It's been a busy week or so. After leaving Sanary-sur-Mer we drove along the Mediterranean coast to St. Tropez for lunch on the beach. It was fun seeing how the other 1/10th of 1 percent live. The food was good, the prices were too high and a couple of the older men and women we saw on the beach should cover up more.
We continued along the French coast to Cannes where we stayed 2 nights in the downtown area at the Hotel Victoria. The hotel bordered the Rue d'Antibes which is similar to Worth Ave. in Palm Beach; very high end, although Sooz saw many stores that also were in malls in Florida. Again, it was fun to people watch and stroll by Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes where the Cannes Film Festival takes place. I went in the tourist office and asked if we could take a tour of the building and the man at the counter very politely smiled and said, "No, the public is only allowed inside 2 days a year." And, today was not one of those days. It was worth a shot.
After Cannes, we started driving north spending a night in Moncalieri, outside Turin, Italy. Our room had a nice view of the Po River. It was fun, once again, to have breakfast at the hotel and realize families and kids are similar to those we see almost anywhere. There was a youth soccer team having breakfast with their parents and we smiled a lot remembering when Sam and Max were their ages.
The next day we continued north. One travel spot on my to-do list was Col de l'Iseran the highest paved mountain pass at 9,087 feet. The weather has been fantastic, mid 70s to low 80s and full sun and this day was no different. We stopped at the pass in our rental car among the motorcyclists. Sooz and I both smiled at the bikers but realized we made the right decision by dropping off our motorcycle a couple of weeks earlier for shipping back to Florida and renting a car.
That night we spent in a large B&B in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, France. We were the only guests in the B&B and we had fun and interesting discussions with the owners, Karine and "Jeff". Bourg-Saint-Maurice is one of the premier skiing spots in the world. They attract visitors from around the world. One mind blowing statistic is the town of 17,000 residents has over 4 million tourists, mainly during the winter ski season. That is incredible and, while the residents appreciate the economic benefits of the tourists, Karine and Jeff think it has grown too much too fast and needs to be dialed back a little. Locals can no longer afford to live there, similar to what we have heard in several locations, including Florida.
We are currently in Annecy, France nicknamed the "Pearl of the French Alps" and one of Sooz's must see places. Sooz is checking out the local market
After 4 nights, we will continue north eventually flying back to Gainesville from Frankfurt October 18, a week from tomorrow - not something Sooz wants to talk about.
Our route along southern France, beginning to head north
