So we're back from the trip of a lifetime: ten days discovering the South of France!
Coming back to Grimsby was not easy-I decided to miss my flight to Manchester from Paris to get an extra night in...or it was an accident and I went shopping thinking that when the airprot tells you your flight is delayed that also includes the bus shuttle taking you 10km to the plane itself but no, I was wrong and HAD to spend an extra night in the city of love:) I called up an old friend and stayed at his place and had a really great last night in France!
Mandy and I in Jardins du Luxembourg, Paris
We saw so many beautiful cities (the whole time I was asking myself why I live in England..?) and the biggest thing that stuck out to me were the people we met along the way. The locals we met and befriended were so proud of their cities and so eager to show us around! We started in this beautiful city called Annecy which is on Europe's cleanest lake and on our first night we met a local named Arnaud who offered to take us to his city the next day for an hour-long hike on which we got to see a panoramic of amazing mountains including Europe's highest peak: Le Mont Blanc!
On a river cruise, Annecy
The view from our hike by Arnaud's town, Aix Clement
Our next stop was Nice but on the train there, I got to talking to yet another local who convinced us to take a day trip into Monaco which was only 15 minutes away from where we were staying. We took a short train ride the next morning and walked from a town called Cap D'ail along the Cote d'Azur to Monaco and it turned out to be one of the most beautiful things we saw all trip!
The view from the walk to Monaco...
Takin' some time for yoga:)
View of the city by night from the Prince's Palace
We also made our way to Monte Carlo lined with designer shops and fancy cars which was quite a switch from the natural beauty from Annecy and Cap d'Ail..
Our final stop before returning to Paris was Marseille where we stayed at the friendliest, cleanest and best hostel of our whole trip. Right when we arrived, we signed up for a day trip to the famous Calanques (something we'd read about and planned on searching for on our own the next day).
Within an hour of arriving in Marseille, we were on a bus with new friends from the hostel and went on a sunset tour of the Calanques we would have never gotten on our own.Our guide was a local who was so passionate about his city and the area, he told us stories and history and led us to the perfect viewpoint to watch the sunset.
On our way to the top with our guide Nabil and new friends from Australia and Germany!
Nabil brought oil that he'd flavored using herbs from the Calanques and which had been steeping together for
three years..soooo good with the cheese/bread:)
He also shared Marseille's traditional drink with us-cheers!
After sunset, we hiked back down in STYLE sporting headlamps which we had a lot of fun with...
The next day we toured the city and enjoyed dinner and a night out with all of our new friends..
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| Chris and Gerald workin' the model poses |
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| Le Vieux Port, Marseille |
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| Some Cathedral... |
All in all, this was a fantastic trip on which we Canadians made many new friends (some strange, some helpful but all so friendly and welcoming!), we discovered the beauty of the South of France and I officially want to move there. Laurent the local from Monaco mentioned looking for a tutoring job for me...hehe
As for now, I am happy being back here (not the part where I have already started work and planning for next week-our languages department is getting evaluated so going back has a lot of extra pressures..) but seeing our housemate Ange, catching up with church friends and other Tollbar teachers has been good. I'm glad we have at least one more weekend of vacation before work starts up again!
Closing comment: I almost forgot that Halloween was this week because no one here seems to get as into it as we do in Canada. Tonight we drove by a house decorated with cobwebs and a pumpkin (pretty standard Halloween front door set up for us) and Ange (our English housemate) was in shock and had to slow down driving to take it all in..I have been made fun of before for being "too enthusiastic" about things and this must just be yet another thing we Canadians get too enthusiastic about!
We Canadians carved pumpkins tonight and tomorrow night is a costume party at fellow Canadian Laura's house so I should get my fill of Halloween candy and festivities:)
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, enjoy the pictures and take a trip sometime to the South of France-but be warned you might not come back;)
Cheers,
Nat
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