Friday, April 8 we took the train to Menton in the morning. Menton is the last town in France before crossing the border into Italy. We walked to the beach, then around the old town.

We then took the train to Monaco. I had read that the tourist information office will stamp your passport. We stopped at the one in the train station. Nope, we would have to go somewhere else. It never happened. There is construction and detours happening in town because they are preparing for the Grand Prix next month. We ended up doing some extra walking because of that. Shortly after we arrived the wind picked up to 25+ mph. I hate the wind. We walked and walk and walked. I’ve never seen so many super expensive cars in such a small area in my life.

We decided to take the bus back to Nice, because I had heard the views were better. We were trying to figure out where to catch the correct bus and a very nice man asked if he could help. He didn’t speak English, but we were able to convey which bus we were looking for. He told us to go right and it would pick us up there. We were just outside a tourist information office and confirmed what he told us. We turned right at the corner and this very helpful stranger actually followed us uphill on the street to lead us back down to where the bus was, and showed us exactly where to stand. Apparently they weren’t telling us to turn right, just to go on the right side of the street. I will never forget his kindness. The bus had great views, but took longer and was crowded. Jim had to stand the entire way back. I stood until a woman left her seat and I snagged it. After arriving in Nice took another bus and had additional 20 minute walk back to the apartment. We walked almost 8 miles and climbed the equivalent of 28 flights of stairs. To say I’m tired is an understatement. I think I’ll sleep well tonight.

We arrived in Nice by train early this afternoon. Lovely Nice, warm and sunny on the sea. Who could ask for more? We walked from the station to our apartment, where we met a woman from the management company. She showed us around the small, but nice apartment. It will be a good place to stay for the next 5 nights. I’m afraid the place in Lyon has spoiled us. We were hungry, so we went across the street and had a nice Italian lunch. The border with Italy is just about 20 miles from here and this area has been Italian at times, so there is a large Italian influence. After lunch we went back to the apartment to unpack, then set off for the Mediterranean, just a block away from us. The water is an incredible blue and the beach is rocky. The Promenade Anglais follows the water for a long way. We walked awhile before going to the tourist office to sign up for a walking tour on Saturday morning. Now we just need to decide what to do tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 6th is our last day in Lyon. I wanted to be sure to see some traboules, covered and sometimes secret passageways between parallel streets. Most are not accessible to the public, but there are still a few in Vieux Lyon where we are staying. We went through two, then went to the meeting point for a walking tour we had scheduled. Guess where we went on the tour? Yep, we went through a couple of traboules! They were used by silk workers to keep the silk dry while going from one stage of silk making to another. They were also used by the Resistance during WWII, which we focused on today.

After the walking tour we took a funicular to the Roman ruins. The Roman’s arrived here in approximately 43 AD and Lyon became one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. Unfortunately the museum was closed.

Next stop, the Centre D’Histoire De La Résistance Et La Deportation, or the Resistance and Deportation Museum. The displays were in French, but they gave us information to review in English and some of the audio interviews had an English option for subtitles. I can read a bit of French, so I probably got a bit more out of it, but I think we both learned something. During WWII the Resistance used the traboules to evade the Nazi’s during their planning.

On Monday, April 4th we kept busy. when we arrived on Sunday we had gone to the tourist information office and purchased Lyon City cards that included free admission to many sites and reduced fees for others, and free transportation. On Mondays many things are closed here, but the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine Art Museum) was open so we went there. We arrived when they opened and it wasn’t crowded. Eventually a few school groups arrived and it got much louder. They had everything from Egyptian artifacts, decorative arts, sculptures to fine paintings, including 4 from my favorite artist.

After spending a few hours there we walked back to our area and decided to go back to the apartment to rest our feet. We have been doing a lot of walking and my plantar fasciitis was really bothering me. As we were crossing the bridge a man asked us in a combination of French and English if we would mind taking a picture of him with the Palais de Justice in the backdrop. When we told him yes he was relieved to hear we were American. We asked where he lived and he said Italy. It turns out he is in the Navy and is stationed in Naples, but before that he was in Sacramento. After learning we live there he had questions about the housing market going crazy, etc. It’s a small world.

After a short rest we took the funicular up to Notre-Dame de Fourviére. We have been in many impressive cathedrals and although a bit smaller than the biggies we felt it was equally worth going to. I especially liked the stained glass windows and the massive mosaic murals on the walls. Another bonus of going there were the incredible views of Lyon.

Our last activity of the day was a river cruise tour that took us north, then south to the confluence between the Saône and Rhône rivers. The architecture near the confluence was very…interesting…

We arrived in Lyon yesterday, April 3rd, after a 3.5 hour train ride from Colmar. We took a taxi to our new home away from home in Vieux-Lyon ( Old Lyon), the oldest part of the city. The apartment is on Rue Saint-Jean, a pedestrian street in the heart of the old town, and it’s directly behind the Palais de Justice, just one block from the Saône River. The apartment is everything one could ask for. Jim and I agreed that we could live here. We wandered a bit and I took a few pictures.

Saturday, April 2, we woke up to snow. I took a video, but I can’t post it here. I wasn’t quite awake and neglected to take a photo. Oh well. It was snowing or a rain snow mix all day. The high temperature of 34 degrees felt like 24 degrees with the wind chill. it was really cold with the wind blowing in our faces.

After stopping at the covered market for a pain au chocolat to get us going, we went to the Unterlinden Museum. It was very interesting and varied, with a combination of religious art, classic art, decorative arts and old artifacts. I didn’t take photos inside.

After having a delicious lunch we wandered around the area near our apartment. In my opinion it’s the most scenic area I’ve seen of Colmar.

Friday, April 1 and it started snowing this evening. No fooling. The forecast says it will snow at least the next 24 hours. I guess we will see if that’s true.

With another cold and wet day ahead of us we decided to take advantage of the car and drive to the Musee National de l’automobile in Mulhouse. It’s the largest automobile museum in the world. The Schlumpf brothers collected over 450 cars. It was interesting to see that the earliest motor vehicles were made to look like wagons and trains.

After spending a few hours at the museum we went to the very attractive town of Eguisheim. I’m sure there are a lot of tourists that come here, but today we saw very few people. I couldn’t decide which houses I liked the best, so I’ll post a lot. How many storks and nests do you see? We saw a lot today, including in fields while driving to Mulhouse. I read that centuries ago the houses were painted in much more subdued colors. They started getting a bit more color in the 19th & 20th centuries and in this century people have become more bold. We saw a sampling of the wine villages. Maybe some day we will be back.

After we got back to Colmar we returned the rental car. I hadn’t driven a manual since 2014, but I impressed myself by not stalling even once. You can see how narrow the streets are in the photos, but for me the most nerve wracking part was the underground garage at our apartment. There were some really tight turns to navigate. Tomorrow we will see more of Colmar on foot.