The theme for today was "unexpected"! Jerry and I both woke up around 3:00 AM and couldn't fall back asleep...so we planned to just stay awake until it was time to get ready for the hotel breakfast that starts at 6: 30 AM and start our trip down the French and Italian riviera early.
We clearly fell asleep 30 minutes before we had planned to get up (there was a whole situation with not being able to find the TV remote--hidden in the corner of the duvet cover--which would have helped to keep us awake, but anyway...). so we woke up at 10:00 AM and rolled into breakfast as they were clearing it up. Nothing like chorizo and edam to start off your day!
ANYWAY, after much research we decided we should go to SanRemy in Italy. So we started out, but unfortunately our GPS was having a small-villages-with-skinny-windy-streets moment, so we spent a good hour and a half driving up roads that were only big enough for 1\2 a car, never mind a huge Mercedes sedan. After being yelled at by a policeman for going the wrong way down a one-way street and spending that long driving around some small towns, we finally found the A-8. Or the A-10. I'm not sure which. I should also mention that had it not been raining, and had it not been holiday for all of the shop owners, we would have gladly parked along the side of the road and explored all of these little towns. The previously mentioned factors kept us from doing so.
We finally made it to the highway (8 or 10, whatever), which is so high above the ground it takes your breath away. Living in the south of the US, these "villages perchés" are just unimaginable. I desperately wanted to take pictures of the craggy rocks and cliffs and how the houses sat as if partly suspended in air, but you can imagine that with the other cars whizzing by and the rainy conditions, we couldn't really slow down.
Driving along la Turbie was interesting and sad, since that is where Grace Kelly had her car accident. Very poignant.
The only great pictures I got were as we came back into Monaco. I'll post them when Jerry does an upload to his computer. As a point of reference for how lost we were going through all of those little towns, when we decided to go back into France from "way into Italy", we were only 23 minutes away from our hotel. We spent 2 hours driving to get to SanRemy and Ventimiglia. Our worries of "we're never going to find Monaco again" soon turned to shame when we realized we were 20 minutes away...about 1\4 of the time it takes me to get to work each morning!
At any rate, it was an interesting little jaunt and one of those travel experiences that you just have to smile about. I did love the amazing views and getting to see the little villages.
After returning, Jerry decided it would be a good day to go the casino since it is the only rainy one while we're here, and I decided that, given my lack of "big money, big money" and luck, I would go shopping for smaller fare. He is not back yet, but I can say that I learned two lessons today in walking around:
(1) no matter how much I know in my head that I'm pretty broke and I have NO MORE ROOM in my suitcase, the soldes at Camaieu will always tempt me to buy something...or somethings (as in PLURAL). And it will seem totally reasonable that I am considering making a box to send things back to the US and this idea has no relation at all to the fact that I am buying things I shouldn't. So, the lesson being, I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL during the soldes.
(2) No matter my intentions, I will buy a veritable truckload of cheese if I go into a French supermarché by myself. Our hotel mini-fridge is now filled with wine, juice, and cheese. Who's going to be able to eat this much cheese before we leave for Paris? I have no idea...that's saying something--not even I can eat this much cheese!!! So, the next lesson being, I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL with cheese. (at least I'm not eating my weight in bread at every meal, but, man, is that hard!)
Anyone notice a pattern here when I'm anywhere near France? As justification, all I can say is that the cheese tastes great as I'm waiting for Jerry to get home, and I got both tops and the pair of pants for 25 euros together. So there1
Ok, off to eat more cheese...Here are some pictures of the cartoon characters dancing to techno music in the Christmas village, just down the street from the Santa jazz band.
No comments:
Post a Comment