South of France

Hello Family and Friends,

Sorry for the long absence. For the past couple of weeks, things have been a little crazy and this is pretty much the first time I’ve had time to sit down and write to you all to tell you about my adventures.

I am going to start with the last ten days and try and work back from there since it is fresher in my mind.

Myriam’s parents decided to come and “visit” us on our trip. So after 17 hours on the train (sleeping compartment picture) we met up with them in Bordeaux in the South of France for a 10 day road trip.

Meet Myriam’s Mom, Marielle, and her partner Yvan.

Bordeaux

We took it easy in Bordeaux, just walking around and trying to stay out of the sun. We didn’t have the car yet and Marielle and Yvan were still a little jet lagged. We saw this fantastic fountain and took our first pictures in France. Then we went to a beautiful park right downtown and Myriam and her mom napped while I sat near the water and fed swans from my hand. We went to the car rental place and found out that there was a region wide wine festival or something and that there were no cars available for the next 3 or 4 days. The next day our plan was to go to a Bordeaux vineyard and taste some authentic Bordeaux wine but the plan changed a bit. We decided to take the train to Biarritz, right on the Spanish Border and rent the car from there. We had a beer on a terrace and made our way back to our hotel.

Biarritz

Next morning bright and early, we were off to Biarritz. At 2 pm we had our car and drove straight for the seaside. Biarritz is a Beach/Surf city. Cute little boutiques line the streets and fantastic views are handy from any point along the coastal city. We went all the way out to the point where there is a Statue of the Virgin Mary looking out to sea. The legend says that there were sailors out in a storm one night who didn’t think they would make it and they prayed to the Virgin Mary to bring them home safely and promised they would build her a statue if they survived. The storm subsided and upon their return they put up the statue as promised.

Toulouse

Next morning we were off to Toulouse, a bustling student city with lots to see and do. We
walked around and visited a very beautiful church and even the crypt under the church. I had never visited a crypt before. It’s a little eerie, almost like walking around a cemetery but since it’s underground the feeling seems amplified. We didn’t have time to get to know the city so well but I got a feeling that it must be a fun place for students; I could see what Elisabeth liked so much about it!

Carcassonne

Next morning, off again to Montpellier but first we stopped in Carcassonne a fortified city right out of the middle ages. The old city is literally a fortress that was built in the XIth century.

Carcassonne was a geographically important location at the time because it was a necessary passage between Spain and France and it is where the taxes on merchandise were collected. The site is amazing there are actually people who live in this fortified city (not a castle I was corrected) but there are also tourist boutiques

with all kinds of overpriced junk. It was a pretty amazing day, walking around the ramparts imagining you are a night patrolling the city or looking out for the enemy. That night we ate “cassoulet” a dish of white beans and duck traditional for the region.

What the heck does this mean??

Montpellier

We were only in Montpellier for a couple of hours, not much to report. A pretty but quiet city from what I saw. We had breakfast in a nice park and visited the city center. We decided to hop in the car and go and see about some French wine. We decided to go to the “Caveau de l’Abbaye de Valmagne” an Abbaye is a religious cloister where the monks work and produce things, in this case wine. But the location is no longer actually a cloister but they still make wine. We got a guided tour of this beautiful church and learned a lot about its history. The current owner decided to open it to the public and is responsible for the restoration efforts.

Avignon

Next day we went to Avignon where you can find, you guessed it the “Pont d’Avignon” Avignon happens to also be a fortified city though less impressive than Carcassonne. We took a guided tour of the bridge (your thinking you have got to be kidding a guided tour of a bridge but…) the audio guide was pretty interesting and gave a detailed history of the bridge which is actually called the Saint-Benezet Bridge. The story goes that Saint Benezet a shepherd was mandated by God to come and build the bridge he made his way to Avignon and told the local authorities what he was supposed to do. They laughed at him and told him that if he could move a giant boulder that was blocking the way he could go along with his crazy plan. By divine intervention he was able to lift the rock and permitted to build the bridge. The bridge was originally 21 arches long and had 2 chapels on it one containing Saint Benezet’s body. That night we made our way to Aix-en-Provence which we didn’t get to visit.

Nice

Next we drove all the way to Nice which is on the eastern border of France. Nice is a well know beach city as well. We were really surprised to find that the beach was all rocks, made me wish I had my Crocs to go swimming with. We also made our way to the top of the lookout which is a huge park on the top of a hill. A beautiful view of the city and a waterfall to boot! A bit of relaxing in Nice was nice (haha I’m so funny). We drove all along the coast “Cote d’Azure” drove through Cannes and had dinner in Menton.

Tourette-sur-Loup

Next day we drove around Nice to some nice areas. We spent a couple of hours at a beach somewhere. We made our way to Tourette-sur-Loup a very small town a little West of Nice in the mountains and were blown away by the view. There are these amazing cities along the way called “villes perches” they literally hang from mountainsides. Probably some of the most impressive sights of my trip so far.

Saint-Tropez

Next morning off to Saint-Tropez; the city of high rollers. The only thing that our Lonely Planet could tell us about this town is that it is a good place to spot celebrities. Everything in Saint-Tropez is unbelievably expensive (500 ml of Evian water = 7.5 Euro, that’s over 10$) We walked around a bit spent 2 Euro on 10 minutes of internet and went to the beach which was free. We had dinner in a little restaurant somewhere along the coast and I had the best “Moules et Frites” ever… mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Marseille

Last day we drove to Marseille, another bustling big city with friendly people and lots to see and do. It happened to be the French music festival on that day so there were street performers, stages and musicians everywhere. We did a little shopping in Marseille to replace some of our clothes that have changed colour and shape due to wearing the same thing everyday for 4 months. For dinner, right on the port, we had Bouillabaisse which is a traditional Marseillais dish, a kind of fish soup.

Next morning we parted ways with Myriam’s parents and went back to Avignon for a couple of hours to see my cousin Sonia who is studying there for 6 weeks and at 4 pm we hopped on a train for Zurich where we are now with my cousin Lori her husband and baby.

I miss you all and I’ll make sure I keep up with this blog a little better.

Send me your love and keep me posted on whats up with you (even if you think its boring, its gold for us to read about home and what you are up to)

Lianne