Journeys By Paul

Journeys by Paul

Nice, The Riviera

Back to France 2006

click on pictures

Bicycling to Monaco Oct 6

I walked along the promenade at about 10:30 to where I was told I could rent a bike, and, voila, there the shop was. The guy behind the counter was very friendly, and he spoke some English. (I logged a sound cast so you can hear him. At the beginning of the recording he is also talking to someone in French--not me.) This is an example of how friendly the locals are. (So far, no one has blamed me for the war in Iraq.) As you will hear, he usually holds your passport as a deposit, but I thought I might need mine since I would be entering another country. But I didn’t need it after all. As a matter of fact, once in Monaco, you wouldn’t know you were in a different country. I finally understood what he was telling me about the deposit. He just wanted to use my credit card to make an ‘imprint,‘ not an actual charge. He told me it was loin (far) to Monaco, and he seemed a little surprised that a tourist would be doing this. “It’s only 20 kilometers, oui?“ “Oui,“ he answered.

It was a beautiful day as I cruised along the Mediterranean. I stopped several times and took pictures. There was one beautiful little town with Caribbean clear water and great beaches, and I made a note to stop there and go swimming on the way back. My bike was a hybrid mountain bike, I guess, and it had 21 gears. I’m telling you that I used that 1^st gear quite often. Some of the inclines were steep and long, but, with that 1^st gear, I made it. I also had to traverse tunnels; there was one I was not allowed to go through. But it had a nice detour around it. On the way back, there were times when the road narrowed and I had to hold a tight position between the rocky side of the hill and the traffic passing me on my left. But the cars, buses, motorcycles and even bicyclists were courteous when they passed me, and I’m still alive. But I’m not in Monaco yet.

When I came to what I thought was my final destination, all I saw was a huge marina and a lot of modern buildings. Along the way, I had seen signs pointing toward Monaco, but now there were no signs telling me anything, so I looked in my travel book, and surmised that this was Monaco. I asked a shopkeeper where Monaco Ville (the old town) was and he pointed to a bridge in the distance, and said that if I take that back to the left, I will end up at the castle which is Monaco Ville. So I rode over to the bridge, which was just a bridge over traffic. But it was above me; kind of like looking at an elevated freeway, wondering how you’re going to get on it. I rode up a nearby, old narrow cobblestone road that looked promising, and I then found myself above the bridge. Thankfully, there were some steps leading down to the desired road. I bounced my bike tires down and down, and came to a gate leading to the road, but there was a lock on it.

(click here to continue the bike ride)

The Mundane - October 8

Yesterday, I woke up to a howling east wind. There were whitecaps all across the sea. It stayed windy all day, and very few people were hanging out on the beach. Now, it’s Sunday afternoon. The wind is back to a warm breeze, and I just got back from floating in the pale blue sea, and lying on the warm pebbles. It seems to me that it’s a lot easier to float here than at other places. I wonder if the salt content is high in the Mediterranean. I deserved the ocean float because I spent the late morning and early afternoon in search of the main bus station in order to start planning my trip north. I won’t be redundant and write about the search since it is in the sound cast over in the right panel. You can click on it to activate it. (I hope.) Remember I’m not an expert on this web stuff.

Food

What do I eat? There are plenty of places to eat around here, and if you come here for a week and want to dine well, there’s no problem. There’s plenty of restaurants that have tables set up outside so that you can eat, and watch, and also not have to breathe too much second hand smoke. I have not been to one of these places yet, but I have studied many of the menus that are in view on the outside of the restaurant, and I can tell what it costs. The average decent 3 or 4 course meal runs from about 20 Euros to about 28 Euros. A Euro right now is 1.28 dollars. This meal will include an appetizer which can be a soup or salad, the main course which includes your meat and probably a couple of vegetables, and a dessert. Coffee is usually included, and wine is probably included when you get to the more expensive price.

In the morning, I have been going to a corner shop and having my café au lait and croissant, which costs a total of 2.15 Euro. Then I walk across the street and buy an apple or orange from a little store for less than a Euro. Today I was extravagant and sat at a little café adjacent my hotel and had the coffee and croissant for about 4.5 Euros. It was more expensive, but the coffee was better, the croissant was just out of the oven, and there was a big table outside where I could open my French book and study while I sat. (And watch the people outside.) In France, no waiter is in a hurry to get you out the door. You can buy one cup of coffee, or glass of wine and sit at a table for an hour. In many places, you are paying the higher drink price just for that; and it’s worth it. I’ve usually been running around during the day, so I stop at a sandwich place and get a chicken pannini sandwich, or something similar. For dinner, I was in Checkpoint Pub using the internet for the first two evenings, and they had a connection with a pizza place, so they would bring me a great pizza for 5 Euros plus a 1 Euro tip for the pizza delivery guy. This area of France used to be Italy, which is why the pizza is so good here, I’m told. Last night, I had an interesting Turkish meal that consisted of a salad, potatoes and barbequed beef. It tasted great. And I didn’t get sick. What more can you ask?

Pints of beer at the pubs are around 3.5 Euros during happy hour which lasts until 9 p.m., then they go for around 5 Euros and up. Look around and see what the locals are drinking before you order. Odds are, that’s the best deal for the time. The really best deal is a quart of bottled water at a store. That only costs .9 Euros.

Washing Clothes

There comes a time during any long vacation when you run out of clean clothes. Sure, socks and underwear you can keep wearing, but if you shirts don't last as long. So, near the hotel, I located two laundromats. It was actually pretty easy to use. They even had the instructions in English in big letters on the wall. One wash load was 3.8 Euros, and it cost about 3 Euros to dry. In the hour and half that it took me, there was only one other person there and, although he never talked to me, he said, ’au revoir’ when he left.

Hall Lights and Showers

One weird thing in European hotels (at least the ones I stay in) is that they have motion activated hallway lights. You walk off the elevator into a dark hallway, and ‘Voila.’ And, I’m sure those of you who have been to Europe are quite fond of the showers. I’ll post a picture of one. Most of the inexpensive hotels have tiny shower stalls with shower heads that are attached to a hose. The first hotel I stayed in at least had a little attachment that would hold the shower head up on the wall so you could pretend it was a regular shower. This hotel (not complaining) just has the hose and shower head loosely hanging across the control handles. You have to pick it up to use it. This system definitely makes for shorter showers. God forbid you drop the thing. The stall is so small you’d hit your head trying to pick it back up. The second morning, when I turned on the water, there was built up water pressure that exploded and set the shower head flying around the stall like a water wiggle before I turned the water back off. I’ll tell you about the public toilets in France later. But that’s why we come here, isn’t it? To experience something different.

Paul Ogier

Hit Counter

click on these links

EMAIL

Email me if you have any suggestions or requests

Link to Yoga