The arrival of morning of Monday, May 19th, 2025 meant it would be the day we headed home.
Mica Mountain Lodge & log cabins was a fabulous getaway but it really was time to go home. After we had breakfast, cleaned up and got our stuff packed away, I took a few photos of our home away from home for the past few days. It was small, but cozy and I think my laptop screen is bigger than the TV, not that we watched much of that.
We drove up to the house to say goodbye to Elke & Jürgen and for Lynda, the horses, before we hit the highway.
I planned on heading back the same way we came but was hoping highway 93a would be open so I could see if the payphone I knew of had survived the fire. The road was open from the north side but it was closed at the 15km mark so you still couldn’t drive down to Athabasca Falls.
I decided to drive down it a bit to look around.
The phone hadn’t survived.
I needed to dodge an old guy looking for the geocache listed there. I had my camera out and no interest in him but he still insisted on getting in my way.
We turned around and went back up the hill to get some overview photos. I noticed another payphone corpse and stopped to get a photo of it and the surrounding area.
The waterpipe snaking down the hillside was pretty obvious with no trees to hide in so I decided to incorporate it.
We went in search of a few more photos before we had to make the long drive home.
I never took any more photos in the next 5 or so hours it took us to get home. My last image feels a bit like a battlefield after an intense fight. I know fire is an important part of forest renewal, and I’m excited to be able to go back and check on the progress over the next few years. But, it does make me a bit sad seeing it in it’s current state.
It was another more cloud than sun day on Sunday, May 18th. We were going to check out the Jasper townsite and a bit of the surrounding area today.
Jasper is often our go to destination, but after the wildfire last year, we decided we’d stay somewhere else to keep out of the way. One of the first images we saw come out of the fire scene was the singed sign at Wicked Cup and a totally destroyed building behind it. Wicked Cup was our go to place for tea/coffee and breakfast as it was always good and the service was top notch so there was a level of sadness involved with a visit into Jasper.
I had planned to make a stop or two along the way and the first place I wanted to go was Rearguard Falls. We had stopped there in the fall back in 2023 and I wanted to see it in the spring. The parking lot was jammed full so we continued on our way.
Mount Robson was only partly peeking out of the clouds so we felt there was no point in stopping.
When we got to Overlander Falls, the parking lot was almost empty, so we pulled in there to check it out. Like the hike down to Rearguard Falls, it’s a pretty easy walk. It looks to be a bigger falls than Rearguard is.
We hung around for a bit listening to the roar of the water and were looking at leaving when we saw some kayakers pulling in to check out the route through the falls and rapids.
They obviously agreed on a plan of attack as they were soon heading down the falls.
Having made it safely down, they didn’t take all that long to regroup, shoot the rapids, and continue downriver.
Lynda liked this tree stump and wanted here photo take with it. I’m always happy to take photos of my bride as she never used to like me taking them. It never stopped me, but she didn’t like it.
The downside of walking down to see the falls, is it’s pretty much uphill all the way back to the truck. But, it wasn’t too strenuous a hike and soon we were back on our way into Jasper.
When we got to town, we drove around a bit to see what was gone and what was still standing. I felt a little sad remembering places that used to be, but knowing no one died in the fire helped put it into perspective.
We parked and wandered around a bit to find a new cafe so Lynda could have a good London Fog. We had heard Andromeda Coffee was pretty good, so we decided to check it out. And it was very good. We’ll have to try it again on our next visit.
We checked out more of the streets while on foot and decided to try someplace different for lunch and ended up at Estío Jasper. The place was hopping and we each decided on one of the grilled cheese sandwiches and sat out on the patio to enjoy the weather.
After enjoying our lunch, we decided we’d go over to check out the Pine Bungalows and Jasper Park Lodge areas to see how they had done.
Before we did that though, I got into the crazy lineup at the only gas station standing to top up my fuel. It is beyond ridiculous that in the 9 months since the fire, no re-construction of any building has commenced. Even crazier is the fact a 2nd gas station hasn’t opened, or that the town hasn’t been allowed to put in tanks with a cardlock to at least make it easier for tour buses to fuel up. I would hate to be stuck in the line up once full blown summer season is upon us. It would be entertaining as hell to sit and watch though.
I was in and out of the gas station quicker than expected and soon we were heading over to the Pine Bungalows. We had stayed there back in 2021 and liked it so we wanted to see if it survived the fire unscathed; it had.
We made our way over to the Jasper Park Lodge and there were a lot of burned trees on the way in but it looked to us that any damaged buildings were along the golf course and not in the main lodge area itself. The trees however, were crispy for as far as the eye could see.
We pulled into the Lake Annette parking lot and walked down to the lake.
There were a couple of scraggly looking cow elk hanging out near the lake and I don’t think she was all that happy to have her photo taken. I was a long ways away and had to crop this in to see the expression on her face.
We backtracked a bit and drove up the Maligne Lake Road to the Lookout. The fire made it a whole lot easier to see the valley from the lookout. For many years, you looked through the gaps in the trees to see anything.
Now that we could see through the forest, it was surprising to see how close Maligne Canyon is to the road and parking lot.
It was getting to be time to head back for supper so we didn’t drive very far up the road before we turned around to head to BC.
We hit some rain on and off on the drive and as we got close to the cabin, Lynda pointed out that the 1 cloud in the area looked like rain so we should go to town for supper. I really didn’t want to cook over the fire either so I wasn’t about to argue with her. (It didn’t appear to have rained when we got back.)
We went back to Caribou Grill to have a drink and dessert like we told the waiter we would.
We actually had a meal too but kept it small to make it possible to have dessert.
Lynda had seen an Icetini listed on their online menu but not the printed menu. When she asked about it, they told us it was coming off the menu as Ice Wine has getting more expensive, it soon wouldn’t be worth making, but they could make her one. It consists of ice wine, vodka and frozen grapes. When the bartender brought it over, she explained that was the very last ounce of ice wine in the place. Lynda really enjoyed it and when the waitress asked if she wanted another drink, she said; “No, because you can’t make me another one of these.” It made me smile.
We enjoyed our supper and shared the Caribou Coupé. It was as good as advertised but I didn’t take any photos of it.
We headed back to the cabin for our last night of vacation.
We didn’t even have a fire before bed, just a nice cup of tea.
Saturday, May 17th, 2025 dawned as another day of mixed sun and cloud. Today is our son’s 25th birthday and hopefully, he isn’t too busy at his job as we are only half way through our getaway.
Today, we are heading south to check out Little Hell’s Gate on the North Thompson River. It is about a third of the way to Kamloops from the cabin. We’ve been to Hell’s Gate on the Fraser River a few times, but this is our first time exploring this area.
After about an hour and a half, we reached the goat path road down to the falls. A couple were leaving as we got there so we had the viewing platform all to ourselves.
While it’s not as impressive as the big Hell’s Gate, but it had a nice roar to the falls. It wasn’t loud enough to drown out the train that was heading up the valley though.
As we were leaving, we met a nice young couple from Germany who are exploring Canada in a van for 6 months. They’ve already visited quite a few countries in their young lives and were excited to spend so much time in Canada.
We headed back north to Blue River to grab lunch at Grizzly Food Shack. I’d seen it rated well in reviews and the menu looked good so we decided to check it out.
Wasp saved us a table while we waited for your food. Lunch was pretty tasty and I would go back again if I’m ever in the area.
We started heading back towards the cabin looking for photo opportunities along the way.
It wasn’t very far to River Safari and Lynda really wanted to check it out. It looked like an interesting excursion, I wasn’t willing to pony up the money they wanted for the tours. I told Lynda to save her pennies and bring me another time.
We continued up the highway towards Thunder River as the map showed a train bridge that is supposedly photogenic. The road on the map to it didn’t exist so we turned into Blue River Black Spruce Provincial Park.
The road that climbed the mountain from there looked interesting, but it was closed so we continued up the highway some more.
The little bridge on the road to Bone Creek Wilderness Retreat looked interesting so we drove down the road.
The view from the bridge was the best one along that road.
We continued up the highway and stopped in Valemount so I could take a photo of the Fire Station. I really liked the mural on the building and wanted to get a shot of it.
I had one more stop planned before we went to the cabin for the night. The Tete Jaune Spawning Grounds Recreation Site was just a minute or so from the cabin so we went to check it out.
We were getting hungry so we headed back to the cabin to buy some firewood so we could cook our flatbread pizzas we had brought. Lynda built the fire and looked after the cooking. I was okay with that as it gave me time to sit on the porch and relax. Holidays can be rough. Lol
The pizza was good, not pizza in Nice good, but it was a lot cozier then Nice.
After our meal and cleanup, I had time to look for some photo to take.
It was starting to get dark so we decided to head inside for a nice cup of tea before bed. Tomorrow we’ll head into Jasper.
One of the downsides of having a nice cup of tea before bed is having you bladder wake you up early in the morning. Friday, May 16th, 2025 was no different in that respect. What I saw when I got up wasn’t usual though. I saw a whitetail doe nursing a small fawn in the field out in front of our cabin. I only had to go about 10 feet to grab my camera, but even with that, they were gone in the 10 seconds it took me to get the and get back to the window. So, no photos but at least I hadn’t woken Lynda up to show her. 4:00 am was a little too early to be up for the day so back to bed for at least a couple of hours before we go find something to do for our anniversary.
I managed to get some more sleep and got up to face the day at a more reasonable hour. After we cleaned up our breakfast dishes, we made ourselves lunch sandwiches for the road on the Booyah Bagels I had bought yesterday with this in mind. Booyah makes awesome bagels but they only do breakfast sandwiches and as great as those are, I like to have ham or pastrami on a bagel every once in a while.
We decided to drive west on Old Tete Jaune Road towards McBride. It looked like it would be a lot more scenic than taking the highway.
We had barely started when I spotted this old truck.
I liked the truck but couldn’t get an angle I really liked but thought maybe switching to black and white would help.
I liked it but it still wasn’t what I’d envisioned when I first saw the truck.
Onwards we go.
But not too far.
As we drove, Lynda said; “Bear”.
We turned around to have a look and when we pulled up to the spot, all we saw was the north end of a south bound grizzly bear booking it. So, no bear photos but it was cool to see. Not wanting to stress him/her further, we turned around to continue on our way.
It wasn’t long before we saw so white water so we stopped for a look.
It wasn’t a very spectacular location but the sound of the running water was soothing.
It was a short distance to the Shere Lake Recreation Site and we drove down that road to check it out. Luckily, there was no one around as it’s a 1 lane road through the bush to get down to the lake.
The water level was higher than the buoyancy level of the boardwalk so I never got down to the water’s edge.
We continued to Dunster.
There isn’t much in Dunster to see but one of the local gentleman asked me about my truck and I chatted with him while Lynda checked out the Dunster General Store.
The Dunster Station Museum is right across the road from the store so it was a very short walk to check it out. Unfortunately, it was closed so a couple of exterior photos is all I got.
We got back on the road and headed into McBride.
We cruised into McBride and took all of about 3 minutes to drive around town before we stopped at the Visitor Center in the old train station.
I came with the same warning sign back when Lynda and I started dating.
There is a bistro, art gallery and gift shop and a model railroad among other things in the visitor center. I never went into the bistro as we had brought our own lunch, but I did get a chance to check out the model railroad. It’s been a long time since I was around such stuff. I missed it for a minute or two.
We wandered back outside and found a place to sit and have some lunch before exploring the town.
We drove down main street and parked to walk around town.
The “Sarcasm. Now served daily” sign in the window at Welcome Home Cafe & Gifts hooked me right away and we wandered in to check it out. They had some interesting gifts and I got myself a few sarcasm related stickers. Lynda got a London Fog that she said was quite tasty and I got a really, really good blended raspberry lemonade. I’d go back just for another one of those.
I grabbed a photo of a couple of old cars in a yard before we headed down the highway back towards the cabin.
At one point, I had to slow down for a moose crossing the road. Not sure if my dash cam caught it or not but no photos of him either.
We had brought some flatbread pizzas to cook over the fire but decided neither of us wanted to cook over a fire today.
We headed into Valemount in search of food and decided that Caribou Grill looked pretty good. And we were not disappointed. The food was really good and the service was great. We really liked the look of the Caribou Coupé dessert but we were too full to have any and having ice cream in it, it wouldn’t travel very well, so we decided we had an excuse to come back.
We had a pretty good day to celebrate our anniversary and had and while there was no wildlife in the yard, it was a nice quiet evening to sit and relax and enjoy the peace and quiet.
I couldn’t afford to take Lynda on an exotic getaway for your 28th anniversary, so I picked someplace closer to home that we’d never stayed at. The cabins at The Mica Mountain Lodge in Tete Jaune Cache, BC, looked to be a nice quiet getaway.
We left Thursday, May 15th and headed west on highway 11. We stopped at Bighorn Service near Crescent Falls to top up the tank as I figured that would be the most inexpensive fuel I’d see for a while. At least it was a nice day for the fellow who locked his keys in the truck and was waiting for someone to come and let him in.
I love spring in the mountains as there are so many different shades of green as the trees are all budding at different rates and grasses are struggling to grow. It was a nice drive up the Icefield Parkway and the trees were looking pretty good for the most part. That is, until you get close to Athabasca Falls, then you start to see the destruction from last summer’s forest fire. The trees were burned on both sides of the highway and river right up to the top of the tree line. There were a few unburned pockets here and there but for the most part, it was total destruction. Highway 93a was closed from the Falls end so my plan to drive up that way were foiled.
There were clouds obscuring the top of Mount Robson, so we didn’t bother to stop like the last time we were in that neck of the woods. We continued on down to Valemount to go try the Valemount Bakery, formerly, The Swiss Bakery. But, like the last time we tried to visit, they were closed, for renovations this time. The owner came out and talked to us, explaining they were building an apartment above the shop so they wouldn’t have to commute so far to work. Maybe, third time will be the charm, so I guess we’ll have to go back again.
It was now time to check in to our cabin so we headed back north to get settled in. We rented the Pine Bungalow and it is a lovely little cabin. We got our stuff inside and sat on the covered porch for a while, just looking at the mountains in the distance.
We sat and had our lasagna we brought for supper before heading up to meet our host, Elke. She was pretty friendly and we chatted with her for a while before heading back to our cabin. She was going to come by and move her horses out of the pasture and up to their place in a bit so I took a couple of photos while we waited on her. My bride was pretty excited to see the horses. Me, not so much, but if it makes her happy…
I went for a quick walk in the trees to see if I could spot the deer we’d seen earlier. And I did, but I didn’t exactly have the proper lens on my camera to get a great photo of her so see if you can spot her in the picture. You can just see her belly if you look about dead center of the frame. She used the trees wisely.
Elke came by and we followed her to the field. The horses were both being brats and wouldn’t come see her when she called them, so she said no cookies for them and she went in to retrieve them. I took a couple of photos while I waited for her.
Neither horse looked all that happy to being led out of the field, but they were at least, going quietly.
Apparently, the little one is the trouble making ring leader.
Lynda was happy to pet the horses before they went on their way.
I had an idea for a photo I wanted to try with Lynda but I needed it to be a bit darker before I could try it so I grabbed a couple photos of the cabin area.
Finally, it was dark enough to try my idea. It didn’t work out the way I had hoped but it was still fun to try.
It was nice to have an eager participant, too bad what I had in my head and what I got didn’t jive. I’ll have to try a different approach next time. (Spoiler alert; we didn’t do a next time.)
After a bit of reading, it was time for bed. No solid plans are in place for tomorrow but long driving days seem to make me a lot more tired than they used to. I guess we’ll come up with a plan of attack in the morning.
We sadly made sure all our stuff was packed and ready to go for our 6:30 am taxi ride to the airport to go back to Paris for day 4 there.
I had thoroughly loved Nice. My go fund me campaign suggestion wasn’t getting any traction at all so we grudgingly shut the apartment down and went downstairs to wait for our cab. Maybe my love of Nice came from it being a mini vacation on my vacation. Or, more likely, I just really enjoyed it there.
Our flight was delayed over half an hour after we were all in the jetway waiting to board. We all lined up a 2nd time (So much for Speedy Boarding). While we were all waiting, a couple of police officers came up to the front of the queue, huddled with the ticket agent and scanned the crowd. The line barely started moving when we again stopped and the police were leaving with 2 men from the front of the line. They didn’t seem happy to go but they weren’t in handcuffs. As the line moved, 2 women got out of line and walked in the same direction the men had gone. Maybe we’ll have an empty seat beside us. (No)
Well, we are on the plane this time so maybe we’ll be on our way soon.
And sure enough, we were soon moving.
I think it’s a hotel. It’s really big whatever it is.
It’s so easy to just use my cell phone that I kept it out for the flight and never did take my camera out.
Soon we were off the ground and turning over the sea to clear the area.
I miss it already
By now we were heading north and I could see mountains. All I saw was clouds on the way down so it was a much more interesting flight going back.
One thing I couldn’t help but notice was the lack of alpine lakes. Living in Canada spoils you to the amount of water we have. Most of the water I saw was reservoirs and not actual lakes. It seemed really weird to me.
The mountains gave way to flatter ground.
Soon, Paris came into view and as we made a turn to line up with the runway, I caught site of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
As we were taxing to the gate, many people got up to get their luggage ready to disembark. (Even with the fasten seatbelt sign still being on.) We stopped and the announcement was made to exit through the front door. But no one was moving and time was ticking by. Suddenly it got light behind us (we were 5 rows from the back) and people were going out the back door. So, Lynda and I followed the small crowd. After crossing the tarmac and climbing the stairs, we were with the people who got out the front door.
It was a nice easy exit from the airport with no bags to wait for and soon we were in a taxi to Lucille and Curtis’ place.
The had taken their cats to the vet so it was a quiet, empty apartment when we got back.
They were back soon enough and we headed out for lunch and ended up at Le Circus.
I tried a Spritz. While not terrible, all I taste in it is the wine so not really my thing.
I tired their burger. Not used to being ask how I would like it cooked though. Even asking for it well done, it was pretty raw in the middle. It tasted good but was really different than I’m used to.
We walked to a local fruit and vegetable market. My wife got in trouble for touching the avocados (The sign on them started “Ne touche pas …” The lady there asks you when you plan to use it and she’ll give you on with the proper ripeness. In Lynda’s defense, we aren’t used to such large avocados and she was pretty excited to try one. (It was good, for an avocado.)
We headed back to the apartment for the afternoon until supper time came around.
We were going to try the new hot pot place – The X Pot – that opened at 6:45 pm. We walked over and arrived around 7:00 pm. We hadn’t booked a reservation so they had no available space for us.
It’s not like you can’t find food in Paris so we walked over to Italie 2 mall and tried Hippopotamus Modern Steakhouse.
I had a glass of champagne and a glass of Coke (No, I didn’t mix them together).
We ordered chicken nachos and a chicken skewer. Lucille was ordering in French and we all heard her ask for poulet and she pointed at the photo on the menu. The waitress asked how she’d like it cooked and with a questioning tone, Lucille said, “Pour poulet?” The waitress answered, “Oui.” So we all said, “Well done.”
And when the food came, it was boeuf, not poulet. Weird tasting chicken they have here in France. It was good, but not what we ordered. Lynda and Curtis got their drinks for free and we got a couple of apologies from the waitress and hostess.
At least it wasn’t something none of us liked.
Stopped in the grocery store at the mall on the way home and I have never seen a grocery store with ceiling so low. Usually there is a whole lot of room over the shelves but I felt a bit claustrophobic in there.
So apparently I didn’t take any photos in Paris today.
Friday, September 16th is exactly 4 months from Lynda and my 25th wedding anniversary. Since my wife and I were living in separate cities back in May, we decided to use today as our celebration day. With that in mind, we had a do whatever we want day.
We started with a late breakfast at Mamma Mia. We picked it because it was right at the start of the outdoor market and Lynda really, really wanted to shop in the market. That was the only place we had more than 1 meal in a place. (I’m not counting the bubble tea place.)
There is such a variety of stuff at the market and Lynda got some hard candies and some really, good black olives.
Walking through the market was a nice stroll but it was about 26 degrees C out so we stopped for a bubble tea. (See, 2nd place that we’ve been too more than once.) We had decided to walk down to the Hard Rock Cafe to buy a shot glass for Curtis for his collection and taking a drink along helped a lot.
The walk was long enough and breakfast small enough that we could have lunch. We just shared nachos and I got a strawberry basil lemonade. (And it was awesome.)
We walked back through a park area and ended up in the square we had been in on our first day. It looked different with the sun shining.
The tram looked interesting but we never did take it anywhere.
As we walked we could see a fountain area in the distance. The water stopped as we got closer but we sat on a bench in the shade and waited to see if it would start up again.
After about 20 minutes or so, the water started back up.
Lynda was really looking forward to going swimming and I wanted to get to the top of Castle Hill – the “mountain” behind our apartment. There is quite a bit of stuff up there in a fairly small area that we had yet to explore.
We decided we could take the elevator up to the top of the hill and wander through and take the back stairs down to our street and go home and change for the beach.
The view from the top is really nice and the blonde girl makes it better.
I decided I’d do a panorama from the rail.
We wandered through the park to find the stairs. We knew we were close when we looked down to see the harbour our apartment faces.
Hey, we can see our house from here. Our apartment is in the building with the skylight, just to the left of the rock.
A bit more resting in the shade while I looked for things to take photos of.
Soon we found the stairs and headed down.
I got a photo of my bride coming down the stairs as the last photo I’d take today.
We weren’t far from our apartment and we were soon changing into swimwear. Wanting to keep it simple to keep an eye on our stuff, we wouldn’t bring a camera or a phone with us.
While it wasn’t as hot today as yesterda (Only about 28 degrees C) it was still warmer than I like so I was happy to go cool off.
Lynda knew I really didn’t enjoy the beach so when we got to Castle Plage – Waterfront perch offering Mediterranean-style seafood & artisanal ice cream, plus beach rentals, she said, “Lets go down there.”
So for a small nominal fee – $20 euros for the perch and $25 euros for the umbrella, we lounged in comfort along the sea. (3 rows back actually but that kept us dry from the waves.)
Lynda went and sat on the shore while I lounged for a bit before joining her.
The rocky beach is hard to walk on for people like me who never go there so getting into the sea seems easy enough but getting out in the big waves and steep slope seems a challenge so letting the waves splash me was good enough for me. I figure that my wife is a much better swimmer than me and she was nervous about it, why tempt fate.
Cooled off, we went back to our loungers and ordered a margarita each. It was a slush like I’m used to but it wasn’t as good as my Mamma Mia one from the other day.
Lynda finished hers before me and soon I had a drunk wife on my hands. It was pretty funny to watch but she giggled like a school girl and for the first time in a long time, I know she was relaxed. I enjoyed just sitting there holding her hand, watching and hearing the waves. It was very relaxing.
We lounged for over an hour before they came to close off our tab and we decide we’d wander downtown to look for food.
Luckily it wasn’t too far and we picked Di Yar as our supper stop.
Another Margarita for me (This one over ice, better than my last one but not better than Mamma Mia.) and my still more than tipsy wife decided on a Long Island Ice Tea.
Being how she can’t seem to eat and drink very close together, Lynda consumed her drink rather quickly.
More giggling ensued as our food came.
The meal was good but Lynda was too full of iced tea to eat much of her meal.
After supper, we decided to walk through the shopping/bar area around the side streets and alleys to take the “scenic” route home. I did have to hang on to Lynda’s hand the entire way but that is never a chore.
I wanted to find a Nice tee shirt to buy but the shop I thought I’d seen the day before was either closed or I was mistake on what street it was on.
We got our steps in and somehow Lynda got to 10k steps before me, and that was before she was drinking so I know it wasn’t from weaving from side to side.
Bed time was soon after getting back as we had an early start in the morning. Lynda was asleep (I would of thought passed out but I’m going with asleep) by 10 pm.
It had been a great day to celebrate our anniversary.
It was already 25 degrees C at 8:30 am, Thursday, September 15th as we waited for our van pickup to go on our tour to Monaco and Monte Carlo. The bus was late getting to us as we where the last stop and apparently there was a lot of traffic. We climbed in to make it a full van with 8 passengers. There was a mother and daughter from New York and Connecticut, a couple from Toronto, a couple from India (relative of the Toronto couple as far as I could tell) and us.
We were soon climbing the hills to the northeast leaving Nice. After a short drive we stopped for a photo opportunity at a familiar looking place – Villefranche-sur-Mer, only from the top looking down at the harbour and not the other way around like yesterday.
After a quick stop we started down the mountain road and traveled to Èze. Our guide had stated that Èze was a magical village. (Looked nice but to me it was mostly shops in old houses.) Still, it had it’s charms and I did like the other lemmings and took photos.
No park at City Hall
We only had about 20 minutes to explore the village so paying the 6 euros to get into Le Jardin Exotique – botanical garden, just wasn’t worth it.
We jumped in the van to get to the Parfumerie Fragonard – L’usine Laboratoire Èze – Fragonard perfume factory and lab for a tour.
The tour itself was interesting but I wasn’t there to shop so I think the tour guide was put off a bit by my indifference to her explanations. Lynda liked some of the scents and did get a couple little hand soaps.
Oh look, it’s Èze up the hill
The factory direct pricing was pretty good but for us travelling with carry-on luggage for the first time, we just didn’t have the space to buy any more.
Tour and shopping done, we all piled back into the van for our trip to Monaco.
Soon we were driving through Monaco on our way to Monte Carlo where we get dropped off near the casino.
We had less than half an hour to explore Monte Carlo before we had to be back at the van to go see the changing of the guards at Le Palais des Princes de Monaco, Monaco.
The other couples were late getting back to the van and our irate driver tried to get us there on time but this is the extent of what I saw.
Nothing to see here, move along.
We had another half and hour or so to explore Monaco. Seemed a bit anti-climatic now but we gave it a shot. We didn’t even venture very far from where we were dropped off to take a photo or 12.
The van pulled up and everyone was on time. (Now that we were heading back to Nice it didn’t matter as much.)
After driving through 2 or 3 of the 7 road tunnels in Monaco, we headed towards the expressway back to Nice.
This place was about 10 blocks from our apartment but I feel the name may be a bit misleading.
It was around 30 degrees C when we got back to the apartment so Lynda changed into her swimsuit and I put on shorts. (Yeah, and for those who know me, that is a rarity indeed.)
We headed out for lunch and for Lynda at least, a swim.
We were between meal times by the time we went for lunch and not all restaurants were still serving lunch. Luckily, we found El Merkado. The food was good and the staff seemed friendlier by the time we were done than when we arrived. Both waitresses did take a break while we were there so I think they were just tired. And, since it was right across the road from Hotel de Ville, Nice…
We got a bubble tea on our way to the beach and it was now about 33 degrees C out so I had it done by the time we walked the 3 blocks there.
The beach has never, ever been a thing for me and I found a spot to sit and wait for Lynda. I had my wide angle lens on and with the wind blowing like it was, I wasn’t about to change lenses to get a better shot of her enjoying herself.
Unlike the day we arrived, the waves were really high and she was a bit nervous about going in. It’s an all rock beach and there is about a 6 foot hill of loose stones before you get to the normal level of the water but the spray was coming well up the incline. Lynda sat on the top of the pile and let the water splash into her.
She’s the far left girl, so far away.
She was enjoying herself until a particularly big wave came in and hit her so hard it rolled her over on the rocks. She realized she still had her hearing aids in so she grabbed them before she even tried to get up. When she got up, she brought them over to me and was more concerned I’d gotten a photo of it than if she had been hurt. (She did get a couple of nasty bruises out of it.)
After laughing it off, she went back to try again. She did say she wasn’t going to try to swim in those waves.
Lynda left her shoes where I could see them but not her
After an hour or so on the rocks, I was starting to have trouble getting comfortable and Lynda said she was cooled off. (But we still got gelato on our way to our apartment.)
Our Airbnb listing stated it faced the sea. This is a true statement but the view of the sea isn’t all that easy to see.
The view from our table
We had noticed that sunset colours don’t last very long and I thought I’d try to at least get a shot or two before it was gone.
Leaning out our window with my “big” lens.
I decided to go out on the steps to see if I could get a better angle to shoot.
The Club Med 2 leaving on a cruise
Lynda even got her camera out to get a few shots.
My bride in the window
Only got 13k steps in today but we saw quite a bit of stuff and had a blast.
Wednesday, September 14th saw us leaving Paris early for a flight to Nice.
Our pilot told us it was a nice day in Nice and it was supposed to be sunny and 24 degrees. It was cloudy the entire flight so we didn’t see much until we broke out of the clouds near the sea. It was also raining quite heavily as we exited the airport looking for a taxi.
We’d arrived at 8:30 am and we couldn’t check into our Airbnb until 3:00 pm so I asked the cab driver to take us to a good place for breakfast.
He dropped up near 2 places and recommended Cafe Du Palais as the better of the two. So we trudged the block or so in the now pouring (but not hypothermia inducing rain like Alberta) rain. We decided on sitting inside as the umbrellas weren’t always winning the battle.
Took this to tease Curtis that we had Nutella come with breakfast (which we didn’t eat)
It was almost done raining when we left to find a place we could drop our small suitcase so we didn’t have to lug it around for a few hours.
Bag dropped and off to shop for an umbrella.
When we emerged from our successful quest, the rain seemed to have stopped. Or so we thought.
We walked around the shops and made our way over to Quai des États-Unis to look at the sea.
It still looked like rain would arrive but we strolled along without it happening.
It’s not a big hill at the end of the Promenade des Anglais but even though it was cloudy, it was still warm so we rested at the #ILoveNice sign. Trying to get a shot of just Lynda was a bit challenging.
We stayed at the top of the hill killing time before I had to go get our suitcase out of storage.
Lynda waited for me as she didn’t want to walk down and back up the hill. I was there and back in under half an hour. We strolled in the direction of our Airbnb and we walked right past it to our harbour tour that Lynda had booked for 3:00 pm. I had thought we could check in at 2:00 pm so we had an extra suitcase to bring along.
We got our tickets and sat on a bench in the shade waiting for boarding time.
We moved to line up with others standing, waiting and the rain came back. It was just a light drizzle but only moments ago the sun was beating down on us.
The boat has room for 46 passengers, 22 of which can be outside on the upper deck. Rain or no rain, Lynda and I headed up top. I had razzed Lynda about bringing her jacket along to such a warm place but it was nice to have it to set on the already wet bench as a blanket. The rain picked up in intensity and the wind started blowing before we even left the harbour. Luckily, we had ourselves a couple of umbrellas.
So, we sat in the rain, huddled under the umbrellas as person after person left to go down stairs to huddle inside.
The wind was even stronger after leaving the harbour so I didn’t even try to get my camera out and decided I’d make due with my cell phone.
We exited the harbour and headed north east along the coast and turned into the harbour at Villefranche-sur-Mer. There are plenty of impressive houses to look at along the way. The rain had started to slow down so some of the chickens came out to stand in the way of our view. I was inspired by my friend Canada Slim aka Adam Kerr and his lazy faire attitude when it comes to level horizons and I snapped a few shots willy-nilly. (It still feels weird)
The tour was almost over when the rain stopped but we were heading into some bigger waves and we were starting to accelerate on our way back to Nice so even the cell phone camera was put away.
The tour is an hour long and not terribly expensive so I think it was worth it. The rain put less of a damper on it than the 20 something year old girls that couldn’t sit their asses down once they ventured out on to our level. We weren’t too wet when we were done and we only had a 5 minute walk to our apartment.
More stairs were climbed and it took us a while to get our keys as the directions weren’t 100% clear. (It is said that things are lost in translation and in this case, it was true.) But finally we were in and dropped off our stuff so we could head back down to town for supper. We picked Mamma Mia and shared a Pizza Margherita. I tried an actual Marguarita (It seemed weird not having any ice in it but it would be the best one I had in Nice.) while Lynda had Sex on the Beach. (The drink. Not… What are you people thinking? Lol)
After a leisurely meal, we decided we were tired enough to just head back to the apartment instead of exploring the town. So we again walked along the Promenade.
Seemed a bit early to crash but it had been a long day getting up at 4:00 am and all and I’d gotten over 17k in steps. Tomorrow we have a morning tour and pickup is 8:30 am.
Woke up at 5 am and didn’t get back to sleep. Laid around in bed waiting for Curtis and Lucille to go to work/school so not to be in their way.
After breakfast we threw a load of laundry into the washer/dryer combo. I didn’t set it properly so it wasn’t drying.
We were going to venture out on our own but it kept raining on and off so it was already after noon when we got out the door all by ourselves.
We walked through the tail end of a sidewalk market. (Might have to look for them next week.)
We checked out a few Pâtisseries and Boulangeries as Lynda was looking for pastries and I was looking for real food. We settled on Entre Potes Cafe. We had the Plat du Jour which today was a salmon quiche with a side salad and a bit of baguette. It was really good.
I’m trying stuff outside my comfort zone while on holidays. I’ve had weird meat, cranberry juice and seafood (I do actually like salmon though).
We walked up the street some more and wandered through a small park. I liked the look of the building in behind it.
We walked back the way we came so Lynda could stop for pastries. (They were really good.)
We headed back to the apartment to wait till it was time to go out and get supper.
Lucille and Curtis were getting their hot water heater replaced so we were all waiting around for the new one to arrive. Even though someone had come and measured what they had, the crew showed up (3 hours later than scheduled) with one a foot too tall to fit the space. So, down to the truck for a smaller one. Of course, it’s smaller than what was there so new piping needs to be installed. By now it’s well past time to go out and get supper so we ordered tacos in on delivery. They were huge. We finished eating before the hot water tank was installed. Still didn’t have 10k in steps so we went to the store for some Ginger Ale. That was only about 400 steps there and back so still not there.
Not many photos today obviously. Hopefully I’ll get my steps yet tonight and maybe I’ll get more photos tomorrow.
Hank's Blog - Musings of a Wandering Mind 