Aix-en-Provence to Cannes, France to Monaco, to Lago di Como, Italia (Lake Como, Italy)

After we all had breakfast together here at the Aix-en-Provence Hostel, I said my goodbyes to Jack from London; Clint, a kindred spirit; and the girls I didn’t really get to spend much time with; Amanda, Abbey and Kat.  I got on the road heading east to Nice.  Along the way, I saw signs for Cannes, so I said what the hey, I should drive though.  So, I took the exit and headed towards the water.

Holy cow, what a site.  I’ve been to many a beach front resort before in the US, Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand.  This one puts them all to shame.  For one thing, the water was a brilliant blue, azure I think, hence the name of the region – Côte d’Azur.  The sky and the water were so close in color sometimes, it was difficult to distinguish the horizon.  I drove by big pretty hotel resorts one after another, mega yachts and cruise liners one after another, and pretty people one after another.  There were plenty of not so pretty people as well though so I felt better.  I’m not much of a beach person, never have been as I burn too easily, but I really wanted to stop and lay out for a while, but the traffic was horrible and I wasn’t really sure how long it would take to get to my destination today, so I made a quick exit.  I got to see Cannes; that was good enough.  I was grateful for well-marked roads on the way in and on the way out, which got me back on the Autoroute quite easily. Read Full Article & Comments…

Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Pont du Gard, France

I said my goodbyes to the girls this morning and they left for Marseilles where they’ll fly home to Stockholm.  As roommates go, they were top notch.  I did a little housekeeping, studied my maps and got on the road to Pont du Gard, just southwest of Avignon.  The drive was reasonably pleasant and straightforward.  The tolls were five euros to go less than a hundred miles.  I drove through Avignon a little, it’s another fortified city and the original papal palace is there too.  I caught a glimpse of it but didn’t stop.

From Avignon, it was about 32km.  Pont du Gard (bridge of the Gard) is the aqueduct built by the Romans to supply water to Nimes.  It’s the second highest Roman ruins still standing and it’s quite impressive when you think about how many stones were required and how many slaves built it, and how many died building it, and the engineering technology they had back then.  This part that spans the river is the most impressive, but keep in mind that the aqueduct ran 50 miles to supply Nimes.  The surrounding area is lovely, I’ve never seen terrain like this and some of the trees and plants are like nothing I’ve ever seen. Read Full Article & Comments…

Aix-en-Provence, France

After a rather plain breakfast of just bread and jam here at the hostel, the Swedes and I caught the bus into the old town of Aix-en-Provence.  I had seen some of the surrounding newer town yesterday when I got lost and I really wasn’t impressed.  It was newer buildings and most areas I drove through were somewhat depressed areas.  I was beginning to think I had a made a mistake coming here.

We hit the old town and oh what a treat.  My friend Barb had posted a comment and question recently about how clean the streets and towns seem to have been in my pictures, very Disneyesque she said.  True for many of the places I’ve been, but many have had dirty streets and some depressed areas.  Old town Aix-en-Provence was certainly not pristine, there are cracked buildings, dirt, graffiti, etc. but considering her age (founded in 126 AD), she’s looking pretty good.  Aix was the capital of Provence, the region in southern France, way before a unified France, and was considered the cultural center of the universe.  This was the home of Cezanne, and painters such as Picasso, Chegal, Van Gogh, Matise and others came to Provence to be inspired.

The original name of the town was Aquae Sextius, which means Read Full Article & Comments…

Chamonix to Aix-en-Provence, France

Got up and had breakfast with Martin from last night.  Real nice guy; great smile.  Martin is in his early 50’s by my reckoning and he headed off on his bike to go further into Switzerland.  After uploading last night’s journal entry I headed off as well.  The receptionist from last night was working this morning and so I made a point to tell her she was so kind in working with me on the French, en Francais of course (vous êtes très gentil).  She lit right up with a big smile and said je vous en pris, aurevoir.

I had a long day ahead of me getting to Aix-en-Provence (Exxon Pro-vahnce).  It was blue skies the whole way.  Plenty of winding twisting roads again as I came down out of the Alps.  I finally got on a freeway and got some speed on to make up the difference in time lost on the country roads.  Before long, it really started getting hot, flattening out and it started looking like dessert somewhat like Arizona or New Mexico.  I really didn’t expect that in France.  I guess it’s looking like Italy, or at least what I think Italy might Read Full Article & Comments…

Gimmelwald to Ballenberg, Schweiz (Switzerland) to Chamonix, France

I had some groceries left, so I fixed myself a good old Denver scramble for breakfast and a big glass of milk, now that’s a breakfast.  Enough of this bread and butter and jam, boy do Europeans eat a lot of bread.  I got packed up and settled my bill with Esther, who is famous by the way.  I told her she was a star and she didn’t understand, she only speaks a little English, I had to say like a movie star.  She got it but didn’t understand why.

If any of you are Rick Steves‘ fans, on the episode that features Gimmelwald, Rick walks up the stairs to Esther’s store and greets her and asks her some questions about where the products she sells comes from.  In her very thick unique Gimmelwald dialect accent, she explains that the cheese comes from local cows and the jerky and other beef products come from the local cows as well, but they are shipped off to Interlaken and then the finished product comes back.  She likes Rick a lot but confided in me that she really didn’t understand Rick that well and so the question was prepared and she had to rehearse her answer in English.  And actually, she sells more grocery store items like frozen foods, drinks and some dry products than the local products.  The things that hungry travelers would want to cook for themselves.

Esther was an awesome host and treated us so well.  I said goodbye to her and David and Mandy who were the only others that were up and I hit the cable car down to Stechelberg.  It runs every 30 minutes and I timed it perfectly, I walked right into the station and on to the car and they shut the door.  This morning was very foggy so the ride down was unspectacular, till we had only 300 feet or so to go when we descended below the clouds.  There’s those Read Full Article & Comments…

Gimmelwald, Schweiz (Switzerland) – Lauterbrunnen, Stechelberg, Kleine Scheidegg, Jungfrau

After breaky, I got my latest update on the journal done and then headed out.  I took the cable car down to Stechelberg and caught a bus from there to Lauterbrunnen and walked to the train station.  I caught the train to Kleine Scheidegg with stops along the way.  Oh so scenic.  The train (Jungfraubahn) climbs the mountains at a fairly steep grade.  It’s a cogwheel train meaning that the tracks have a center rail that is notched.  The train has gears that fit the notches and that allows the train to climb; and not run away out of control when going downhill.

The views along the way of Lauterbrunnen in the valley, farms on the sides of the mountains, cows and goats grazing, waterfalls, and chalets; it just makes you feel like you’re… uh… in another country.  I changed trains in Kleine Scheidegg to another line that goes to the Jungfrau, a peak in the Alps at over 11,000 feet.  To get there, it goes up of course, at a steep grade, and it goes through the Eiger to the other side and then Read Full Article & Comments…