|
  | |  |
France
Entry 6 of 7 | show all | print this entry |
Writing this I am sitting in a cafe overlooking the formula 1 track and harbour of Monaco. Yes boys and girls, today is a glorious warm day in Monaco and I'm sitting in the middle of the formula 1 track eating my very expensive lunch. After lunch I am going to stroll the waterfront dreaming of how I can get me one of those nice boats then catch a bus to Eze, a small village between Monaco and Nice.
This morning I went and watched the changing of the guard at the palace then took a tour through some of the apartments, saw the throne room and a family portrait of Prince Rainer III, Grace Kelly and the kids. Grace Kelly was a beautiful woman. They love her here, everything is Princess Grace this, Princess Grace that.
Yesterday I was Cannes with my room mates and was disappointed. It's really not that great. Nice on the other hand is beautiful. The water front promenade is amazing. Reminds me of Mission Bay and makes me miss home. It's better here for roller blading, running and cycling as it is a very wide promenade. Tomorrow afternoon I head to Marseilles for two nights before heading to Ireland. That reminds me I need to remind Andrew I'm coming.
Paris was not my favourite place. I felt kind of stressed out there. It is very busy and fast paced. The nderground was very good. My first day there I went on a bike tour to Versailles. The tour was awesome despite the rain and wind. Versailles is huge! It is an amazing palace.
The next day I walked the Champs Elysees all the way from place de concord to the arc de triumph, then climbed all 284 stairs to the top. It was an amazing view. After wards I joined a free walking tour and
our guide was a kiwi girl from Rotorua. Short to say I was disappointed in the tour. We only saw the Eiffel tour from a distance. I was glad I had seen it the night before.
The next day I packed in the last of my must see sights leaving Notre Dame and St Chapelle for my last morning. That evening I joined a night bike tour. It was the best thing I did in my whole trip. It is run by Americans but they are great. There was a couple a bit older than my parents from Hamilton in the tour and a bunch of Aussies. We all had a blast. The last part of the tour was a boat trip down the Seine. We also had some French red wine on the trip. Short to say some people couldn't ride in a straight line up the small hill from the boat and the rest of us couldn't ride in a straight line trying to dodge the others. It was a great laugh. Best tour ever. I would highly recommend Fat Tire Bike tours to anyone and they're not just in Paris.
My last morning in Paris I did Notre Dame and St Chapelle before heading to Tours. Tours was a noticeably more relaxed town. Saturday I went on a tour of four castles in the Loire Valley my favourite being Chenonceau which is built on a bridge. Then it was a quiet day on Sunday in Tours. Oh by they way everything closed on Sunday. And I mean everything except the tourist stuff which is not much in Tours other than a couple of cathedrals. I went on a petit train around the city for my main attraction of the day.
8:13am the next morning I was on a train back to Paris to catch a TGV (super fast train) to Nice. My train had problems so it was a good 30mins late leaving Tours. Thankfully it had scheduled stops on the way where it had to wait so managed to make up time.
And that has been France so far. Having a good time. Oh I'm sharing a room with three older i.e. retirement age Brazilian women. I've kinds been adopted. They are a hard case. I get serenaded to sleep each night. They always manage to get to sleep before me.
See you all soon. Not long now till I return to reality. Till then aurevoir.
Latest Comments (1)
|
Bonjour (reply)
Oct 12, 2008 21:31 EST by vickyanderson
Hey, sounds like you're having a wonderful time! Glad you got to visit St Chapelle - it's so underrated as everyone goes to Notre Dame instead. Brings back good memories!
Safe travels xo
|
 Post a new comment |
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Provence, France or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
Send a message
