Victory & Aurevoir Les Miserables

We found SAND!!! We went to Cannes yesterday (June 21) and had an amazing day, mostly because we found sand. We spend the entire day on the beach.

Andrew and I both went in the water to play. The waves really picked up in the afternoon and kicked our asses!

Here is proof that Andrew is not wearing his underwear swimming anymore, although he is a bit sunburned (we went shopping for shorts for him).

After the day at the beach we tried our first espresso. We both agreed that they were nothing special. I don't think we will be coffee drinkers anytime soon, espressos included.

Today (June 22) we went back to Cannes and enjoyed the beach again. We tried our first French crepes and didn't think that they were anything special either. But it was nice to have hot food.

Tomorrow we are off to Amsterdam and we are so excited to be leaving the country of les Miserables. We love the French landscape but the people leave a lot to be desired.

Beach Bums

Since we've been in Nice we've done pretty much nothing other than work on our tans and learning how to properly apply sunscreen (Andrew slightly burned a part of his stomach and I slightly burned one of my shoulders). We haven't been bringing our camera to the beach for fear that it might get stolen while we are swimming but the beach is beautiful. The beaches are covered in what tourists books call pebbles, but they are really just fist sized (the biggest of them at least) rocks. They aren't the most comfortable to lay on, but we are too cheap to buy chairs or cushions or to pay to get onto a private beach for the use of their lounging chairs.

After our days on the beach we have been enjoying the World Cup. We quickly realized that soccer players are no UFC fighters with the amount of crying they do and dives they "perform" (which drives us CRAZY!!). Right now Andrew and I are cheering for Mexico because the game that we saw the Mexican players weren't diving and because they just recently beat France. Right now Italy is annoying us.

Yesterday (June 19) was a little on the cold side (around 20) and a bit cloudy, so after spending some time on the beach we went for a walk to Parc de la Colline du Chateau. It was a really good lookout point and we got some good pictures.

Today (June 20) we went to Monaco for a quick day trip. We read in our book that when we go to Monaco we should not miss the changing of the guards at the Palais du Prince. Andrew and I almost killed ourselves laughing when we saw it for ourselves. The procedure took maybe 20 seconds and the guy walked out of the little hut and someone came to replace him. I guess Red Deer tourism should start advertising changing of the security guards at some of the buildings downtown, because the changing of the guards in Monaco got a lot of attention.

After this we went walking through one of the harbours and looked at all the boats. I wish we could do this every Sunday. These boats were some of the biggest I have ever seen. They had at least 4 different levels, motorboats and jetskis attached and a boat crew cleaning every spot on the deck. We are also pretty sure they loaded their BMWs, Aston Martins, Rolls Royces, etc into them, because each boat had one or two of these sitting beside them on the pier.

Then we went to the famous Monte Carlo casino. We were lucky enough to get there when it opened (we were surprised they ever closed - they open at 2pm). Once we got in we had to check our bags at the door, no cameras allowed and then we got to the casino and saw a sign that to get inside it was 10 euros each. So we picked up our bags and left. Why even bother!? As Andrew said when we were leaving: "They've got it all wrong. You don't charge to take people's money." But I guess in Monaco they do. We think they could learn from Vegas: never close, and never charge admission.

Monaco was a really nice country/city. It was really clean, which nowadays impresses me and Andrew. It was built right into the mountain and there were public elevators everywhere in order to get to the streets below.

Tomorrow we are on a mission to find sandy beaches, so we are going to go to Cannes. Hopefully there will be some there. Andrew and I have vowed to try an espresso and a crepe while we are in France, so tomorrow might be the day for that too. As for now we have big plans: New Zealand and Italy are playing right now and Brazil and Ivory Coast are playing tonight. We are keeping our supper cold until we are ready to eat (Andrew has created a fridge out of duct tape and our AC unit to keep our Camembert cold for a couple of hours).

Bye, Bye Avignon and Err the French!

So a couple days ago (June 14) we went to Nimes to see some Roman stuff.

Here is the Tour Magne which we were able to climb. It is an old Roman tower (built over an even older Celtic tower) that used to be part of the city wall. It gave us a good view of the city.

This was a beautiful park right below the tower. It is the best park we have seen so far in France. It has 'Augustinian' springs running through it.

A water fountain at the entrance of the park. This was a big deal because this is one of the first fountains that was actually running in France. In the background, on the hill, you can see the Tour Magne.

More of the spring outside the garden.

When we went to the Maison Carree (another Roman structure that was the center of the Roman forum) there was a 3-D video that we were able to watch. God, I can anything look good.

Here is the best preserved amphitheater in the world. 

They still hold bullfighting and other events here.

This is what Andrew and I do once we get back to our hotel most days... eat dinner and drink wine. Since we have no fridge in the hotels we have been staying in we go to the grocery store usually once a day, but sometimes 2 (sound like anyone you know Dad or Papa???). Although the grocery stores don't compare to a Buy-Lo, they have fresh bread, cheap cheese (we are eating a lot of Camembert right now) and of course because we are in France cheap wine (Andrew convinced me to get the 5 litre in the picture because we were in Avignon for 5 nights. The real selling point was that it was cheaper per litre than any bottles). We also try to have a vegetable of some sort, usually carrots or tomatoes. Thank god we are creatures of habit because we haven't gotten sick of this yet.

Today was our travel day from Avignon to Nice. It should have been a smooth 3 hour train ride on a high speed train but... because of poor French planning, engineering, infrastructure, lack of motivation and heavy rain, our train was "supprime", which we learned today means canceled. When we went to check which platform to get onto in Avignon we noticed that it said our train was going to Marseille, not Nice. I spoke to an information person at the train station who informed us that no trains were running past Toulon, so we would have to find a train from Marseille to Toulon and then a bus MIGHT bring us from Toulon to Nice. Of course, this information was only given to those people who stood in line and asked. There were no postings or announcements or any other information made available. So Andrew and I took a train to Marseille and then I went to ask again if there was any other way to get to Nice (I figure that if I don't like the first answer I get, I'll ask again and again until I get a better response). Luckily it worked, we found out there was a bus or buses (the guy didn't know) leaving from Marseille to Nice (the guy didn't know when either...). So Andrew and I rushed to the spot the information man said they would be. When we got there, there was a crowd of people waiting for a few buses, or bus (nobody knew how many buses there would be or when they would be coming). We happened to be standing next to some Brits. We talked about how if we were back in Canada or if they were in England, there would have been an orderly line (or 'queue'). But not in France. When the crowd started to move I pushed my way to the front and we managed to get on a bus.

Thank goodness we got to Nice... and it wasn't all that painful, but now Andrew and I have more to add to our list of things we don't like about France (which currently includes the fact that it is full of French people, among other things).

When we got here we fell in love with our room, and with Nice, of course, which is absolutely beautiful.

We can't wait to spend a day on the beach lathered in sunscreen!