TravelStream™ news feed for member denisandlynnae on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/denisandlynnae en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 29 May 2008 22:21:31 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211940540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211940540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211940540/tpod.html Thu, 29 May 2008 22:21:31 -0400 Nice, France

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Cap Ferrat, France

On our last day in Nice, we were hoping for some hot sun so we could hit the beach, but it was not to be. It turned out to be a very windy day (30 mph gusts) and we decided to go back to Cap Ferrat for a walk around the point then dinner in old town Nice. We made a last stop at Pinnoccio's Gelato (about 100 flavors, including tomato basil, eggplant and red wine). It was a great ending for a great trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1210816500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1210816500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1210816500/tpod.html Thu, 29 May 2008 22:01:15 -0400 Nice, France

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Nice, France

Thanks to the hospitality of our friends David and Bunny, we were able to stay in a beautiful apartment in Nice and live much like the Nicoise do (except with better driving). We were in a great neighborhood with a view of the ocean from our balcony. The sound of kids playing in the nearby school was very homey. We fought for parking just like the locals, avoided dog poop on the sidewalk just like the locals and tried really hard to say Bonjour! just once without being immediately pegged for Americans (never succeeded). Thanks so much Bunny and David!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211313540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211313540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211313540/tpod.html Tue, 27 May 2008 06:41:22 -0400 Nice, France

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St. Jean, France

We spent the day on Cap Ferrat. Crawling through traffic from Nice, we had ample opportunities to view the fabulous harbor just one point East of the Nice harbor, with the town of Villefranche sur Mer. Across this harbor we turned into Cap Ferrat, home of many celbreties and assorted rich folk. We at lunch at the small zoo that has evolved from the exotic animal collection of King Leopold of Belgium (to get a parking place as much as anything) and were really charmed by it. The lemurs were particularly cool, but it was fun to see a lot of children running around and having a good time. There was a lemur "interaction" area where you could go inside their cage and pet them, and some had obviously escaped and were just hanging around the paths nearby watching the people walk by. We also saw a couple leopards, a bear and flamingos.

We walked down the road to St. Jean, the tiny village on the harbor at Cap Ferrat. We had our first gelato (or glace in France) of the trip and then wandered over to take a walk around the point. Cap Ferrat has a trail that completely circles the cape that was a bit more than we wanted to take on, but the cape is shaped like a mitten and we decided to circle the "thumb" only and that turned out to be just right. We saw an ever-changing vista of waves and rocks and luxury yachts and the surrounding hills and towns. Locked gates and fences separated us from what looked like fantasy villas along the shore, some even having their own private "harbor" with a stone path up to the house. We finished our walk on the shore with the requisite cappuccinos by the harbor.

Before leaving Cap Ferrat, we had about an hour to tour the villa and gardens of Beatrice Rothschild who built it during the "grand epoch" of the pre-WWI years of the last century. Built on the narrowest neck of the cape, the grounds are laid out roughly like a ship and multiple gardens surround it. It is hard to imagine the lifestyle that went on in this mansion and the wealth that was required to maintain it (it took about 35 full-time gardeners just for the grounds!) It was really worthwhile to tour the various gardens with themes like Japanese, Provencal, "Exotic (cacti and desert plants) and the magnificent rose garden at the "prow".

The day ended with dinner at Cafe Saleya in the main square of old Nice. We had traditional Nicoise specialities like stuffed vegetables, rattatuie and fish soup--all accompanied by great people-watching while the square filled up with a fine cast of characters.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211789520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211789520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211789520/tpod.html Tue, 27 May 2008 04:27:23 -0400 Nice, France

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Sospel, France

Today, being a bit rainy, we decided to drive up to Sospel near the Italian border and in a deep valley of the southern Alps. After stopping at a patisserie and finally finding the elusive and rare almond croissant ('the best!"), we continued up the steep and narrow road, through a long, narrow tunnel barely wide enough to fit a car, to the town of Sospel. Sospel is best known for its role in the French resistance in WWII when they were occupied by the Italians and Germans. We saw the old bridge, which was a toll booth from the 12th century when Sospel was a major stop on the trade between Nice and the interior. After wandering around in the drippy weather through what is a pretty dreary town, we pulled into a cafe where we could eat outside under cover and watch the traffic jams at the tiny intersection near the river.

We left Sospel and drove through Menton and on to Monaco by the low coast road. Monaco was so different today, with business as usual and normal traffic. We could see the barricades being taken down and the racecourse was mostly open to traffic now, but the crowds were gone. We parked and walked to the royal palace, which was closed yesterday for the race. We toured the palace apartments and listened to the audio tour to learn more than we needed to know about the glorious history of the royal family of Monaco and the part the principality has played in world events (almost nothing). We saw lots of paintings of past princes and learned of their glorious battle heroism. The palace was pretty cool, though we didn't pick up any decorating hints we might use.

Continuing on down the coast, we reached Villefranche sur Mer for a repeat of the great dinner we had a few days ago. We walked past the impressive old walls of the fortifications and wandered the old town again, finding it just as quaint and picturesque as before. We ate at Les Garcons again, this time outside as the rain had cleared to a balmy warm night. We walked back to our car along the sea wall and up dozens of stairs with a great view of the harbor and Cap Ferrat across the water.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211749260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211749260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211749260/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 17:16:53 -0400 Nice, France

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Monte Carlo, Monaco

Not having the "je ne se qua" to spend $1500 for tickets to the actual race, we decided to travel to Monte Carlo on race day anyway, and it turned out to be a great day. We took the train and arrived about 1 o'clock--the race was scheduled to begin at 2. We found a brasserie up the street from the harbor and the starting line and sat down to eat lunch. All around us were booths selling hats and shirts and flags and drinking mugs for the various racing teams (mostly Ferrari, it seemed). As race start time approached, people started running toward the stands scattered around the city. We started to hear the distant whine of the engines as they drove to the starting line and it was the most eerie sound--kind of like the dinosaurs screeching in the distance in Jurassic Park. At precicely 2 all the engines revved at once and we heard the sound bouncing off the stone building all around us. For the next two hours the sound of the race cars (which was LOUD) was moving all around us as we walked around the streets. After we ate, we walked down toward the main stands at the harbor and tried to sneak a peek, but no way. As we were down there, though, we got a sense of how loud the race was and why they were selling ear protectors everywhere (with the Ferrari label, of course). The sound was the most unbelievable high pitched scream we had ever heard (the engines rev as high as 19000 RPM) and we could only stand a few minutes that close (we were about 30 feet from the track).

We wandered around Monte Carlo and tried to find someplace where we could at least get a glimpse of the cars--the city is very good a putting up steel panels to block anyone who hasn't paid up to see anything. We did find a place way up high on the hill where we saw the cars across the harbor on a small part of the track We ended up walking all over the city trying to get to the casino, but it was across the race course and they hadn't opened it up yet. But we did see more cool cars in one afternoon than ever before--Ferraris, Maseratis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces. Mercedes are the taxis in Monte Carlo and everything else is used by peasants only. This was definitely the land of the rich and famous. Being below peasants ourselves, we finally trudged to the train station where we waited with about 10,000 people for the 1-hour-late train to Nice. Somehow we all got on the train and made it home pretty tired, but we had a unique and unforgettable experience.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211661000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211661000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211661000/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 17:01:01 -0400 Nice, France

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Les Arcs, France

Up at the crack of dawn (well, more like 9) to go find the elusive almond croissant for Lynnae (unsuccessful) and to brave the toll roads to find the more pastoral, rolling landscapes of Provence. We headed West on the A8 and spent a while exploring Frejus, the oldest Roman settlement in France, founded by Julius Caeser in 67 BC. There are still some ruins of aqueducts and an amphetheater in town, and though it is more modern than most of the hill towns we've explored, it was charming in its own way. We strolled through the public market (more like a flea market) in the square and paid to look at the old cloister and baptistry of the cathedral (from the 12th and 5th centuries, respectively). Getting hungry we moved on to find Roquebrune-sur-Argens, which lived up to its reputation as very beautiful and quaint. The houses around the center are over 400 years old and the streets are narrow and twisting. We bought a sandwich for Lucas and went to look for Notre Dame chapel to eat lunch at its famed view, but never found it. Instead we parked in a small suburban development and ate in the car. Can't win them all.
On to Les Arcs, headquarters of this region's wine country. After a bit of backtracking and trying out our minimal French to ask directions, we finally found the Maison des Vins as recommended in our guidebook. It turned out to be very cool (though it didn't have the promised winery maps). There were hundreds of wines from all over the region categorized by district. We met a very knowledgeable man who lived in the US for seven years and was a Celtics fan. He gave us a few rose wines (didn't like them) and some whites to taste. We loved some of them and bought a few bottles (pretty cheap 5-10 Euros a bottle). We did get directions to a couple Chateaux for tasting. Chateau Sainte Roseline was very nice and we tasted some reds--a bit pricier, but not bad. One of the hosts sized us up as prime American venture capitalists or movie moguls up from Cannes and offered to give us a tour of the winery (they don't usually do that on the weekends). We followed him to a room with a bunch of barrels piled up and he told us they change the barrels every three years. Then he left to go back to the bar--tour over! The other chateau we visited was up a very long, narrow road through vineyards and forest, past old rock walls and ancient olive trees. Finally we reached the Chateau Font du Broc ("Chateau at the End of a Very Long Skinny Road"), which was spectacular. Apparently a very old residence, it had beautiful rose gardens, a view to die for, an elegant tasting room and a hostess who spoke not a word of English. We tasted a few reds and didn't like them, then spent a long time trying to explain to the girl that her wine was like the swill of a swine pen and we weren't going to buy a 40 Euro bottle at this time, maybe next trip. After tasting, we went back to the square at Les Arcs to have a cappuccino/white wine and watch the pigeons putter for a while.

We decided to eat back in Nice at the Cours Saleya where the market is in the mornings (at 1 they hose off the whole thing and pull out about a thousand chairs to make it into the worlds largest outdoor restaurant. We finally tried Chez Freddy's, who had been handing us cards every time we went to the square, and had their prix fixe meal, which was a great deal and very good too. I had the piranha pictured below (John Dory, actually). The only sour note was that Lucas and I ordered beer from their list that sounded innocent enough, but had some sort of lemon liqueur added to it (who would add liqueur to beer!). Not our favorite.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211574120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211574120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211574120/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 16:29:52 -0400 Nice, France

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Cagnes-sur-Mer, Provence, France

After picking up our son Lucas at the airport (he arrived after touring Rome, Florence, Paris and Amsterdam with his college class) we did a repeat of our day at the Nice public market and the hilltop park above the city. We are starting to take on the Mediterranean custom of a siesta or just resting after lunch, so in mid-afternoon we re-entered the world to explore a few new perched towns nearby. We first drove to St. Paul du Vence through a beautiful valley overlooking the distant views of the ocean. St. Paul did not do it for me--too developed and too many galleries and high-end shops where people once lived--but it was a beautiful setting. We drove next to Haut Cagnes above Cagnes sur Mer and found a really nice square with a few outdoor restaurants, a terrific view of the countryside, men playing boule and arguing over the finer points, and children playing and laughing. We had a nice Italian/French meal as is so frequently found around here. We left for home early because we are planning to go wine tasting early tomorrow!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211572920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211572920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211572920/tpod.html Fri, 23 May 2008 17:17:49 -0400 Nice, France

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Nice, France

Thursday was a beautiful sunny day! The air was cool coming from the most beautiful water I have ever seen. The turquoise was of various hues as it changed shapes different distances from the shore. Sun bathers were just as happy as we were, finding their spots on the rocky shore or on the concrete slabs to toast their bodies (sandy beaches are scarce). There also seems to be a few fishermen no matter what kind of day it is.

Our parking lot for our car was near the parking for the cruise ships where we crossed the busy street and found the stone stairs and switch-back path to the top of a 90-meter hill called Le Chateau. There's really no chateau now...Louis XIV ordered it razed in 1706...quite quirky for a citadel that was already 2,000 years old! The foundation of a church is still there to view and now there are gardens, playgrounds and a snack bar. The best part of this hike was the views. Check the pictures! There were many mosiacs on walls and for us to walk on...stones and marble shaped in various ways! We watched a fine teacher and his student practicing some form of movement with a sword. School children were running in bunches. And many locals were out for a good walk.

The descent on the other side of the citadel brought us into Old Nice where on the Cours Saleya is the site of the market: fruits, vegetables, spices, fish, soaps, artists, dried frut, purses, carvings, flowers...and people...a wonderful adventure into the pulse of Nice. The smells and colors are amazing...anything you want for your pleasure and kitchen.

Our walk back to the car was along part of the promenade des Anglais...a three-mile wide stretch of sidewalk with hotels and apartments on one side and beach and sea on the other.

After stowing our purchases at the condo, we parked at the Gare (train station) and did some clothes shopping before catching the train for Villefranche sur Mer, just one stop East of Nice. We inadvertently got on a train which did not stop at Villefranche so we stayed on the train for the wonderful ride along the coast to Monaco--this has to be one of the most stunning and beautiful stretches of track in the world! Circling back we finally arrived in Villefranche, which is a charming old town with a nice balance of shops and homes along its crooked stone paths and a unbeatable view of the harbor and Cap Ferrat in the distance. We had the best dinner so far in this area at Les Garcons Restaurant. Planning to catch the 10:35 train back to Nice, we knew something was wrong when it was five minutes late (the trains in France are almost never late) and we took a taxi back instead. A minor glitch on a really nice day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211353920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211353920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211353920/tpod.html Thu, 22 May 2008 03:32:24 -0400 Nice, France

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Nice, France

On a hill above the old and new cities of Nice is the site of a 3rd century Roman town called Cemenelum. At this site now are the archeological digs, a Franciscan monastery and church, a museum for the artist Henri Matisse and a public park. We spent much of the day in this area, basking in the sunshine and absorbing history.

The Matisse museum was really great, with lots of his drawings, paintings, paper cutout assemblies, prints and weavings. He was an incredibly prolific artist who progressed through amazing stages of creativity from fairly conventional dark paintings in 1895, to evocative drawings using black ink and brush (like chinese artists making perfect circles) to create a face with two or three strokes, to colorful and playful figures and patterns made of paper or linen.

After Matisse we had our lunch in the rose garden of the monastery and dozed on the grass in the sun before trudging back down the hill to the Musee de Archeologie and the site of Roman baths from the 3rd century. They had some beautiful pieces pulled from the city like coins, sculpture, buttons and hair pins, sarcophogae and restored murals. There were also large amphorae pulled from wrecks in the sea and Grecian pottery from the 5th century BC. The site itself was quite deteriorated, with most buildings just a foundation and a few low walls. But we could see the pools from the baths and the water channels that brought hot water from the center. We also saw pieces of the original stone-paved Roman roads and homes (tiny!).

We walked through the park, which was filled with ancient olive trees, and watched men and women playing bocce ball (at least we thought that was what it was) and boys playing soccer. We stopped briefly in the monastery where they had a nice free exhibit with piped in Gregorian chant. I thought the "reconstructed" monks' cell was probably a bit romanticized (more like the Four Seasons than the Motel 6 they probably really lived in).

We drove down to old Nice to see the Palais Lascaris. From the outside it looked like all the rest of the old buildings on the narrow street, but inside it was 3 floors of Venetian elegance, complete with mythological scenes painted on the high ceilings, gilt baroque carvings and dark tapestries. They had the beginnings of an antique musical instrument museum and the instruments were unusual and beautiful, including a small piano-like think with the soundboard vertical against the keyboard so the whole thing was about a foot deep and six feet high, a violin with a small brass horn coming out the neck and "violin de pochette" pocket violins about ten inches long.

We had a nice dinner on Place Saleya at the Safari Cafe. Mixed grill local fish and baked red peppers...and of course vin blanc and cappoccino!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211312160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211312160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/denisandlynnae/1/1211312160/tpod.html Thu, 22 May 2008 03:11:50 -0400 Nice, France

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Cannes, France

After a bit of late start (Lynnae had to be dressed "just right" for the rich and famous!) we took the train to Cannes and headed right to the scene of the film festival down by the harbor. We saw lots of photographers and the red carpet entrance and lots of pretty obvious tourists (wearing "Lazy Dad" t-shirts over a protruding gut), but alas, no stars yet. We sat for a nice lunch of Aioli with vegetables and paella with a glass of beer and wine respectively. The people-watching was amazing, with skinny starlets freezing in minimal clothing and hot shot producers walking and talking on their cell phones or looking for WiFi on the sidewalks. The old town was cool with a good view of the harbor with all the huge yachts and an old church.

We walked back to the station and took the train to Antibes, which used to be the border between France and Italy before the region with Nice was ceded by the Italians to France in 1860. There was a very nice walled old city with a lot of activity and bustle. We stopped for yet another wine/coffee at yet another open air cafe then left for the train home.
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