Adventrues in Antibes - Part 1

Antibes is a fun town just to hang out in, or to swim or sun bathe. But there are so many other places to visit in and around the Riviera that it's hard to stay put. Our first big adventure was to San Remo Italy, which is about as far as you'd want to go via train on a single day. The trip requires one train transfer after crossing the border into Italy. On the second leg to San Remo, a friendly lady taught us a few helpful phrases in Italian - Bonjourno, Gratzi, and a couple others I'm forgetting. A couple basic phrases go a long ways. And, I have to say, I like the sound of Italian more than French or Spanish. The San Remo stazione was buried in the side of a hill/mountain and it was about a half a mile down a long corridor to get out.

The city center was a couple blocks from the train station and the beach was only a couple blocks further. The whole area was very walkable. There was lots of shopping and some picturesque buildings. The beaches and coastline were surprisingly nice as well. We enjoyed getting our feet wet, but didn't have suits or towels to get drenched. Lunch was a treat consisting of the best tasting pizza of our travels, except for the one Sam ordered. He ordered a veggie so as to have something different from me after I ordered pepperoni. Apparently, eggplant, zucchini, and corn don't make the best toppings. The other pies were very good though. Gelato topped off a pleasant visit for us. I think we all agreed that Italy would feature more prominently in any future European vacation.

The next adventure would just involve Sam and I. If you guessed it involved bicycles, you guessed correct. Our ride would start in Juan Les Pins, the neighboring town where the bike rental place was. I was expecting the shop to be more helpful in terms of having recommendations on where to ride, but the attendant lady and wrench guy acted like they hadn't ever been on a bike ride before. When I asked to take a spare tube and pump, they said sorry "they had a tube, but no tools". Oh well, I thought, we can't hold up our ride for that. They were nice enough to lend us a map. So, Sam and I headed east towards Nice. It was fairly hot, probably low-mid 80s and sunny. With a slight sea breeze as we pedaled along the coast, we enjoyed very pleasant ride out to Nice, thinking we might even make it as far as Monoco. Just before getting to Nice, we stopped at a cafe to chat with a couple from Norway who had stopped there on their bikes as well. Since they looked like seasoned cyclists, I thought they might have some recommendations for where to ride, which they did. They gave a us couple different routes, both heading inland along rivers towards some smaller towns. They also warned us not to go to Monoco since the cycle lane ended outside of Nice. We opted for the route that veared inland from the Nice airport, fortuitously, there was a paved bike trail along the river at this point. We enjoyed the nice smooth trail for the next couple miles at which point the paved part ended and the trail turned to dirt. I was a bit nervous taking road bikes on dirt, but we decided to continue on hoping we would turn off towards the small towns where we could stop for some lunch. We continued on for a couple miles. After seeing some broken glass, I crossed my fingers. I was just about to say to Sam that we had been lucky not to get a flat, when Sam said to me, "I think I've got a flat". Sure enough, his rear tire was flat. Ugh!! With no one around and no sign of stores or much of anything, what should we do I wondered. Should we continue on hoping to encounter a store, or should we head back. We decided heading back was the safer option since we could likely at least catch a train back from Nice. So, we started walking. Normally, I wouldn't recommend riding on a flat tire since it can ruin the tire and more easily damage the rim. However, the heat was bearing down on us and we had at least 3-4 more miles to go. So, we rode with Sam riding with flat. After a mile or two, we encountered a lady pushing her little boy on a push-trike (not sure what they were doing out in the middle of nowhere). She didn't speak much English, but tried to help us. She got a friend who did speak English on her phone. Her friend gave us directions to a shopping mall a couple miles back inland where there was a sporting goods store. Still, not wanting to risk the store being closed or not having a spare tube, we decided to continue towards Nice. Luckily the train station was close to the airport as we expected and we caught a train back to where we started. The bike rental place gave Sam a new bike but didn't give us any credit for our mishap :(. We had thought about taking the train back to Nice to continue, but it was getting late and I didn't want to push our luck again. We decided to ride back to our apartment. The next morning we had really nice ride around Cap D'Antibes, which led us back to the rental place where we returned the bikes. Next time, I'll try to find a better rental place or perhaps arrange to go on an organized ride. The weather and scenery are great for riding. From what I can tell, there are generally good cycle lanes or trails. And drivers are also generally very considerate to cyclists.

After dropping off the bikes, we walked over to the Antibes train station to meet the girls and head to Cannes for our ferry ride to Les Iles de Lerens. For more on our ferry ride and the Man in the Iron Mask, stay tuned for part 2 of our adventures in Antibes.

Relaxing in Antibes

I had arranged our last eight nights in Antibes expecting that we could relax after almost three weeks of more active travel in mostly busy cities. This turned out to be a good plan. As interesting and exciting as Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona were, it was tiring to explore them, not to mention, always getting used to new places. Antibes has been the perfect ending to our European vacation.

We rented an apartment from a couple, Arlette and Andrew, in the heart of Antibes, a block from the beach. Arlette met us at the train station and walked us to the apartment, which was really nice. Even though it was only 10 minutes by foot, it can be dis-orienting to be in a new town so having someone meet us was really appreciated.

Our apartment is technically a studio, but has two fold-out sofas in the living room for the kids, and a loft above the kitchen, which acts as the master bedroom even though it has a four foot ceiling. The unit is probably more ideal for a couple, but works just fine for us and is in a terrific location. Besides its proximity to the beach, there's a morning market every day a block up the street, with tens of stalls selling produce, meats, cheeses, flowers, knick-knacks, etc. Just about everything we need is within short walking distance. About every other morning, we'll walk over to the market and pick up a few things, and then maybe walk to the bakery for some fresh croissants and/or baguettes.

With the Mediterranean just down the block, we'll usually head to the beach once/day, sometimes, twice. There are two kinds of beaches here: sandy or rocky. I'm told many locals like the rocky beaches better since you don't get sand stuck all over you. We've also become converts to the rocky beaches. They're a bit harder to walk on, but once you're in the water, it doesn't matter. The water is a little colder than I expected, probably like Lake Washington in the summer. On a hot day, though, it's perfectly refreshing. None of the beaches here ever get crazy crowded. Even though there are thousands of tourists in the Riviera, there are also probably over a thousand kilometers of coastline with much of it swimming beaches - and it seems all the beaches I've seen are always moderately crowded.

The day after we got here was Lily's birthday and it DUMPED rain during the morning. Pretty funny how this happened on both Annette's and Lily's birthday's on our trip. It was probably a good omen to get the rain out of the way because it's been sunny and warm the rest of our trip. Even the second half of Lily's bday was gorgeous. With the departing thunder clouds, we were treated to an amazing lightening show across the bay. Big storm clouds were stalled against the Alp foothills above Nice, which is across a bay from Antibes. On our evening walk out on the pier to look at the fancy yachts we saw the most amazing lighting show in these clouds for probably over 15 minutes. The whole big clouds would light up. I tried getting some pictures, but managed to only get one (out of tens), which I'll try to post here.

We've had a number of memorable adventures during out stay so far, including a day-trip to Italy, some nice bike rides, and a ferry ride out to Les Iles de Lerens, and I'll try to write about those in the future. Time to do up some dishes.

Incarcerated in Avignon Nord

For the weekend between Annette's and Lily's birthdays, we were scheduled for a couple nights in Avignon. I hear Avignon is a lovely city and it sure looked like it from the brief glimpses we got of it. In fact, the travel agent who booked our train tickets recommended it. But, we never got to visit this fine city.

My first hint that our visit to Avignon was going to be a challenge came when trying to make a reservation. Due to a nearly month long festival, no hotels had any rooms available rooms. I was finally able to find a room, but it was 7 miles out of town. We arrived at the Avignon train station at around 5:30 on Saturday night. After figuring out what bus to take, we were on our way to our hotel. Unfortunately, the driver told us the wrong stop to get off. Not seeing the hotel nearby, I ventured off with Sam to find the hotel by foot while Annette and Lily camped out on the side of the road waiting for us. We probably walked at least a mile to finally get our hotel. Rather than trudge back to Annette and Lily and then have to carry all our luggage that distance, I called for a taxi to go pick them up.

From the outside, our hotel, Novotel Nord, looked quite a bit like a prison. The building was rather drab and it was gated all around. Fortunately, the inside was quite nice and comfortable.

Our plans were to head back to Avignon proper on Sunday to do some sight-seeing. Sadly, the buses didn't run on Sunday. With taxis being about 30 euros each way, we decided to skip Avignon. Avignon Nord, the area where the hotel is situated, reminded me a lot of typical American suburbs, with malls and strip-malls and warehouse stores. Still, we thought we'd explore the area and see what the French suburbs were like. One difference we quickly discovered is that French malls (and grocery stores) close on Sunday. The only stores open were fast food restaurants (including McDonalds, KFC, and Europe's own Quickie). So, effectively, we were incarcerated in our hotel!

One bright spot is that we had our best meals yet on our trip at the hotel's restaurant. We also enjoyed the hotel's pool and tennis courts. Annette and I also had a nice walk around the area where we discovered an old monastery. Despite being confined to our hotel, we had a nice stay even if we didn't get to experience much of France.

In retrospect, I would've spent the money on taxis to see Avignon. I hope to have the chance to visit again.

Hanging in Barcelona

There were numerous highlights of our stay in Barcelona. It's a great city to wander the narrow, pedestrian dominated roads/alleys. I particularly like when the streets open into a little square and street musicians are playing. When the sun is shining, it's a great atmosphere. Las Ramblas is THE big shopping boulevard. It's about a mile long and stretching inland from the beach. It's jammed with people! It's fun for people watching, but I prefer to avoid it. Lily and I had a lovely time shopping for Annette's birthday by strolling the back alleys. Although I did end up getting her a painting from an artist stall on Las Ramblas.

The other great thing about wandering the streets is coming across the amazing architecture. We saw many Gaudi buildings and some from other artists which were also amazing. Gaudi's work is definitely amazing and one of a kind.

The beach was another favorite spot of ours. Barcelona has long stretches of beach starting downtown and heading NE for I don't know how far. The water is the perfect temperature - just a little cold at first, but comfortable once you get in. When it's sunny, it's hard to find a free spot of sand to lay, but in the water it's not actually that crowded. Apparently, most folks just enjoy lounging in the sun. The beach vendors are pretty incessant, walking by every 30 seconds selling water, soda, hard drinks, coconut, hena tattoos, massages, somosas. After a while, I just tuned them out and they became part of the background noise. Paddle-ball was very popular on the beach and is something I will look into when we get to Antibes.

Sam and I also really enjoyed going to the FC Barcelona museum. Besides learning about the long and glorious history of the club, it also provided some additional background of the Catalunya region. The FCB club really stresses this regional link. This is a definite must see stop for any futball fan.

The weather was mostly terrific - probably low 80's with fairly high humidity. It's especially pleasant when you're near the water getting a slightly cool sea breeze. And, it's especially pleasant in the early evening which is when we strolled along the waterfront promenade to and from Annette's birthday dinner. We actually had to settle for tapas since dinner is not served until later, which is just as well since they couldn't get us a dinner seat until 10:30! We never did totally adapt to the Spanish schedule. The one exception to the nice weather was the early part of Annette's birthday, when it rained quite hard for a few hours, and quite hard at times.

It may be, as Annette said, that we needed a small town break after Paris, but we had lost motivation for museum hopping in Barcelona and didn't visit any. Nevertheless, we had a great stay. Now, on to Figueres where we will visit the Dali museum.

Pulling an all-nighter on our trip to Barcelona

Sadly, our time in Paris had to end. But, we were excited looking forward to our overnight trip to Barcelona.

But, first let me tell you about our last day in Paris before catching the train. The night before we had attempted to scale the Tower Eiffel (as non-Americans call the Eiffel Tower), but were rebuffed when the top level was "saturated" and then "ferme" before we even made much progress in the long queue. We decided to get up first thing on Sunday morning and get in line. Even at ~9 am, the line was already 100 meters long. It moved quickly though, and before long we were in line for the elevator. We were first taken to the second (of 3) levels, which itself had a terrific view, before going to the top. Once there, the view was as spectacular as you've probably heard. It was quite something to see all around Paris, including many of the sights we visited like the Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, etc. Definitely worth doing at least once if you get the chance.

Since our train was not until 7:20 p.m. we still had the entire afternoon to see new sights. We decided to walk a mile or so over to the Jardin des Tuilenes near the Louvre. With the sun beating down on us, we were beat by the time we got there and were relieved to find some chairs to sit in next to a big fountain. The garden part was a bit disappointing so we decided to head over to the Latin Quarter for lunch and to check out an English book store called something like Village Voice (since both Lily and Annette had finished their reading material). We found a nice little restaurant that served decent food for very good Paris prices including free tap water! Sorry I can't remember the name, but it's a block or two after crossing the Pont Royal bridge. While trying to find the book store, we accidentally encountered another impressive church, Saint Sulpice (I think), nearly the size of the Notre Dame. And, then we finally found the book store, almost by accident. It was a very compact but densely packed store, that had books for Annette, Lily, and Sam.

We had one last stop for our last day and that was a final visit to our favorite ice cream shop. Then, it was time to pick up our suitcases that we had stowed at the hotel and head to the Gar Austerlitz (the train station). Once we got to the station, we were a little concerned that the departing train to Barcelona was not assigned a terminal even though it was scheduled to depart in about 20 minutes. The information lady said we just had to wait. We were about to head over to a deli to get some dinner for the train ride, when the assigned terminal was displayed and the boarding call went out. So, we instead joined the rush of people to get through the boarding lines.
It was quite a long train and we were assigned a car near the front which was quite a walk. Our cabin was very compact even with the beds folded up, but was comfy enough. The overnight trains are billed as a hotel on wheels, which is true, but it's a small version of a Hotel 6 at best. The beds were clean, though not especially comfortable. They also seemed designed for someone shorter than about 5' 6". The temperature control for the cabin was also pretty inconsistent, but was mostly on the too warm side, especially the top bunk. Everyone slept fairly well except me. For some reason, the constant movement of the train felt like I was constantly being jarred. Coupled with the short uncomfortable bed and being too warm, and I essentially pulled an all-nighter - maybe interrupted by an hour or so of sleep. So, getting into Barcelona, I felt like I was fighting jet lag again. Arriving early in the morning, we had to wait for our rental apartment to be ready. We lugged ourselves and luggage across town to the rental office where we dumped our stuff off. We did get to see La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece of a church. We found a nice pedestrian boulevard to enjoy lunch sitting outside at.

Just past noon, we picked up our key and headed to our Barcelona home. Our apartment felt like a mansion compared to the small hotel rooms we had previously stayed in. It has three bedrooms (!), a kitchen, living room, a washer, and bathroom. After some settling in, I tested out the bed for an afternoon siesta. Ahh! the wonders a nap can do! We found a grocery store a block away and bought food for multiple meals for less than we normally spend eating out for one meal. It was also nice not to have to go out for food. We're now excited to explore Barcelona!

Touring Paris via Les Cars Rouges

After a morning crepe, we headed over to the Eiffel tower to catch les car rouges tour bus.
And, we waited. Buses are scheduled to come every 10 minutes or so and we waited long enough for at least two buses to have come. We decided to head to the other side of the tower where there was supposed to be another stop. Thankfully, there was a stop. Apparently, the first stop we went to was blocked off due to construction.

We bought a two day tour bus pass, but our plan was to stay on the bus the first pass through to get familiar with the city (or at least the small part of it that the bus traversed). However, after passing by Napolean's tomb and the Louvre, we decided to jump off to stretch our legs at Notre Dame. Besides, we wanted to try out an ice cream shop we had read about. Well, the ice cream was good, but not great. Notre Dame was more impressive than I expected though. And, surprisingly, it was free to enter the main cathedral. The line was dauntingly long, but it moved quickly and we were inside in less than ten minutes. I normally appreciate old churches, but Notre Dame is unlike any I've been in before. Just the sheer size and grandeur are so impressive. And, despite the crowds, it's possible to appreciate all the artwork, sculptures, stain-glass, alter, etc. We opted not to pay and wait in line to go up the tower - perhaps on another trip.

Have I mentioned that Paris is crowded? While we saw lots of amazing sights, the bus ride was somewhat nerve-wracking as we negotiated all the traffic. Scooters, cars, buses, bikes, pedestrians were all swerving, dodging, and darting every which way. I would not want to be behind the wheel on these roads.

The bus took us by numerous amazing sights: Musee D'orsay, Opera Galeries, numerous fancy shopping districts, Hotel Ritz, the Seine, the Champ-Elysees, Grand Palais, and Tracadero. We got off at the Arc de Triomphe. We had to take a tunnel under the ginormous roundabout that encircles this impressive monument that Napoleon had built.

It was cool to see the main finishing route for the final stage of the Tour de France (along the Champs-Elysees) - although it is strange to see it completely filled with cars. I look forward to watching this year's stage later this month - though it'll have to be on TV.

The bus tour was helpful, but by the end I was feeling a bit nauseous from breathing so much exhaust while being in such dense traffic. Since we have another day on our bus pass, we'll probably use it to get over to the Louvre. We are also thinking of walking through the Jardin Des Tuileries next to the Louvre.

Bye for now.

The start of our Europe 2011 blog

I should've started this a while back, probably at least before we left, but better late than never. I'm in Paris in our hotel lobby typing this. Our trip kicked off on June 28th as we flew ahead to June 29th in Amsterdam, where we stayed 4 nights and then traveled by train to Bruge. I'll write about our stay at these cities in subsequent posts, but will focus this one on our journey to Paris from Bruge.

The day started out after a solid night's sleep in our Bruge hotel, Hotel Cordoeanier. Having not particularly enjoyed breakfast at this hotel before and wanting to finally taste a Belgian waffle, we skipped the hotel buffet and walked a couple blocks to a pastry shop and ordered warm waffles. Tasty and sweet!

After checking out, it was time to make our way to the Bruge train station. Public transit is so great everywhere we've been and Bruge was no exception. It was only a block or so to the bus stop and only a five minute wait for the bus. The bus ride is interesting in Bruge, as the bus navigates the very narrow streets with pedestrians and cyclists darting this way and that. We arrived in plenty of time and caught the Bruge to Brussels train. With only 15 minutes to spare for our connecting train to Paris, it was a close call. Thanks to a friendly lady on the train who ensured we ran thru the Brussels station, we made it. The train to Paris was a speedy and smooth TGV. The scenery was lovely, mostly farmland and small towns.

I forgot to print out the address for our Paris hotel, Hotel de Turenne, which made it a bit of a challenge to get directions at the Paris train station. Luckily, I knew approximately where it was on a map and the helpful attendant directed us to the appropriate metro subway trains.

A quick note about the Paris Nord train station. It's big and busy! I'm glad we weren't in a hurry.

The Paris subway goes everywhere and is reasonably priced (~1.60 euro/person). It's also crowded and a bit on the dirty and old side. It's pretty easy to navigate, but I'd recommend having a metro map and acquainting yourself with it first. Our subway dropped us off within a quarter mile or so of our hotel. As I mentioned though, I didn't have our hotel's address. I knew it was near the Rue Cler, which we found easily enough, but we didn't see our hotel. Luckily, we were helped by a generous worker at the corner post office who looked up the address on his computer. And, it turned out, our hotel was only a couple short blocks away. Hurray! Just in time as we were all running low on energy, having skipped lunch during the trip from Bruge.

After checking in, we took a stroll over to the Eiffel tower to see it up close and personal - it's only a few blocks from our hotel. We were too tired to wait in line for go up, but it's quite a sight. I overheard a guy in the lobby talking about some famous Parisian who hated the Eiffel tower. This guy said the best view of Paris was from the Eiffel tower because then you didn't have to see the Eiffel tower! We then strolled over to Rue Cler to find somewhere to eat. We found a lovely spot with nice outdoor seating, where we enjoyed a tasty dinner. I should also add that the service was very good.

The other highlight for us was learning to use a Paris laudrymat, which was conveniently right across the street from the hotel. It's a bit different, but as with many things we've encountered on our trip, pretty easy once you get acquainted with it.

We're all relaxing now after a day of traveling and getting acclimated to a new city. We're thinking of doing a bus tour tomorrow to get a better lay of the land. We'll let you know how it goes.

Au revoir until next time.