Monday, April 18 is Easter Monday. I didn’t even know that was a thing, but it is here. Many people were off work, kids were out of school, and they were out and about on this beautiful day. We were meeting up with people at 4:00 for happy hour, so we just wandered and soaked up the Parisian vibes until then. We saw Notre Dame, which I hadn’t seen since the fire in 2019. I was sad but hopeful at the same time that it will eventually return to its former glory. On the way to the cathedral I found a building that I had seen photos of, draped in wisteria. Beautiful!

As we were walking down the street we saw a shop with hats, and Jim found a replacement for the hat he lost in Nice. He was happy to find one.

I love Luxembourg Gardens and we spent a lot of time there. We cooled off in the shade at the Medici Fountain, enjoyed the sunshine while people watching, saw the Statue of Liberty and watched the pétanque/boules players.

It was time to make our way to La Coupole, where many famous people, including Ernest Hemingway and Josephine Baker used to hang out. Eight of us gathered and had some wonderful conversations.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable first day in Paris.

Sunday, April 17 and we are going to Paris!! We had an uneventful train ride and walked to our apartment in the Marais. If you know Paris it’s located between Bastille and Place des Vosges, a great place to base ourselves for the week. Our Airbnb host’s father met us at the apartment and we got settled in. It’s small, but will work out perfectly for us. Sharyn came over to hang with us a little while until it was time to meet the rest of the group for dinner. It’s Easter and there were 5 of us. We had a nice time chatting about our respective trips and what we had been doing. We will see them again tomorrow, with a few more people joining us.

Saturday, April 16 was our last day in Montpellier. The other two days we had here we left town, so today was our day to explore here. We discovered an aqueduct built in the mid-1700’s but modeled after the Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard. This morning there was a street market taking place under the aqueduct, so of course I had to check it out. I’m a sucker for street markets.

We went to some other areas to see some things, then returned to our hotel to get ready for departure in the morning. At 3:00 we had a walking tour that lasted 2.5 hours. We learned about Montpellier’s history and we were able to go into the medieval Mikve, the Jewish bath built in the 12th century designed for the rite of purification. We were also allowed to go to the Arc de Triomphe. The views were incredible.

We enjoyed our time in Montpellier, but I’m very excited about where we will end up tomorrow.

Friday, April 15 was a very long day, but well worth it. Jim had expressed the desire to go back to Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct. Betsy had never been and Jacques hadn’t been since he was a child. We were determined to make it happen, but it was going to require a car. We left the hotel at 7:15 to get to our meeting place near their apartment. We then walked to the shuttle that would take us to the airport, where the rental car was. I don’t know what Betsy said to the woman at the counter, but she upgraded us to a very nice car with an automatic. We drove to PdG and it was as impressive as I remembered. We also saw a cave type overhang that people used for shelter thousands of years ago.

We then drove to Uzés, where Betsy and Jacques lived for a short time. It’s a charming town and we had a delicious lunch in an beautiful square. They showed us around town and then it was time to go to our third stop of the day.

Nîmes, stop #3, uses the ancient the Roman arena for bull fights and more. We went in and all agreed that is more impressive from the outside.

We then walked to La Maison Carrée, a Roman Temple. We had a drink in the shadow of the temple while watching little kids play soccer.

By the time we got back to the airport to return the car, got the shuttle bus back to town and walked back to the hotel it was 11:00p.m.

Thursday, April 14 was a beautiful and sunny day. Betsy had told us that in the port city of Séte there was a week long tall boat event, so we decided to check it out. The city is about 20 minutes by train from Montpellier. Once we arrived we followed everyone to the port. There were boats, food and vendors selling their wares. After seeing what there was to see we found a place away from there to have a quiet drink and enjoy the sunshine. It was a good day.

On Wednesday, April 13 we had an uneventful train trip to Montpellier. We checked into our hotel, that a couple of friends recommended,and went around the corner to a lovely square where we had a drink and soaked in the scenery. Betsy arrived a little later and showed us around a bit. She lives in Montpellier part time. We ended up walking her back to her apartment, where we met her husband, Jacques. We have a day planned with them on Friday, which I think we are all looking forward to.

When we left their apartment we took in some sights as we were looking for a place to have dinner.

Our wifi has been terrible to non existent for the last 6 days so I have a lot of catching up to do.

On Tuesday, April 12 we took the train to Carcassonne. Maybe I should more accurately describe it as the train from hell. We knew it would be a long travel day with a change of train required, but maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t know what was ahead of us. The train from Nice to Marseille was uneventful. The train arrived in Marseille late though, so we had to run to our next train. Our reserved seats were in Coach 1, the last car on the very long train. We arrived, huffing and puffing, to discover Coach 1 was closed for an unknown reason. The train was getting ready to leave so we got on Coach 2. A train employee lead us through 2 and into 3, indicating we should go into a compartment there that was already crowded with nowhere to put our luggage. He motioned to us to put our suitcases in an empty space next to the compartment. The space had puddles of urine, or what looked like urine, on the floor. Nope. He was getting impatient with us and he grabbed one of the bags to do it himself. Then he saw what we saw and understood. He then took us to the compartment next to it where we sat with a very quiet woman and a family of 3 with a rambunctious little kid. The parents were constantly on the phone, sometimes on speaker or FaceTime. The kid was coughing all over the place and the parents apparently flunked out of How To Properly Wear A Mask school. Did I mention how small the train compartment was? We had 1st class tickets to attempt to stay away from people as much as possible. This was a 2nd class car with no spacing allowed.

Thankfully the day improved. We got off the train in Carcassonne and walked to our hotel. After checking in we walked up to the medieval Cité. It was on the road less traveled. Small streets, a footbridge that practically sat in the water, dirt roads, steep stone stairs…but we finally made it.

Once we arrived we did a audio guided tour of the castle and then walked around the entire center. I had been there before and as I predicted, Jim really enjoyed it. After we had some dinner we made our way back to to the hotel just before it got dark. There was no way I was walking that way in the dark.

We just spent one night in Carcassonne. Next up, Montpellier!

Monday, April 11 and it is our last day in Nice. We took a tram and then a bus to go to Eze Village, up in the hills. It’s really cool there, but considering we waited so long for buses to get there and back I’m not sure that it was worth the time involved.

After waiting for a very long time for the bus to take us back to Nice we went to the Roman ruins near the Matisse Museum. After we spent a little time there we went to the park next to it and watched the old guys play péntanque, aka boules. I like to watch it played and most of them were pretty clever. They had magnets that picked up their balls to they didn’t have to bend down. Lol!

We then returned to the apartment to get things together for our departure early tomorrow morning. We had a last visit and walk on the beach before and then after dinner. We have enjoyed our time here very much.

The corner at the apartment

Sunday, April 10 and it’s midway through our trip. We left home 3 weeks ago today and we fly home 3 weeks from today. The time is flying by. We have been walking a lot, which has not done my foot any favors. The plan for today was to take it a bit easier and not walk so much. That was the plan anyway. The end result didn’t turn out that way.

We started the day by taking a tram, then a bus to Villefranche-Sur-Mer, a nice small town just east of Nice. It’s possible to walk there in about an hour, but remember, we were trying to give our feet a rest. Typically in France most things are closed on Sundays, so I was surprised to find as many things open as we did. Jim bought a Grand Prix hat and we ended up at a restaurant along the water to have a drink and enjoy the view. A young couple from South Africa, who were in Nice to celebrate their anniversary, sat down at the table next to us and we had a nice conversation with them. One thing I enjoy about traveling is meeting people from other parts of the world.

We took the train back to Nice. Once we were on the train Jim realized that the hat he had been wearing, which he had for years and loved, must have fallen onto the ground while we were waiting for the train. I insisted that we look for a replacement while we had time. Off we went on the quest to find another hat just like it. We eventually found a similar hat that will do for now. We had time for one last site to see, the Russian Orthodox Church. I couldn’t take pictures inside, but it was nothing like the cathedrals we’ve been seeing. It was very ornate and gilded in an entirely different way.

We walked back to the apartment and rested our feet for a little bit before going to dinner. Our “take it easy” day resulted in walking 19,500 steps and 8.2 miles. Tomorrow is our last day here.

Saturday, April 9 we started our day with a 2.5 hour walking tour. It left from the Tourism Office on Promenade des Anglais and we worked our way to Vieux Nice (Old Nice). We learned a lot about the history of Nice, beginning when the Greeks arrived here in 800 BC. This area has been under the rule of various entities and was finally ceded to France by the Treaty of Turin in 1860. There is a lot of Italian influence here in the architecture and food.

After the walking tour ended we went back to the flower and veggie market a got a Socca, a Nice specialty that is a bit like a crepe made with chickpeas and sprinkled with salt a pepper. We also bought a water color from an artist to add to our gallery wall in our living room. We returned to our apartment to take a short break, then headed further west on the Promenade than we had previously been. We saw a demonstration from people who think that, and this is from something they handed me, “Defending our freedom, war of convenience, the Covid story melt like butter in the sun, and Putin decides his army needs a little stay in Ukraine, Coincidence? Ask Klaus Schwab if you see him please. Give Putin the Novel Peace Prize. He killed Covid in a week.” Okay then… we moved on and walked east on the promenade as far as Castle Hill.

After we had dinner we went to the beach near our apartment for sunset. the beach faces south, but there’s still a pretty view.

I walked over 21,600 steps and almost 9 miles today. Maybe we will take it a little easier tomorrow. Maybe.