Paris, the Cannes Film Festival, and Three Weeks in Philadelphia

Published by
Bonnie
at June 3, 2008 in Travel. 0 Comments

These past few weeks have been something of a blur. Only a handful of days after getting home from Morocco, my friendlies/roomies and I headed back to Paris, where we spent a long weekend as museum whores–um, I mean culture lovers. There I got to meet up with my old friend from camp, Jane. Together we frolicked and tried to overcome quickly-dying French cell phones. I also took part in such lovely activities as a bread festival, a Versailles picnic, and an endless boat ride.

Upon coming back from Paris, we hit up the Cannes Film Festival, which was going on just down the road (or really, down the coast) from our place in Nice. There we stood around and gawked at pseudo-stars and watched Dirty Harry on the beach–where Clint Eastwood himself showed up to introduce the film. Then, only two days after flying home Paris, I up and flew back for the afternoon. Why? Because an amazing, 88-year-old writer named Gisèle Prassinos finally got in touch and said I could come visit her. So I did!

Of course, my last week in Nice was a sad one. I already miss all my friends–not to mention my Mediterranean–like crazy. But now I’m home, adjusting to the time difference and the culture shock, and resisting the urge to clean my house. (Must… clean…) In less than three weeks I’m off to San Francisco to move in with Scott and James and start the great job hunt. Bye land of cheese. Hello land of burritos.

Bonnies goes to Morocco, doesn’t get sold for camels

Published by
Bonnie
at May 15, 2008 in Travel. 0 Comments

Rest? Sleep? Relaxation? Traveling Bonnie laughs in the face of such things! Also, traveling Bonnie has gone slightly crazy from traveling, so she’s started referring to herself in the third person.

When last I checked in, I’d finished road tripping through the French countryside with my mom. A lot has happened since then. I moved out of my apartment in Grasse (bye bye, beautiful view) and into a new place in Nice only two blocks from the sea. As roomies here, I have my friendlies Kat, Viki, and Paul. Needless to say, with so much happy hanging out to be done, I’ve seen the Nice sunrise far too many times.

In visitor news, my old roommate (dinosaur enthusiast, poet, and generally awesome person) Melissa came to visit for a week. She was on a grand European tour, with a stopover here in the Riviera between Berlin and Paris. Things were a bit hectic with the move, but we did make it out to Ventimiglia for the Italian market. How cool is it that we can go to Italy for the afternoon? Also, Melissa made amazing stuffed artichokes her last night. They were delicious and they took forever to eat–like the vegetarian equivalent of lobster.

Most recent news: my Australian friend Sally and I spent a week in Morocco! We’d been warned that the water was sketchy, the men were sketchier, and people ate boiled sheep’s heads. While all these things are true–or maybe because they’re true–we had an awesome time. We roamed the markets in Marrakesh, we saw palaces, we rode camels. Contrary to expectations, no one even tried to steal us or sell us for livestock. We did get hassled a lot in the street, but these white girls are tough! Not only did we barter like pros for our shiny new possessions, we also day tripped out through the desert and got ridiculously intimate massages at a hammam. All in all it was one of the most unique and memorable adventures I’ve ever been on!

Oh right, I also finished teaching. No more hooligans, at least not in my classroom. My contract ended at the end of April, so it’s smooth sailing (or at least smooth traveling) until I head back to the States on May 29th. I’ll be in the Philadelphia/New York area for three weeks before packing up again and moving out to San Fran. Hope I’ll see you all then so I can catch up in person. Now let’s just hope all my stuff fits in my suitcases…

Bonnie lives “by herself,” has lots of visitors

Published by
Bonnie
at April 24, 2008 in Travel. 0 Comments

Halley on the Riviera!While I’m super sad to be without my Scott, who left to head back to the States more than four weeks ago, I’ve got to say I’ve hardly have a free moment to be lonely–or to do my laundry. These past few weeks have been April vacation here in France (one of many lovely school vacations) which has meant instead of instructing hooligans in the ways of English, I’ve been off on various adventures!

Three weeks ago, I headed with my friends Paul and Viki to an organic farm up in the mountains north of Nice, where we volunteered our bodies–i.e. our ability to weed a vegetable garden–in exchange for room and board with an awesome French family. Of course, since we’re all goofy at heart, we spent most of our time frolicking with an adorable four-year-old who really enjoyed beating the heck out of Paul. When someone’s that cute, she can kick whomever she wants! Since the farm was primarily a goat cheese farm, we also ate a ridiculous amount of chevre. No… more… cheese…

Two weeks ago, Halley came to visit from Boston, which was a-mazing. We basked in the sunshine on local beaches (even when the sunshine wasn’t cooperating) and took a trip into the Camargue, where we rode special white horses through the marshes and saw wild bulls. We also potentially traumatized a small bus load of French children who were staying in the next room of our hostel one night when we had the serious giggles. Beaver rat? Beaver-rat? Beaverat?

Last week, my mother came to visit. We rented a car, and did a mini road trip to Annecy, which is in the French Alps. Then we headed down to Provence, where we stayed in one of the Marquis de Sade’s chateaux, where I promptly dorked out and had a blast taking photos of strangeness and decay. Stephie just left this morning, taking with her a whole duffel full of my winter clothes and books. Here’s to hoping the rest of my stuff fits when I go to come home at the end of May!

In upcoming Bonnie news, I’m moving to Nice at the end of April, where I’ll be living with friendlies and basking in the sunshine for a month–since I’m actually done teaching tomorrow. So long, hooligans! I’m also headed to Morocco for a week. Oh, and my friend Melissa will be visiting as of Monday. No rest for those who live in the lovely French Riviera!

I’m leaving France soon and it makes me sad :(

Published by
Scott
at March 25, 2008 in Travel. 3 Comments

It’s true! This Friday I’m boarding a plane to return to the States (well, a plane to fly to London Heathrow to board a plane to return to the States, but close enough). As you can imagine, I’m experiencing some mixed emotions regarding the journey; while I’ll be excited to return home and prepare for an imminent move to San Francisco, I’m also incredibly sad to be leaving France, our friends and, of course, Bonnie.

Leading up to my departure have been a few great weeks of sight-seeing and hanging out with friends. We experienced Carnaval in Nice, with many flowers, silly string, and giant crazy awesome floats. And we visited Menton for the Citrus Festival, which involved even more floats, though all were notably comprised of many lemons and oranges (making for a very distinct and ever-present two-tone color theme).

More recently, we trained out to St-Raphael, where we met up with fellow assistant Rick for a tour of the town and its beaches. We celebrated Purim by baking delicious Hamentashen, celebrated the sunshine by hiking along the beautiful cliffs of Eze, celebrated Easter by eating waaay too much chocolate, and celebrated a slightly-belated St. Patrick’s Day with a rousing game of Beer Pong.

Somewhere in there I also turned 23, and had a lovely time doing so in the South of France. I am very much going to miss it here.

Bonnie and Scott are full of Austrian baked goods

Published by
Bonnie
at February 22, 2008 in Travel. 0 Comments

We just got home from Vienna, where we had a lovely time getting royally cultured. The strange thing is, to get here, we didn’t have to take a million trains or spend the night in an airport or even wake up at an obscene hour of the morning. We flew into and out of Nice like normal human beings. Needless to say, we are baffled.

These past two weeks has been official “Who knows why? Probably ’cause the French love not working” school vacation time for me. We were supposed to go work on a farm here in the Alpes-Maritimes for the first half of break, but got pooped out on by some very unfriendly farmers last minute–so we ended up staying home, doing some local sightseeing (like the glass blowing town of Biot, and the games festival in Cannes), and be good and work-y.

This Monday however we flew off to Austria, where we’ve spent the last five days. We saw crazy art, less-crazy art, and drank beer out of giant mugs. We also saw prancing horsies, a million palaces, and drank beer out of tiny mugs. Of course, we went sightseeing with our taste buds, too. We ate colorful concoctions at Kafka’s favorite sandwich place, apple strudel like proper German-speaking people, and Vienna’s famous Sacher torte chocolate cake. Scott really liked the Bratwurst. Oh, plus we ate Mozart. He was a bit stale.

Some of my favorite parts of the trip were: nighttime ice skating (in typical wobbly Bonnie style) on the crazy elaborate rink outside Vienna’s town hall, staring for the better part of an hour at Heironymous Bosch’s “The Last Judgement,” getting to watch a proper opera for three euros (even if we had to stand for five hours to do it) and seeing entire barrels–yes, barrels–of sauerkraut.

In the overall, it was really fun to get to know a new city–one that felt Germanic but refined. Needless to say, we’re happy to be back in a country where we actually understand the language. I think I got cursed off to a little old Austrian lady in the street, but I guess I’ll never know!

Marc visited and we hung out like buddies!

Published by
Scott
at February 17, 2008 in Travel. 1 Comment

2008 has so far been a pretty great year for visits. First my parents in late January, and now Marc, a close friend that I’ve known since middle school (back in what I’m gonna call my “awkward years”). We gave Marc the official tour of the south of France, first heading to Nice for museums, markets, and long walks on the beach.Marc also did his own fair share of traveling, taking a few days during the work week to travel west to Monpellier and Carcassonne (as shown through his stunning photos of the journey).

Once he returned from his travels, we spent a relaxing day in Cannes, sipping beer and coffee on the beach at sunset (seriously). We had time for one more day-trip to Monaco before Marc had to head home to the States. It was a great visit from a great buddy.

More recently, Bonnie and I headed to the small village of Biot with ex-pat friendlies Adam and MaryAnn. Biot is known for its glass-blowing artisans, as well as its history of pottery-making. A good time was had by all.

Tomorrow we depart for Vienna, Austria. Expect more photos and stories when we return. Ciao for now!

My parents came to France and took us to the circus!!

Published by
Scott
at January 27, 2008 in Travel. 0 Comments

Yes, the real circus. With elephants, and tigers, and seals (which were real, no matter what Bonnie tells you). I think I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start over from the beginning.

So my parents finally made the long-anticipated journey to France, arriving in Nice last Saturday and staying for a little less than a week. It was certainly a busy week, as we tried our best to show my folks (and their good friends Jeff and Joyce) as much of the Riviera as possible.

We began in Nice Saturday night, with a tasty French dinner at Le Tapenade. Next morning we took our visitors through Nice’s Sunday market, before heading out to St. Tropez, where pretty boats and expensive shops mingled amicably.

We met up with the travelers in Cannes the next afternoon, where we admired handprints of famous people, even more yachts (some with hilarious names), and, of course, the gorgeous views. The next day was a proper tour of our little town of Grasse, complete with mandatory visit to the Fragonard parfumerie.

The day after? Monaco. And the circus. That’s right, the 32nd Annual International Monte Carlo Circus was in town the week my parents were visiting, and so we all met up in Monaco to watch acrobats, clowns, trapeze artists, and animals of various shapes and sizes perform for our amusement. And believe me, we were amused. It was, in a word, a fantabulous time.

Sadly, the next evening was our last with my folks and their friends. We met for dinner at Barracuda in Nice, a restaurant that quickly became their favorite. It was really great seeing all of them, and we couldn’t be happier that they made the trip.

Scott attempted to hug pigs, then settled for eating them

Published by
Bonnie
at January 6, 2008 in Travel. 1 Comment

Ah, sweet Riviera. After a long weekend exploring Florence and Siena–and a week living on an Italian farm (yes, that’s right, a farm)–we’re back in Grasse. The sun is shining, it’s at least ten degrees warmer than it was in Tuscany, and all of our clothes are caked in mud. Laundry ahoy! What more could we ask for? Well, maybe that French supermarkets open on Sundays so we could get something to eat…

After a low-key Christmas here at home (fuzzy slippers, lovely perfumes, and general present happiness had all around), and some adventures in Nice, Monaco, and Menton with assistant friendlies, we headed to Siena on Wednesday. 17 million (i.e. 5) train connections later, we arrived to find our hotel was 3 kilometers outside the city walls. Oops! We celebrated our eventual arrival by hugging the heated towel rack, watching bad French TV, and stealing extra cheese from the continental breakfast.

Hostel life makes sleeping in an actual room feel so decadent. Good thing we didn’t get spoiled. After seeing the Siena sites (the first of many old palaces and marble-lined cathedrals), we took a train to Florence, where our hostel room had 23 beds. Eek! Unfortunately, it also had a group of rambunctious Italian boys. Needless to say, we spent most of our daylight hours out and about, exploring museums (we saw Renaissence art, but we also saw Galileo’s finger in a jar), churches, and more palaces. We also met up with my friend Laura, who kept us in good company while we tourist-ed and ate lots of pasta.

On Sunday we rode the bus out the farm where we were WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms-ing). That means we put in five days of actual labor–a very curious idea for internet workers–and in return we get a place to stay and food to eat. We weren’t sure how things would go (I had visions of chasing farm animals across open fields) but we ended up having a great time. We helped build fences and picked rosehips (ow, the thorns!) and Scott got to carry a new-born lamb down a mountain. Like, it was born five minutes before, and it was sticky. Amazing!

The family we were staying with was super sweet. We got fed tons of Italian food! They use so much olive oil they keep it in what look like gasoline drums. Yummy. Oily and yummy. Also, the farm’s main product is, well, pork products (ironic for the vegetarian, I know). So after staring longingly at the many pigs that roam the fields, Scott was able to finally fulfill his meat quota at dinners. Normally he survives off tofu, the poor thing. Also also, there were sheeps and dogs and cats and jam-making and we got dirty and we were cold and we learned Italian and we took a million trains home and we had a really good time!

Woot!  Now back to work…

Sweden was very cold and I wore many pants.

Published by
Scott
at December 17, 2007 in Travel. 0 Comments

The word of the weekend was “layers.” As we live in the bright-and-shiny riviera, we did not bring along things like “Winter clothing” for our residence in the south of France. So when we visited Stockholm this past weekend, our solution to not having the most appropriate attire was to wear layer upon layer of less appropriate attire, until we were both squishy and warm. It worked. Mostly. The glögg (delicious hot spiced wine) helped as well.

Though getting to Stockholm was a tad difficult (bus to Cannes, train to Marseille, bus to airport, sleep on cold airport floor overnight, plane to Stockholm, bus to central Stockholm, metro to hostel), it was certainly worth it when we got there. Chilly weather aside, the city has numerous sights to see, like the Nobel Museum, and a building designed to house and tell the story of a 17th-century Swedish ship, which was recovered in its entirety 333 years after it sank in the harbor (the thing is massive. Seriously).

What occupied the most of our time was Skansen, an open-air museum erected at the end of the 1800’s, built as a preservation of 19th-century Swedish culture. Skansen has actual houses from the era, preserved and inhabited by people employed to dress the part, dispelling handy information about what life used to be like. Leading up to Christmas, Skansen is also home to an enormous Christmas market, where all sorts of tasty foods and hand-made goods can be found.

It was definitely a good trip. On top of all the Swedish sights, we even made some new Australian friends (one on the way to Stockholm, and two more on the way back). Getting home was just as tricky as getting there (metro to bus, to plane, to bus, to train, to bus), but it’s nice to be back in the South of France (even if it is a bit chilly today).

Nice, Menton, and French Latkes

Published by
Bonnie
at December 9, 2007 in Travel. 0 Comments

It’s December, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. It’s sunny, there are oranges in the trees outside our windows, and during the day Scott has been walking around in a t-shirt. Granted, the French are big on Christmas, so half of the roundabouts we pass on buses have been sprayed with fake snow. Next to the palm trees, it looks pretty funny!

We headed into Nice last Sunday to enjoy the weather. After a stroll along the water (and an enormous barbe of cotton candy) we took advantage of Nice’s free museum day and checked out the Musée Chagall, the Musée Matisse, and a museum of Gallo-Roman ruins. Afterwards, we met friends for dinner and tea before making the minor trek back to Grasse, where nightlife sadly is nonexistent–unless you count that flashing pharmacy light which strobes out on the sidewalk.

On Wednesday we went with a friend to Menton, the town on the coast closest to Italy. Another friend met us there and showed us the sites, which included lots of mis-proportioned Christmas decorations, a Jean Cocteau museum, and a windy old town with great views of the Italian border. Apparently you can walk into Italy for dinner. It sound so European, and delicious.

Also, hey, it’s apparently Hanukah. Living in a Catholic country like France, it’s hard to keep track of Jewish holidays. To celebrate, a bunch of friends came in from Nice yesterday. We walked around Grasse, went back to Fragonard for the free parfumerie tour and endless spray samples, and drank hot, spiced wine at the international Christmas market. Then we headed chez nous for messy latkes and a make-shift menorah. All in all, a lovely Hanukah!

This weekend we’re off to Stockholm for some Swedish holiday cheer. Anticipate tales of un-sunken ships, floors at the Marseille airport, and flowing cups of Glögg…