The Cote D'Azur and City of Popes

I have to say that I was sad to leave Rome...again...but this time was the last time - at least on this trip. It's such a great city...so much life...so much to offer...I will miss it, but I know I will be back! But now it was off to a new adventure...and after several weeks in Italy...a new country. I boarded my flight to Genoa and then made my connection by train to Nice Ville...the Cote D'Azur...better know as the French Riviera. I had been in communication Fausto, the guy I met in Sorrento, and sadly he wasn't able to find a flight in such short notice, so I was on my own in Nice...and would be in Avignon as well. So including Palermo and Rome, it would be a total of 11 days traveling on my own. I definitely had mixed feelings about this, but I figured I needed to suck it up and give it a try to get over the fear of being alone. Before I launch into all that I saw, did and experinced in these days, let me say that I have completely overcome my fear of being alone...or should I say I realized that I never actually had this fear. Traveling alone is fine. I didn't feel threatened, or unsafe, or even especially lonely. But I did find that despite all this, I don't particularly like traveling alone. Here's the problem....for me, traveling is one of my favorite things to do. You see so much, you experience new things and you learn a lot about yourself. But all of these great discoveries are just not as much fun when you can't enjoy them with someone else. Like you see something great or interesting or beautiful and you just want to talk about it. You want to share memories with someone so you can look back on them someday. You want to bounce your impressions of things off someone to see if they see it the same way. The whole experience just becomes more full and more meaningful when you have a partner in crime. I know that I've met people that even prefer traveling on their own...but well, I'm not one of them. And not that I wouldn't do it again...but I'd try like crazy to plan my journeys with others.

So all that said, I really did enjoy the south of France. But it started out a little rocky. I got off the train in Nice and flagged down a taxi to get to the apartment that I had booked. It was on the Rue Jean Medecin and Rue Massina. Probably means nothing to most of you, but if you've been to Nice, you know that the area around the train station is not very nice...kind of seedy. But the area closer to the water is very pretty, very safe and not at all dirty. Well I get in the cab and tell him the address and he proceeds to kick me out of the cab telling me that my apartment is just a block away. I knew it wasn't, but he insisted that I was wrong and that he couldn't take me because it was too close. I doubted myself, thinking maybe I was wrong...which was bad news because that meant that my apartment would have been right next to the train station...not good. So I started walking. And walking. And walking....all the way down the Rue Jean Medecin with all my bags weighing probably 60 lbs until I hit the Place Massina where my apartment was located....about 15-20 blocks away. Oh, one other side note....the Rue Jean Medecin was under construction...I mean compeltely ripped out...so there was no proper sidewalk...so I was walking trying to roll my suitcase on gravel. Good times. I curse that cab driver to this day. My apartment was really great...with two caveats. The first is that there was no air conditioning...and it was bloody hot. I cannot believe I booked a place without air conditioning...I could have sworn I did...but apparantly not. So the thing was, the windows HAD to be opened all the time. Remember I mentioned the construciton on Rue Jean Medecin.?...well it was piercingly loud during the day. And at night, since the apartment was so well located, it was right in the heart of the action. Sidewalk entertainers and hoardes of people very late into the night. So lets just say it wasn't peaceful. Ok - so a couple hurdles for the princess and the pea... I kept the windows open all day with the fan going (there was a small fan), and then shut the windows at night and kep the fan going. Totally tolerable. On the bright side - aside from the apartment being in an absolutely perfect location, it was right across the street from the Gallerie Lafayette which had a gourmet grocery store...and...ready for this...it had a washing machine. In the 5 days that I was there I must have done 8 loads of laundry. I washed things over and over again, just because I could. A little neurotic actually, but after 6 weeks of traveling, this was a blessing.

So aside from laundry, I did actually get out and see and do some things in and around Nice. Mostly what the French Riviera offers is the beach and the sea...which is where I spent a great deal of my time. The first full day I had there, I spend the morning walking around and shopping a bit, and I had the fortune of walking into this fantastic shoe store. As I was walking around admiring the beautiful shoes, a gentleman asked me if i needed help and then proceeded to help me pick out several pairs of shoes. He was incredibly charming and a great salesman...his name was Angelo...and Italian/Lebanese guy...who was running the store. Well I fell hook line and sinker for his charm because in a matter of 30 minutes I had purchased 3 pairs of shoes. Ok the shoes are really great...so it wasn't all Angelo, but he definitely helped ease my conscience on the purchases. As I was on my way to the beach, I asked Angelo if I could come back later to pick up the shoes since I didnt want to carry them with me...he said of course, they were open until midnight. I had a fantastic day relaxing on the beach. The beaches in Nice are rocky rather than sandy. This may be a drawback for some, but I actually really like it. You can rent the sunbed for the day so you're not laying on the rock...and then you don't have the problem of sand all over everything at the end of the day.

After a shower and walking around a bit more, I did go back to pick up my shoes, and Angelo invited me for a glass of wine out on the terrace. It was great to have someone to chat with and have a glass of wine with at the end of a terrific day. He was a pretty intersting guy...grew up in Beirut...and as such, had some pretty crazy political opinions about America and their involvement in Iraq and the whole Arabic world. He predicted that once America gets the Muslim world under their control (which he thought they would accomplish in the next few years) America would enter their Golden Age of power...and it would last another 30 - 40 years, and then a new chapter would begin...we didn't get as far as what that exactly would be. Anyway that's the simplified version - not sure I totally agree with his interpretations of everything, but we had a really interesting conversation.

The next days were spent in Cannes, more of Nice and Monaco...exploring, beaching and chatting with different people I met along the way. Of all the cities around the Riviera, I really liked the flavor of Nice the best. I thought the beaches in Cannes were not as nice even though they are sand beaches, and Monaco was a little pretentious. Although I admit my Monaco expeience was colored by missing one train, another train being late...and the best part...within 5 minutes of arriving there, my sandal strap broke...so I was limping around for the next 2 hours, half thinking about when I should go back, and half hoping to find a shoe store where I could afford to buy yet another pair of shoes. God forbid. I did make it back to Nice that night (in my old shoes), and despite the challenges of the day, I stumbled a great little place in the old town for dinner, where my day was compeltely redeemed. As I sat down by myself at the table, the whole staff of the restaurant was buzzing around me asking what I needed, how was it possible that I was alone, etc. The restaurant was owned by Phillippe, who was like the Godfather...literally..everyone there was related - and I met all of them. There was Julien, Phillipe's Godson, Julien's father Tony, Sherif, who was Phillipe's nephew, Jennifer, Phillipe's daughter and Luigi...who was the chef...surprisingly no relation to Phillipe. But throughout the night, they all came and talked to me, making me feel like I was in fact, not dining alone. I went back there agiain the next night (which was my last night in Nice) and they were all so happy to see me. And that night I actually didn't dine alone. First one of them sat with me for an apertif, then the next for dinner, then the next for wine..it was pretty great. They totally made me feel like part of the family. And they were all very funny too. So much fun.

After doing some reading on my next stop, Avignon, I decided to leave Nice one day early to have an extra night in Avignon. Turns out I was going to be visiting Avignon during the Avignon Festival, which is the biggest theater festival in Europe and has been going for over 60 years. So my last day in Nice was Sunday. I got up and went to church at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral there...and it was an absolutely beautiful church. Bright blue onion domes and ornate detail in the architecture. The service was in French and Russian, but since it 's the same liturgy said - I could compeltely follow it - even though I couldn't completely understand it. After the service, I got on the train to Avignon and arrived at the City of Popes early in the evening. A but of history...Avignon became the center of Catholic Christendom in the 14th Century, when one of the popes (can't remember which) decided that Avignon would politically be a better center for the papal see than Rome. This lasted for about 100 years and as such, there is a beautiful papal palace there and lots of historical monuments and sites to see. I had two full days in Avignon. The first day I spent actually in Avignon Centre walking around and seeing all the important sites. I spent several hours in the Palais du Papes and the Musee du Papes. The site has a great audio tour that makes it much more interesting than just walking around and trying to figure out what each thing is. Then I went to the Ponte Saint Benezet. The story of Saint Benezet is that he supposedly had a divine revelation that he was supposed to go to Avignon and build a bridge over the Rhone River. He came to the pope at the time and told him of this divine revelation and the pope said to him that if he could move a great stone to the water than he would let him build the bridge. So the story goes that Saint Benezet with no effort moved a rock of great weight (otherwise impossible to move by hundreds of men) to the water and the pope then believed in his divine revelation and allowed him to build the bridge. The bridge which although now is broken half way across the river, was one of the most important bridges for commerce and developement along the Rhone in history...and the Rhone became a major route for shipping at that time and still is to this day. I was a littel burnt out on sites so I sat for a late lunch and looked through the theater schedule to see if I could see something of the Avignon festival while I was there. There were literally hundreds of shows so it took a while to sort through all of it...but all of the theater was in French, so I settled on a Flamenco show for the following night. Spent the evening having dinner in the Palce D'Horloge the main square in the town and watching all the street performers that come out for Festival.

The following day, I booked a wine tour of the Rhone region...and that was good fun. We visited three wine regions including the famous Chateauneuf du Pape and tasted some fantastic wine. The whole region is beautiful...but very different than our wine country in Napa and Sonoma Valley. Our vines are very perfect...pruned and in perfect rows. The French vineyards are much more wild looking and imprefect....both charming in their own way. In the evening, I went to my flamenco show which was even better that I though it would be. I love watching people that are really good at somehting....and especially when I can see how much work it took them to perfect it. The dancers were extremely athletic and precise and the music was great too. I left with a big smile on my face.

Also as a side note, I had a great hotel in Avignon...it was called the Avignon Grand Hotel. It's right outside the gates of the old city which ended up being a blessing rather than being right in the heart of town. Off festival, being in the center would be a good thing, but during festival it's crazy until late at night...so my hotel was very quiet...and also the room was really big and beautiful...like a little suite. The princess was happy ;-).

So the next day I was off to Geneva to stay with my dear friend Veropnique. I loved my time in Southern France, but I was very excited to have some company again...and especially with such a great friend. I am getting really sad because my trip is close to being done and I'm totally not ready to come home...i guess I just need to make the most of it while I'm here!!!