The French Riviera

Here is Part 2 of my trip this past May/June to France! 

Part 1 here, of the first two days in Paris.

La-Seyne-Sur-Mer is a tiny little town on the Mediterranean Sea near Toulon. This is where my friend Brittany was living to teach English for a few months. Monday was our first day there and unfortunately the weather didn't want to cooperate. It was rainy but not too cold. We spent the day relaxing and walking around Toulon. 

Mike and I were being the Statue in the Back...but we just look silly

Apparently the weather also deterred us from taking pictures in Toulon...oopsy! We stopped at a cafe and sat and chatted and drank our amazing coffee and ate amazing macaroons..how Francy! We ended the day with some amazing Pizza at Brittany's apartment and just relaxing and drinking wine.

The next day the weather was Perfect! But we didn't realize that it was Labour day in France and everything was closed, no buses, shopping etc. It didn't matter though because we headed to the Beach!!! After spending a whole winter in Toronto, the prospect of a ocean beach had me literally giddy! The walk to get the beach was very nice, it was so neat to be in such tropical place, but it still be in Europe. I loved it. And the Market was amazing, everything was so fresh and tasty looking...and the cheese...oh the cheese!

Sooo nice!!!

The next day (also gorgeous weather) we left La-Seyne-Sur-Mer,  and headed west towards Nice and Monaco. Trish and Brittany got off the train in Nice, and Mike and I continued on to spend the day in Monaco, before rejoining them in Nice.

Monaco was amazing, but definitely just a day trip unless you have lots of money to spend. Mike is a huge Grand Prix fan so of course we had to walk the track! It was pretty neat to see them setting up for the race.

And the best part...we won 10 Euro at a Casino in Monaco! Yay! We headed back to meet up with the girls for amazing supper at this tiny little Italian inspired restaurant, shut the place down, and wandered the streets of Nice. 

We stayed at this amazing little bed and breakfast run by a girl not too much older than us...and the best part was she had KITTIES!! 

The next morning we woke up to another amazing day. The weather was absolutely amazing, and we spent the day exploring Nice (we rented bikes, super fun!). If I could have added another day to the trip it would have been in Nice I think. I loved it there! Oh and the Gelato was sooooo gooood!

The day went by much too fast, and suddenly we were back on the bullet train, heading to Paris for our last weekend in France!! Blog post to follow!

I fell in love with the south of France. The food, the beach, the relaxing feel of all the cities. I was so sad to go. If given the chance I will definitely go back!

Who else loves gelato??? Is the weather always that nice in Nice??

Paris in Spring Time in the Rain

I have no idea why this took me so long to get done! Anywho here is a blog post about le trip, and hopefully from now on we can back to regularly scheduled blogging.

Ok...lets see how much I can remember...

On May 27th Mike, my friend Trish and I left Toronto Pearson Airport. Just getting there was an adventure as Mike and I decided to be thrifty and take public transit to airport. One Streetcar/subway/bus ride later (but only 3$ each) we were finally there. We checked in, waited and then boarded the plane (on time and stress free), and settled in for our long flight across the Atlantic.

None of us had travelled to Europe before, and we were all extremely excited and didn't get much sleep. One of the highlights of the flight were flying right over Trish's and my hometown! I remember seeing planes fly by my window as a kid at night wondering where they were going...now I know!

Blurry, but you get the idea

Once arriving into Charles De Gualle Airport on a rainy France morning, we spent about 2 hours trying to find a shuttle bus, and then headed into the city! I think we were all in a state of shock from the lack of sleep and actually being in there!

After checking into our hotel, and since sleep wasn't an option, we decided to head out to Versailles. The concierge at the hotel said to take a taxi to save time. In retrospect, that was a dumb suggestion as the train was just as fast and was way cheaper. However our cab driver was fantab and we got to practice our French. Once he found out we were Canadian, he was super nice to us!

As we arrived in Versailles, I think that was when I realized we were actually in France. It was so serene with the light spring rain, the lush landscape, and oh you know...a friggin PALACE!

Panorama of Versailles Palace

The line up wasn't too long and soon we were in experiencing all of the glamour of the Palace.

Hall of Mirrors yo.

Mike chillin with Laplace (Nerd.)

After the great tour, and then getting lost in Versailles, buying some amazingly cheap wine (4 Euro)

Bad signage!!!

...then taking the train back to Paris, we arrived at our hotel running on no sleep after 30 hours of work/travel/sightseeing.

We then went to drink the wine, and realized we had no bottle opener. To borrow one from the hotel was 5 Euro, and we all decided that was a waste of money and googled/youtubed alternative ways to open it. Mike's attempt of using a shoe against the wall did not work, where another method of using a pen to push in the cork did...until the wine splashed everywhere. I don't know if it was because we were tired or what, but this was a pretty epic moment. 

That is Engineering right there. 

After a delicious but late dinner (AMAZING FOOD!!) we arrived back to the hotel and passed out, ready for day 2. 

Sunday was a much nicer day out so we decided to actually spend some time out and about in Paris. After some delicious coffee we headed out to St. Michels Fountain. Our friend Brittany recommended this 3 hour free tour, and we had Alex as our tour guide. I cannot recommend this tour enough. It hit all the highlights, Alex was an amazing tour guide..oh and did I mention it was free!! At the end the guides ask for a tip, that is it! 

Alex our Tour Guide

We got see most of Paris on that trip, and it was great to do that first, then know what we had to go back to see. 

Ooo site seeing!

One thing that is amazing about Paris (to a nerd like me) is the Public Transit System, or the Metro. There are so many lines an stops it takes you everywhere you just have to be willing to make a lot of transfers! We had to take full advantage of this to get from our hotel to the Gare de Lyon where we where catching the Bullet train to La-Seyne-Sur-Mer to visit our friend Brittany (the main reason for the trip!). We literally ran through the subway stations/transfers, but got there just in time!

Gare de Lyon is actually really nice, didn't get much of a chance to see it though!

After a quick 5 hour ride, we made it to La-Seyne-Sur-Mer where Brittany had prepared a delicious dinner, and once again we crashed after another eventful day!

Since this post is getting long and photo heavy, I am going to delay the rest of the trip for later this week. In summary...

1. The free tour was a highlight

2. The food/wine/coffee in France is making me hungry just thinking about it

3. The subway/train system is intense

4. Versailles is totally worth the trip to see. 

5. The stereotype of people in France being rude to tourists isn't true if you speak or attempt to speak French. That being said we totally got some glares for speaking English on the train. 

Have you been to Paris? What were your favorite things to do? Did you have to boot it to get to a plane/train/bus on time while travelling?

May in a Nutshell

Annnd I am back.

Whew. Sorry to leave you all for so long. May was a crazy crazy month. I will eventually get around to talking about the trip, but I thought I would do a quick May summary and then we can all move on to June. (I have a strange need to keep things chronological, so I HAVE to write this blog in order and skipping the trip is messing me up but that is how it is going to be)

First some of the sad bits…After we got back from our trip Mike got some bad news from home, his grandmother passed away and he had to fly back to Halifax. She was a great woman, who made amazing food! His family is doing well, but still a sad time for them. For that whole week I didn’t feel right blogging about all the fun times we had in France when Mike and his family were going through that, so I just disappeared from the social media world.

Also just yesterday there was a shooting at the Eaton Center..to all my relatives don't worry I wasn't there, Mike and I are safe..etc. etc.

Ok…on to the not sad stuff…

Things I did in May:

1. IKEA TRIP

Finally had an IKEA run and bought a second dresser. Before this dresser all of my non important clothes (jeans, gym pants) were chilling in little baskets on the floor...which then became the Moseby’s fav sleeping spot..not cool. So with this new dresser, Moseby has a new sleeping spot and he LOVES it.

The Mose..being cute

After the trip to IKEA complete with cheap food, Mike and I went to see the Avengers and it was awesome!

2. PATIOS

The weather has been absolutely amazing in Toronto for the entire month of May. On the long weekend Katie, Travis, Mike and I had a great BBQ on the patio at our building. It was just as nice as going out to dinner and it was way cheaper! I also have been enjoying the balcony of our apartment. I am terrified that Moseby will freak out and jump over the edge, so I rigged up safety system involving rope and a leash that prevents him from doing anything crazy.

Sorry..my safety nerd is showing

This past weekend Mike’s cousin was visiting, so we ended up all hanging out at his friend’s house and had a BBQ…on a Patio. I <3 Summer!

3. ROLLARBLADING and FREE STUFF

Since gym has not been happening this month (more on that later) I went on a big rollerblade with my friend Brittany the long weekend. It was great! I hope to fit in a lot more rollerblading this summer. After we went to a free circus! The performers were amazing!

New life goal..running away and joining the circus..JK!!

5. BEING CHARITABLE

On last Sunday Mike and I participated in the World Partnership Walk with my company. It was in support of the AKFC to end global poverty. I think they said that there was about 8000 people there, so a huge event. I always am amazed to see this many people out at things.

Oh hai half the population of Bathurst!

It was also nice to see work people outside of work!

4. TUTORING AND WORK

Ugh, this is actually what has consumed my life for the past two weeks. I have been tutoring non stop. I am really enjoying working with the kids (they are all great), but 50 hours of tutoring in May/June may have been a bit ambitious.

NO FREE TIME AHHH

Oh well, one of the girls just finished her exam so I am down to 2 students left… much more reasonable. And since I have been tutoring so much, and working more than 40 hours a week at my real job, it has been very nice on my bank account! Not only am I making more money, I don’t have time to spend it haha.

So that was May in a nutshell.

Now that tutoring is winding down I need to take a second and think about what I am going to do with all my free time in June.

1. GYM/Exercise- I haven’t gone to the gym much since mid April and it is time to get back into the habit. Starting this week I am back on track...I am totally looking forward to it!

2. Reading/TV- All relaxing activities have been put on hold because of tutoring so the next month is all about catching up on the TV shows that I missed this season, and reading Hunger Games!

3. Organizing my e-life. I have about 2 years of photos that need to be organized and possibly uploaded to FB so I better get on that.

4. Being outside- If this fabulous weather continues I want to spend as much time outside as possible, hopefully hanging out with friends!

June looks pretty good!

Do you have any big plans for June? Anyone else freaked out by the current events in TO!