Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Day 2 - Juan-les-Pins

Went searching for contact lens solution to make up for what the Icelanders stole from us at Reykjavik customs. We went to a grocery store, where Jordan was fascinated by all the packaging. Ultimately we had to buy contact lens fluid at a pharmacy. There’s a strict rule about what gets sold at a pharmacy vs at a supermarket. Too bad we don’t know the rule.


After getting all of our supplies, we retired to the hotel. Katie bought us 2 chairs on the hotel’s beach, where we camped out for the rest of the day. Katie’s in heaven! Jordan’s kind of miserable, because he has to be completely covered up, thanks to his vicious Maine sunburn, which has cooked him a bright red color.


For lunch, we wandered our little town and settled on a corner cafĂ©. A nice middle-aged woman was our waitress (she’s also the owner, we think). She didn’t speak any English, so Jordan muddled by in French until a neighboring table intervened. Turns out they’re an English couple who retired to J-le-P! They gave us lots of tips about being there, including going to the open market on Thursday in Antibes.

Katie went to the spa for a massage, and then we floated in the spa’s pool for a while. The Mediterranean was a little too cold, but the pool was heated, so that was a no-brainer.

For dinner, we walked over to J-le-P’s restaurant row. It’s a little street blocked off from cars, with restaurants on either side. All of the restaurants have outdoor seating on the street, very nice! We ended up at a Vietnamese place. Interestingly, everything cooked Asian-style in France is “Wok” – for example, “Wok poulet” or “Wok tofu”. We also discovered that if you order sandwiches “Americaine”, they put french fries in your sandwich! If that’s American style, how come we’ve never seen it done that way in America?

Monday, June 9, 2008

Day 1 - Juan-les-Pins

Holy cow, that was a lot of flying!

We went from Boston to Iceland (yeah, Iceland - it saved us about $1000 in airfare), had a quick layover, and then flew Reykjavik to Paris! In the Paris airport we had our first encounter with French food at an Ille cafe. Here's the deal: in France, everything comes in baguettes. You can get baguette with chicken, baguette with cheese, baguette with ham & cheese, etc.  Everybody's got the same 3 or 4 combinations - so you better get used to them.

From Paris we flew to Nice, which is 30 minutes from our destination of Juan-Les-Pins, a beach town on the Riviera. We chose this town because Katie stayed there when she visited France in college. The cabbie gave us the scenic tour from the airport. Passing through Antibes, we drove down narrow little streets, with scooters racing by us on either side. The traffic signs are all bizarre symbols we've never seen before. Truly, we're in another country.

After settling in at our great hotel, we showered and discovered we were starving. We needed more than the cute Icelandic snacks they had on the plane. We walked along the waterfront, which was lined with cafes and restaurants. We settled on a nice place on the beach. We do mean ON THE BEACH - the table and chairs were actually on the sand, with the waves only a few feet away! You know how Katie hates the water, and beautiful nights. It was pretty great.  The only downfall was dessert - there was no chocolate mousse on the menu.  We thought that would be on every French dessert menu.

The view:











Saturday, May 17, 2008

getting ready

We needed new luggage for our epic journey.  We were packing gear for 1 week in Boston, capped off by our wedding, followed by four days in the south of France, then 8 days in Paris.  That's a lot of gear!  Our road warrior friend Bagni advised us to get Eagle Creek luggage because it travels well, is soft, and looks unique enough on the luggage carousel that you can spot your stuff right away.  Katie predicted that Jordan would love the new Pack-It system pouches, cubes and envelopes.  Guess what?  They were both right.  Now we're looking forward to getting that REI rebate check at the end of the year, because we just spent baby's college money on two Eagle Creek suitcases!