Vacation ...part 1

I've been back in Paris for a week now, and, boy, has it ever been eventful! But first, about the vacation. I had the month of August off and took a train to Kaiserslautern, Germany on the evening of July 31. My niece, Lauren, lives there. It is a 2 1/2 hours train ride, so very quick and easy. I spent a few days there and then, on August 5, we rented a car and drove back to France. We headed south through Provence, visiting old Roman ruins. We saw the arena in Orange, the Pope's Palace and famous bridge in Avignon, and the Pont du Gard near Nimes. We continued south through the Camargue, which is a large marshy area, and went all the way to the end of the road, ending up on a beach on the Mediterranean. We saw the famous Camargue horses and thousands of pink flamingos.

From there we headed east along the coastline, travelling through the French Riviera. One night we camped at a beachside campground, really more of a camping resort. We had thrown a pop-up tent and 2 sleeping bags into the trunk just in case we couldn't find a hotel. We were south of St. Tropez, and there were no affordable hotels to be found. We spent the afternoon on the beach and in the water. There were beach bars and restaurants, and even entertainment at the campground. It was a large band who performed big band hits. They were incredible!

As we made our way north to Cannes, we stopped at a small cove and climbed down about 100 steps to a calm, secluded beach. We grabbed the snorkeling stuff and spent a few hours there. When we left, we went into a small grocery store near where we parked the car. I picked out a dusty bottle of red wine (2001) with a very pretty label, which was only 5 euros. We opened the bottle later that evening in our hotel room in Cannes, and it was excellent! Probably the best wine we had on the whole trip.

We spent 2 days in Cannes. Of course, that involved a lot of beach time. We also drove up to Grasse, which is the main location for making perfume. We visited one perfumerie and, of course, came away with purchases. We also had a truly memorable fish dinner in Cannes. From there we headed over to Nice. This was our favorite town. We stayed in the old part of the city, exploring the evening we got there. The next day, you guessed it - the beach again. The beach in Nice is not sandy but rather made up of small, smooth rocks. When going into the water, it is very slippery and hard to walk in. Getting out was ridiculous! I had to sit and scoot up backwards on my butt. Lauren was still in the water and we about died laughing it was so funny! She had water shoes on so she was able to scramble out a little better.

All along our trip we drove through beautiful small towns - Cassis, Antibes, and others. The coastline was fabulous, beautiful blue water, rocky cliffs and magnificent yachts! We left France and drove through Monaco into Italy where we had pizza for a late lunch. We then started our journey back to Germany, driving through the Italian, French and Swiss Alps. We took a slight detour to see Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in France. It was mid-August and still plenty of snow on top. The last leg of our journey was all on the autobahn, speeding back to Kaiserslautern.

After a cople of days there, I took a train to Stuttgart to visit some German friends. I spent a wonderful weekend with Nicole and Joe at their home outside the city. We visited the zoo there and it was really something. The aquarium within the zoo was big enough to be on its own. The zoo is also a botanical park and the flowers and vegetation were incredible. On Sunday afternoon I headed back to Lauren's.

On the following Tuesday I flew to Oslo, Norway, to visit with my friend, Anett. And that will have to be part 2 of the vacation report!