Well, it didn't take me long to realize that I was not equipped to go on this trip. It had been ages since I had been on any sort of a trekking/hiking/camping trip so I really needed to get outfitted. The tour company had provided a fairly detailed list of what I needed to bring along so armed with that I decided I would spend a Saturday afternoon at REI picking up all the bits and pieces of gear, clothing and other necessities.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
It all started with a photo on the cover of a travel magazine.
It all started one afternoon when I picked up a travel magazine while waiting for my car to be serviced at Jiffy Lube.
There it was, on the cover ...... a full page, color photo of an ancient monument that I had always dreamed of someday being able to visit. As I read the accompanying article, I found myself mesmerized by photos of faces, landmarks, and wildlife of a place that had always seemed so foreign, beautiful and exotic to me and that I've always been inexplicably drawn to.
There it was, on the cover ...... a full page, color photo of an ancient monument that I had always dreamed of someday being able to visit. As I read the accompanying article, I found myself mesmerized by photos of faces, landmarks, and wildlife of a place that had always seemed so foreign, beautiful and exotic to me and that I've always been inexplicably drawn to.
Thursday, May 4, 2006
Where have we been for the last two days?
We finally left Nice at headed out to Paris. We were organized enough to book the reservation two days in advance, so we didn’t encounter any trouble at the train station.
The trip to Paris was uneventful, and we finally arrived in the afternoon, under a sunny and warm sky. We found our hotel with the help of a cab, and dropped our suitcases there. We then bought some passes for the metro, and went to the place Julee has been talking about for DAYS: Le Bon Marche! It was indeed an amazing food store, where there had severals aisles for chocolate, cheese, and saucisses! Where else could you find such an amazing assortment? A few hundred dollars later, we finally left the store, and came back to the hotel.
The trip to Paris was uneventful, and we finally arrived in the afternoon, under a sunny and warm sky. We found our hotel with the help of a cab, and dropped our suitcases there. We then bought some passes for the metro, and went to the place Julee has been talking about for DAYS: Le Bon Marche! It was indeed an amazing food store, where there had severals aisles for chocolate, cheese, and saucisses! Where else could you find such an amazing assortment? A few hundred dollars later, we finally left the store, and came back to the hotel.
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
The Cote d’Azur – Days 6 and 7
Greetings from the south of France!!
We arrived in Nice, on the train from Lyon, early Sunday evening. Trudging our suites off the train and out the front door of the train station, we patiently stood in line to wait for a cab. After a few minutes of waiting, a cab showed up and, to our utter surprise, he refused to take us to our hotel – telling us that the street that it was on was all torn up (for road repair) and that cars were not allowed on it. Neither of us had ever been rejected by a taxi cab driver so we were a bit dumbfounded by what we heard. We went to the Information Desk and Diep asked for directions to the hotel. We were told that is was about a half hour walk or we could take the bus. Being the adventurous twosome that we are, we opted to hoof it. Considering we had no map to guide us, we had to rely on the kindness of people to give us directions.