Avignon

Sweet city with loads of action! It's Le Festival de Théatre d'Avignon throughout the month of July and there are people all over the place. Don't think it's always happening cause otherwise, I've been told, it's rather mondain. I didn't even get a picture of the damn bridge........ not dam......cause it's le Pont d'Avignon, so damn bridge!

The major reason for this stop is of course seeing part of family that I see about once every 6 years or so. My uncle André(left), with his wife Christianne (right), and their daughter, my cousin, Eva (bottom left). Eva's brother Alexandre, lives in Paris now (which I will elaborate on in future blogs), and Mélanie, the other sibling, is in Quebec now. André is such a cool cat, nothing really gets to him and he has such a relax outook on life. The patient southeastern France mentality of waiting for the fruit to fall off the tree when it's ready, not going to pick it from the branches. I finally met Christianne, which was cool, and hung out at their house for a couple of days. I also hit the scene with Eva and she got me into an invitation only end of the festival party at a sweet bar/club (pic right). The party is for the employees and administration of the festival and she worked during and I was her sole invite which was pretty VIP.......Petter les brettelles mon gars !

They have a pretty funky pirate cat (left) that is going blind of one eye and had to have the other one removed due to infection. They also have some turtles that roam around relatively free in the backyard and they move pretty quick. They're quite the surprise though at night when they scurry right past you at full speed. And there is of course the symbol of southeastern france, la cigale (right). Hot damn do they ever make a lot of noise. They spend 4-5 years as a larva underground to then surface, transmorph, live 4-5 months, and the males just make an awful wracket just to attract a little action from a prospective Mrs.

So............then my sister Katherin and ma mouman showed up! I knew they were coming as we had settled the meeting while I was in the Pyrenees. We had a little lunch (left) and then took off for Cassis, on the Côte d'Azur (pic right at Avignon train station). It is so friggin' awesome to have'em show up and do a little travellin' with'em. I love them so much and to take the cake, they just wanted to join me, and follow me a little on my trip. No, let's go here and do that, it was where are you going, we want to come. Je les adore tellement !!!!! Obviously, I found a spot that would be decent for all of us, and it would be a little more relax cause they're on vacation, but still it's all stuff I wanted to do.



Cassis

What a gorgeous bustling town and area, with many tourists, but amazing inlets with white rocks and clear blue water all the way down the coast (left + right). It was Diana that flagged this place for me since she had come last summer. Thanks chiquita.......So well worth it !



So, Kats, Louise and I hit Cassis (left) without any accomodations and of course we hit the jackpot at the first place we tried, while looking for another place. We scored a room for 11 poeple that is usually reserved for scuba diving groups (right), but it was the off season so we got the whole place with 3 showers, and a fridge, and only paid for 3 people, 62 € a night. We were right at the marina, downtown in the action, but our place was just off a little allet so there was no noise, no cars, just peace and quiet. Perfect as always!

The things to check out here are the beaches (so to speak) of little galettes, or flat white rock, or the pièce de resistance are the massive calenques which are water inlets surrounded by cliffs (left). You can get to the beaches at the end of the calenques via water or land, but by land is harder sometimes since it is so hot and dry, they close the paths often during July and August due to chances of fire sparking throughout the vegetation. That's why the first day we could only go to the white rocky coast to chill and swim with the nudists. Mommy was well surrounded (pic right), and Kats was chillin (pic bottom left), and I was trying to dive (pic bottom right). I was a little late on the form but got it around just in time......No floppy !



The next day we walked to the calenques and really enjoyed the scenery, and the water again of course. So many gorgeous pictures.......Go see snapfish! Just so much fun in the sun, with some great refreshing water and amazing natural wonders........The water is just so clear and a dark hefty, and healthy blue! After active days like this, and a little drinky-poo of course, you sleep so well.



Cassis was really gorgeous but the next stop proved to be even better than expected.



La Corse

I don't know how the hell France scored this island, but it was a nice acquisition. We took the night ferry across to Bastia from Marseille. Great view to get us going, as we left the port, from our reclinable deck chairs that we slept very well on (pic left), and a nice wake up call as we approached the embarkment at Bastia (pic right). Instead of screwing around, and since there isn't a very developed public transport on the island, we rented a car, and I drove mofo! It's an island so amzing coastline all the way around, with some pretty dodgey roads most of the way, but it adds to the unspoiled charm of Corsica.

There are some perfect, undisturbed villages that are just houses and churches bunched together on the hill sides, erupting in the middle of nothing. So nice!! And the views are amazing! It's the unspoiled little village feel, without the big hotels, or americanized bullcrap that really makes most of Corsica really special.

So from Bastia, we drove around the whole Cap Corse, the nothern tip which looks like a toe at the top end of Corsica, stopped at a little beach along the way (pics left and right), and made our way to Firona I believe, just beside St. Florent, in the gulf of St. Florent.


Again, we hit the jackpot at a camping as a bungalow was in between weekly rentals so we paid the weekly rate per day, and each had a bed, some more comfortable than others (pic left), had the kitchenette with full pots, pans, utensils, a fridge, an outdoor terrace with parking, ALL TO OURSELVES!!!! Just perfect to chill for a couple of days (pic right of first refreshments here).........And did I mention, it was a 3 minute walk to the beach !!!!! Well, it was....

It is also wine country in these parts..........vines everywhere, and all along the mountainsides, and along the coast (pics). I tried my hand at making me own wine, but no dice ! I guess it's not that simple.




The beach beside the camping was also just beautiful (pic left).........You could go a little further along the coastline (pic right of a super little hottie hiker chick on this path) to another beach which was actually all nice sand, no rocks.


We had a lot of fun in the humangazoid waves (pics). Look at the smile on moms' face !




Then............we took off for Ile Rousse in order to spend our last night there and be ready to take the ferry back the next day, but it was rather hard to find the drop off for the rental car, and there was no availability at the hotels, so we just kept on driving, and low and behold.........a sign for an airport.........St. Catherine's airport no less! So we went to check out the flights for Paris. And of course, there was a flight for Paris which left in almost 2 hours, there was a drop off for the car just across the street, it would take us 2 hours in all to get to Paris including a stop over in Nice, and it cost a measily 120€, which is about the same or less than the very complicated day and a half option via train. So Kats and Mom offered to pay my way, like for everything else, and it was a done deal.......We took off on a 68 passenger rotor engine plane to Nice........Check out the view people!


We passed over the edge of the Alps and saw the tip of Mont Blanc just stick out over the clouds (pic)........my next destination!





Paris

So we landed in friggin Paris and had an extra day to relax and check out the sights before Kats and Momma took off back to quebec. We stayed at moms' regular place near la Gare de Lyon and it was really peachy keen (pic left)...........Only one hick! The airline lost my friggin backpack with all of my clothes. So here I am in Paris, in thong gougounes, shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and nothing else. I had all of my important papers and money so it was all good.........I figured they would get it back to me before I left......... but no.........They are pretty useless! Atleast they gave me a little toiletry bag with an air France T-shirt, and said they would deliver my bag wherever I wanted as soon as it came in.

I am really getting good at not letting shitty things affect me cause it's not worth it. I know things will work out, and I'm not really pressed for time, so I just wait! I was going to let this ruin my time here with my girls so we hit the town (pic left of Invalide historic site, pic right of Arc de Triomphe) and pics below of some type of tower or something, I forget what it's called.

So after a full day, no luggage, but atleast they located it in Nice. And now it's been 3 full days and it should get here this afternoon, but we'll see. 3 days to get the okay and the whole bureaucratic process to get the friggin thing over here from Nice. It's just kinda annoying to wear the same clothes for 4 days, and it's been a little cooler up here........No more canicule, so a longsleeve would've been nice.........

...BUT !!!!! Everything always works out !!!! And I really, truly belive that now cause I always end up fine. The day Kats and Louise were leaving, I called up my little cousin Alexandre, André's son, who lives in Paris to see if I could crash at his place until my bag arrived. I didn't call him earler because it was supposed to be such a rush in and out of town. He just so happened to be leaving that evening with his girlfriend (pic left) to go sailing for his vacation. So, they gave me the keys, some food in the fridge, and I gots me a pad to myself to wait until my bag arrives. Not too shabby I would say!!!!! They are so freakin' cool man.........it's like no worries whatsoever. They really made me feel at home. Alex even invited out to lunch when I came over to his place. He has a pretty decent job it seems at an internet service providers firm, and lives just across the street from work. He's all handsome in his suit and he really looks happy. His girlfriend Liina is also super sweet and it really shows in their smile and demeanour that they are happy......with each other, and in life.....

And that's about it, and now I am up to date and I am very happy to get rid of this homework......recapitulating all of this info.........I'm kiddin' ! It's my sort of journal and this way people can follow along also. Hopefully I'll be in Chamonix tomorrow morning, but I'll let you know how things went next time.

Je vous aime tous............à bientot!