Day 9 - Nice & Monaco

Our base (until we leave the French Riviera on Thursday night) is in Cannes, so we decided to go spend our Tuesday daytime in Nice at the beach. Nice is more clean cut, slick, La Promenade des Anglais (which is the boardwalk) is much wider than in Cannes, overall its cleaner, and there is no sand on the beach - its rocks/pebbles. I prefer Cannes as it is more city like on a beach, whereas Tania enjoys the pleasantville feeling of Nice... See first pic of the beach in Nice.

Spent the day in Nice and as the clouds came over, we decided to drive to Monaco. There was a super cool city we drove by on our way there - Beaulieu - and since we caught a nice clear shot of the port while driving, we decided to share it...

In Monaco, we visited the Palace (and surroundings) where Prince Albert still lives in. Tania tried to bribe the guard but he wouldn't let her in... LOL. (See the shot of Tania and I with the port of Monaco view behind us). We ended our evening at the Casino in Monte Carlo and had dinner when we arrived at Cafe de Paris (see the proof of me in front of "another" fountain in front of the Casino - on the left hand side is Cafe de Paris)! Luckily we managed to get a spot close to the screen so we were able to watch the Spain - Portugal game surrounded by multi-millionaires... I was watching the game, while Tania couldn't beleive the women's jewelry... different interests I guess!! LOL What ever happened to beautiful tiny jewelry? LOL

Day 8 - Cannes

This city is not only about the world-acclaimed Film Festival, let us tell you... First off, the drive from St-Tropez to Cannes is super nice. We took the "Basse Corniche" (which is the road along the coast closest to the water, as opposed to the Haute Corniche which is road at the top of the mountains) and although took us a little longer to get to destination, we have no regrets... We passed by so many little towns and got in and out of traffic in each one of them... LOL

Cannes is right after the red rocks of l'Esterelle... attached is a picture.

We spent the afternoon being tourists on La Croisette (which is like a boardwalk, but nothing like Wildwood I assure you) and checking out what this city is all about... We saw the Palais des Festivals where the Cannes Film Festival is held. Although the red carpet was starless, they are hosting the Gaming Show this week - companies such as Ubisoft and Gameloft are here to represent (are they Canadian companies? I hope, otherwise disregard my comment LOL). See picture of Tania and I in front of the Palais des Festivals.

At the very top of the hill in Cannes is the Notre Dame de L'Esperance church where they suggested we go to get a great panoramic view of the city. We did and we are sharing this pic with you all. It was very hazy from up there, sorry if they do not look so clear. Also attached is a closer shot of the beach strip and boardwalk since it may not have been so clear from the top of the hill.

BTW - feel free to post comments on our blog! It feels a little once sided... does anyone in Montreal miss us at all?? LOL

Day 7 - St-Tropez

We left Hyeres pretty early to hit the "SO spoken about " St-Tropez. Let's just say, everything about this town was EXTRAVAGANT!!! I am not sure what people that visit this place do for a living but I must be doing something terribly wrong... LOL

We knew this city was slightly more expensive and actually thought we were splurging on our hotel we reserved... The hotel we got was on the Gulf of St-Tropez close to the city center and beaches (see picture of our hotel pool and the bay). It was stunning and super modern. We got a crazy room (as it was my honeymoon vacation right?) and got chauffered around anywhere we wanted in a Lexus SUV (all part of the room rate). We got dropped off on the Pampelonne Beach, which is a 9KM stretch of white sandy "private" beaches. We decided to skip the super hyper pretentious NIKKI BEACH for a calmer Plage Les Palmiers (picture of us on the beach). Private means you have to pay to access the beach, get a chair, get an umbrella, get a towel.......... I'll never repeat how much I paid! LOL

I have seen people who travel with their nanny when they have 3 small kids, but it was the first time I saw people travelling with nannies, children, grand-children, nieces/nephews and their very own photographer... (see a picture of a family beside us) imagine not having to worry about taking pictures? Oh yeah, while all we wanted was cold water on ice, people were ordering wine and champagne bottles on the beach. Lunch was very good and i'll never repeat how much I paid!! LOL. They even had models modeling designer's bathing suits, dresses and accessories...

At night we decided to try getting in to Restaurante Villa Romana, which is a crazy star spotting restaurant and the atmosphere is pretty wild... We got in but we didn't see anyone famous and i'll never repeat how much "l'addition" was... The port of St-Tropez is regularly FULL of gigantic yatchs (never thought they called those yatchs, they looked like mini cruise lines) and people have parties on their boats... quite interesting to see (see a pic of the huge yatch I tried to fit on one shot)...

This fantasy world lasted a whole 24 hrs - Thank God only 24 hrs... costs a bunch of pretty pennies!!!!!!

Day 6 - Hyeres & Ile de Porquerolles

Joe wrote: ladies, eat your heart out!!! athletic Joe was shirtless on a bike!!!!

Tania wrote:

Saturday morning we drove to Hyeres (between Cassis and St-Tropez, more or less) which is the closest city to the Port that took us to l'Ile de Porquerolles. This island is known to be unspoiled, full of pine forests, beaches, wines and bumpy cycle trails; which is exactly what we did! We ferried over to the island, rented bikes, and bought lunch to bring with us... It was a nice bike ride - despite Joe bullying Tania cause she got off her bike twice when the trail was too steep and bumpy. On the south side of the island we saw a beautiful view of crystal clear water between two cliffs, and on the north side, we went along the coast to a beach (furthest one on the pictures attached) where we ate our baguettes and passed out for an hour to nap in the shade. We must admit, we expected a lot more from that town/island and we were a little disappointed. If you were to ask Joe whether you should stop here on your next trip, he would tell you to SKIP!

Day 5 - Cassis & Les Callanques

Friday morning - we drove off to Cassis which is surrounded by vineyards and monumental cliffs, also known to be the prettiest coastal town in Provence. I thought I (Joe) was a master at driving standard but let me tell you this was a huge wake up call!! To fit through the little streets on a massive slant to park the car (I nearly totalled a brand new Alfa Romeo), was interesting and all was executed uneventfully thank God. Cassis was really a nice town (Tania and I loved it) with a busy port. The reason we went to Cassis above all was to take a ferry to see Les Callanques (we could have hiked however they worn you that these trails are "tres accidentes", so that's all we needed to hear for Tania to totally drop the idea). We saw the 3 most popular ones. Lots of naked people tanning on the cliffs on our way there LOL!!! La Callanque "En Vau" is the nicest one of all - see the pic. On the way back to the port I took a shot from the water of the beach we hung out all afternoon which is public and right below the Cap Canaille (tallest cliff in Europe) - very chill. I attached a picture of my black convertible Mustang to get you all sooo jealous (OK OK it was a Renault Clio - the only car that fit Tania's luggage and hairdryers LOL, which now don't even work anymore cause she blew the electric converter's fuse). Last pic was us on the last night in Aix-En-Provence, after dinner at a great little bistro where a reknowned chef called Olivier Scola opened up. We ordered the chef's selection of 5 surprise dishes. The food and experience was exceptional.

Day 4 - Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Pont de Gard, Orange (UPDATED)

Day 4 was a busy one. We booked a "Monuments, Wine & Chocolate" excursion. First stop was the Pont de Gard which is the tallest holdest aqueduc in Europe built by the Romans (Tania is posing in front of it). We then proceeded with a wine/chocolate pairing at a winery in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, yummmyyyy!!!! Chateauneuf-du-Pape got its name from the 14th century Popes - this was the castle they built and used to vacation here in the summer to get away from the city of Avignon (which is also where the Popes were before the Rome Vatican City). Also attached is a pic of a smaller version of the Coliseum but in Ville d'Orange where they still do shows today. After this half day tour - we rented a car (which only makes the experience all the better and more challenging - did you all know that Tania lived in France before and she thinks she knows directions so well here..??... LOL) in Avignon. First stop, Aix-En-Provence which is a very young fashionable University city... I attached a picture which depicts this (take note of the girl on the window ledge LOL). You will see I am standing close to the Fontaine Mirabeau (they are all the same at a certain point) which is in the center of the action. This city is famous for the works of Cezanne and Emile Zola. If this is not "Culture" I don't know what is!!! The city had so many good shops but they close early so we never got around to them...

A BIG issue in France - they dont beleive in BARBOUILETTES!! LOL. So you know how out of place I am feeling!!

Day 2 & 3 - Paris and Avignon

Sorry for not having posted anything in the past two days - but we have been really busy!!! :)

Actually - I (Tania) woke up on Monday in the middle of the night with fever and really sick with a bad head cold! This caused us to cancel our trip to Versailles in the morning and remain downtown Paris for the day (we'll try to go in the last two days of our trip). But rest assured we still managed to pack in many interesting spots. We decided to take a walk in the very old artisitic part of town. We walked the streets of Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur. We saw the art studio where Picasso lived and painted in 1903-1905 (or something like that :)) - it is now called the Bateau - Lavoir. We also were able to see the Moulin de la Galette which inspired Renoir's dancing painting (Tiziana you have this painting!). We then visited Sacre-Coeur - where we go amazing views of the city! We later walked further on to see the actual MOULIN ROUGE! - Adriana that picture is for you :)

But the day wasn't over - we washed up and went to the Effiel tower at sunset - ohhhh so romantic!!! After 22 pictures of trying to get the best shot of the Effiel tower and Joe following photographers thinking he can take the same shots - this is the best one we got... and oh yeah - did I mention 16 interuptions by "camera happy people" who wanted me to take pictures of them and their significant other! You know what I mean when I say "camera happy people"!!!!!

The next morning we got up really early and headed off to Avignon with the TGV (or as Joe calls it the TVG - and confuses all the cab drivers)!

I have also posted a pic of the Pont d'Avignon - and I know you are now singing the song in your head "Sur le pont d'avignon, on y danse, on y danse..."... Yes, that's the bridge - it's short and small - but it's impressive to know the history, use of the bridge and it's original size...

Overall - Avignon is ... "mignon" and we got an amazing hotel in the town's main square!

Ok stay tuned for the adventures of our wine tasting in Chateauneuf du pape on Day 4....

Love you all...

Tania and Joe

Day 1 - Paris

Leaving Montreal started off really well. We got an upgrade from AirFrance to the second level on the plane (still economy class however supposedly more quiet, but with our luck we had about 22 kids under the age of 2 yrs old, yelling and screaming. We realized this is probably where parents go when they travel with kids not to disturb the rest of the plane LOL) and we got access to the Salon prior to boarding (self served all you can drink CHAMPAGNE!!). It was quite an exciting day in Paris yesterday, with Portugal fans going crazy over their 7-0 win (parading on Champs Elysee sure seems a lot more exciting than parading on Maurice Duplessis Blvd, LOL), Spanish fans also partying, and considering it was Paris's city wide "Fete de la Musique", the only day where noise laws don't apply. The temperature happened to be pretty cool and I only brought one long sleeve sweater which I wore over my black polo collar up (I can assure you I pulled it off like a fashionista)... Seeing it was a cool day we went to visit Le Musee du Louvre, where we got to see all the MUST SEE pieces. Tania really loved Napoleon's appartment (can you tell by her smile?). My patience was running low as I kept getting body checked by the Asian/Oriental tourists... unbeleivable! Can someone explain to me what their obsession is with the Mona Lisa? I was trying to take a picture of it and they kept smashing their heads on my elbows trying to come through (picture my arms up holding my cam LOL...) it was hilarious!! So , I kept my arms up holding my cam and they kept knocking into them like it was normal... LOL. You can all imagine how pleased Tania was with them... Here are a few pics. Stay tuned for more on our adventures...

Tania and Joe

Last minute (as always!!) packing....

Hello to all our family and friends!

Welcome to our France 2010 blog and we invite you to follow us through our French adventures! We will try to post as often as possible and post up some pics as we travel along.

Of course - as anticipated - Joe's luggage is still empty and he's watching the Italy and New Zealand game with no worries in sight! I, on the other hand, am trying to fit my whole closet and bathroom for under 20 kg in one luggage!

We are excited and can't wait to be eating a fresh croissant with a cafe-au-lait in Paris tomorrow morning!

Love you all ... et a bientot!