Southern France - May 21-31

It was a day's drive from Andorra to Nimes, France where we stayed in a very rustic Best Western affiliate in the middle of a vineyard. Too bad we couldn't see the vines. Actually we couldn't see anything a couple of times when the breaker went off. A true Fawlty Towers hotel.

We're eating at small cafes, bars, restaurants, and often a loaf of bread, some cheese, and some sausage makes a great picnic. Here's a typical cafe in a small town.

The Roman ampitheater.
The inside is used for concerts now and is mostly covered in metal seating.

The Roman temple Maison Caree.
Built by the son of Augustus. Abandoned until the 11th century then
used as a apartments, a stable, then a church.
Really neat. Small, free, museum inside.
The buildings immediately around it were removed in 1993 and archeologists had a field day.

Pont de Gard is a 1st century Roman aqueduct over the Gard river. Part of a system that carried water to Nimes from the hills. It's 275 meters long and 3 tiers high. Now it's a federal park and a grand tourist attraction. A panoramic view is available.

Don't let the width of the bottom tier fool your eye.
It was added recently and is for pedestrian traffic, though done to match the original.

This is the north end showing the water channel on the top.
We're not sure how many changes and usages the structure has had over the years
but it doesn't seem that the Romans would have corniced the end since it would have
extended up the hill to the water channel.

The holes were undoubtedly for beams used during construction.
Why the ears stick out is a mystery since there was no signage whatsoever.

Avignon is yet another crowded city, made more so by the intact city walls hemming in the narrow streets. Nice to drive through but nothing to see except businesses and apartments.

Then we came upon a historic auto rally bivouacing at a hotel near ours. Couldn't resist taking some pictures.

Renault R5 Turbos.
The last time we've seen these in the U.S. was at the Press On Regardless
when Don Schlensker and Bob passed one on the opening parade in
downtown Houghton, MI. Of course it had overheated.

We've always enjoyed caves and this small one, Grottes de Thouzon at Le Thor, is full of soda straws (they call them "macaronis"). Soda straws are formed when water drops very slowly through the limestone, depositing it's calcium chloride as a ring, then continuing to drip through the center of the ever-elongating straw. There was one soda straw over 3ft long, which is notable.

This cave wasn't very long nor was it deep. In fact in some places only 6ft below the ground. The black line running down in the picture to the right is a root of an oak tree above the cave.

Although about 13,000 years old, this cave was only discovered when an explosion made an entrance in 1902. Therefore it is properly not a cave but a cavern (which has no natural entrance).

Then on to St. Tropez. Eh. Tourists galore. Looks very much like a Michigan lake beach town but with a couple of Masaratis.

Nice: They have an ongoing problem with teenagers ripping purses from inside cars at stop lights. These little cowards then hop on the back of a friend's waiting scooter and are gone. Would have happened to us except for the car doors automatically locking and Terry by blind luck having her window up.

Monte Carlo: Had a nice breakfast in a small area and even found on-street parking. This after we evidently took the wrong turn and missed the palace and casino area. Not worth going back for it.

We then wandered north and found a microbrewery and 150km of the best driving roads in the world. From Menton head north through Castillon, Sispony, Col de Turin, through a loop in the national park there, then down to the Tinee valley. Up the Tinee and you'll find the highest road in Europe - the Haute de Europe at 2860meters. Here's a large panorama taken at the top.

Spent the night at a closed-down ski town. One hotel/restaurant open out of probably 40. No heat. In the morning there was one other tourist - in the room next to us of course. Turned out to be an Englishman who likes big bands. He said his favorite trumpeter was a guy named Bill Chase so Bob got out the laptop and played the Chase album for him. Had quite a time waking up the local dogs.

Here's a barn (sheep shed) that cries out to have "See Rock City" painted on the roof.

These 3 pictures are at the Haute de Europe.
That's the high point of the road above.

Just on the west side, a lone skier was slowly going down the icy spring snow.
Not another track in sight except his.

Not Switzerland. The white cross is the badge of the
French Department (state) of Savoie.

Grenoble being basically a bore, not to mention hot an not air-conditioned, we headed to Chamoix to see Mount Blanc. Quite impressive.

Our first look at Mt. Blanc - just at sunset. This, from our cheap hotel window.

We went partway up a pass to the west of Mt. Blanc to see the Mer de Glace and an ice cave carved into the glacier. The first part is a cog railway, then a cable car down to the glacier (we walked down). Good exercise.

The original engine. The small "drive" wheels only turn the cog gears
and have brake bands around them.

The glacier is covered by gravel and boulders in the summer.
It must be a white sheet in the winter.

The grotto was first carved in 1946 and it moves 45meters a year along
with the bottom end of the glacier. The current one is the third cave carved.

Lyon was the center of European silk production from the 1500s until WWII. A friendly, small museum shows how Jacquard looms (and before) were used to weave the elaborate silks used by rich people all over the world.

Versailles used the entire output of the region for 17 years. When Jackie Kennedy refitted the White House, the furniture was all done by specialty shops which re-opened in Lyon.

Velour is made by raising some of the weft threads with a metal pin.
Some of these threads are then cut with a knife to create the plush velour
sometimes called Venetian velvet.

This is one of 5 woven silk pictures of the signing of the Declaration.
These were produced in 1928.
One was presented to Hoover and is now in the White House.

We also spent hours in the Musee de Tissues (wallpaper) and the Decorative Arts museum but pictures weren't allowed.

Walking the streets of Lyon, we spotted this brand new carrousel in a city square. It's a two-level merry-go-round with horsed on the upper level. The main level had a streetcar, fire engine, and a motorcycle to augment the horses.

Take note: sausage de Stausbourg is a hot dog. Tastes like an American one also. We live, we learn.

These fools eat steak tartare and pay dearly for it. Fools because it's not any steak tartare we've ever seen. It's ground chuck. Bon apatite. And the French have us convinced they are gourmands.

Facial piercings have disappeared. Big city graffiti is back in Lyon but not a tenth of what is in Barcelona.

After only three weeks, we're already down to counting on our fingers to figure out what day of the week it is.

Don't try to navigate by route numbers. Road signs point to major and minor cities at almost every intersection. Just pick where you want to go and head that direction. In town, don't use road names either. They're small and on the side of buildings (if present at all). Navigation must be done by seat of the pants. We've seen an ad on TV for a GPS unit called TomTom but haven't seen any stores that would sell them.

Similarly, this neighborhood is really an internet desert. An occasional "internet cafe" is marked with a @ sign outside but generally it's a PC or three that you can use for anywhere from 3 to 9€ per hour. Most have a USB port which is the only way we've been able to update these pages so far (copying the pictures, etc. to our MP3 player and uploading by hand from there).

As the cable car at Mt. Blanc ascended with 6 passengers, wouldn't you know it, a woman's cell phone rang. The irony.

Music groups scheduled to play at the Ninkasi brewpub: Ana M, Neox, Time Dimentia, Nº2 Hot, Lollipop, The Briefs, Vegas Hookers, Notwist, Themselves, Dillinger Escape Plan, Didydee, Election de Miss Senegal, Superpreachers, Slim Kut Crew, Slider, Loto Punk, Scara.B, Looo, La Roussete Bovine, Urban Steady Goove, Atomik Ping Pong Project. We can't make this stuff up.