Thursday September 20, 2018

Today’s project was to take the bus to Cap Ferrat and explore. Rick Steves recommended getting off at the historic Rothschild mansion and gardens and then walking down to the town of St Jean Cap Ferrat. The mansion was quite well situated, but the gardens were really the star of the show. Different areas including a Spanish and Japanese gardens, then a central fountain with choreography to music. After that a walk down to the town. As the temperature rose, I headed towards the Plage Lapaloma. Had an expensive salad for lunch, in a lovely setting. Took the bus back and got off in the port part of Nice. Lots of boats and yachts etc.

I was thinking a bit about travel as someone posted in the Join us in France closed group about how they had a miserable visit to Paris. This in-spite of claiming to be a French major and having extensive travel experience. When people offered commentary, she got very defensive and eventually decided to exit the group. I will say that I thought many of her criticisms of Paris were valid, AND, I think she chose to focus on things that made her miserable. One of the problems she had, and don’t do this when you travel, was she hadn’t enabled her phone, so finding places to eat, she was unable to check reviews etc. You spend about $1,200 per year at least to keep your smartphone going, don’t try to save $60 by not enabling roaming when you travel. When you are traveling, knowledge and information is gold! Second, her itinerary was pretty much all tourist sites, and I suspect that her poor dinning experiences had to do with eating in the vicinity of these places. I’m spoiled, but I’ve been to Paris often enough that I no longer have to go to all the tourist places, and can just engage in my joint passion for being a flanneur and being a Boulevardier. If you’re going to Paris for a short period of time, try not to spend it all going to major tourist sites, it won’t be fun. Third, her complaint was finding meals that didn’t take hours, and finding bathrooms. So, in Paris, pick any cafe with an outdoor terrace, buy a coffee or just walk in and use the bathroom, no one is likely to bother you about it. For meals, there is a hierarchy of restaurants in France. If you want a quick meal, you need a cafe or possibly a brasserie or a creperie. Don’t go to a fancy French restaurant if you are in a hurry. Remember, the word “Travel” comes from the word “Travail” which in addition to meaning difficulty was a type of medieval torture device. (Probably the precursor of the coach airline seat!)

That’s Eze at the top of the hill in the distance, Eze Bord du Mere at the bottom, no wonder that was a strenuous hike!This is what $100 million buys in yachts, looked it up online, British Billionaire.Japanese Garden at Rothschild Villa.

Wednesday, September 19th 2018

Decided to hang out in Nice today. Didn’t sleep very well as the air conditioner in my bedroom did a loud buzzing noise about every 4 minutes all night. Turns out there is some kind of pump to remove the condensate. Anyway, if I turn the living room one on strong and leave the bedroom one off, it shouldn’t continue. Very poor design, since there is a drain pipe down the side of the building that could be tapped into anyway. I went to the flower market this morning, which didn’t really have much going on, but a few booths and the usual food things. Not nearly up to a Saturday market in Arles. Then it was onto the bus to head for the Matisse museum. There was a display comparing and contrasting Matisse and Picasso. The museum was more about Matisse than a display of his work, although there were some. Very interesting comparison. I’ll run some photos of the work side by side. After that, off to the Chagall museum, with stop for lunch Chez Mireille, that only does Paella, two types, and has been in business since 1946. Way too much paella, but tasty and fresh, then to the Chagall museum. Lots of biblical themes. After that, back to the apartment to do some arranging for Marseille. Got an AirBnB, got a train ticket, good to go. Then, off to climb the big hill that overlooks Nice. Got some nice photos, and there is a convenient elevator to take you down to the waterfront. The beach is pretty much all rocks, so not particularly inviting.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Since most of the museums are closed in Nice on Tuesday, I decided to do some exploring along the coast. The train and bus system is quite well organized, so I started by taking the bus to Eze-le-Village, about 20 minutes. This is a picturesque hill town that has been completely converted into a major tourist trap and includes a perfume showroom with parking for tour buses. Nevertheless, I climbed to the top of the castle ruins for a spectacular view, and the took the Nietzsche trail down the lower town of Eze Bord de Mer. This was a surprisingly long and arduous downhill on loose rocks and sharp rocks. After a quick lunch and a check of train times, it appeared that I could get to Monaco in 14 minutes, so why not? Off I went, got off in the middle of Monaco and took one of the local buses up to the top of the Monte Carlo side, walked around and took the bus to the old side. High density, lots of condos, lots of yachts, didn’t see much else to recommend it. Got the obligatory pictures of the Casino with Ferraris in front, but they weren’t really making people welcome to come in.

View of Eze Mer from the top. Cap Ferrat in the background.

Conspicuous consumption Monaco style. Casino in Monte Carlo, check your James Bond movies.

Davidoff store, Monaco.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Took the train from Arles to Nice today, relatively painless. An hour or so from Arles to Marseille, change trains with an hour layover and then a few more hours on the train to Nice. Read my Rick Steves and new to buy the 7 day transit pass for 15 euros. Tram runs through town every 4 minutes during the day and stops about a block form the airbnb that I rented. It is somewhat basic, but has all the essentials. Did some nice walking in what remained of the afternoon, and look forward to exploring tomorrow.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

The parade from last night re ran this morning, but at the end there was a parade of antique tractors, including Porsches. Here are the photos:

Sunday September 16th, 2018

Last night ended up being fun with a large “Patrimony” day parade celebrating the rice harvest. This area is at the northern end of the Camargue, a wetland area famous for its wild horses. The parade had a fair number of extremely large tractors of different brands pulling various floats. Apparently there is another event starting at 10:00am this morning, but I can tell where it is and when it is, but I’m not sure exactly what it is. Arles feels very different from Avignon, even though only a 18 minute train ride away. Roman ruins predominate here, and the history with Van Gogh and Picasso are proudly displayed. The Patrimony days mean that all sites and museum entrances are free, so I’ve had my fill. The local market yesterday, which apparently is one of the biggest regionally was pretty spectacular. The main drag was lined 4 booths wide for about a mile, with everything from food to clothing etc. I got a little cheese and sausage as a snack before finding an excellent “plat du jour” at a place next to the coliseum, see pictures in the last entry, squid and prawns combo. I had forgotten that the Camino has a route starting here in Arles and heading to Santiago. As long as I’m here, I’m going to walk the sections through town and out the other side. It’s on my map, but not very well labeled on the ground. If you plan to visit Arles, I could imagine that it would get very very hot in the summer here. In mid September, it is still quite warm mid day. One other interesting thing, the Rhone river, quite large at the point that it bends through Arles, flows through the edge of the old town. It appears there is a walking path closer down to the river, but it’s basically all concrete berms etc, meaning there is no use, other than river boat docking made of the riverfront, no cafes, no lawns, all concrete. Rick Steves puts it well in his guidebook by saying that Arles turns its back on the Rhone.

Could I have a vacation from being Gluten Free? Hotel de la Musee breakfast.

Plat du Jour from Brasserie L’Aficion.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Van Gogh and Picasso at the local museumCamino Symbol under the street sign.Looking out over Arles from the Colliseum. Note the blue shutters are thought to discourage bugs.Miss Rice Queen 2018!

Friday September 14th, 2018

Spent a good part of the morning today working on travel arrangements. Got an AirBnb for Nice, then went to the train station and got a ticket for Arles in the morning and then a ticket from Arles to Nice on Monday. After a quick lunch, it was off to meet the afternoon tour of Chateau Neuf du Pape, one of the great AOC of the Cote du Rhone. The guide took us to a couple of tasting rooms and to the ruins on the Chateau. We stopped in the vineyards and saw the grapes as well as the “Soil” which is actually pretty rocky. The rocks hold the heat at night and keep the grapes at an even temperature. CNP is mainly Syrah and Grenache, but there are a total of 13 grape varieties allowed to be included. Also, all grapes must be harvested by hand. We went to Chateau de Vaudieu and Domaine Pierre Usseglio. Tasted some whites and some reds in both places, CNP doesn’t make any rose. We got to taste one wine that is rated at 100points. As the guide pointed out a lot of this is about its aging potential, not it’s unaged flavor. It was really interesting to see how rocky the soil was, and that the vines are kept very low to the ground. That’s Mt. Ventoux in the distance. Check out the rocks…

Three types of rocks that represent the CNP terroir, River, Limestone and a third type.Concrete holding tanks, lined with epoxy.

Unfortunately out of focus, but one of these was rated 100 points!

Pope’s Palace in the distance.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Today was a long day. Met up with Francois and the wine tour http://www.avignon-wine-tour.com and 9:00am, and off we went in his Peugeot van headed to Cairanne. After two morning tastings, a stop at a wine museum with interesting tactile and smell exercises, then a stop for lunch at a lovely restaurant with outdoor seating on the terrace. The tour had 6 others plus Francois, so 8 people total. A leisurely but delicious hour and half lunch ensued. Le Tourne au Verre.

Francois, who runs the wine tours has developed a six step tasting model, that is helpful for analyzing the wine. Basically start with a color analysis, a first smell, swirl it a second smell, Swirl, look at the legs, and then taste, taste again and then smell the empty glass after aerating it. I’ll post a photo of the procedure below. After lunch we headed to Gigondas, turns out to be a tiny village, but the scale of the vineyards all around is hard to comprehend. After some tasting at Gigondas, we then headed for Vacqueras, also a tiny place, but surrounded by what seem like endless fields of grapes. Temperatures were just under 100 deg. F, so pretty hot day. Back to Avignon at 5:30pm. I’ll post some pictures.