Category Archives: Vacation

The Lyon Zoo

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Day 69,  Sunday, November 5, 2023

We are going to visit the Lyon Zoo today.  We haven’t been to a zoo yet this trip and I love zoos.  I’m not sure what this one will be like as it is free.  Usually zoos are quite expensive…it takes a lot of money to take care of all those animals.

These beautiful Passion flowers covered a wall right beside our bus stop.

We find an outdoor market on our way to the indoor Lyon market. This is the first time we have seen the produce arranged in these metal bowls.  Only 2€ for a big bowl of lemons or tomatoes.  We bought a bowl of plums for 2€…they were good but it did add a couple pounds to Bob’s backpack for the rest of the day!

There are a lot of people shopping today.  The prices are very reasonable and the produce looks amazing.

This pedestrian street lead us to Les Halles de Lyon,…the indoor market.

I thought this was an interesting combination of buildings…old and new.

Inside there are many types of poultry, all with heads still attached.  This is so that it is easy to tell what type of bird you are purchasing. Apparently in “old times” people were being sold “this meat” as “that meat”, not getting what they paid for… so butchers were told to start leaving the heads/feathers/feet on birds they sell so that customers will know exactly what they’re buying.  This is still in practice today.  The spotted birds are guinea fowl and the brown gathered birds are pheasants!

We grow peas in our garden and shell huge bowls full when we harvest.  I never thought about how much it would cost to buy shelled peas…almost $60.00 a kg!

But that doesn’t even come close to the price of truffles!  WOW!!  That is over $2000 a kg!

French pastries are getting expensive too.  I sure notice the difference from when I was here nine years ago.  The big raspberry one is €59.90….or $86.00!  

Even these little pastries are 8.90€ each.

These micro macarons are the cutest, tiniest I have ever seen.  They are the size of a nickel…barely a mouthful!

The candied fruits look delicious.  I think we will have to try some before we leave France.

I have no idea how they make whole candied fruits?

I had to laugh at these monkey lamps!  I didn’t notice our reflections until I was editing photos for this post.

We arrive at the park and find a bench for our lunch and realize that we are in the zoo already.  The deer enclosure is huge with lots of grass and trees.  No fence, just a ditch to keep the animals in.  So far I am impressed.

The flamingos are always fun and they can be very noisy!

This is an old bear cage from many years ago.  It is left to show how zoos have improved the way animals are housed today.  I am so very glad that they are no longer in use…it is terrible to think of a bear living in here its entire life.

This Watusi, or Ankole cow shared an enclosure with the giraffes.

I love giraffes, and there are four beautiful ones in this zoo, including this young one.

They are just as interesting looking coming…

as they are going!

They have impossible necks that simply do not look strong enough to hold up their heads!  An interesting giraffe fact, they have seven vertebrae in their necks …exactly the same number of vertebrae as we have!

I don’t know the name of this cute little bird, but it ran around on the ground and it didn’t mind being close to people, even when some children tried to pet it.

One more flamingo photo…loved their reflections in the water.

The pelicans are amazing and their fathers have hints of pink and yellow.

The zoo has over 300 animals in 66 species.  We also saw many other animals including leopards, monkeys, and gibbons, but they weren’t in the mood to pose for photos!  The whole zoo is very well maintained, the animals look in great condition and their enclosures were clean and spacious with lots of trees, shrubs and grasses…it is all funded by the city of Lyon. We were very impressed.  It is a small zoo but just right for an afternoon visit.  

There is a play area for kids and we had fun watching children try their hand at harness racing…with reins that actually worked to steer their horses.  Then it looked like it was going to rain again, so we head of home. There was a downpour when we first arrived but we found shelter under the roof at a puppet theatre so we stayed dry.

Our metro station on the way home is not busy at all.

When we get home this notice is on the door to the building. The bedbug sniffer dogs are arriving tomorrow morning to check out nine apartments and returning on the 30th to recheck another 6 apartments.  There are 34 apartments in this building and looks like 14 of them have bedbug problems.  So far so good, there is no sign of them in our apartment….but I think it is a good thing we are leaving tomorrow morning

Chauvet II, Caverne du Pont d’Arc, France

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Day 61,  Saturday, October 28, 2023

Today we are going to visit another UNESCO World Heritage Site to see the oldest prehistoric cave paintings known to date in the world!  The cave is an hour and a half drive from Nîmes, so we leave early.  The drive to the caves is interesting as the countryside is constantly changing.The Sycamore/ Plane trees are starting to show their fall colours.

As we drove into the hills it got foggy…

and we were soon below the clouds.

The Chauvet cave, or Caverne du Pont d’Arc contains exceptionally high-quality paintings dating back 36,000 years.  It was discovered in 1994 and has never been open to the public. Only a very small number of scientists are allowed to visit each year to study the Chauvet cave.  The lessons learned at the Lascaux caves helped prevent any damage being done to the amazing art discovered in the Chauvet Cave.

Construction on the replica cave began in October 2012 and it was opened to the public in 2015. Chauvet II is located 9.5 km from the original cave.

All the photos of the building and the inside of Chauvert II, Caverne du Pont d’Arc are by Patrick Aventurier and can be found on the Chauvet II website. https://en.grottechauvet2ardeche.com/history/

An arial view of Chauvet II.

The building that holds the replica cave.  It has a viewing platform on the top of the building.This is the view from the top of the building.We have time to watch an immersive sound and light experience called ANIMAL before our cave tour begins.

Here are two videos I took during the show.  I don’t know how to edit videos, but they are not long, one is just over 2 1/2 minutes and the other is 3 minutes long.  It really was a spectacular show.

https://youtu.be/n9nf7gZ3V1M.     

https://youtu.be/tsU3uZaAuPI

Before we enter the cave our guide asks us not to ask questions about the construction of the replica cave until after our tour, to help us feel as though we are in the real cave.

The Chauvet caves contain a masterpiece…the oldest known artwork in the world.  They are over 36,000 years old…that is 18,000 years older than the Lascaux Cave we visited earlier.  These handprints tell us that the right hand of the artist had a crooked little finger, perhaps it was broken at one time and didn’t heal properly?

These red dots are palm prints.  If you look closely you will see that there are a few prints that show the fingers and the little finger of the right hand is crooked.  These palm prints were done by the same artist as the previous handprints!

One of the first charcoal drawings that we see.  Because charcoal was used the paintings were able to be carbon dated to determine their age.

Some of the engravings were made by pressing into the soft mud walls of the cave with the artist’s fingers.There are very few owl depictions in prehistoric cave art.  We get to see one here.

As we walk further into the cave there are more animals on the walls.

The next four photographs are all part of a panel showing the largest collection of animals in the cave and it was located in the very deepest part of the cave.

We are in front of the Lion Panel: a12 metre-long fresco of a lion hunt that takes my breath away! We stand in awe, as the flickering lights reveal these drawings.

The lighting mimics flickering firelight and the animals almost appear to move.

Of course the lighting is set on a timer and all too soon it is finished.  I tell our guide that our time here is too short and I don’t want to leave… she asks if we would like a  bonus viewing and when I say yes, she turns the lights on again.   We all got an extra 20 minutes in front of these magnificent paintings!

The Aurignacian Gallery is a complementary area to discover on our own after the cave visit.  There are life size replicas of prehistoric animals.  Wooly mammoths, Megaloceros , the huge deer in the background, …

Aurochs…

Cave Bears and Cave Lions…and Bob’s favourite, the Wooly Rhinoceros.

There are interesting interactive panels, including this photo of a baby wooly rhinoceros that was found in a mine in Russia in 2007…

and one of this steppe bison found in Alaska in 1979.

Something I didn’t know before this trip and all the caves we have visited is how like us Prehistoric Cro Magnons were.  They were hunter gatherers and were anatomically very similar to modern man “but more robust, having larger brains, broader faces, more prominent brow ridges, and bigger teeth. They were well renowned for creating a diverse array of artistic works, including cave paintings, Venus figurines, perforated batons, animal figurines, and geometric patterns. They also wore decorative beads, and plant-fibre clothes dyed with various plant-based dyes. For music, they produced bone flutes and whistles, and possibly also bullroarers, rasps, drums, idiophones and other instruments. They buried their dead, though possibly only people who had achieved or were born into high status.”  ~Wikipedia

After our visit at Chauvet II we drive to the location of the original cave along this narrow road with lots of tunnels.

It was quite the experience.

We park and this is our view.

The cave was located near the  Pont d’Arc, a natural stone bridge.  We would have liked to walk up to the location of the original cave, but it is getting late and we still have an hour and a half drive before us.  Too bad but we don’t want to be driving home in the dark.

The cliffs here are full of what appear to be cave openings, and there is a sandy beach alongside the river that is a popular spot for families.

Bob spots this rock formation in the distance that looks like a horse’s head.  He is good at finding rock formations that look like people or animals.More tree lined roads on the way home…the leaves look golden in the setting sun.

All too soon the sun sets…and we are driving in the dark, but only for the last half hour or so which isn’t too bad.

Nîmes, Musée De La Romanité

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Day 60, Friday, October 27, 2023

Bob visited the Musée de la Romanité this afternoon so he is writing today’s blog,

It is interesting to see so many ancient Roman artifacts in Nimes, so far away from the center of Rome.  Nimes was not an outpost of the Roman Empire but a regional capital with a population of over 50,000.  It was an important link between Rome and Spain. This bust is from the 7th century  BC.

A wall fresco from 40 AD.

In memory of Marcus Attius Patterns who died at age 25 in the 1st Century A.D.

The floor tiles were the most impressive, as some of the rooms were as big as our modern living rooms.

4th Century pottery.

12 Century relief of a griffen (head of an eagle and body of a lion) fighting a dragon.

A relief from the 12 Century depicting the Temptation of Adam and Eve from the Notre Dame Cathedral of Nîmes 

Nîmes, France

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Day 59, Thursday, October 26, 2023

Nîmes is a pretty city.  It the most Roman city outside of Italy, and it was the regional capital during the Roman Empire.  Today it has a population of about 150,000.

On our way to the center of town I peek inside this open window and I am surprised to see a boxing ring!

I love this door knocker and it even looks a bit ‘Halloweenish’.

We turn the corner and there it is.  The Amphitheater of Nîmes, or the Arènes de Nîmes.  It held over 20,000 spectators and is the best preserved Roman Amphitheater in the World.  It is so well preserved because it has been in constant use since it was built.  In the 6th century it was turned into a fortress, and in the 14th century it was filled with houses, workshops and warehouses.  In 1809 this was all demolished and work was done to restore it to its original state.

Today, the amphitheater hosts bullfights, concerts and sporting events.  It host many cultural and festive shows all summer long.  We will come back and visit the interior another day…today we are just strolling.

Today it is also offering shelter for this homeless person. The Maison Carrée is a very well preserved white limestone Roman temple that is about 2,000 years old.

Here is another view of the the Maison Carrée from the street opposite to it.  It is impressive.  Both the Amphitheater and the Maison Carée are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

In the 1700’s canals were built to supply a better source of drinking water and to power textile mills.  These mills made ‘serge de Nimes’ or as we know it today ‘denim’ (‘de’ or ‘from’ Nimes)!  Today it is a beautiful park with exotic plants, statues and walkways.

We walk along the canals and find some Pétanque players.  This is a popular pastime everywhere in France, although we have only seen one female player. It is more common to see elderly men playing when we are out and about in the afternoon.  We noticed this extraordinarily tall man on his bicycle which Bob says is the tallest bike he has ever seen.  The men around him barely come up to his armpits!

A Pétanque game in progress, with observers and critics!  The players are incredibly skilled and can knock an opponent’s ball out of the game with one throw.

On the way home we pass St. Paul Church and go inside.  I really liked the sculpture right by the entrance and the dome is beautiful.

One more view of the amphitheater on the way home.  This is only a couple blocks from our Airbnb.

As we were waiting to cross the road two vehicles with fully armed military drive by.  There were four soldiers in each vehicle and they were scanning the surroundings as they drive by.  The sign on the side of their cars says Vigipirate Operation Sentinelle.  They are part of the 10,000 soldiers that are currently active in this operation to defend and protect the French.  As France is currently on high alert the Vigipirate Security Alert System has been at its highest ‘Emergency Attack’ level since October 15th.   This means that our bags are searched when we enter tourist sites, museums and other places where there are lots of people.  We stay aware of our surroundings and we certainly avoid anything that looks like a protest, or large gathering of people.  So not to worry, we are safe.

Cannes to Nîmes, France

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Day 58, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Time to move on….today we have a four hour drive to Nîmes. We have been using the toll highways for these longer drives as it usually saves us a couple of hours of much slower driving through little towns with lots and lots of traffic circles. Most intersections use a traffic circle here, so Bob is now a traffic circle expert.  I finally took a photo of this beautiful big tree that was in our back yard garden in Cannes as we were leaving.   It had huge limbs that arched all the way down to touch the ground.  Unfortunately a photo just doesn’t do it justice.  

We are only on the road for a short time before the landscape changes, and we drive past red rocks that remind us of Arizona…and cypress trees that make me think of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings.

Now instead of Sycamore/Plane trees lining the roads, there are Cypress and coniferous trees.

We were going to visit Cézanne’s Studio in Aix en Provence, but it didn’t work out.  When we tried to book a ticket online the site wouldn’t allow same day bookings, so we decided to drive there and hope to get tickets.  That proved to be a very difficult task.  Between one-way roads, a couple missed turns and crazy rerouting, we finally gave up.  We weren’t even sure we would be able to get tickets and I was getting frustrated…it just wasn’t meant to happen today.  We get back on the highway and we are soon at our new home in Nîmes.  It is quite small with a cheery hot pink sink and shower and it will be our home for the next five days.

 

Monte Carlo, France

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Day 57, Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The train ride to Monte Carlo is a relaxing 70 minutes. I like trains and would be happy to do more travel by train.  I do a bit of sketching, some are more successful than others, and even more people watching.  I sketch in ballpoint pen so  it is difficult to correct errors.  A tall, slim young woman dressed in black with very long black hair sits near us and a couple stops later another young woman who could be her twin gets on the train, also all dressed in black…and they sit together.  We can’t decide if they are related or friends.

The area near the train station isn’t very fancy but look at the size of the trees growing on these balconies!

We are soon in an area wth shops. This bridal shop had a sign in the window about a royal wedding but it wasn’t clear if they made the royal wedding dress.

We head up this very long set of very wide steps to get to the Palais Princier where the ruling Grimaldi’s still live.

There are some good views of buildings on the nearby hills.  The buildings are very close to one another, there is not much open space at all.

We missed the changing of the guards at noon, even though we thought we had planned to get there early.  Only our bus was late, and then our train was late….even best laid plans go astray.  But this guard walked right towards us and then kindly stopped so I could take his picture…or so it seemed.  Turns out it was where he always stopped to turn and go back the other way!

It starts to rain so we duck into the shops nearby.  I think this fridge magnet is the closest we will get to actually holding a 500€ casino chip!

And this is the closest Bob will get to being captain of a boat!

The old town streets next to the palace are narrow and packed with shops and restaurants and offers us a bit of shelter from the rain.

We hide out in this church for a while too.  it was nice to sit for a bit out of the rain, before we make our way towards the harbour.

There is a good view of the harbour from up here.

There is a lovely garden along the sea on our way down to the harbour.  I loved this sculpture called Invitation by K. Verkade.  One of the side benefits of writing this blog is that I take the time to do a bit of research on some of the things we have seen, and I end up discovering interesting new things…like this sculptor and his work.

Bob finds us a bench that is dry under several big coniferous trees that offer shelter from the rain, so we sit for a bit and have tea and cookies and take a selfie.

This is the view from our sheltered bench… but this sculpture nearby gives a more accurate portrayal of the weather! We saw this statue “The Cloak of Conscience” elsewhere on one of our trips, but I don’t remember where.  The artist, Anna Chromy studied at the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, my favourite life drawing studio!   She is another interesting artist I read about today.   I did not know that this sculpture was also carved in marble and stands over 15 feet tall!  This website has some amazing photos of its creation.. https://annachromy.com/cloak-of-conscience/from-escavation-to-completion/

A big frame overlooking Monaco offers the opportunity for a rather wet portrait.

But then the sun came out!

And we walk down a very long ramp to the harbour area…

where we walk along some of the roads used for the Monaco Grand Prix.  Bob poses with this statue of the winner of the1955 Grand Prix, Juan Fangio.  The F1 cars have changed a bit since then!

We visit the Prince of Monaco’s Car Collection.

This new 3,500 m2 building holds  around 70 vehicles including racing cars that have competed in the Monte-Carlo Rally and the Monaco F1 Grand Prix.

Here are a few of Bob’s favourites.  

And of course there is a red convertible!

We stroll along the harbour where the rich and famous dock their yachts.  I think this is one of the biggest ones we have seen… even bigger than the one in Antibes near the sculpture made up of letters.  It has two curved staircases!

The people standing on the dock give an idea of the size of this thing.

The boats parked alongside it look very small in comparison.

Next stop is the Monte Carlo Casino.  I wish we could have taken photos inside.  It is over the top ornate, and yes, we walked through the gaming rooms where some of the James Bond movies were filmed.  Pictures are allowed in the lobby. so we prop our phone for a selfie.

We need to show our passports and pay 18€ each just to get into the gaming rooms…but we do each get a 10€ voucher to spend.  Interestingly, it is against the law for citizens of Monaco to work or gamble in the casino!

There weren’t many people gambling…I think it was a bit too early in the day.  We spend an hour or so trying our luck on the slot machines.  We spend our two 10€ vouchers and after putting another 50€  into the machines we aren’t doing all that well…

until we go back to the first machine we played and we start to win.  In the end our time in the casino only cost us 26€ and we had a lot of fun.  The casino is starting to get busier just as we are leaving.  It would have been interesting to be there later in the evening but we need to get home.

If you would like to see photos of the inside of the gaming rooms check this link. https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/search/monte-carlo-casino-interior

It is already getting dark when we leave the casino.  

We take selfies in the reflection of this giant metallic ball, with the casino in the background.

As we head back towards the train station we walk through a garden area with great views of the casino and the very expensive hotels nearby.

The casino is very pretty all lit up at night.

We pass a tree with these beautiful huge flowers that are at least as big as my outstretched hand…. and another big flowering Brugmansia.

Getting back to our train was really difficult.  There is construction and we can not find our way into the train station!  We walk around and around and although the sign says that we are at the train station there is no way we can find to get inside.  Finally we see a young lady who seems to know where to go, so we follow her through a door that says no public entrance, walk through part of a parkade and we finally find an elevator that takes us up to the train station.  We buy our tickets and then have to run like crazy to catch the train so we don’t have to wait for an hour for the next one….and it is packed, no seats, standing room only!  Luckily after about a half an hour most people get off at Nice and we finally get to sit down.  Guess who is sitting opposite us…those two long haired young women who rode the train with us this morning.  They were carrying shopping bags from Nice.  I was so thankful to have a seat but too tired to even try to draw.  it was a really full day.

 

 

 

 

Antibes, France

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Day 55, Sunday, October 22, 2023

Antibes and the Picasso Museum is our destination today.  We take the bus instead of the train but it is quite a bumpy ride that makes drawing a bit tricky.  I think I prefer the train.  Good thing it is only a half hour ride.

I would like to request a favour from you.  If you enjoyed reading these posts could you take a moment and tap the like button at he end of the post.  it is nice to see who is reading and following the blog , and that people hopefully do enjoy reading these posts.  Comments are always appreciated but I understand that they take a bit more time…and I know some of my posts can be lengthy, in spite of my best efforts to make them shorter! Thanks.

As we walk towards old town Antibes we pass aa area that has enormous hanging planters and flowerpots.  They are really spectacular.

We head for the harbour to check out the ancient ramparts and an interesting sculpture.  There are some really enormous boats in the distance as well.

These boats are docked in an exclusive area, no walking past them… so  I take a photo from the ramparts.  Take note of the white van parked by the second boat to help give a sense of scale.  

Bob had read about this sculpture by Jaume Plensa called Nomade.  It is an eight meter high figurative sculpture which is located on the top terrace of the Bastion Sainte Jaune.  It is invites interaction by its viewers, including me.

“On the terrace, facing the sea at the corner of the ring wall, was a monumental sculpture eight metres high of a squatting figure, Nomade. All these pieces used the formal vocabulary developed by the artist over the last few years, based on letters. With this vocabulary, Plensa is suggesting that, beyond its simple mission of communicating a meaning, spoken or written language can also be seen as a kind of envelope covering the matter and energy that constitute us. “Like bricks,” he says, “letters have a potential for construction. They enable us to construct thought.” ~ Jaume Plensa

Walking along the ramparts we see more boats.  This one from Bali has its surfboards mounted on the back.  I think that most surfers do not own yachts.

There are signs with information about boats for rent, little boats…

and little bit bigger boats…makes me wonder how much it costs to operate the enormous yachts we saw earlier?  and no, I have absolutely no interest at all in renting or buying a boat…just not something I would enjoy, even if had that much money..

There is a little sand beach on the outside of the ramparts, and in the background is the huge yacht and the sculpture Nomade.

Next stop is the Picasso Museum.  Nice that photos are allowed.

I am not a huge Picasso fan but this museum has lots of information explaining Picasso’s  paintings and methods which help me appreciate his work. This huge painting was painted on three cement panels that are usually used as a building material.

There is a big display of his glazed platters which are interesting.

More people take photos of these copies of Michelangelo’s sculptures than of the Picasso paintings.I spend a bit of time drawing a couple of Picasso’s altered vase forms.

Here are couple more large paintings.  I forgot to take photos of the titles…

There is another exhibit on the main floor of the museum.  Paintings by Yves Zurstrassen, but it doesn’t interest either of us so we just do a quick walk through. Outside on the patio there are several sculptures by Germaine Richler which I quite like, and two young ladies drawing in their sketchbooks.  I love seeing other people drawing.  They were deep in conversation so I didn’t interrupt them.

Walking back to the bus station we pass these porcelain cups in a shop window.  Made me smile.

The streets are narrow and we have no idea what might be hiding behind those closed shutters.

While waiting for the bus we chat with two twelve year old boys who are absolutely bursting what energy.  One of them asks me to draw him.  It isn’t a very good drawing but he is happy with it. He has a lot of hair!

As the bus is pulling away I tap on the window and his friend looks up so that I can snap a photo.  Too bad I missed getting a photo of Emin.The bus ride home was even rougher than the one coming.  We are travelling on different streets because of all the one way streets in Cannes.  I definitely prefer train travel

Nice, France

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Day 54, Saturday, October 21, 2023

We catch the train to Nice this morning. We are both happy to be sitting on a train instead of driving and navigating.  It is a nice change and Bob can watch the scenery go by instead of concentrating on driving.

I draw on the train. I feel out of practice but it is still nice to be drawing…I haven’t done nearly as much of it as I had hoped to this trip.The Nice train station is really big, clean and airy.

It is a short walk from the train station to the main tourist area by the beach.  We stop at a park for our lunch, and I wonder if the water is from yesterday’s big rain…or if it is a fountain?

A couple minutes later I have my answer.  These two young boys had the best time playing in the water jets.

We laughed at this big dog who jumped and tried to bite every jet of water he passed.  He was having such fun.  There were such neat reflections too.

This very large sea gull was eyeing our lunch, just hoping a few crumbs would fall his way…I’m afraid a few did…who could resist that gaze?

After lunch we visit the Cathedral of Saint Reparata., which is a National Monument.  It is very ornate and in great shape…no peeling paint here.  

The flower market is beautiful and the prices are very reasonable.

We try some socca. It is a thin chickpea bread that is sprinkled with pepper.  We have to wait a few minutes for a fresh pan to arrive (it is brought hot from the ovens in a wheeled cart) and it is delicious! It is also a bargain at just 3€ for a huge slice.  I am going to have to try making this at home.

Even though we have just had lunch, and socca, I am craving a cassis (black current) sorbet from Fenocchio’s, a world famous ice cream shop. They have 94 flavors of  ice creams and 35 of sorbet, but I stick with my favourite.  

After my sorbet we walk towards the beach.  

Nice has a pebble beach, and lots of sun worshippers.  I stay at the beach to draw some of them and Bob goes for a walk and climbs to two viewpoint.  There is one on top of the cream round structure in the distance and another higher up on top of the hill.

I take a photo of someone who I think is Bob…and he takes a photo trying to find me on the beach.  Do we think alike?

This is definitely me, I am sitting right beside the two rinse towers…and I get a light spray every time someone rinses off!  I was settled in by the time this happens the first time so I decide to stay put, in spite of the occasional mist of water that floats my way.

I am happier with my beach drawings.

This fellow was sitting beside me and he was very brown.  He was also wearing black underpants, which appears to be a common thing here.  People are not shy about changing on the beach, women pull off their tops and bras to change into their bathing suits and I saw lots of men just wearing underpants as their bathing suit.  There were a few topless women as well…it is the French Riviera after all.

We do a bit of window shopping, or as they say here, leche-vitrine, which translates to lick the windows!  I have had a couple treats here, but gluten really doesn’t agree with me so I have to content myself with a bit of window licking!  Oh and did you notice the prices?  

We stroll along the boardwalk, people watching and enjoying the sunshine…

but the sun is getting glow in the sky and we head back to catch our train.

Bob notices something strange about this building… Here is a clue.

Yes, the whole side of the building is a giant mural!  We pass this interesting fountain…

and there are seven of these statues high on poles above the street.  Google tells me that they were created by Jaume Plensa, a Spanish artist who specializes in monumental art.

They represent the seven continents and the communication between the different communities of today’s society. They are titled “Conversation à Nice”and they are illuminated every night, with slowly changing colours.  Too bad we won’t see that but it is a long ride home.

We were in Nice over 40 years ago and visited the Matisse Museum.  I was hoping to visit it again today, but it closes during the noon hour, and then we just ran out of time.  I am OK with not visiting so many museums this trip, there are so many other things to do and only so much time.

Cannes, France… Big Boats

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Day 50, Tuesday, October 17th, 2023

We are in the French Riviera!  We thought it would get warmer and sunnier the further south we went, but not so…today is cloudy and only 21°.  On our way to the beach I notice these strange cones from some type of coniferous tree, no idea what they are but they were very prickly!

Our first view of the Mediterranean Sea this trip.  No sunbathers on the beach today.

It started to rain a bit and this little sweetie wanted her own umbrella!  I asked her dad if I could ‘prends un photo’ and he smiled and said yes.  She was such an independent little girl.

soon we are at he harbour checking out the boats.  

People watching is very interesting.  This young lady posed for several photos for her friend…and me!  It was quite the outfit she was wearing, with her thong panties quite visible.

There are a lot of sailboats moored here…

and then there are the big boats…

and the really big boats…

complete with all the accessories!  It is really mind boggling to see these huge boats and we can only imagine how much they cost, not only to purchase but to maintain and operate.  Not something we will ever have to worry about!

The boats names are interesting…from the rather strange  ‘maxi beer Oliver’s bear’, to the curious No.9 (is this the ninth boat that they have owned?, to the quite pretentious Veni Vedi Vici  ( I Came, I Saw, I Conquered ) to the more modest ‘Lucky Us’.

I wonder if this is a game of “My mast is taller than your mast?”

There are so many of these huge boats, or perhaps I should be calling them ships?  I’m not sure of the correct terminology.

Boats aren’t the only expensive item in Cannes.  The little black boots are 1100 € and the tall boots are 1300 € !

I don’t think we can afford a vacation home here either!  Look a the price for a three or four room apartment, ranging from 74 to 110 square meters.

On our walk we passed several interesting murals, all movie or film related.

Carcassonne to Cannes and The Fonsernes 9 Locks

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Day 49, Monday, October 16th, 2023

Today we travel from Carcassonne to Cannes.  It is a 4 1/2 hour drive if we use the toll highway and 7 1/2 hours without so we decide to pay the tolls.  We make a side trip to Beziers to visit the Fonsernes 9 Locks.  On our way there we drive by a very strange design on Google maps… I wonder if it might be some sort of irrigation system?

A bit of research solves the puzzle.  Who knew?

‘The Étang de Montady, or Pond of Montady is a drained pond or lagoon.. It was built by monks and wealthy Béziers landowners during the second half of the 13th century. The Étang de Montady was drained to provide farmland by making radial ditches from a single center point out to the extremities.  The water flows to this center point and is then drained by sixteen vertical shafts to an underground culvert.’~ info from Wikipedia.

It was a bit of a challenge to find the locks.  First of all we drove to the town of Beziers where we thought we would find the locks, but there were no locks in sight.  We did find a spot to have our lunch though, overlooking a pretty river and the Cathedral Saint-Nazaire.

We check at the location again and this is what google maps tells us!  Really??  We need to get from the blue arrow to the red pin…and we do it!  Pretty impressive navigating and driving I think! I wanted a photo of this pretty bush covered with orange berries, and Bob hams it up by giving himself an orange moustache.

The Canal du Midi connects the Mediterranean Sea to Toulouse.  It has 360 navigable kilometers and there is a drop of more than twenty meters from this location to the town of Beziers.  The locks were built in 1676 to deal with that change in elevation.

We watched these two boats make their way through the locks.

The water level begins to lower…as the water pours into the basin below.

Soon the water levels in the two basins are equal and the lock gates open…

and the boats advance to the next basin and this process is repeated 7more times.

This boat with four couples from South Africa barely has room to squeeze through the open gates.

The 9 locks of Fonseranes have a total of 8 ovoid-shaped basins and 9 doors and in 1996, they were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as is the entire Canal du Midi.

At the bottom of the locks there is a gate that appears unused for some time.  It has grown a water garden on its backside.

Back on the highway we pass through yet another toll booth.  This one is pretty big.  The crazy thing is that on the other side there are no lanes.  Once you pay your toll the gate goes up and all the cars need to merge back onto the highway.  It is kind of crazy.

Bob says he can tell we are getting close to the French Riviera because there are expensive cars on the road.  A Lamborghini costs anywhere from $221,000 to more than three million dollars!  I can’t even imagine driving a car that is that expensive.

The turn off to Cannes is a bit convoluted…we have had a lot of strange routes on this trip.

We check into our next Airbnb…only this one has palm trees and a view of the ocean in the distance.