The South of France

Gavin and I were originally going to come home after he finished work. But while we were out there, we decided that we might as well take advantage of already being in Europe and go see as much as possible. We took the two weeks we had until New Years and traveled around the south of France and Italy. We were limited to where we could fly because we were using the discount airlines (Ryanair and EasyJet) and they only flew to certain places at certain times.

We started our journey flying into Beziers, France, which is a small town in the western part of France. We had a little trouble getting from the tiny airport to the train station, but we met a nice girl who made sure we got there and on the right train.

We took the train from Beziers to Nice. It took most of the day.

Once we got to Nice, it was dark and we were tired, so we grabbed a quick dinner at a cafe next to our hotel. It was some of the best deserts we have had.

There were lots of towns and villages near Nice that we really wanted to check out, so we thought our best bet would be a day tour that stopped in all of these places.

This is the view from the eastern side of Nice. People park their cars on top of their roofs since the house is built on a cliff.

The view of Nice's harbour.

We stopped at a perfume factory by the village of Eze.

It was interesting to see how they make the different scents.

A distiller.

This is where they make all of the little soaps. Those are duck soaps they just made.

Our next stop was at a village called Eze. It's on top of a hill and is really tiny. You can't drive

any cars in there.

We didn't have much time there so we went running to the top to check out the view.

At the very top of the village is the Jardin Exotic, which was mainly cacti.

This is looking up at Eze from the parking lot.

After Eze, we headed into Monaco, which is incredibly beautiful and ostentatious. Monaco is tax-free, so one of the ladies on our tour was obsessed with how the town got revenue. She was convinced it was "black money".

Our driver took us on the Grand Prix course through the city. This is the main tunnel section.

This is the oceanography museum.

The Monaco Cathedral. This is where Grace Kelly got married.

This is a new neighborhood that was just recently built. It's a man made island. To get there, most people take a helicopter.


The water by the cliffs was really clear.

This is the Monaco Police station.

Monaco Palace. We were there as they were doing the changing of the guard.

This is a statue of Prince Albert I, which was given to him by foreign residents for the 25th year of his rule.

Monaco is mainly apartment buildings built up the cliffs.

Port Hercule.

We saw one of these in Portugal, but thought no one would believe us. It's a four door Porsche.

The Monte Carlo Fountain.

The Monte Carlo Casino.

We did walk in, but everything is closed off, so we weren't able to see any of the tables. There is a tour you can take of it, but we didn't have time.

Gavin by the Bentley and the Ferrari.

Our next stop on the tour was a small village called St. Paul's de Vence. This is a small village, similar to Eze. This was our favorite stop on the tour.

By the city gate, there were lots of people playing boccie ball.

St. Paul's de Vence is more of an artsy village than Eze was. There were lots of art galleries and sculptures everywhere.

All over Europe, there are these fountains where you can get water from. You just need to make sure that it is potable water. ;)

The view from the top.

There were some very interesting art pieces there.

The cobblestone had little designs in it.

The city gate. That is an actual transformer on the right.

St. Paul's de Vence.

Our next stop was Cannes. We didn't spend much time there. We stopped at the Notre Dame d'Esperance. There is a pretty good view of the city and ocean there.

Inside the Notre Dame d'Esperance.

Then we stopped where the Cannes Film Festival is held.

Walking up the red carpet.

Cannes Beach.

The Picasso Museum. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to tour it.

Our last stop was at a place called Antibes. Our tour guild told us that some of the worlds most expensive and biggest boats are here. The picture doesn't do it justice, but this thing was huge. What was really upsetting was there were some punk kids about our age on it.

It was interesting to see the south of France through a tour. It was a really small tour, 8 of us in a mini van. There was interesting group dynamics. One couple was constantly about 30 minutes late at each stop, and one lady kept complaing about every stop. It was a great way to see everything, though.

We loved the south of France. It's such a pretty area and the blue of the ocean... Man, it's so beautiful.