Apartment Living--Nice

We did something different in France this time.  We rented an apartment--sight unseen over the internet.  Yeah, I don't think we'll do that again.  This will be a hard blog for me to write as I don't want to come across negative.  Nor do I want to come across snobby.  However, even as I am thinking about the 5 days we spent in Nice, I can feel the pampered American coming out in me.  I am so very spoiled.

This is the description (as told by the owner) of the apartment--in the heart of the pedestrian city, 1 bedroom, air conditioning, washing machine, shower, coffee maker, kitchen utensils, linens, the internet, TV-- close to shopping and restaurants.

This is the description (as told by me) of the apartment--2nd floor apartment 2 doors down from a bar that doesn't close until 3 am, 1 bedroom with hard mattress that slopes, very noisy air conditioner, washing machine/no dryer--can wash 4 items at a time, (very) limited hot water, 20 year old coffee maker (bring your own filters) spotty internet, extremely small (13 in) TV.  And BYOTP--toilet paper.

 The kitchen--the blue door is the refrigerator, no dishwasher but there was s little oven.

 The living room, the arrangement was not good, I was dying to rearrange the whole place.

 Eat in (kind of ) kitchen, the small door held the washing machine, which was about 15 inches wide.

And lastly the bathroom.  The smallest shower ever, with the smallest water heater ever.

And that's probably what started the whole bad attitude thing--we met a woman at the apartment (that we were unable to park near--remember pedestrian area) and unloaded our luggage while my husband was double parked.  He then had to look for a parking garage while I proceeded to follow the barely English speaking lady to the rental.  She showed me where everything was--really not that hard to figure out--and then left.  I liked her, she was nice, however--why didn't I ask her how to work the washing machine?  How could I be so stupid?  We did eventually figure it out, so all was well.  Kind of.  OK, not really.

This apartment was small, really small.  Really, really small.  I soon discovered that there wasn't anywhere to store our luggage, and I wasn't going to put our things in the dusty old chest of drawers.  So that took a while to figure out.  But, that's OK, I was determined to make the best of a badly decorated, super small, noisy apartment.  It was sort of cute--had I decorated it.  I'm sure that 30 years ago all the decor looked fresh and clean.  We unpacked, as best we could, and then realized that there was just one-half of a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom.  Only 2 sets of towels and only 3 coffee filters in the kitchen.  It was a Sunday evening, and if you know anything about most of Europe, you know that on Sundays it's pretty much shut down.  We decided that we had better quickly google a map and find a nearby grocery store--and that's when we found out about the poor internet connection.  We took off on foot, found our little store and made the necessary purchases.  I felt settled then--parked, unpacked--toilet paper and coffee filters bought.

We found out later that night about the hard bed and the loud bar.  It's a good thing that my husband and I are seasoned travelers.  We laid in bed that night and were overtook by a laughing attack--with tears rolling down our faces, and our bodies sloping on our small extremely uncomfortable bed, we laughed until the wee hours of the morning.  The next day, not so much.

Since adventure and exploring are our middle names we took off to discover all that Nice had to offer.  We walked the pedestrian streets, took a pedicab tour (totally fun) and that evening walked the famous Promenade des Anglais.  Sightseeing and food improved our moods dramatically.  Until that night when we crawled into that horrible bed.  After another night of sleeplessness, I was ready to check into a hotel and leave the apartment life far behind.  My ever brilliant husband though had a thought--don't we have a pull out sofa sleeper in the living room?  Ummm, yes, yes we do!  There we were at midnight, pulling out a sofa sleeper, praying that somehow, someway it would be more comfy that our bed.  And it was.  Oh, sweet bliss.  We were able to sleep the next 2 nights much more comfortable.  It's funny how much better Nice looked to us once we were well rested.  Call us old farts if you want to, but we need our sleep.  Nice was finally beginning to look nice.

Lose In Toulouse

I forgot to mention something that occurred while we were in Rennes.  I can't believe that I didn't write about it, as it was a significant part of the beginning of our trip.  Our second day into our vacation as I was blow drying my hair I did something stupid.  You know how you mindlessly throw your head forward to dry underneath?  Yeah, I did that and was immediately assaulted with vertigo.  The only thing I could do was grab onto the bathroom sink and yell out my husband's name.  He came running and sat on the bathroom floor holding me tightly and patiently waiting for the episode to end.  I was sweating, and sick to my stomach for the next couple of hours.  I won't do that again--ever.

To say that I was fearful of another attack like that coming on again is an understatement.  I was terrified.  I got out my iPad and did the only thing I could.  I reached out to my friends and family on Facebook and asked them to pray for me.  We still had another 2 weeks of vacation ahead of us, and believe me, I didn't want to spend it laying down with spells of vertigo and feeling sick.  Fortunately, I have several friends who are nurses and they told me to get some motion sickness pills.  So, once we arrived in Toulouse I walked right across the street from our hotel armed with the French words--Dramamine, car sick, motion sickness, dizzy, and vertigo.  I figured maybe one of them would be translatable.  It was, and I left with an ample supply to get me through our vacation.  Thank God for friends!  And for a pharmacist with a good sense of humor, my French wasn't too good when it came to those types of words, but we made do and from that moment on whenever I began to feel dizzy, I'd pop a French motion sickness pill.  I am very thankful that I have these special people in my life, who cared enough to pray and enough to help me out with some sage advice.

For me Toulouse was interesting.  First off, I loved our hotel.  It was located right in the city center, which is what we love.  It was modern and clean and perfect for us and it had a Nespresso machine (score) and big comfy bed (double score) and a window seat looking out over the main square.  The city of Toulouse though was really truly not my cup of tea.  For one thing, we were a bit too old.  It's a university town--loud, lots of bars and tons of live music.

We set out to explore, walking through the main plaza and soaking up the scene.  We listened to live music, stopped for a coffee, did some shopping, and then had dinner.  Looking back, there is something that I was very thankful for and that was double glazed windows.  We were able to shut out the noise (which was still going on into the wee hours of the morning) and get a decent nights sleep.  Funny how small things matter.


Honestly because of the age factor I wasn't too enamored with the city and wished I had picked a different destination.  However, it was just one night and we were soon off to Nice.  We had a 6-hour drive ahead of us, tollways, rest stops and coffee to buy-- it was time to go.

My husband wondered why I had chosen Toulouse as a stopover,  I told him that years ago we were supposed to go there for a business trip.  After much planning and looking forward to the trip--it was canceled at the last minute--the very last minute.  I was so disappointed.  This was my way of finally seeing the city that I had researched all those years ago.  Checked that box--on to Nice.

Beautiful Bordeaux

Here we come Bordeaux, are you ready for us?  We packed up the next morning and drove on down. Why in the world have I not heard much about this city before?  That's my question.  Because it was awesome.  Yes, I had heard about the region, and the wines, but not much about the city.  And I can't figure out why.  I didn't really have any expectations, as it was just on our route as we traveled throughout France, just another city to check off on our list.  However, was I in for a pleasant surprise.

First off, our hotel was fantastic, it was owned and operated by the Monaco Consulate.  Our room was actually the old stable, it had tangerine walls and cement floors--very industrial, but super neat. I loved it, and it also had a courtyard with beautiful roses right outside our door.  It was just a 5-minute walk to the main plaza where we had a wonderful dinner at a cute outdoor cafe, and then we roamed around taking some incredible pictures.

                                                        Our view during dinner...

In the morning we went for a walk and stumbled upon old Roman ruins.  In fact, as we were leaving our hotel to begin exploring a lady flagged us down.  Being American, we were a little skeptical at first (kinda like, what does she want with us?) However, as it turned out, she was a school teacher that didn't want us to walk right on by those beautiful ruins and not notice them.  Does she know us or what?  We took pictures as she shared with us the history of the ruins--they were built in the 300's.  Unbelievable.  I just love how others are able to catch our excitement and our love for foreign cities.  I think they sense our love for Europe and want to become a part of our unquenchable thirst for exploration.  Between the teacher's English and my French, we were able to converse nicely.  I'm so glad that she took time out of her holiday and played tour guide.


After saying our goodbyes and thank you's, we wandered through the city and found a flea market which was to die for.  I have found that I am a total flea market junkie.  Any flea market, anytime, anywhere--my new tag line.  Yes, French flea markets are the best thing going, it is now my prayer that heaven looks like a French flea market, that's how much I love them.  I picked up a little woven hand-basket--with the thinking that it'll be great for future flea markets.



Honestly, we hated to leave Bordeaux and have already discussed going back again--we need more time to explore that city and eat a lot more of their food.
There was a river through the middle of the city that I did not cross, there were vineyards and castles and villages to travel to in nearby regions, and probably a lot more flea markets with my name on them.  I seriously did not want to leave.
Too little time for such a wonderful city.  We will return--I promise.  I really do promise.

However, our next destination was waiting--Toulouse.

Finally, Mount Saint Michel

Oh yes, this will certainly be a multiple part-er blog.  My husband and I traveled to 6 cities in France over a 2 week time period.  6 cities!  So, I shall start from the beginning--sharing my best of times and my worst, my thoughts and my fears, and also a few photos along the way.  The trip was a celebration of our 40 years of marriage--we laughed, I cried, we ate, I shopped, we had tons of fun and we are now a little (OK a lot) depressed that it all went by much too quickly.

We landed in Paris, and although all I saw was the airport, it was still exciting.  We then proceeded to drive to our first destination--Rennes.  We decided to stay in that particular city due to its proximity to Mount Saint Michel.  I was determined that I would see it this trip.  Very determined.  I have been to France many times before and every single time something has come up to change the plans (mainly due to business meetings) so that I missed seeing it all these many years.  To say that I was excited would be an understatement.  I was practically like a big ole' dog hanging out the window.  But wait--back to Rennes.

I didn't really mind our hotel room--had it been in a different location in the city, and had a softer bed, and maybe better water pressure in the shower, but nonetheless, it was fine--it was going to just be a quick (2 night) resting place for my beloved Mount Saint Michel.  It took us about 6 hours (remember we stop for coffee multiple times during any trip no matter how near or far) to finally reach Rennes.  It rained on and off that first day, and I prayed hard that the next day, my big day--that the rain would subside.  And it did, God heard my prayers!

I, of course, slept some of the way.  I'm not one to sleep well on planes.  I think I slept maybe 30 minutes total during our 9-hour flight, my husband on the other hand, well, let's just say he was well rested when we arrived.  So, he did the driving and I did the sleeping, and the drinking of the coffee--on to Rennes.

We used our little hotel room in Rennes as just a place to sleep.  I tried hard not to dwell on the negative aspect of that particular hotel.  Really I did.  I tried hard not to notice that there was a movie theater across the square that let out at 3:00 am.  I tried hard not to notice the many stray dogs roaming the streets all night long barking, and barking and did I mention barking?  All night long!
I tried hard not to notice the homeless teenagers, crusty old men and lack of good restaurants nearby.  Yes, I tried hard not to notice all those things as I patiently waited for my day trip to Mount Saint Michel.  She outweighed them all.  She in all her beauty eclipsed the contrary woes of that dismal place.  It was my fault really, I should have done a little more research as to the location of our hotel.  Nonetheless, we suffered through the unpleasantries of that hotel experience and secretly prayed that our next several hotels were in better locations for the next 5 cities.  I was probably praying a little harder.

The next morning I was wide awake and bouncing off the walls ready to take the 1-hour drive up to Mount Saint Michel.  Oh sure--I had been warned.  I knew it was going to be very touristy, but hey, I'm a tourist too!  And things like that don't really bother me.  As long as there are clean restrooms and lots of places for food and coffee--I'm good to go.  Our GPS (in our cute little Renault rental car) took us a little off the beaten path.  Instead of highways, she decided to take us the byways--we drove through little villages and our first glimpse of the monastery was across a field of bright yellow flowers.  It literally took my breath away.  We pulled over along the side of that little country road and began snapping pictures of crazy people and just sat gazing at its beauty.  Was it everything I thought it would be?  Yes, it was.  It was beautiful.  So historical, with fantastic views, and great architecture--everything was perfect.  I didn't let the tourists and t-shirt shops bother me.  I had a blast taking pictures and discovering little-hidden alleyways.  We had a tourist priced lunch and enjoyed our day.  I loved the curved pathways that lead us to the top, I loved the views of the tide being out and the expansiveness of the sandy beaches.  I loved the rooftops of the buildings, the cobbled streets, the French pastries and the coffee--for me, it just doesn't get much better than that.  What a glorious day.  We drove back to Rennes that evening with some really great memories.  Finally, Mount Saint Michel.

               

Yes, I finally made it, and yes, it was everything I thought it would be.  I loved it.  Would I go again?  Probably not.  Been there, done that.  However, I am so glad that I went.  I'm happy that I didn't listen to anyone else's opinion, I'm glad that I followed that yearning in my heart to visit such a wonderful majestic place.  I now have my memories, and my pictures and my heart feels very content.

Now on to Bordeaux.