supervising from the couch: First Day in France

Saturday, February 1, 2014

First Day in France

Posted March 18, 2014.

We left Cantu around 2:00 p.m. on the 31st, and drove for a little over four hours to Nice, France. It was dark when we got there, and as we drove through the maze of tiny, winding roads to find our hotel, we passed a few signs that led me to believe that I'd booked us rooms in the red-light district. Luckily the hotel was fine, and no one saw more than signs. :)

We had dinner at a restaurant across the street from our hotel and went to bed exhausted.

We got up bright and early for the hotel's breakfast and a quick walk through the park and down to the beach.

Everyone agreed that they could use more beach time, cold or not.

Rob, about to bite into the hamburger rock he found:

Ellie and Ainsley had pockets full of rocks and sea glass.

Here we are on the famous Promenade des Anglais:

Joey's got the hat and scarf look still going strong, and Ainsley is in star mode with her shades:

We took a different route back, so we got to see the main shopping streets and a few cool plazas.

Our drive to Fitou was a little stressful, first just trying to get out of a tight parking garage in the beast without a scratch (we didn't succeed) and then because although our credit card worked just fine on the toll roads in Italy, it did not work in France, so at almost every stop, we had to push the assistance button and wait for someone to come collect our cash, sometimes with a string of angry drivers behind us. Credit cards in Europe are more advanced than our cards in the U.S., they have a built-in chip instead of a magnetic strip. It's been an ongoing adventure to discover where our cards will work and where they won't. We've gotten used to carrying enough cash as back-up.

But I digress. We did eventually make it to our rental in the tiny village of Fitou, and were thrilled with the view and villa! Here's a tour, courtesy of Ainsley:

We unpacked a bit, then left the kids relaxing while we went to the huge Carrefour supermarket in a nearby town to stock up. It was great to sit down and enjoy a simple meal together, knowing that we wouldn't have to live out of our suitcases for a whole month!