Back Tracking: Avignon & Nice

Now, to where we left off: Winding down on France

In all honesty, leaving Paris was pretty difficult as I think we both would have been fine staying for more time, but as it's strongly discouraged in the couchsurfing ettiquette book, we didn't beg for another night on the couch and instead packed up and caught a train to Avignon.



In total, we spent 4 days in Avignon and while we had a great time and appreciated the small little city for what it was, it was no Paris. We did spend one day taking a train to a neighboring town and spent another day trying to connect to Arles (but wouldn't you know, Rick Steves, the trains do not run all that frequently) so the amount of time felt pretty perfect.

Unofficially though, highlights would be the wine and the cheap hotel we found that gave Amy and I our own room and the ability to lock up our stuff and spread out. I'm probably selling it short, because it really was a great pace and really beautiful.

On Thursday of that week, we took a short train to Nice for a little bit of the Riviera, after having done a large city and a gotten a small glimpse at Provence.

Nice was a shock. For the first time in a month, we walked down the street and heard English, everyone was a tourist and the sales people and restaurants knew it. Prices were totally rediclous for really simple things and the food -- not so hot. While there, a friend wrote to Amy and asked if they should schedule Nice in to their trip and she politely referred them to Cannes.

Sure, being able to eavesdrop on the table next to you is a little comforting, but as for culture, it wasn't what we thought it would be. After a few days in the city, we were turning to McDonalds for a trusty euro cheeseburger -- our logic being that a cheap meal would not be the thing that ruined the cultural experice for us.

Despite the let down, a day a the beach and a day in Monaco were worth it.

The beach from the boardwalk -- it's about 7:00 at night, that explains the jacket because otherwise it was extremely hot.

This old guy's butt is a perfect example of the sightseeing in Nice .

Monaco - really charming little principality. The blue bleachers in the foreground were being set up for the Grand Prix.