Monaco and Nice

Hi All

Got to Nice yesterday, seems like a pretty bitching town although I haven't really had the chance to do much exploring yet, that is for tomorrow. Rocked out Monaco today, the place is really nice, embedded in the cliffs overlooking a vast harbour. The place just breathes money. I probably saw more BMW's and Mercedes' than I saw Renault's, Citroen's and Peugeots combined, not to mention the massive yachts. There were also a healthy number of Porsches and Bentleys, I even saw a Rolls!! I walked the Grand Prix circuit, which was pretty cool, although sometimes difficult due to a lack of sidewalks in places. They are setting up for the Monte Carlo rally, which is currently running over near Valence, France but they are set to arrive in Monaco tomorrow. Then I had lunch at a sandwich place that is located in what becomes the F1 pitlane and then went for a walk up the hill to the Royal Palace and Old Monaco. The palace is really cool although you can't go in, they have guards in ceremonial dress and machine guns walking around in front of the door "politely" reminding you that you can't enter. The place is really loaded with F1 paraphanelia, which is cool, but all retardedly overpriced. Then I rocked the city of Monaco itself, which is just the other side of the old town, not quite as nice as Monte Carlo, but still impressive enough. Saw the museum of the Prince's personal car collection, a disapointingly low number of F1 cars though. I also walked by the Monte Carlo casino, which is surrounded by super expensive cars. I will post some later impressions of Nice so bye for now from the Cote D'Azur!!!!

Avignon

Went up to Avignon yesterday, sorry I can't give you pictures because my camera battery died...... But anyways, it is a very nice place, very touristy. There is a lot of construction going on though. I visited the Papal Palace, which was home to the Popes from 1309 to 1377 and then home to two antipopes a little later on. It i really cool, very large with lots of neat chambers. The architecture is quite medieval with some intricate carving. Unfortunately a lot of the carvings were vandalised during the French Revolution and when the building was used as an army barracks in the 19th century, but much has been restored. The view was magnificent from the towers to say the least and to be able too visit a place of such importance is un-paralleled, especially for a History nerd like me! Also saw the Bridge mentioned in the childrens song, it is cool to see a 12th century bridge, but if it wasn't that old it would not be that impressive because most of it is gone and it stops halfway across the Rhone!!! I also got to walk along some of the old fortifications, which was cool. In terms of French Architecture, they must have lost their skills in the 1980's because all of their TGV stations built since then are hideously cavernous and ugly, all glass, steel, and cement. But at least they are built outside of the towns, although that probably hs to do with how loud TGV's are from the outside (but nice and quite inside). Ta ta for now from Provence, I will be heading to Nice Tomorrow.

Sunshine, the Mediterranean, and other stuff.

Yesterday I went down to the small city of La Ciotat on the Mediterranean, nd I have to say it was really awesome. The part of Provence between La Ciotat and Cassis is known for it's cool looking rock formations and hills, as well as the "calanques" which are little valleys and bays within the rock formations that often have beaches. There are two of said "Calanques" in La Ciotat and I went to both of them. Each offered excellent vues of the Sea and of the awesome rock formations and vegitation. La Ciotat also claims to be the birthplace of cinema, as it was here that the Lumiere brothers shot the first motion picture in 1895, the movie was unimaginatively called "Entree du train dans le gare de La Ciotat" and it is a movie of exactly that, a train entering the station. The town seemed to have a lively character, it is a port town so it had all of the things associated with ports, but it was not huge, smelly, and full of dubious characters the way that Marseille is. Speaking of Marseille, I went there on friday to see a few more things. Went and saw the Palais de Longchamps, which is a huge palace built by Napoleon III in the 1860's as a reminder to people that Marseille is indeed French, and this palace is not the only such construction in Marseille. After tht I went for a walk in the markets looking for a particulr candy shop that is apparantly owned by a Quebecois who gives discounts to other Quebecois, but I never found it, although I got a good feel for the city of Marseille. Other than that I have been hanging out here in Aix. Went out Friday night and discovered that there are a remarkable number of "Irish Pubs" for a city that is decidedly French................

Provence and Aix

Have been staying in Aix-En Provence since Wednesday and frankly it is a really cool city, small enough to give you a sense of safety, unlike Marseille which has an air of dodginess about it. Spent Wednesday exploring the older part of the town, with it's cool narrow streets and many, many, many fountains, including an awesome one in the centre of the town. Yesterday Simon and I rocked out the Mont Saint Victoire, a mountain about the height of Orford, but a lot longer, it is mostly a huge ridge. We accidentlly got off the bus at the wrong town and ended up hiking the longest possible trail, which took us over four hours, but it was absolutely beautiful, got some great pictures of the provencal countryside from way up there. It was really warm down in the trees but extremely windy way up at the top, and very rocky, which made for tough going, but when we finished we had an awesome sense of accomplishment. The only people we mw up there were some French mountain climbers who had done the cliffs that face the Meditteranean, we made a point of opening our cots to show how tough we are because we are Canadian. The Provencal folk are an interesting bunch. The tend to ignore the rules of the road and honk their horns alot, and the motorcyclists and scooter riders are downright insane!!!!! The place also has a lack of street signs, which makes it hard to find your way around, although Aix is much better than Marseille in this regard. Anyways, ta-ta for now from Provence!!!!!

Fairly Sunny France

Hi there folks. I'm temporarily in very sunny and pleasant Aix en Provence, France. I managed to get my way through france fairly well, no major dramas on my way to Marseille. Customs was easy and the train travel from Paris to Marseille was a breeze, the TGV is awesome but they do not call out the stops along the way so I had to pay attention, but I managed to get off at the right place, although the dude sitting next to me missed his stop because he had expected to hear them called out. Marseille is nice, very North African and Middle Eastern, which means that greasy kebabs and Doners are easy to find and not ery expensive, although stuff is more expensive over here than in Canada, especially soft drinks and juices, which are close to double what they cost in Canada, although Beer and Wine are cheaper here than back home. I met up with Simon and am currently in Aix, but am heading back to Marseille soon, where Simon and I plan to do some more cool stuff. He had to come back to deal with some French beurocracy matters. Did some walking today, we walked up a really long and steep hill to a huge cathedral, will post pictures later, it is super cool. The place I stayed last night and tonight is nice, the people running it are very helpful nd the bed was comfortable. Only bizarre thing about it is that although there is a bathroom in my room, there is no toilet in sid bathroom, the toilet is in a separate room across the hall, which is a tad annoying, but no biggie. Anywys ta-ta for now. from temporarily sunny Provence.

First Post, testing

Hi All

I am just creating a first post to test things and to mess around in order to test the functions and such, but stay tuned to all the crazy adventures to be posted here.

Tom