New Years week

During the Chicago Marathon weekend, a friend and I had somewhat joked about traveling to France at some point. Over the interim months, talking occasionally, we decided to actually book the trip. We had four days in the south of France, followed by two in Paris and two in London. I'm now back in London, back to the reality of work and everything here.

South of France
We flew into Nice on Sunday afternoon, after a layover at Heathrow. Our adventures began with Julie navigating with the GPS while I tried my less-than-professional manual skills with a compact diesel on very narrow, very hilly streets in Cagnes-sur-mer. We eventually got to the hotel without too much damage to life, limb, vehicle, or sanity. It was a probably six-room or so bed & breakfast in a small town about a 15 minute drive away from downtown Nice -- much quieter and further away from the crowds, but also further away from the activity. We found a great place for dinner that first night, just up the road, then crashed.

On our first full day in the country, we toured the Villa Rothschild, drove along the coast, had lunch in the village of Eze on the cliffs over the water, toured Monaco at sunset, and ended up in Nice for dinner along the Promenade.

For our second full day, we set out with an itinerary with a set of five wineries for some tastings in Provence. In doing our research the previous night, we realized a peculiar thing about France -- whereas we are used to having specific addresses for anywhere we would go, they have at most a street name and a city posted on their websites -- not so useful for the GPS. Regardless, we got to Chateau de Berne, which was amazing -- they have a hotel, restaurant, and event center on site for weddings and the like in the summer, but we were literally the only people there for our tasting. The sommelier spent at least 90 minutes talking us through nine different wines, the region, and everything. Granted, we have essentially opposite tastes -- Julie was all excited by the rose and white wines, while I loved the fuller bodied cabernet / shiraz blends toward the end of the tasting. We then went to a smaller vineyard where the single woman there spoke limited English, but recommended a third place that we had not found online the previous night. It was similar to the first, and we joined up with a group of four Brits for a tour of the vineyards, 30m-deep wine cellar, and tastings. After this, we continued on to Cannes to explore the town and have dinner, before going back and crashing for another night.

On New Years Eve, we explored Old Nice, tasted olive oils, and visited the Musee Chagall. We returned to the hotel in the afternoon to begin planning our time in Paris and to recover a bit before dinner. Now, the B&B owners were staying there along with several other guests -- they put on appetizers, champagne, and the like beginning at about 6pm. We all just sat around a fire, talked, and generally relaxed for a while before heading off to an Italian place for dinner. This was at most an 8-table restaurant, right up the street from the hotel. When we had checked in, our hostess called to make our reservation. Stephan, the restaurant owner, came out to greet us, take our orders, cook the meals, and everything. It was a phenomenal experience! Just before midnight, we returned to the hotel to ring in the new year with the other guests and some more champagne.

New Years Day had a much slower start, followed by our flight to Paris. After we checked into our hotel there, we went out to see the Eiffel Tower at night and to have dinner nearby.

Paris
On Friday, we had by far our most energetic day to ate. We had an early breakfast at the Renaissance before getting to the Louve. We got into the museum shortly after it opened, saw the Mona Lisa, saw a few other sites, and were on our way to our next stop within barely more than an hour! Throughout the day we toured the Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysses, the Eiffel Tower in sunlight, the Latin Quarter (unbelievable bistros!), had the world's best macaroons, and toured the Musee d'Orsay, all before dinner! It was a fun whirlwind tour, but we definitely could have enjoyed another day or two there, as well.

On Saturday, we visited the Musee Rodin, before taking the EuroStar back here to London. We spent some time out with friends on Saturday night here, then explored Brick Lane on Sunday, before facing up to the reality of a new work week, with Julie returning to the States yesterday morning as I took the tube back to the office.

As we suspected, we are very different people -- I enjoyed the south more, while I think Julie was more a fan of the bigger cities. I had red wine every night, while Julie had white. I navigate by maps, whereas she does by GPS and next-step directions. We are definitely very different people who want different things, yet it was still a great, relaxing, fun trip that I'm absolutely glad to have taken!