folks were clamoring around a Starucks. So, I think we’ve seen four Starbucks (Paris airport, downtown Marseille, downtown Geneva?, and Nice). The French seem to get attracted to all that is American. Anyway, I thought Nice was nice – electric, a great mix of new and old, and, of course, a waterfront and warm & sunny weather). Their mass transit (they call the above ground trains tramways in Europe) is very new. The train in the photo was right outside the shopping mall (they dedicated the street to the mass transit). We later rode the tram, which is a priority to really see a city. In Nice we saw a new city park while on the tram. The park must have cost millions. Also, note the photo of the art, which is in the central square, through which runs the new tramways, just a few blocks from the shopping center and surrounded by blocks and blocks of retail shopping and restaurants, and just a few blocks from the beach. We walked part of the beachfront (it’s four miles long), and you see Marlene and Keaka at the café we stopped at. The highlight of the beachfront is the 100-year-old Hotel Le Negresco, which comes with a nice lobby chandelier and lots of art, including the fat lady. The beach is on the rocky side, but how many cities have a four-mile long beachfront? You get a good look with the photo of Marlene, Sophia and Keaka.
Away we went back to Aix-en Provence. It’s an easy 90-minute drive. That ended the 15-day journey and we all agreed it was a very successful trip.
The Wilsons
