Nobody 878

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

NOBODY # 878

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT:

Did you know – that it costs 1500 to 2000 Euros to get a license to drive in Paris? And going to driving school to work off a ticket costs 800 Euros.

WHAT THRILLED ME ABOUT PROVENCE (Except for number one, these are in no particular order.)

1. Our hotel (the Negresco - 4 pictures below, 2 hotel, 2 view from our room - in Nice: Not the hotel itself, although it was Belle Époque classy and all around wonderful. Its location was my thrill. It was directly across the street from the Promenade des Anglais where the people stroll along the beautiful, if rocky, Cote d Azur. Our room overlooked the Mediterranean. It took only a few steps before I celebrated my 77^th by braving the stones to wade in that beautiful sea.

2. Tank parade – We were sitting on a bench on the Promenade des Anglais when we heard this sort of roaring sound. We looked up to see a parade of American tanks go by. Two days later, while at our Tauck opening reception at the hotel, another parade passed by, this one made up of jeeps and armored vehicles “manned” by American women and men. Both of these were nice Nice ways of thanking Americans for their liberation in WW II.

3. Pont du Gard – Seeing and then walking across this Roman bridge and aqueduct, still in wondrous shape stirred my heart and soul.

4. Another view – this of the open Mediterranean from the patio of the Fairmont Monaco where we had a good buffet lunch and a view of three countries – Monaco, of course, France and Italy.

5. Wine everywhere - They produce and pour readily in Provence. Although their specialty, surprisingly, is a vin rose, the red and white were PDG.

6. Le Vallon de Valrugues, our hotel in St-Remy-de-Provence, was wonderful – a country estate turned hotel with nice rooms and a pool that, regrettably, we had no time for.

7. A prototypical French meal. Late one afternoon we visited an olive oil producer, and after sampling his product we had a three-hour dinner at a farmhouse restaurant operated by his sister. It started with an aperitif and appetizers on the patio. We then went inside for a 4-course dinner featuring a delicious pounded, pan-fried chicken breast. Bottles of wine and water were in easy reach.

8. Breakfasts at the Negresco – The hotel provided our breakfast, buffet style. The food was good but the setting was great plus. We ate on the outside patio looking out over the sea.

9. Vincent – After we left Nice, Van Gogh was everywhere. He painted and spent hospital time in St-Remy and Arles. In the latter town, also excellent for it’s Roman ruins, I saw and took pictures at the site of two of his famous paintings – the Yellow House and the flower-covered inner patio of the hospital where he committed himself.

10. The carousels – every town we visited had a center square with a carousel adorned with painted ponies, cars, lions, rhino and such. There were also several in Paris.

11. The old man and the sea. The old man was, of course me, and I could gaze at the sea forever.

, Two adjustment asides - I am not a late sleeper. 6:15 am is late for me. Usually it’s somewhere between 5:30 and six when I start my day. After flying all night and arriving in Nice around 3 pm, Barb and I were both tired enough to go to bed at 8:45. We were awakened briefly around midnight by an electrical storm that seemed loud enough to be inside the hotel. We quickly went back to sleep. I was the first to wake up. Hoping that I hadn’t done something silly like sleeping in until seven or so, I checked my watch. Then I checked it again. And again. It was 15 minutes before noon - 15 hours.

Up, dressed and hungry, having missed our complimentary hotel breakfast, we headed in search of a boulangerie. This was France so there must be one on every corner – right? Wrong. We searched and searched and finally wound up having our first French meal – other than glace (ice cream) the evening before – at Mickey Dees – that’s right, McDonalds. And the fries were pretty good.

WHAT I Liked IN PROVENCE

1. Sitting outside at restaurants in small village squares – although we did not do it enough.

2. Eating my first croque-monsieur & croque-madame – the first is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and the second, which I actually had in Paris, is the same with a fried egg on top. The monsieur was Barb’s order in Avignon, which she did not love as much as I did. So we traded my frites for her sandwich.

3. The beautiful houses of Nice. One, overlooking the sea, is owned by Tina Turner (no relation), and another by Sir Elton John.

4. The tiny village of Eze, built into a hillside between Nice and Monaco.

5. The public-owned bicycle rental places in each village and all over Paris.

INTERESTING IF MORBID

1. We saw where Princess Grace crashed, and later, in Paris, our bus drove through the tunnel where Princess Diana died.

DISAPPOINTING

1. The showers - Except at the Negresco, all the showers ran hot and cold, seemingly at their own whim.

2. Our elaborate dinner at Le Vallon de Valrugues, where the chef has a Michelin star. The outdoor setting was beautiful and the menu sounded fabulous. But Barb’s steak, which she specifically ordered to be served pink was as red as could be, and my lamb was very fatty. I should have followed my first impulse and ordered the risotto, which was reported to have been wonderful. However, I do give the chef points for serving the mashed potatoes in double shot glasses. It would have been nice to have them hot though. My Caesar salad was beautifully presented with slices of chicken breast arranged separately on the plate, enhanced with a touch of the excellent dressing. The molten chocolate cake was not much better than ok. But the good vin rogue flowed freely and who could ask for very much more than that?

3. The heat – I have been in hell on days when it was cooler than France while we were there. And hell didn’t have the humidity.

IN CLOSING

Our trip, overall, was wonderful. I have a great appreciation for the French people and their life style. They may not be on the cutting edge of “progress,” but they are way out in front in discovering the joy of and in life.

FINAL OBSERVATIONS

Nice and the Sea were wonderful and I am thrilled to have seen them. But I can have the same thrill in Hawaii with a shorter flight and no sandy beaches.

I am glad to have seen the villages but I have no need to see them again.

Had we known then what we know now, I think would have chosen more time and a slower pace.

If Paris were a 4-hour flight away, WE WOULD GO BACK.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Nobody # 877

Nobody Asked Me But:

Our trip to France was wonderful, and I don’t think we will return. It was not as good as our trip to England, but I don’t think we will return there either. We have pretty much decided that there are plenty of places in the U.S. and Canada to visit or re-visit that will delight us and keep us busy for the rest of our traveling lives. The surest sign that this decision is correct is that, at least at this time, neither Barbara nor I feel any regrets about it. Will we change our minds some day? Perhaps, but probably not.

Our tour story is much the same. We enjoyed Tauck, although it was not without a few problems, and liked the people we traveled with, but our best times were when we were completely on our own.

I still wouldn’t mind living a month in Paris or London and probably Rome, Venice or Barcelona, but since that is not going to happen, we will stay closer to home.

For this report, I will divide our trip into two parts. Today, I will write about Paris and next week, Southern France.

What thrilled me about Paris (After the first two, the list is in random order.)

1. The patisseries – Call me shallow if you want, but if I lived in Paris these would be daily experiences for me, followed by 5-mile walks to work off the calories. The fruit-filled cream puffs and napoleons were delicious beyond my poor power to describe.

2. The Musee d’Orsay - The building itself (an old train station) is spectacular, much like the Tate Modern in London, and the modern art superb. The Van Gogh’s were my favorites.

3. The beauty in the oldness of Parisian buildings.

4. The surprises – you walk down what seems to be an ordinary street and suddenly you find an upscale specialty story – food, clothing, candles, leather, mustard, etc.

5. Mustard on tap - At Boutique Maille, a mustard store at Place De La Madeleine, you pick your type of mustard and they fill a crock for you from a tap spout.

6. Laduree - This beautiful tea shop and patisserie on the Champs-Elysees makes the best and most colorful macaroons in Paris and many other delicious treats as well (including a wonderful napoleon). Since coming home Barbara found out that they recently opened a Laduree in NYC.

7. The Eiffel Tower – I have always thought the ET was overrated, but now I know better. It is a wonder during the day and breathtaking when lighted at night, especially from a boat on the Seine.

8. Berthillon – This store on lle St-Louis supposedly makes the best ice cream in the world, and if this is an exaggeration, it is not much of one. We taxied there on our first morning in Paris (priorities) to discover how lucky we were, in that it was their first day open after their August vacation. (Almost everyone takes August off in France.) While they didn’t have many of their unusual flavors, my very dark chocolate was incredible.

9. Standing at the bow of the dinner boat mentioned above and watching Paris drift by.

10. Wandering along the Left Bank and through the Latin Quarter.

Not a thrill but a delight

1. Department store interiors and window displays. I think the best word for them is classy.

2. The Illy Café in the basement of the largest of the department stores, the Galleries Lafayette. As most of you know, I am a big fan of their iced coffee, so stopping by for a frozen whipped crema in a double-jigger glass was great.

3. The frites. We had some great ones along the Champs-Elysees. Oh, did I mention that they were from the McDonald’s there? (Which reminds me that other than the sweet things I mentioned and an excellent crawfish risotto, the food was just ok.

so(Of course we didn’t eat in fancy restaurants.)

4. Our hotel, the Hotel de Louvre was very nice. Our third story room looked out upon history, in that just across the street was the Palais Royale, Cardinal Richelieu’s home. Richelieu, I am sure you recall, was both a prince of the church and the state (neither by birth) and the great villain of Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers.”

5. The Apple store across from the Opera was way cool. It was in a very old building, with a main floor surrounded by a narrow open balcony.

6. Whisky tasting – in the duty free section of Airport Charles de Gaulle there was a small table containing several open bottles of whisky ready for tasting before you buy. (Perhaps this is common in many airports, but I don’t get around much.)

7. The Mona Lisa

A CHILL, NOT A THRILL

1. It was hot, if not hotter than hell, then quite close, and humid too (about 300%). I thought I was visiting the Mona Lisa in Florida.

2. The Parisians we met were mostly quite nice, but the people on the street rude enough to make the NYC crowds almost angelic.

3. Airport Charles de Gaulle – It was beautiful and nicely set up but the language barrier made finding our plane quite difficult.

4. Bee sting – In Vermont last year, Barbara had a splinter in her finger that bordered on becoming infected. This year, while waiting by the carousel a bee stung that same finger giving her some pain during our last three days.

5. Up the Eiffel Tower – I love roller coasters, so I am not a total coward, but I did not love the rapid outside ride.

6. Driving through the tunnel where Princess Diana died.

NEW STARBUCK’S

Yes, I went to # 400 in Paris, and also #s 401 and 402. They were all very neat in different ways with 402 being the best.

# 400 – This was in the Latin Quarter. Hemmingway, F. Scott, Zelda and Gertrude Stein probably did not hang out here, but I can dream, can’t I?

# 401 – This new, small, modern Starbuck’s with a small loft (all three SB’s had upper levels) was in a small shipping area under the Louvre. It was great for people watching, mocha drinking and Jimmy Durante listening.

# 402 – This one was near the Opera and was in an old building with great chairs, a table in front of the door and a fine upstairs with windows overlooking the Rue de Opera. It is most certainly one of my ten best.

Next week - Southern France