MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

NICE, FRANCE

We woke up to beautiful weather again. It was sunny and warm and just how David likes it! We had two interesting experiences today . . . one funny and one disheartening. The first one occurred at the train station before we left. We went into a store to buy a newspaper and David politely got in line behind an elderly woman who was taking forever. When the clerk finished her transaction, a man tried to get in front of us -- he was waving his newspaper and euro. The clerk told him to get in line, that we were first. Then the clerk looked at us and said "f_____g French!" And, of course, he was French too. It cracked us up for some reason. I'll tell you the disheartening story at the end of today's blog. Now you have to read the whole thing.

We wanted to travel the other direction on the coast so we picked Saint-Tropez. We debated about going to Monaco but I had been there before so we decided against it. St-Tropez was a little farther away but we are always up for an adventure. We walked to the train station and bought roundtrip tickets to St-Raphael. We knew there we would have to take a bus to St-Tropez. The train trip was about an hour and it was a beautiful ride. The train follows the coast all the way and we saw gorgeous beach after gorgeous beach. There were lots of people on the beaches, but they were not overcrowded.

We got off in St-Raphael and checked the bus schedule and discovered we had an hour to kill so we went to a cafe for breakfast. We sat outside and had our usual breakfast but this time we had a waffle-looking pastry. For my Ohio friends and family, it tasted just like the waffles they make at the Stark County Fair. What a treat!

We boarded the bus which was very nice and clean and air conditioned and off we went. The trip was to take about an hour and 1/2. Again the route was all along the coast. On the way we started seeing many gigantic private yachts. You can't help but wonder who owns them! One even had a helicopter on it!!! When we were about half way there the traffic backed up and we slowed down to a crawl. It stayed that way for more than an hour so our trip actually took a little over two hours. We travelled through some little towns we loved like Antibes, St-Maxime and Agay.

We got off the bus and the port area was spectacular. Again, lined with private yachts. We saw crew members in their matching outfits working. One guy was fixing a huge electrical plug. We saw one crew member walk off a yacht with two huge German Shepherds to take them for a walk. It really is a dog's life! We walked the entire length of the port (not very big) and there were many shops and they were expensive shops! Chanel, Burberry and shops with gorgeous evening gowns in them. Everything had sparkles and crystals and sequins . . . I was in heaven!

We sat at a cafe and had drinks and people-watched. We saw a group of people with a lot of shopping bags getting back on a yacht. They took their shoes off and handed them to a crew member along with their packages. Oh what a bother shoes and packages can be. Ta ta!

We headed back to the bus station because we wanted to have gelato before we boarded the bus at 3:15 to head back. I had coconut and strawberry - yum - and David had cookies and cream and pistachio. Very good!

We rode the bus back to St-Rapael and it was a little faster trip going back. We got off the bus, walked over to the train station and our train was there. It was a milk run and made many stops. At one stop two young British women, I guess they were in their early 20s, got on and sat in the seats in front of us. Theirs were the first seats in the coach. They were fun and animated and they were both listening to their IPods. The girl next to the widow had her purse unzipped on her lap and her IPod laying there. At one of the stops, a second before the doors were going to close, a young kid -- maybe 12 or 13 -- ran onto the train and ripped the IPod right out of her purse. He hopped off and the doors closed and he was gone. It was shocking to see it happen and we felt sorry for the young woman. At first she didn't know what happened. She felt a tug at her neck and thought he might haves stolen her necklace but then she realized the tug was when her IPod disconnected from her earphones. It happened in a second! We know to be careful of our belongings but that is the first time we actually saw anything like that happen. The young woman was glad it wasn't her phone or her camera. That is my disheartening story.

We got off the train and walked home. We had reservations for dinner here at the hotel so we go cleaned up and went to eat. We sat in the garden and it was incredible. We each had gin and tonics while we read the menu. For a starter I had hot goat cheese salad and it was excellent! David had cheese gnocchi which was listed as a starter on the menu. It was wonderful!!! For my main course I had rump steak in a pepper sauce with scalloped potatoes served in a cute little crock. Again, really good. David had vegetable risotto finished with white truffle oil and he loved it. For dessert I had a strawberry cream flaky pastry creation and he had vanilla creme brûlée which they fired up at the table. The restaurant here is listed as a 4 star and now we know why. We hadn't planned to eat here at all and we are glad we did.

We went to our room and tried to watch TV and read but we couldn't stay awake. All this happiness and joy makes us tired!