Nice........The French Riviera!

Home above the city shopping area.

Shopping area Nice....don't know who the lady is, I didn't see her as it was so bright and you can barely see in the camera screen when you take a pic!

Long distance shot!

This is the Riviera! Beach with pebbles not sand and no waves although beautiful coloured water. Australia has the absolute best beaches don't you agree!!!

Well what's happening with Blogger? I can't make any comments to anyone. I always read the comments so if you post one know that I do check it!!!! And appreciate them very much, hopefully the problem will correct itself. This is my 2nd last post so I'll just leave it at that for now.....hope it does fix itself!

Today we took a bus down to Nice and the big strip of the Mediterranean known of course as The French Riviera. We took a bus trip around the city which was good as we didn't have to walk too far and saw a lot. Once again it's very warm here. After that we more or less just walked around the shops in the main areas......Galleries Lafayette is here as well as  in Berlin and Paris.....one of my very fave department stores.

We're back at the hotel now, just chilling out......we're pretty worn out from this trip even though we have seen and done some amazing things. We're both ready to come home and to see everyone!!! (Mum not long now! Have missed those coffees we have together!!!!

This was the view from our breakfast table this morning of a big Liner and Cap Ferrat. Double decker carousel, pic above, never seen one of those before!

 (I miss the Breville 860 Michelle!!!!) Gosh decent coffee....can't wait for it! Did I tell you I actually resorted to buying those instant cappuccino sachets here out of desperation! The best example of weird coffee we had was in Provence, asked for a cafe Latte and got 2 little (baby ccino cups like Gloria Jeans has for kids )and a tiny teaspoon the size of a toothpick, I just nearly died laughing when it arrived!!!) Anyway I assume the French would hate Australian coffee so it works both ways!

Well thats all for today, I'll just put some pics up for you then we're off to tea somewhere......can't wait for a home cooked meal either! 
*****Oh lastly I have no idea why some of the pics end up in the middle of the paragraphs I type, it just happens that way for some reason!*****

Monaco Grand Prix.....yachts & a glimpse of Prince Albert!

Stephen before  all the crowd was seated!

  Prince Albert and his fiancee leaving after the race.

Yachts......(Not big enough!!!!) View of the crowd in one of the overlooking buildings (above)
Mark Webber...top pic. Double click for close up

All of the drivers prior to the race.

View across the track from our seats.

Hi everyone,boy today has been hectic! It's 11.18 p.m as I post this..good way to wind down. First though before I start the pic I put up last post of the view out our window was in fact a view from outside the hotel on the footpath! I have put up the bedroom view in this post!

The Grand Prix is an amazing event, it was pretty hot in the stands but at least there was a sea breeze to cool us a bit. We had water with us too of course. No one seems to wear hats around here and they all (well it seems like all) smoke. Its amazing to see people light up left right and centre!

Vettel won for Red Bull but it was great to see Webber come fourth. There is a huge screen to watch as well as the track view. The noise is absolutely deafening!!!! You have to have ear plugs or I'm sure you'd get hearing damage. There was one crash in the race and it was right near us, the guy went to hospital and they covered the way with blankets like they do so you couldn't see him. It was all spectacular.

After the race on our way home we saw people gathered outside a building along with  Police and thats when we saw Prince Albert and his fiancee! That was a pleasant surprise although they were gone in a second!! A bit of trivia......I checked on Google and Prince Albert supposedly has two illegitimate kids and his fiancee is 32 and he's 52. Still they do look good together!!!!

This is the view from our room, notice all the guys around the swimming pool....think they all came for the Grand Prix.

Last but not least the Yachts are amazing, huge!!!! One I saw from the bus on the way to Monaco had a helicopter on the back, that'd be handy if you needed to pop out for groceries!

"Moi"

NB Sorry, I am having trouble getting the captions on under the pics! Blogger is playing up!

Roman ruins, Van Gogh and Villefranche

This field was just so lovely...hundreds of vibrant poppies!!!! I loved it, everyone was taking photos of it. This is out the back of the hospital Vincent was in in St Remy.

 (Mum, not long now until we're home, see you soon, Trace xx)

View out the window of our hotel of the Mediterranean Sea and Cap Ferat

Glanum Roman ruins, St Remy (We actually found these quite amazing)

The view from Vincents bedroom in the hospital, St Remy

We're here in Villefranche! Fantastic, it's more a continuation of Nice and we're way up on a hilltop. The view out the window is of the Mediterranean Sea, some distance away. We started off the day looking at Glanum,roman ruins out of St Remy,followed by the place Van Gogh spent many days when he was very ill.We then went on to Villefranche, a few hours drive away on a motorway. It's all been good today and we had quite a few conversations with other Aussies this morning and some funny discussions about our individual  accounts of our dealings with French waiters and their rules!

The Grand Prix is on tomorrow........could be great.....could be awful!!! Stay posted and I'll let you know, we have our ear plugs ready!

There are five other cars out the front of our hotel....2 Mercedes, 1 BMW, 1 Porche and our little Renault and one other Renault. Interestingly enough the guy that got out of the other Renault had a Mark Webber tee shirt on so maybe he's another poor Aussie!!!!!!!LOL  

Myself and Vincent! There was a bust of his head on a stand in front of this pic outside but somebody stole it, such a shame.

I will only put up about 3 pics as the internet seems slow again.

Fontaine de Vaucluse, mountains and the Professor!

Pretty pic to start...the water feature at our hotel.

This mad woman should have put a jacket on, it was so cold Stephens glasses fogged up when he got back in the car! 6 degrees!

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the height!

Cyclists descending the mountain....it was so high and so cold up there!

Bicycle wheel made from corks! Improvisation during WW11 when things were scarce in France! What a rough ride Jocelyn!!!

The village and pic above is of shoes worn by the french during WW11, made of old rubber tyres and wood. (the soles)

Myself and our new acqauintance (the Professor of Music). I didn't like to put her name up without asking.     (A very cheery lady!)

"Us!" (Provence)

Search & Rescue workers training in the river, once again see the colour of the water!

Stephen nearly getting bowled over by the wind on top of the mountain, incredibly strong!

The river I was telling you about, beautiful colours and so clear.

Hi all, well we did a bit of everything today! We drove to the village of Fontaine de Vaucluse first. It is a lovely spot with a lovely clean fresh river flowing through it. The water is a beautiful turquoise in places and the clearest I have ever seen, apart from the Snowy river when I was a kid. I have put up a few pics and hope the colour shows up....just lovely. We also met a lady from Taiwan, she offered to take our pic and I took hers. Anyway we were talking and she turned out to be a Professor at a Taiwan Uni in the Department of Music, she's a pianist with her title being Doctor!!!!! We were sort of stunned....I didn't say I was in lighting LOL! We exchanged e-mail addresses and I will contact her when I get back.

After our look around that village, including a museum of the French Resistance we drove up to Ventoux Mont. It was so high and the temperature dropped to 6 degrees at the top and was extremely windy, I could barely get the car door open!!!!! 

This moggy resides at our hotel, he's a bit thick but looks good in the pic don't you think!

Well thats all for today...hope you like the pics, off to Villefranche tomorrow and the Grand Prix the day after in Monaco!!!!!!!

Les Baux ............c'est magnifique!!!!!!!

Red Geraniums...brilliant colour!

Noticed this little bird perched near a window in Les Baux!

I actually noticed this on our return to St Remy....cute!

"Moi" Should have fixed my hat...looks a bit out of shape! The pic above is of one of the little shops.

Les Baux, Scenery (lots of Olive trees) and Stephen firing a crossbow!

Olive trees and orchards

Magnificent views can be seen from above the village of Les Baux

A pic for "The Budster"......bar for dogs and pigeons. They have these outside lots of cafes for the dogs!

Les Baux is magnificent, a lovely village not far from St Remy. We drove up there in about 25 to 30 minutes and the scenery when we got there was spectacular to say the least. I'll let the pics do the talking!

It was very hot again but we drank heaps of water and had hats (no one seems to wear them here much) so it was okay. .The little village is very touristy I suppose but also quaint with many little nooks and crannies (hope that is how you spell that). Stephen had a go at firing a cross bow.....look out William Tell!!! It was a bit of a thrill for all the guys around!
I have been having a bit of trouble getting the captions under the pics for some reason, sorry about that!

Avignon

Interesting note for travellers! ( and David!)  The dog poo (sorry about that) problem has been fixed in Paris (huge improvement) and even in St Remy (note bag attached to lead) above but alas it hasn't been in Avignon....it's everywhere! You have to watch where you walk LOL

This is in the main square of Avignon, it's a pic of two French journalists that are being held in Afghanistan...for over 500 days apparently. Awful isn't it.

We were walking along and realized the windows ahead were actually paintings!

Stephens artistic shot.......windows in a row! LOL

The Rhone river

View from the top!

Inside Le Palais de Papes

Front of Le Palais de Papes

Carousel in the main Square

Main street or Rue in Avignon

This is what we're up against every day here, I am dreading getting on the scales!

Thank goodness the day was a bit cooler....still hot but okay! We drove to Avignon, much bigger than St Remy and spent the day there. We had a lovely breakfast before we left at the hotel. At Avignon we mainly went to the shops and then to Le Palais de Papes where the Popes lived about 700 years ago! A bit dull but the view from the top was great......... I must admit I have probably enjoyed the cities the most but this is interesting too. I think I like shops too much perhaps!!!

T

To Cheryl and Kevin......we're both thinking of you. Take care, Trace and Stephen

 xx