Nice Is Nice 1

We drove on, through bits of Provence and the the Cote d'Azur, landing finally at a campground in Cagnes sur Mer, just down from the hill fortress chateau...a small, very compact campground, but good enough, and with an enjoyable 20-30 minute bus ride to Nice. We stayed three nights, enjoying Nice by day and relative tranquility by night.

The park atop Cimiez, the older, that is, Roman, uptown of

Nice, still very affluent and nice

The Matisse Museum; no pix; none desired, actually

 

Roman coliseum

 

Roman baths

 

More Roman baths

Hotel Regina--built for Queen Victoria's visit

 

Flood!

We stayed our first few nights in Brignole, between Marseille and Nice, up in the hills, refitting, repairing, de-jet-lagging. Further up, 20-30 miles or so, the torrential rain caused flooding on the evening of the 17th. 25 people died and there was major devastation everywhere. We drove through the area, the Var valley, a couple days later.

Some of the devastation; gendarmes were everywhere;

power was still out, two days after the storms

The main roads were passable, but a mess

The scene everywhere

A mobile home lot; an RV sales lot down the road was

completely washed asunder

Back On The Road, Again, In Europe

And so, just like that, 10 time zones later, courtesy of United and Lufthansa, we were back in Marseilles, hauling luggage, reclaiming the Grey Wanderer, trying to unpack and set up housekeeping and get our bearings. We passed most of the flight watching movies we had intended to see in the States, but didn't--It's Complicated (amusing), Up in the Air (I love dark humor, George Clooney, and read Walter Kirn's novel back in 2001, when he appeared at the Montana Festival of the Book), and Alice in Wonderland (ick)--enjoying the free beverages and OK food, and sleeping. Marseilles was delightfully warm when we arrived, but then it rained, torrents, for the next two days. The Grey Wanderer seems to have weathered our 4 month absence all right (thanks to the nice people at Parka Bateaux) mostly. The water pump leaks, the macerator is not up to par (so to speak), the awning is broken, and, worst of all, we did not pack the power cord for the TomTom. After the initial panic, we located a suitable replacement at the LeClerc, and since have been navigating with our usual efficiency ("turn around, when possible"). 

We have been back for nearly two weeks now, and I have much to account for--Nice, Cote d'Azur, the Route des Grandes Alpes, Annecy, and now Chamonix, where we'll spend a few days. There is free internet at the Chamonix TI, so I'll post a bit more in the next few days.

Interior of the Grey Wanderer during unpacking; the

confusion is worth it, since

You get to camp at places like Savines le Lac, in the

French Alps

Or at the foot of Mont Blanc

Wedding Day For Rebecca and Jeremy

Saturday June 12th Rebecca and Jeremy were wed in Moss Beach. After much work by the wedding couple, Rachel and Will, the Mother and Father of the Bride, and others, it all came to pass, and was indeed the casual but elegant garden wedding we had all looked forward to. And it was a very expressive wedding, personally, for Rebecca and Jeremy, conveying their many mutual interests and much of what we all know and love about them. Many special friends and family attended, and it was indeed a joyous occasion. I took only a few pix, but will add a link to the wedding site (professional photographer) when it is ready.

Earlier in the week, Rebecca and Jeremy at

the reception her Castilleja colleagues,

especially Holly, hosted; it occurred on

our 42nd wedding anniversary, noted

generously by a toast

Wedding Day: the candy table

And the post-card table

The cake--for a bookish couple

Rebecca and Jeremy, following the ceremony; Rebecca

wore Vicki's mantilla

Maid-of-Honor Rachel, Bride Rebecca, Groom Jeremy,

and Best Man Damien

The rose-petal departure

A Day In San Francisco

Wedding Week got into high gear Wednesday with the arrival of Rachel and Will, Stacey, and Carole and Lexi. On Thursday, June 10, Vicki and I and Carole and Lexi and Stacey embarked on a day-long tour of San Francisco highlights.

Our tour started at the, um, interesting house we had rented

in Half Moon Bay

We actually saw and did Lombard Street, but, alas, my

camera malfunctioned much of the day; pictured above, of

course, is Ghiradelli Square, where we had, what else, hot

chocolate

Down the street was the Buena Vista, whose Irish coffee we

eschewed (it being early in the day); but we did later ride the

cable car

And of course we did visit Fishermans' Wha

And saw one Bay Cruise you do not want to take

And The Rock (Alcatraz)

And the seals at Pier 39; and chowder at Boudin's for

some; In and Out burgers for others

Carole and Lexi at the Tomb of the Unknown Seal

Turning the cable car

Transamerica Tower from Chinatown,

where we spent a good bit of time

Rotunda of the downtown shopping center where we

shopped and dined; OK, it's not Galeries Lafayette

The city from the Golden Gate viewing area

And, the Golden Gate; it was now past ten,

actually, past 1 AM for the eastern time

zone crowd, and some were asleep before

we crossed the brige back to town; all in

all, a pretty action-packed and sight-filled

day

You Know You're In California When...

You're driving down El Camino Real somewhere near Palo

Alto, and the Google Maps Mobile is right in front of you;

actually, there were several; we followed them for a mile or
two, smiling, saying "cheese" all the way, and snapping a
few pix of our own

Thanks, Bob and Beth

Bob and Beth's place, on the Pond d'Oreille River, our

headquarters the past two months

Vicki, Bob, and Beth

Beth fixing Chicken Adobo, part of a Filipino

feast for us, neighbors and friends; too petite

to be a nurse, she became an MD instead and

worked many years for Kaiser Permanente

Adieu, Idaho; hello, California

Descending over SF into San Jose

  

Nordwand

In less than two weeks, we'll be back in Europe (volcanos and other things willing...), and our minds are turning now to the places we will visit for the next six months...basically north and east from Marseille, across the whole of the Alps, side trips to Munich, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, etc., and then down through Romania into Turkey. 

Just to get into the mood, we saw a screening of the 2008 German film Nordwand (North Face) at the Panida theater in Sandpoint. I thought it was going to be about the triumphant 1938 first ascent of the Eiger north face, which celebrated Germany's "annexation" of Austria (a German team and an Austrian team joined forces). However, it was about the 1936 Hinterstroisser/Kurz attempt. Various liberties were taken with what is known of the story--an imagined romantic angle actually ties it all together, effectively, I thought--but the depiction of 1936 Germany, of climbing in the 1930s, of the characters, all had the ring of truth. These were the days when it was thought unsporting to attack the mountain anywhere but at its strength (hence "north face" climbing), when climbers forged their own pitons and wove their own manila ropes. No camming devices nor perlon nor goretex nor polartec. It was also the time when the Reich was determined to demonstrate the superiority of its athletes--never mind Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics--and everything else. The film's climbing and mountain photography were stunning, the story utterly gripping, the last hour a cardio thump-fest. The theater emptied in a hush, no one humming "Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles." A great movie if you are interested in such things; or just a good work-out for your adrenal and circulatory systems. 

Anyhow, we'll be visiting Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, Kleine Scheidegg, maybe even riding the Jungfraubahn past the Eigernordwand balcony to the Jungfraujoch, as we did in 1989. Some day hikes. But no roped climbing for me, not anymore.

Great climbing film

Eiger north face

On the north face

Sagle Scenes

A flotilla of ducks paddles down the river early every

morning; "flotilla" is not the right word; for ducks, unlike

a geese gaggle, you have to choose among a badling or a

waddling or a paddling or a team, a flush, a raft or a flock,

none of which works for me; I propose a quackilla of ducks

Outside the Ace in Albeni, ID; unfortunately (like the iPad)

you can't actually make a call from the cell phone stun gun

The give-away bin at the Dufort Road trash dump in Sagle

--the best-organized trash and recycling center I have yet

seen, anywhere; seriously; plus, they have a sense of humor

Just down the road from Bob and Beth's place; I'm sure

these neighbors are really very nice people, once you get

to know them, perhaps while they're re-loading; perhaps

they have a sense of humor, too

The Library at Sandpoint, where I hung out a bit; nice

collection, very ample technology, friendly, helpful staff,

free wifi everywhere, always crowded

Among my less successful projects in Sagle

was home-brewing some ginger beer from a

kit Vicki had bought in the UK of GB; the

plastic beer bottles I used didn't explode,

but they did expand considerably; when

opened, about half the mixture fizzed away;

the rest was undrinkable sediment-laden

ginger-flavored glop; I'll stick to store-

bought in the future

But the hummingbirds liked it (it's heavily sugared);

strangely, they all went away after I started using Splenda

(that's a joke, son)

Me modeling wedding suits at our storage unit back in

Missoula (thanks again Tammi, Bruce, and Luke); it's a

long story, and no, we were not having fun yet

Sagle is just a few miles up the road from the very popular

Silverwood amusement park, in Athol ("that's a myth";

"yeth?")

Inactivity Report

View across the lake on a nicer day

Me at Vicki's Gargantuan new laptop

Lest anyone think we had become lost, I wanted to report that we are still in Sagle, 48” 12' 50.82 N, 116” 42' 18.02 W, taking it very easy. We go into Sandpoint once or twice a week for Vicki's PT session, groceries, the wonderful East Bonner County Library, and such. Mostly, we are reading, surfing the net, marveling at the national news, and international, watching HGTV, editing blogs and pix, and taking numerous walks along the country lanes. (I'm trying to maintain 8-10 miles a day). The weather has been typical spring-time-in-the-Rockies, lows in the 30s and 40s, highs in the 40s and 50s, with precipitation in some form, usually rain, just about every day. Some days it is a discouraging all-day rain. But everything is greening up and budding or leafing out. If it ever stops raining, I'm going to have to mow Bob and Beth's sizeable downhill lawn. We have made a few shopping trips to Spokane and Coeur D'Alene, both familiar ground from our years in Missoula. And the view from Bob and Beth's house, across the lake, is endlessly interesting. The next-door neighbors, Gary and Laurie, are putting in a new sea (river?)-wall and pier, and watching the crew take out the old structures and drive in the pilings, etc., has been my main entertainment for the last couple of weeks. OK, I have been reading Malcolm Lowry and Laurence Sterne too. An odd combination, you say. Something old (my days in Cuernavaca, under the volcano) and something new (some mirth literature that is new to me; the English Rabelais).

Among other things, we have been pondering our next travels, in Europe, and, particularly, the winter of 2010-2011. Unless we are snowmobiling, we have resolved not to do winter in the northern hemisphere again, at least in the near future. We considered a variety of more tropical destinations, some downright equatorial, but we don't want to get bugged or mugged or worse. Somehow, the areas between the topics of Cancer and Capricorn just don't appeal. And remember, this is for three months, not a holiday nor cruise. So we are leaning heavily toward a re-visit to New Zealand, or, possibly, Australia. Both would entail longer-term van rentals and other expenses. Both, however, promise plenty to see and do, amiable circumstances, good food and drink, warmth, sun, and in English, too, as the fella says. To be continued.