August Travels: Part 1

I'm alive! I can't believe it's almost been a month since my last post. I've basically been traveling non-stop since then. Parisians take off for the month of August to use up some of their seven or eight weeks vacation (seriously, I know people with eight weeks vacation... what do you even do with all of that?) so I did as the Parisians do and spent the last month traveling!

First I was in Mulhouse, France (near the border of Switzerland) for a girls parkour event, then Munich for an international parkour event (both of which you can read about on my other blog), then my parents arrived and we set out for our own *gasp* non-parkour adventures. Although I did squeeze in some jumping here and there...

The first part of our journey was in the South of France. We went to stay with my grandmother's youngest sister and her family in Vidauban which is in the Var department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. We stayed there for just about a week, taking in the sun and the dry heat, the beautiful scenery, and the fantastic scents of the south. Lavender, Rosemary, and other herbes de provence.

Of course, we couldn't just sit at the house all day for a week. In between croissants & cafés and our two-hour typical-French lunches and dinners, we took little journeys to the river or the winery across the street from our family's home—Château Saint Julien d'Aille. We did a little tour of the winery and stayed for a dégustation, tasting the whites, reds, and the wines the region is famous for—their rosé.

My cousin Elena & I in front of the winery!

We also took a couple of days at the beach at Sainte-Maxime. It's right across from St. Tropez but we didn't want to deal with the crowds so we opted out of the ferry ride over to the land of the rich & famous and their yachts. The beach was wonderful. The water was warm, we ate crêpes with our toes in the sand, and I just lay there roasting in the sun. My paradise.

Another trip we squeezed in was a day-trip to Monaco. It was about an hour drive from the house so we figured why not? You could smell the money when you arrived. The whole country is just dripping in luxury. The yachts were magnificent, the views spectacular, and the cars so jaw-droppingly beautiful that a Mercedes started to look like a piece of junk. Here's a short sampling of what we saw (and drooled over): Bentley, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Maserati, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari, you get the idea...

Dad & I standing with the "Imagine" in the Harbor in Monaco

The cars parked outside of the casino had "do not touch" signs on the front to avoid grubby paysan hands from ruining the finely polished exterior. Also, the casino wouldn't let you in unless you were properly dressed. They were constantly turning people away at the door even just to go look inside.

In between window-shopping and strolling the docks, we visited the Musée Océanographique de Monaco which was pretty cool. Mostly because of the absolutely incredible view from the rooftop deck of the museum...

...and also because of the shark tank where you could pet the little sharks. No joke. You can pet them. Most of them were lame and stayed sleeping on the bottom, but there was one who was quite possibly the runt of the litter and a little messed up in the head... he kept dancing around the tank with his head out of the water swaying from side to side. Coincidentally, this is the one who kept coming over to say hi. The trick was to leave your hand just above the water by the edge of the tank and not to move too quickly so you didn't freak them out. Then I would reach out slowly as he swam by to pet the side of his body. Pretty cool. Even if it was a children's exhibit...

Stopping for a swim in Monaco!

The week was over too quickly and I was not ready to leave the sun and the heat but it was time to head back to the city. On our way back, we stopped in Avignon to visit my mother's French pen pal since childhood. Avignon is such a cool city.

The old city is still mostly walled-in and you can visit the famous Pont d'Avignon. You can even dance on it if you so desire. My cousin and I did...

Sur le pont d'avignon

L'on y danse, l'on y danse

Sur le pon't d'avignon

L'on y danse tous en rond

We explored the city a little bit but we didn't have enough time to visit the entire Papal Palace, we just poked our heads in and walked around the grounds, so that will have to be for another time! And for those of you behind on your Papal history, the Papacy moved to Avignon from 1309 to 1377. I just like saying Papacy.

After our papal visit (okay I'm done now, I swear), we began the torturous drive back to Paris. Don't ever drive anywhere in France in August. Just don't do it. And if you must, don't stop at a public restroom. It's not pretty. It's sort of like India.

Anyways, we finally made it back to Paris and had one night's rest before heading off on our next adventures: Chartres, Giverny, and Versailles. To be continued...