Thursday, November 2, 2017

A Bientot, France; Buon Giorno, Italia

It was time to leave France and move on. Reluctantly. It would have been more reluctantly had the destination not been Italy, which we also love. We decamped, drove through Nice and then onto the Grand Corniche, over Monaco, all the way to Menton and the border and on into Italy, staying on the coast all the way, stopping finally at Camping Vesima just short of Genoa.
The aire de camping-cars at St. Laurent du Var

On the Grand Corniche

Villefranche sur Mer


On a turn, looking north to the Maritime Alps

Eze

Approaching La Turbie

And its Alpine Trophy; the Senate's tribute to Augustus for
finally subduing all the people of the Alps

Sign depicting the many aspects of culture here
























































































Monaco

Ditto

Ditto again

Last bit of France before dropping down into Menton; we stopped
there by the marina for lunch in exactly the same place as in 2013

Benvenuto in  Italia!


Pictures mostly out Vicki's window as we crept along the coast







Yup, we're back in Italy!!

To Eze And Back Again, 2

More of our excursion to Eze, the road back, and Nice...

Eze' first well/fountain, built in 1930; before then, water
was hauled up the hill en pied



No denying the beauty of the place

Where Swedish royals lived










Cruisifixion

Back in Nice

Walking by the performing arts place

The library building/sculpture Vicki posted on Facebook

To Eze And Back Again, 1

On October 26th we undertook an excursion to the Middle Corniche bastide town of Eze, famed for its views and overall prettiness, being winter home to the Swedish royals for many years, and for comically high prices, especially during the Grand Prix in Monaco next door. There were many turbusses. From the aire de camping-cars in St. Laurent du Var we took the train to Beaulieu sur Mer and then the bus up to Eze. It was a fine day's outing.
Caryatids in Beaulieu sur Mer, not out of place since the Greeks colonized much
of this part of the Mediterranean

So much for high culture

Looking up to the Grand Corniche

Waiting for the bus by Beaulieu sur Mer's marina

Marina sculpture (in a park adjoining the marina)

Turbuss on the Middle Corniche

Ruin way high up

At Eze: why they hate us

Unhelpful model #1, at an Eze gift shoppe; Eze is pretty monochrome

Main interest for me

I was going to walk down it, but then it occurred to me I'd have to walk back up;
next time, the smart thing to do would be to walk up from Eze-sur-Mer...or maybe
just take a picture...

Helpful if stationary map

Looking down toward Nietzsche's trail

Part of the view

Follow the red brick road

Sculpture park at one of the fancy hotels

Great autumn color, great Mediterranean light


After seeing several of these, we opted for a pizza lunch further
up the hill (not pictured)

To be continued