A Week in France

So, once again, Ron and I are WAY overdue to write a blog.  We’ll start by backtracking a bit and update you about our week in France. 

On May 6, we left Rom and Marjot’s house and took the bus to the train station in Arnhem, Netherlands.  We took a high speed train to Paris where we met Lauren and Keith Hubley, our neighbours back home.  After a long and happy-tears hello hug between Lauren and I, we headed to our hostel.  The Hubleys and us took turns booking hostels, and, since I was in India without a solid internet connection most of the time, Ron took care of our bookings.  We were responsible for the Paris hostel and ended up in Montparnasse area (southern Paris) on the 14^th floor of an apartment with an INCREDIBLE view of the city and the Eiffel tower.  We were supposed to have a 4-person dorm room, but upon checking in found out that two other girls had moved into the 4-person room and spread their stuff out and there was no other place in the apartment building where the 4 of us could stay together.  (It wasn’t your typical hostel which is usually like a low-scale hotel complete with reception, a restaurant/bar, and bedrooms with bunk beds but rather this “hostel” leased a few apartments on different floors in a building, put some bunk beds in the living room and bedroom and called it a day.)  Anyways, we were a little frustrated that we started our trip off with a snag, but the guy who checked us in ended up throwing the two girls stuff into the main living room area for them to sleep so we could have the 4-person room that we booked.  Needless to say, the girls were not happy when they stormed into the apartment at 3am three sheets to the wind to find their stuff thrown out of the bedroom. 
After checking in, we went out for dinner and then found a patio and had a beverage and a crepe with nutella and bananas (aka a party in your mouth).  We were all tired from travelling, so we packed it in early and tried to rest up.

On May 7, we started off the morning with a stroll to the Eiffel tower.  Ron was quite surprised that it looked rather rusted and dirty; he was expecting it to be shiny like stainless steel.  I had been in Paris before, on a grade 10 school trip, but it had been over 10 years (wow, that makes me feel old...) since that time so it was nice to take in the sights with older and wiser eyes.  It was a beautiful blue-skyed day with not a cloud in the sky, so we got some great pics of the Eiffel tower!  After a croissant and cup of tea at a cute little cafe by the tower, we hopped on a boat to for a tour of the Seine River.  (Clare O’Connor/Arthurs, I can totally picture where Dave proposed to you!)  We saw most of the sights from the boat cruise including Notre Dame, the Muse D’Orsay, and the Louvre which gave us a good overview of the city.  We then went on a walking tour of the right (North) bank of the river complete with a tour guide who loved asking questions to the group then answering them herself (“Why do we have these passageways?  **awkward pause**Well, I’ll tell you: We have them because....”).  The tour was a little lengthier than we expected, and my feet were hurting after a day of breaking in my new Birkenstocks (thanks Ron, for buying me a new pair after mine got stolen at the Hindu temple**see India blog post**), but it was still nice to have a walking tour and explore areas of the city that we wouldn’t have otherwise.  Our tour finished up at the Louvre, which we opted not to explore, and re-grouped at the hostel before heading out for a dinner of French onion soup and salmon.  Then, we all cuddled up on the couch in the “living room” (which also doubled as a four person bedroom...) to watch the 2^nd last episode of the Amazing Race that we had downloaded.  Lauren and I watch the Amazing Race together (usually followed by Survivor, but we didn’t tune in for the current season), so it was great to revive that pastime of ours. 

On May 8, we checked out the Notre Dame cathedral and climbed the 400+ steps to the top which gave us another great view of the city.  It was a Sunday, so we had to be quiet as Mass was going on, but we were still able to check out the stained glass windows, the statues and gargoyles, and the architecture.  We were planning on staying in Paris another night, but because of the Cannes film festival, discovered that the trains to Nice were all very full.  We couldn’t get a ticket for the Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, so we opted to take an overnight train that night from Paris to Nice.  This was something that was on my bucket list, and I like to check at least one thing off every year (e.g. overcome my fear of heights by skydiving and/or bungee jumping, go on a missions trip to Africa, get married to a Jesus-loving man, etc...) so I was happy to be able to experience the overnight sleeper train.  We all had second class tickets which meant that there were 6 people in our bunker; the 4 of us plus a guy from LA doing his own Euro-adventure and a local Nice man.  The bunker consisted of a small doorway that opened up to a “room” no bigger than 6.5 feet x 6.5 feet and two sets of three bunk beds stacked on top of one another.  We were hoping to pass the time by playing cards, but this was a no-go as none of us had enough room to sit up on our bunk and there was only about one foot between the two sets of bunk beds giving us nowhere to play cards.  It was tight, but I’m still glad we did it as it made for some interesting memories! 

We arrived in Nice in the south of France about 9am on May 9 and, as it was too early to check into our apartment, we headed to the beach.  We were all blown away at the stone beaches with azure water, blue skies, and hilltop villages.  We passed a few hours tanning (complete with Ron wearing his new “short shorts”), reading magazines and listening to the Ipod.  It was too cold to swim, but we dipped our toes in then headed back to check into our apartment.  We had a one bedroom apartment in which Lauren and Keith kindly gave Ron and I the bedroom while they took the futon in the living room due to my napping habits.  We spent the rest of the day just getting settled in, window shopping along the main street and eating dinner at a Nicoise restaurant and packed it in early after watching the Amazing Race finale (...a disappointing ending to a great season).

On May 10 we checked out a few Vespa rentals in attempts to ride to Monaco, but they were all booked up (again, likely because of the Cannes film festival).  So we hopped on a short ½ hr train to Monte Carlo, Monaco and checked out the lush and posh city.  We started at the marina, where there was a fleet of personal yachts like none other.  These boats were all privately owned and I can imagine that the rental of the boat slip alone is more than I’ll make in a lifetime.  We asked around and discovered that these yachts run for about 1 million Euros per 1 metre (which works out to about $½ million per foot).  Most of the boats were in the 100+ foot range, which tips the scales at about $50 million!  We even saw a few boats with mats printed with the boat’s name and potted trees/plants at the entrance to their boat slip to welcome them and one boat with a life-size glass statue of a woman. Totally over the top, but incredible to check out.  We then crossed the Monaco Formula 1 race track (aka the everyday street...but that’s not how Ron’s eyes saw it) and headed to the Casino to check it out. When we discovered it was 10 Euros just to enter the Casino, we opted to have a drink on a patio instead before heading back to Nice.  We had dinner in the same neighbourhood as the previous night which was a pedestrian-only street lined with French and Italian restaurants on both sides all of which had a lengthy wine list and fixed price menus.  After dinner, we played cards in our apartment and then headed to bed. 

On May 11, we checked out of our apartment and headed to the train station to depart for the Italy leg of our journey.  As this now completes the France portion of our journey, I’ll leave you here and take a few days to compose my thoughts about Italy before posting yet another belated blog. 

Salute,

R&R

our last Dutch train ride for a while... :(
but starting our trip with LauKei :)

first beer of the trip: on board the train from Arnhem, Netherlands to Paris, France

R&R at the Eiffel tower

Great start to the trip!

blue skies and best friends make for a great river boat cruise along the Seine

Muse D'Orsay view from our boat tour

view of Notre Dame from our boat tour

Henry VIII statue along the walking tour

the Royal Palace was one of the stops on our walking tour, complete with gorgeous gardens and a fountain

Outside the Louvre

Starbucks in the morning makes Robin and Lauren happy
(Happy wife, happy life....just sayin')

walking along the Seine riverbanks

Waiting to go into Notre Dame Cathedral

At the top of Notre Dame

At the bell tower of the Notre Dame

the boys on our picnic under the Eiffel tower

Street crepes with nutella at the Eiffel tower at sunset

Overnight train accommodation (a little squishy...)

Arriving at the Nice train station after our overnight train

Nice Beaches with my bestie

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Dreams are for free, boys!

R&R chilling with the yachts

just your everday sight in Monte Carlo, Monaco...

Window shopping at Prada and Gucci in Monaco

Last dinner in Nice, France