Ibis Hotel Sophia-Antipolis Valbonne

-continued from previous entry-

Anyways, long story short I lost my first connecting train and I had to reschedule (at the ticket office) my itinerary... so on top of the first (very late train), I had to take SIX (yes 6) more trains to Freiburg hehe... All to save about 40or 50 euros (which I definitely need to)... they have faster, more direct trains, of course, but at a premium.

So I ...

Featured Excursion: Full-day tour along the Alsatian Wine Road

"Leaving Strasburg we head for a famous road, the Alsatian wine route, which hugs the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. Charming villages and lush vineyards, producing great white wines, line this winding ...

... short cultural visits (giving the taste buds a rest) and gastronomic experiences. On our first visit we tasted 13 wines, including a couple of grands crus, we learnt to schluck and pucker – that is take a small sip and breathe air in through the wine without choking and we had the honour of meeting the founder of the domaine. We visited large vineyards, tiny organic producers, eaux de vie tastings, beer tastings, we ...

... hall was one such a place and held 50000 people. It was never completed. It was kind of chilling, because the museum showed you what Hitler's vision was and it was enormous. For example one of the marching roads into the stadium was to sweep from there to the imperial palace which is twenty minutes away. It is now hard to imagine what it once was when all you see now is a ruin.
I then caught a 5 hour train to Freiburg which is by the black forest.

... arrived here (it just smelled... well... bad, very hippie/patchoulli... and wasn´t too thrilled) but then turned my attitude around about it and can happily say I really like it there. People are so nice, and I actually have a bed that´s not a bunk bed (yay!!!) and a nightstand (yay!!) and a locker big enough to put my backpack in it (yay)! These are things that make me happy :)

I´ve had a fun couple of days here and was going to stay ...

... had the huge bell…just as we started talking about how funny it would be if it rang while we were in there, and after I said that they would never do that when people are in there because it would be too loud, the bell struck!! It was so loud and gave the few people who were up there at the time a huge fright. It was right on 3pm and our parking ran out in 15 minutes, so with ringing ears we made our way back down the stairs and back to Fred.

Our next stop ...

... mais c'est déjà dépaysant. après le musée des Beaux Arts le Dimanche Matin, on profite d'un temps digne de celui que j'ai laissé sur Avignon pour aller prendre l'air et la verdure au parc Botanique et zoologique de Mulhouse qui vaut vraiment un détour.

... to be no employees (admission was paid through a machine, and the ticket dispensed let you into the exhibit).

We continued along past some spas and a nice little pond with turtles. I was very excited when I spotted the turtles and the man had to drag me away from them in the end.

We didn't go into any of the spas but I think I will have to come back sometime to try them out and visit the ruins.

... around Freiburg having decided that it was just another cathedral and followed the busy road to Lake Titisee. We found ourselves caught up in that same traffic holdup we encountered the previous time where they were rebuilding a bridge. This time it took ¾ hour or more to get through and you should have seen the queue the other side! I was a little concerned about the water temperature in the car. (I topped it up when we got back...it was very low...but it ...

We made from St. Tropez to Valbonne on Tuesday and are leaving Valbonne today. The hotel has internet, but it's not very good, so this will be a text only post with the photos to follow later. Valbonne is a nice little town with a ton of small restaurants in the alley ways. Very quaint and it isn't far from bigger surrounding cities. It has a really nice town square that we've been sitting around and doing some people watching. On the day we arrived I was sooooo ...