Category: France

December 8, 2023

I’m now leaving France, so here’s the rest of my time in France.

December 4 – Avignon, France

After checking into our hotel/hostel the previous night, we crashed a bit from the travel and ate the dinner we had brought with us from Juan les Pins. Then we spent a lot of time trying to make plans for the rest of our trip and headed to bed.

The next morning, we checkout out the hotel at 10am, had some leftovers for breakfast, left our bags at the hotel, and headed out into Avignon. It was pretty cold, windy, and a bit rainy, but we couldn’t figure out how to pay for the bus, so we walked into old Avignon along the Rhône River. The first part of the walk was very industrial and business park like, with no sidewalks and limited shoulder to walk on. But eventually we made it to a path along the river and it got a bit more pleasant.

We arrived at the old city and spent the day wandering around. We walked along the inside of the city wall, wondering if there was an easy way to climb up them – we didn’t find one. We wandered our way behind a cool looking church and found some Roman ruins there. It’s wild to me to be able to just stumble upon some Roman ruins, but I guess that’s how these things go in Europe.

We had some food and then strolled our way over the the Palias de Papes to admire the outside of the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century. We walked up to the associated church, Notre Dame des Doms d’Avignon, but it was closed, so we decided to walk through the Jardins des Doms to the Pont Saint-Benezet, also known as Le Pont d’Avignon. We got the audio guide for the bridge, but really, of course, our goal was to dance on the bridge. So, after reading some of the information in the gatehouse and listening to some of the audio guide, we setup a camera and speaker system and danced on Le Pont d’Avignon. It was really windy and cold, but we had a lot of fun!

After that, we headed to the Musée du Petit Palais to look at early Renaissance paintings. We saw works by Botticelli and others with lots of gold and colors. It was almost entirely religious art and the descriptions were mostly all in French, so Fiona graciously helped translate when I got confused about what was going on. Unfortunately, they closed earlier than we had expected, so we didn’t quite finish the museum before we were kicked out. But, we did get a bit lucky to be kicked out when we were because we left just in time to see the sunset over the city.

Then in the evening we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags, incurring the annoyance of the bus driver because we still couldn’t figure out how to get the transit app to allow us to buy tickets, even after we were on the bus already, and then headed to the train station to head to Lyon.

After 2 different trains and a bus, we arrived at my friend’s place in Bron, France, just outside Lyon and had some tea while we caught up with him before heading to bed.

December 5 – Lyon, France

We took most of the day to try to organize ourselves by replying to emails, talking to family, and just generally doing the sorts of personal housekeeping chores neither of us had done in a while. It was nice to be in a place where we could relax, spread out.

That evening, we went out to dinner with my friend and had what we were told was a fairly authentic Lyonnaise eating experience. The food was very yummy, albeit a bit pricier than most of the place I have been eating recently. Overall though, it was a very lovely evening in Lyon.

December 6 – Lyon, France

We went to the Musée de Confluences at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône Rivers. On the way, we wandered around an old cemetery. The museum has interesting, very modern architecture and great views of the city and the the rivers. In addition to being a cool building, it’s also an interesting museum itself. We experienced an immersive exhibit about Antarctica with soundscapes and projects. We spent a long time in an exhibit called Species: The Way of Life which was all about animals and the natural world. It contained a huge exhibit about beetles and butterflies that was really beautiful and interesting. There was also a lot of birds, mammals, and other creatures. It was a really interesting and informative exhibit even if I had to rely on Fiona for some translations.

We stayed at the museum until the bitter end and were shooed out at closing time. We then headed back to Bron and had a really yummy Raclette dinner. It’s hard to go wrong with melted cheese on potatoes with charcuterie meats. We also had a lovely tour of our host’s liquor cabinet and enjoyed some aperitif. It was all very fancy and festive for the holiday season!

December 7 – Lyon, France

We went into the old town of Lyon and wandered around a cathedral, some Roman ruins, and a basilica. The Lyon Cathedral was beautiful, with lots of stained glass. From there we walked up many flights of stairs to get to the Roman ruins and Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviére. On the way however, we wandered into a museum about Pauline Jaricot and the First Christians who were martyred by Romans in Lyon. It was a bit heavy on religious information in a way that I don’t think we quite expected, but it was still interesting to see and it was free.

From there we made our way to the remains of a Roman theater and Odéon. The views of the City and the French Alps was incredible. While the photos of the views didn’t come out very well, I think the photos of the ruins really do speak for themselves.

From there we went to the Basilica and marveled at the mosaics on the walls, the paintings on the columns and how decorated the entire place was. It was also nice to be inside, out of the wind and cold.

Just before mass was about to start, we realized we had run out of time to go to the Roman museum, but we also needed to grab some food before making our way to the place where we would meet our host to go see the lights festival.

So, after grabbing some quick food, we met up with our host and his friend to go explore the Féte des Lumiéres. What followed was many hours of walking around in the cold, pushing through crowds to gawk at magnificent temporary light installations all over the old town of Lyon. It was incredible. As someone who is an absolute sucker for light shows, I was a bit like a kid in a candy shop. So, here are some photos that don’t do justice to the event at all, but can give an idea of the scale and scope of the festival.

December 8 – In transit then Marrakech, Morocco

This morning we packed up and headed to the airport for the all day travel event of a less than 3 hour flight to Marrakech, Morocco. As a nervous flier, I pressured us to get there probably a lot earlier than we needed to. However, it worked out well for us because a nice gentleman walked past and offered me a voucher for 10€ worth of free food at any of the establishments. While I sat with the bags, Fiona went out and got us a whole feast for 11€ and only had to pay 1€. It was a really lovely to receive such kindness from a stranger and the person at the shop who also threw in a pastry for free.

Once we got our Moroccan stamp in our passports, we got on the flight and had lovely views of clouds and right as we got over the Strait of Gibraltar, the clouds cleared and we got a magnificent view of the Strait as we headed over Morocco.

So, here we are in MOROCCO! It took a lot of effort to get our phones setup and to get from the airport to our hostel, but we eventually did and so far, it has been beautiful and amazing. Yummy street food, lots of people yelling at us to buy things, the whole thing. More to follow in another post.

December 9, 2023
December 3, 2023

I have now been in Juan les Pins for the past 19 days and it has been absolutely wonderful. Here’s a bit of an overview of how I have spent that time.

November 16-18 – Juan les Pins, France

The first few days in Juan les Pins, I worked on sanding shutters to prepare them for repainting and explored the area with my friend, Fiona. We ate lots of pastries and bought baguettes most days when we went for walks to admire the Mediterranean. The place is absolutely beautiful, with amazing sunsets and palm trees all over.

We wandered into various marinas with extremely fancy yachts. Some of the boats were gorgeous, some were gargantuan and most of them were registered in places like the Cayman Islands and other tax-haven places. We had fun trying to guess where boats were actually from by looking at the flags they flew and just in general marveling and scoffing at the insane display of wealth while simultaneous daydreaming about working on one of these boats.

These first few days were about getting accustomed to the area and getting started on the sanding project. We started planning the rest of our stay and just soaked in a lot of sunlight and warm days while working outside.

November 19 – Antibes, France

We walked in to Antibes on Sunday to go to the Marché Provençal, a market in Antibes that during the winter months only happens once a month.

We explored the old village in Antibes and walked along the Sea until it was time to head to the market where we bought some cheese and olives to have lunch overlooking a sailing school lesson. The market was really lovely, with lots of fish, cheese, olives, spices, and vegetables for sale along with some arts and clothing booths.

The day was absolutely gorgeous and Fiona was able to practice French with many locals while I sat by trying to understand what was being said.

Once we had eaten our food we wandered around the marina in Antibes, admiring once again, the obnoxious display of wealth while also being amazed at the beauty of the sail boats in particular. Once again, we had fun imagining ourselves on some of the boats and wondering about the people who own them.

We finished off the day in Antibes by walking around the old Antibes Fort, although we arrived after it had closed for the evening, so we couldn’t go in. So as the sun began to go down, we watched the sail boats returning to port.

November 20 – Juan les Pins, France

After another day of sanding and hanging out around Juan les Pins, Fiona and I went to a BalFolk event at the location of the Marché Provençal without really having any idea of what to expect. It ended up being an event led by an Italian man who lives in Juan les Pins and wanted to bring BalFolk to the area. He plays recorded music from a speaker and teaches dances to a group of around 15 people.

It was fairly chaotic, because some people seemed quite new to dancing, but really really fun and the enthusiasm level was amazing. The man leading the class, Valerio, taught the dances in English, French, and Italian, which was impressive and fun to listen to the different languages all describing a similar dance.

We ended up getting drinks in a pub after the event with the class leader and another nice guy. The conversation wandered all over the place and was in a mix between English and French. They were very surprised by our experience with BalFolk in the US.

It was a really fun event, and it ended up giving us some social connections to Juan les Pins and Antibes beyond the people in the house with us. Also, it was really exciting to get to do BalFolk in France and learn more about where the dance form comes from and how it has continued to evolve.

That night, after walking back from Antibes, we both were excited enough from the dancing and socializing that we had a hard time getting to sleep.

November 21-22 – Juan les Pins, France

The next few days were more working days around Juan les Pins. I had been moved from shutter duty to a sewing project making covers for our host’s massage chair. I enjoyed the challenge of making curved, removable covers and fitting them carefully to the chair. For two days I was covered in teal fuzz from the fabric, but it was very fun.

We had lots more baguette, croissant, and yummy homemade food. Took evening walks to watch the sunset along the Sea and enjoyed the sun as much as we could. Just a bunch of nice days of working and hanging out around the house getting to know our host and other other people staying in the house with us.

November 23 – Nice, France

On Thanksgiving day, we went to Nice. We had plans for another BalFolk event in the evening, so we decided to make a whole day of it.

We started out by going on a walking tour of Nice which took us around the old town and gave us context for what we were seeing as we wandered around later.

After the tour, we ended up wandering around with three other people who had been on the tour with us. One from Miami, Florida, another from Mannheim, Germany, and the third from Santiago, Chile. It was really cool how after the tour was over, we all just sort of turned to each other and asked, ‘well, what next?’ We proceeded to spend time walking and admiring the sights while not being 100% sure where we wanted to go exactly.

We went to the marina and tried to guess which of the boats there might be Elton John’s boat because we had learned on the tour that he has a house in Nice and had seen it from afar up on the top of a hill where no one (else) was allowed to build.

After a quick snack, we found our way to a park that had a playground built into it, including trampolines built into the ground. It was a stunningly beautiful day, and was so pleasant to be outside running around and exploring.

We all grabbed a drink on the waterfront to watch the sun go down and continued to get to know each other and chat about ourselves and just generally have a good time.

By the time the sun had gone down, we were getting hungry and wandered off to get food. We ended up dubbing the meal we had “Francegiving” because we shared a family-style meal with these people we had just met and had some really yummy, not traditional Thanksgiving foods. We had muscles with fries, two different types of pasta including one with truffles, and some escargot. We went around the table saying what we were thankful for and just had a really pleasant time enjoying a spontaneous day of new adventures and new friends.

After dinner, we convinced the others to come with us to the BalFolk event. It was in the backroom of an Irish Pub and while we only knew one person from the Antibes class, he was very welcoming and even seemed enthusiastic about the fact that we had brought complete novices to the event. He was very gracious in teaching the other beginners, doing very basic dances, and having Fiona translate for us when he couldn’t explain things in English. The atmosphere was once again, amazing. This time, there was live music, and more like 30+ people. It was a really wonderful end to our Francegiving day of making new friends.

We had to leave fairly early to make sure we caught the last train back to Juan les Pins, but it was still an electric night of really fun music, lots of French I couldn’t understand, and many smiles and laughs as we danced. These are the kinds of experiences that make travel like this really special. Meeting new people and sharing a real connection, even if just for a fleeting moment, is powerful and exciting. While I don’t expect any of the tour group friends we made that day to keep dancing BalFolk, I know they at least had fun for a single night and it was wonderful to be able to bring them into that space for the evening.

I am also really thankful that Fiona was a good catalyst at getting me to the dance in the first place. Her ability to speak French and make connections with people really opened the door for our invitation to the event. Her excitement and enthusiasm about BalFolk and the opportunity to do it in France was infectious and helped get me excited about something I would have likely been too nervous to do on my own. So, thanks Fiona for making my Thanksgiving this year such an exciting and memorable one.

November 26 – Juan les Pins, France

After our adventure in Nice, we had some work to catch up on, so for a few days we continued our routine of working and going for walks and buying bread. It’s a routine I cannot complain about and feel super lucky to have gotten to do.

On Sunday, Fiona and I hosted a more traditional Thanksgiving meal for our host and the other two people staying in the house with us. It was the first, and ultimately, only meal all five of us ate together the whole time, but it was really lovely. We spent a good chunk of the day cooking mashed sweet and regular potatoes, a lentil/nut roast, Brussel sprouts, gravy, stuffing, a pumpkin pie, and an apple crisp. It was a great feast!

Right before we sat down for the meal, Fiona found some fall foliage outside and we decorated the table. Our host provided wine for us and we all, once again went around and said what we were grateful for. This whole experience of getting to travel through Europe, visiting friends, family, strangers, and making connection has been an amazing and unbelievable experience. I feel so extremely thankful that I get to do this and expand my own comfort zone, experience new cultures, languages, and just meet so many wonderful and amazing people while getting to see a small fraction of this amazing and beautiful planet.

November 27, Juan les Pins and Antibes, France

The following day, we decided we had done enough work the previous day to deserve a day off and wandered off to the Cap d’Antibes to check out more of the surrounding area before heading back to the dance event that evening.

We had a bit of a late start because we have both managed to shift our sleep schedules thoroughly into the wee hours of the morning. But once we got started, we wandered around a part of Juan les Pins that we had not been in before. We wandered past very fancy houses and eventually found our way to the Antibes lighthouse.

The views from the base of the lighthouse were really lovely even though we arrived as the sun was getting somewhat low and the clouds made everything pretty dark. Still, it was really nice to contextualize the surrounding area from a very high vantage point where we could see all the way to Nice on one side and to the edge of Cannes on the other.

We also stepped into the church up on the hill which was being setup with Christmas decorations and was cozy and warm. Then we headed back down and made our way to Antibes where we had dinner before heading to the outdoor BalFolk event once again. It was slightly more sparsely attended this time, but still great fun.

November 30 – Cannes, France

The next few days, we stocked up on work hours. I had finished the massage chair cover and had moved on to recreating cushion covers for an outdoor sofa. The first cover took more than twice as long as the second, which I suppose proves I had learned something during the process. I made quite a mess of the room and the space, but this time the culprit was small red fringe from the canvas fabric. I have yet to see the finished cushions because new foam needs to be cut, but I hope they turn out well once they are completed.

On November 30, we headed to Cannes for the day. It was a quick 10 minute train ride into Cannes. When we arrived, we immediately found ourselves in the commercial district, surrounded by fashionable clothing stores and cute cafes. We wandered around the shops for a little while, popping into some of the stores admiring the things and trying not to look at prices.

Eventually we made our way towards the old part of the city and found a little Christmas market on the way. We admired the decorations and window shopped a bit before heading to the port to look at the big boats. After looking at boats, we went to find the walk of frame handprints of various movie stars who have visited Cannes as part of the film festival, or who have filmed in the area.

Then we made our way up into the old village which is up on a hill and wandered around there enjoying the view and the sights. We went in the church and made our way to a museum where Fiona had a lovely conversation in French with the people working there before they decided to switch to English to speak with me and even threw in a bit of Spanish as well.

The views from up there were really nice and despite the grey, somewhat windy day, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

When we made our way back down, we wandered through the lower part of the old town a bit more and grabbed a baguette and a pastry near the site of the local market, which was not open, before heading back to Juan les Pins.

December 1-2 – Juan les Pins and Cannes, France

December 1 was a very chill day which we used to get ourselves organized for the next legs of our journey and finish up various tasks.

Our final full day in Juan les Pins, we actually went back to Cannes and took a ferry to Île Sainte-Marguerite where we wandered around the island enjoying the natural beauty of a forest, crashing waves, and a lagoon as well as the human built beauty of a fort. The water getting out to the island was really choppy but the weather was absolutely gorgeous with a brilliant blue sky.

It was a really wonderful day of exploring and island before we headed back to Juan les Pins to prepare to head to a BalFolk Ball.

That evening, we got a ride from one of the people we had met dancing in Antibes to a ball in Contes. The headlining musician was Rémi Geffroy and he was absolutely incredible. The music was amazing, the dancing was great, and just in general the whole event was fantastic!

I’m not really sure how to put into words how amazing the ball was. Everyone was so welcoming, it was well attended, and the music was absolutely amazing. It was just absolutely so much fun and so amazing to get to do BalFolk dancing in the region where it comes from. While there are a variety of dance traditions that get caught up in the umbrella term of BalFolk, much of the tradition seems to be from the region we were in, which was really fun.

After the event, on the hour long car ride back, we had really great conversation with the two Italians from the Antibes class and ended up heading over to Valerio’s apartment to continue the party there. We stayed till almost 4am and had just a really wonderful sendoff with them to end our time on the Côte d’Azur.

December 3 – In Transit and Avignon, France

We spent the morning sleeping in after our very late night out, then cleaned up the house and headed to the train station to make our way to Avignon for the night.

I have officially used every one of my rail pass journeys at this point, just in time for the December 5 expiration. The Eurail pass has a handy map visualization of all the trips I took using it which is really fun to look at. While this doesn’t include trains I paid for separately or buses I took, and obviously doesn’t include airplane travel either, it is a nice visualization of some of the journey I have had so far!

December 6, 2023
November 15, 2023

Well, that’s a wrap on Scotland. It’s been absolutely magnificent! Here’s a look back at the last few day in Glasgow and my 24 hour train adventures.

November 13 – Glasgow, Scotland

On my final day in Glasgow, I did some of the things I actually got to spend some time exploring the city, which was lovely. I went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and enjoyed the sort of random assortment of exhibits there. These ranged from art by The Glasgow Boys, a collective of young artists in the 1880s in and around Glasgow, to taxidermy animals to marble busts, and much more.

After the art gallery, I went to the Riverside Museum to enjoy the exhibits there. There were lots of trollies, bicycles, and cars all over the museum as well as information about the people and histories associated with different modes of transportation. I appreciated the openness of the museum which made it easy to just wander and see things without needing to follow a particular story or path. In this type of museum, with just about an hour to kill, it was useful to be able to just wander over to whatever most interested me at any given moment.

After that museum, I went to a physical therapy appointment to try to address my shin splint issues. I had a pleasant time speaking with the clinician who gave me some exercises I need to remember to do going forward. The good news is that there doesn’t appear to be an acute injury, just stress from overuse without properly strengthening. So, here’s hoping I can fix this problem.

After the physical therapy appointment and some food, I walked around the University of Glasgow campus. The architecture is absolutely amazing and despite the grey day and rain, it was a lovely way to spend my last evening in Scotland.

November 14 – In Transit

I woke up bright and early on Tuesday morning to start my 24 hour train journey. I took the train from Glasgow to London. We were slightly delayed because of flooding on the tracks, so of course I got a bit nervous about missing my next two connections. However, it ended up being okay. I made my way from London Euston Station to St. Pancras International and got my second stamp from “Londres, France” which I find very funny.

The next train took me to Paris where I transferred stations and got a glimpse of the top of the Eiffel Tower way off in the distance because it was after dark and it was lit up. My train out of Paris was delayed, so I ended up having a long time to wait. I probably could have wandered and seen a bit of Paris, but these sorts of things are always hard to predict and are very upsetting to miss.

When my third, and final train arrived around 10pm, I realized I was up at the top of a three bunk berth. So, for the next 12 hours, I shared a very tiny compartment with 5 other people who I was too nervous to attempt to speak with considering my lack of any French vocabulary.

It was surprisingly comfortable for sleeping and while I didn’t sleep well, my sleep was not terrible. For 21€ (with my train pass) and the story of the adventure it was definitely worth it to take the train. I was pleased that the connections all worked because otherwise, the trip would have been very different.

November 15 – Juan les Pins, France

After 12 hours on the sleeper train, I finally arrived in Antibes, pretty exhausted and pretty out of it. My friend, Fiona, met me at the station and we grabbed some coffee on our way to our host’s place in Juan les Pins, about a 30 minute walk away. It was lovely to step off the train into t-shirt weather, although I had to tie my jacket onto the back of my bag because I did not want to wear it. Everything was so sunny and felt extremely Mediterranean.

I was pretty out of it and took a shower and a nap to try to clear the train trip from my system. My first day in Juan les Pins was very relaxing and low-key, which I greatly appreciated after my day of travel.

December 1, 2023