Two days in the French Riviera… +1

Saturday, May 7 - Sunday, May 8 2011

Another first was achieved – our first houseguest!  Ang’s dad, Gavin, flew into town the first week of May on his first trip ever to Europe (not just Switzerland).  He spent about two weeks here and found various things to occupy himself with around Geneva (we would leave for work in the morning and he would embark on a cycling adventure on Dave’s bike—he toured inner city and countryside racking up quick the mileage!).  By the time he left we think he’d seen more around Geneva than we have so far!   Besides Geneva, he also took a day-trip via train to a couple Swiss towns just up Lake Geneva—Montreux (an quaint old medieval town) and Lausanne.  The three of us also took a couple of trips together outside of the Lake Geneva area while he was here.

The first of those trips was a weekend in Nice, located in southern France.  Nice is also very close to Monaco, which is the second smallest country in the world (0.75 square miles).  We also had heard about this quaint village in between Nice and Monaco, called Eze.  Lots to see in just a weekend…

There’s a funny thing about booking cheap flights on easyJet.  They are cheap for a reason… because they typically leave before 7am!   We always find a way to justify the early departures when we are booking them, but when the day actually comes it’s never fun.  6:30am was our departure out of Geneva, which meant we woke up before 4am(!).  Luckily we weren’t checking bags so that gave us back a little more time.

After a quick 40-minute flight, we were in Nice.  The forecast had said high 60’s but there’s no way it dipped below 70 the entire time.  Since we were into town so early, we needed to find things to do that were already open (or never closed).  Our first stop after dropping our bags off at the hotel, was a hike up to a viewpoint in the middle of the city.  The hill was called Le Chateau, and is primarily a panoramic viewpoint of Nice but also the site of some castle ruins.  While the ruins were pretty much non-existent, we realized why this was such a prized location for building a castle - the views of the city and surrounding Mediterranean were pretty incredible.

Also on the hill was an old cemetery with over-the-top monuments and grave pieces.  It reminded us a lot of what we had seen in New Orleans when we visited several years back.

Our next visit was a little surprising, but made sense when you realize that Nice is only about 20 miles from the Italian boarder.  Nice was an area that was once occupied by the Romans and there are ruins from the 2^nd- 3^rd centuries still remaining of an arena and bathhouses.  The size and condition of the main bathhouse structure was pretty incredible.  This was our first visit to a Roman-ruins site, but will not be our last…!

We spent the next couple of hours wandering around the old town and beachfront areas of Nice.  The old-town was pretty typical to most European old-towns we’ve seen (although the architecture never gets old to us, always pretty incredible).  The beach in Nice is comprised of rocks, rather than sand, so it wasn’t all that comfortable to walk barefoot on.  But that didn’t stop us nor hundreds of tourists from enjoying themselves.  We were also surprised how similar the coastline was to the Cinque Terre (which isn’t that surprising when you look on a map and realize only about 180 miles separate the two areas).  The photo below reminded us a lot of a view on the beach in Monterosso, the northern-most village in the Cinque Terre.

While Nice was beautiful, we knew we needed to keep moving in order to see everything we had planned.  We had discovered the little village of Eze on the Samantha Brown travel show that Ang’s mom recorded for us to watch during our trips back home.  One fact the show host shared that we found very unusual is that in the off-season only about 15 people actually live in the village (there were quite a bit more when we were there).  The tiny village is built on a high cliff (quite the bus ride to get up there) and consists of narrow little winding walkways that lead to homes, restaurants & little shops.  There are also the remains of an ancient fortress at the very top of the village.  Unfortunately we didn’t have more than a few hours to soak in all the quaintness of this village.  We hope someday to come back and stay for a night!

We returned to Nice for the evening, had a crepe appetizer while the sun went down then enjoyed a delicious dinner in a busy square.

Day 2…Monaco.  This was a unique time to visit Monaco because the famous Grand Prix was scheduled for a couple weekends later.  The town was literally being transformed into a racetrack.  For those of you unaware, the Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most famous races in the world and the course is basically the streets of Monaco, re-purposed.  It was pretty surreal walking through the course and seeing the guardrails and tens of thousands of empty grandstand seating. 

That wasn’t the only thing to do in Monaco though.  We arrived there early so that we could attend mass at the Monaco Cathedral and listen to the acclaimed choir that performs as part of mass every week.  Everything was in French but the singing was well worth the visit—they were phenomenal.  The Cathedral is also the burial place of Princess Grace Kelly and her husband, Prince Rainier III. 

Stealth Yacht

Just outside of the cathedral was a lookout point over a bay with some very expensive yachts… did we mention that Monaco is a wealthy place? :)

After the cathedral we popped into the Monaco Palace.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside because it is still the residence of the royal family of Monaco, but you can see the palace from the outside and the castle walls (complete with guards and cannons…very protective!)

Of course, no visit to Monaco is complete without a stop at the iconic Monte Carlo Casino!  Too bad they charge 10 Euros per person to enter the gaming halls (although if desperate to gamble there is a side room with slot machines).  We opted not to pay the fee and just enjoy the view from the lobby.  From what we saw it was nice, but after visiting the extravagant casinos in Las Vegas (for free) we didn’t feel the need to pay money to enter one.  Fun fact: There are no income taxes for the residents of Monaco and it’s said that is because the profits from the Casino support all the costs that taxes would normally support.  Pretty nuts.

All over Europe you tend to encounter various types of street performers anywhere there’s a crowd of more than 5 people.  Sometimes these performers are incredibly talented, and other times they’re not. :)  In Nice we came across a couple performers that were pretty impressive.  The first was a young classical guitar player (he also happened to be selling CDs which Ang now owns).  We also came across this woman singing opera—she was also pretty phenomenal.  You can’t help but wonder whether these people once had pretty big gigs going and fell out of them for some reason or whether they’ve just never been discovered.   We were all out of Euros at that point, otherwise we’re pretty sure Ang would have purchased a CD from the opera singer, too. :)

Now, you might have asked yourself why did the title of this blog say “+1” at the end?  Well, our flight was scheduled to leave Nice on Sunday night.  However, when we arrived at the easyJet counter to check in they informed us that the original plane they planned to use had to be switched out with a smaller one and that we didn’t have seats on the plane.  Huh?  When we got more information from the customer service agent our frustration flipped 180 degrees when they informed us that we would be put up in a hotel for free, be placed on the 8am flight in the morning (still back to Geneva in time for work), and compensated 750 Euros total for the trouble (so, about $1000 US dollars).  EasyJet basically paid for our trip a couple times over and gave us an extra night in Nice – thanks! :)

It was a fun trip, but just the beginning of our time with Gavin.  More adventures to come…

Dijon (yes the mustard), France

Saturday, April 30 - Sunday, May 1 2011

We reached a milestone a couple weekends ago…our first out-of-town visitors!  While we were at home in the States visiting family and friends a couple weeks ago, Ang’s Aunt and Uncle (Linda & Dick) were road-tripping and exploring the great country of Switzerland… and beyond!  They made it to the Geneva area the last few days of April and we met up with them to catch up and also start planning our weekend excursion together.

Actually, we had another 'first' this past weekend… our first road trip in Europe!  Dijon, France, was on “the list” but it was one of those awkward destinations that is close enough to drive or train to, but far enough away that it’s not a day-trip.  So the question was whether or not if there was an entire weekend worth of stuff to do there.  This became less of a concern because it was about time we had a slow-paced trip to relax after our busy work schedules and a whirlwind trip home. 

We set the plan and went for it.  Dick and Linda still had their rental car and we left Geneva around 10am on Saturday morning with about 3 hours of driving ahead of us.  What we like about Dick and Linda’s style of travel (although we aren’t always willing to do it) is that they just go with the flow with very little preparation.  What a relaxing way to travel if done right and if you have a GPS navigation system in the car (both of which were true on this trip).  We arrived into Dijon around 1pm and after lunch, started to explore what is one of the more eye-catching old-towns we’ve seen yet.

La Theatre

One thing that surprised us was that, as small as Dijon’s old-town area is, they have four sizable cathedrals.  One was the Notre Dame (of course, we were in France after all) but we couldn’t figure out why there were three more.  One was actually turned into a theater!  Guess that’s what happens with an influx of ancient buildings.  After a little bit of research we found that all three (non-theater) churches were from different times and architectural builds.  One is Renaissance, one Gothic, and one Romanesque – we’ll let you architecture history buffs guess which is which from the pictures below. :)

Exhibit A: St. Michel

Exhibit B: Notre Dame

Exhibit C: St. Benigne

Another surprise was the random placement of Bavarian-style buildings.  The one below and to the left is actually a pharmacy despite what the old, quaint architecture might suggest…

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing after a nice dinner at a Red-Robin-esque restaurant that had a library theme… We had asked for a recommendation of traditional French food and this is where we were pointed.  Good food nonetheless-- Dave got a burger and Ang got a pizza...that’s French, right?

The next morning we had organized a wine tasting tour in the surrounding vineyards (we were right in the middle of the Bourgogne, aka 'Burgundy', wine region).  We left around 9:30 with our tour guide, Emmanuel, and another couple from Australia who were 4 weeks into a 10-week trip around Europe (wow).  The plan was to tour through some of the vineyards and do tastings at two different wineries.  Sounded like a great plan!

The vineyard and village scenery was incredible and the weather was absolutely perfect.  Emmanuel was great!  He was a true local; born & raised in Dijon.  As he drove, he taught us about the different villages and sub-regions within Burgundy.  So many French names we can’t even begin to regurgitate them for you.  The important things we took away is that in Burgundy they’ve made wines from vineyards that have been around since Christ walked the earth, and they have very strict rules about not blending grapes!

We continued to learn as we visited the first winery and made our way into the cellar, which had to be hundreds of years old.  We tasted about 5 or 6 wines and ended up buying one.  The reason we mention it is because later on the tour, Emmanuel stopped and pointed out the exact plot that the grapes in our bottle of wine had been grown on - Clos Du Chapitre.  Hmmm, there’s another 'first'!

The second winery was a family estate and it was sweet!  First we toured the cellar, which had the oldest bottles of wine we’ve ever seen.  How about a wine as old as Dave?  If that doesn’t impress you, then how about a couple bottles from the early 1940’s?  Yep, we asked exactly what you’re likely thinking right now.  When wine is that old, is there a large chance that it won’t be good when it’s opened up?  YES– but when it is good, it’s said to be pretty remarkable.

WWII wine...

"1983"

Another thing to mention about the Burgundy region.  Like any wine region, traditionally there are expensive plots and less expensive plots.  Well, the expensive plots in Burgundy are REALLY expensive (a really expensive one shown on the right).  The grapes grown in these plots produce bottles that sell for 3,000 – 5,000 Euros A BOTTLE!?  Craziness!  I guess it wasn’t a huge shock when Emmanuel pointed out the plot that Bill Gates orders two cases from each year.  It was interesting to hear though that his case is marked with “BG” on its way to the distributer in the United States instead of “Bill Gates”, for obvious reasons. 

After our great wine experience (Emmanuel was fantastic!), we headed back to Dijon to pick up the car and head back to Geneva.  Before that we grabbed a quick lunch in the old town center and were surprised to see a movie being filmed!  It was kind of interesting to see the process.  The whole time we were eating lunch (about an hour, if not more) they were working on this one scene (see below).  Crazy that it takes so long to perfect a 30 second clip.  Anyway, we think it is a French film called Les Fils De L’Hydre according to the posters – we’ll be checking this on IMBD in the future to see when it will be released!

It was a great overnight trip and great to see and spend time with Uncle Dick & Aunt Linda!  The drive home was filled with gorgeous scenery and definitely turned us onto the idea of more road trips when possible!