November
13
Before my
morning tour, I went to the same little coffee shop I had eaten at the morning
before and got a pain au chocolat and a hot tea. I think I am in love with pain
au chocolat. The only place I've seen it around where I live is at Starbucks,
and I'm not convinced it will be as absolutely amazing as it is in France.
The tour
was picking me up in the lobby of my hotel, so I sat there and had my little
breakfast while I waited.
The tour
guide, Sharif, spoke English and Russian on our tour, which was all women. Six
of us. There were two Russians and three family members from Jakarta and me. We
got in the little bus, which Sharif drove, and headed to our first stop in Antibes.
Unfortunately, it seemed like Sharif really likes to speak Russian, since he
spent much of the time chit-chatting with the two Russian woman and ignoring us
English speakers until it was time for his memorized tour material.
Am I the
only one who doesn't think it is thrilling to look at yachts? That was our big
stop in Antibes. Not the Picasso museum (although I really don't like Picasso)
or the city, just the port. After a 20 minute walk around, we got back in the
bus and Sharif drove up through ritzy neighborhoods on our way to Cannes.
In Cannes,
we stopped in front of the theater where they have the film festival and had
another 20 minutes or so to walk around.
I went
down to the beach, which was sandy, and sank down into the fluffy sand.
There were
also weird little hairball things all over the beach there.
There wasn't a lot
of other stuff to do there - a small coffee stand, toilets, tourism office.
Back in the bus!
We headed
up the mountain to the village of Grasse, where we toured the Fragonard perfume
factory. It was interesting and I bought a bunch of Christmas presents there.
The table where the Nez works.
Then we went past Tourettes, stopping for photos only, and then up to the village
of Gourdon.
I don't remember if that is Tourettes in the background or Saint Paul de Vance.
Lunch in
Gourdon was disgusting. There was a lot of pressure from Sharif to eat at a
particular restaurant - I think it was called the Three Brothers. Sharif must
have a deal with them to get a kickback from taking his tours there. I sat with
the Indonesian family to eat. Despite telling the waiter I didn't eat meat,
which included fish, my salad came with fish in it. I only ate the hard-boiled
egg from the top of it and picked out some tomatoes. In my opinion, I should
not have been charged for the salad, but I was. It was the most expensive egg
I've ever eaten, coming in at 13€. The Indonesian family weren't happy with
their meal either, wanting mussels but having to settle for the only fish
available at this place - aside from being all over the salad. They had soup
that they hated, bad fish, a similar salad to my own -without fish, because
they like fish, so naturally they don't get any - and, I think in desperation,
french fries. Sharif's answer was just "It is hard to be a vegetarian in
France." I hate him a little bit.
After a
small walk in the city and some souvenir shopping, it was back on the bus. The
drive back down from the mountain was very nice. It had rained the day before,
so there were several waterfalls. Sharif took us to a lookout for waterfalls
called Cascades du Saut de Loup, which he claims was not part of the tour, but his
gift to us. It was one of the best stops.
The last
stop on the tour was at Saint Paul de Vance, which was a pretty interesting
place. I saw the grave of Marc Chagall and had an ice cream. There was a lot of
walking around, but it was worth it. I think because we're in the off season,
maybe as many as half of the little shops were closed, though. We spent a
little over an hour here, which was enough.
No crowds.
More pebble mosaics in Saint Paul de Vance.
Back on
the bus we got to experience the scenic wonders of a gas station. The gas
prices in California are high, but not as bad as in France! The ride back to
the hotel was all on highways, since the tour was over and we no longer
deserved pretty scenic roads.
I went
back to my room briefly, then set out for dinner. Vanya, the extremely helpful front
desk woman at my hotel, recommended a couple restaurants, but they both were
closed when I got there. I was dining early for France at 6 PM. I found a place
called La Pizza and had a huge, but only okay pizza. On my walk back, I missed
my turn and lo and behold, picked up Mario again on the street. I realized I
had gone too far, after having Mario walk with me a couple of blocks, and
turned back on my own. I walked a little faster, just to make sure I lost Mario
if he had decided to try and follow me to my hotel.
Back in
the room, a little early, I spent the evening watching the horrible TV choices.
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