[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[lightcycle]

Opéra de Nice is an example of the Second Empire Architecture

Second Empire architecture was popular from the mid-to-late 19th century. Although it originated in France, and many more examples exist in Paris, you can also see this style in North America as well, like Boston's Old City Hall. But perhaps most people know the style of architecture from the houses from Psycho, The Addams Family, The Munsters and Beetlejuice. Yes, it's the horror house architecture... That's exactly what the French had in mind when creating this architectural style...

View of the coast of Nice

Near the shoreline was a tall outcropping of rock called the Colline du Château (Castle Hill). You can climb some stairs or take an elevator to get to the top, where you can walk around a large citadel that they built up there. It's the best place in the city to get some great views of the beaches and the rooftops below.[/size][/b]

Poor man's French Riviera

We've been to St. Tropez and Monaco before and Nice's marinas pale in comparison to the million dollar yachts parked in the swankier docks. In fact, only the downtown area of Nice is nice-looking. When coming into town, we noticed that the outskirts are kind of grungy-looking.

Reflection of Place Garibaldi, in one of the oldest squares in Nice

Heading into the old part of Nice (Vieille Ville)

We always gravitate to the older sections of cities and towns we visit. In Latin America, this would be called Centro Historico. The pastel paint on the buildings tell me that we're in a Gringo Trail Town!

Like any Gringo Trail Town, Vieille Nice is lined with shops and restaurants

As far as sculptures go, this was one of the less abstract (saner) examples. More about that later...

Scooter's eye view of Nice

 

[lightcycle]

Lots of families out for Christmas shopping

The French do food very well! But we are on a grocery store diet...

Neda is still suffering from stomach problems, which is making her quite miserable. It's been a week since leaving Pula, and our pace is pretty relaxed, so we're not too certain that stress is the cause. I did some Internet diagnosing, which is sometimes not that useful because just about every symptom could just as easily be a cold or be ebola at the same time...

It sounds like she may have some kind of food allergy, so I'm putting her on a diet and cutting out all of the usual suspects. There'll be no gluten and no dairy for her for the next week. Hopefully we can pinpoint the cause of her stomach problems.

Mosaic dome of a church peeks out between the narrow streets of Vieille Nice

It's such a shame it's so rainy and overcast, I can imagine this city being much more colourful and vibrant in the summertime!

Place Massena offers a cool checkerboard promenade

It also showcases some weird sculptures - a bunch of nude men kneeling on platforms on top of tall poles...

I don't get modern art. Not at all. I don't have a background in art, so I can't explain why I like certain paintings or drawings over others, but I can succinctly sum up why I don't like this kind of art: I just don't get it.

And then this one. A huge black arc sitting on the lawn. What does it mean?

I looked this one up. "Arc de 115.5 degrees" by Bernar Venet. Was erected in 1988 to commemorate the centennial of the naming of "Nice" or "Cote d'Azur". But... what does it mean?!!

More Avant-Garde Art?

The ferris wheel is still under construction for Christmas. Neda ventures out into the middle of a fountain that just shut off when we arrived. Not knowing how long between waterworks, I chickened out and just took pictures from the side. I was actually waiting for the fountain to start up again so I could laugh at her when she got soaked... Didn't happen. Oh well.

 

[lightcycle]

Keep posting your messages, 7 deg F here, 5 inches of snow and the roads are iced up.

Crazy!

Do not miss the winter at all!

 

[profdlp]

And then this one. A huge black arc sitting on the lawn. What does it mean?..

It's like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, but constructed by the low bidder. :sombrero:

PS: Are those rental bicycles by the coast in that one picture?

 

[RedDog]

Absolutely magnificent! I finally caught up. Thanks so much... But more please.

Also, someone has to ask so I will with respect. Does Neda possibly have a single sister she's hiding?

 

[lightcycle]

PS: Are those rental bicycles by the coast in that one picture?

Yes, most cities in France are very bicycle friendly and are a great way to get around. When it's not raining...

Also, someone has to ask so I will with respect. Does Neda possibly have a single sister she's hiding?

Sorry, I took the last available one! :victory:

 

[LilPoppa]

Oh well that's (the upsidedown arch) a Post-Ironic comment on the futility of maintaining a "Classic" character in an increasingly industrial (and dare I say, technical) world.

D'uh.

 

[LilPoppa]

Now just say with an air of authority every time you see some confusing art and you're good to go.

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/191.html

We left Nice in the rain to continue our march across Southern France. This was going to be a wet ride and we knew it, so we headed back on the highway to try to make short work of today's journey. We're headed to Marseille, second-largest city in France.

It's only three hours away, but the rain did not let up for the entire ride. At a few points on the Autoroute, I could feel the bike hydroplaning on top of all the standing water collecting on the highway. We eschew road etiquette and ride in the middle lane, staying on the crown of the road where there was less water.

No pictures, obviously, as both hands were white-knuckling the grips the whole way!

Marseille was the French Empire's most important port city

We're staying a couple of days at an AirBnB, great place, but still not as cheap as we'd like it.

To help ourselves negotiate around here, I dust off my Français skills. In Ontario schools, it was a mandatory course up till Grade 9, at which time I promptly dropped it. It's times like these when I wish I had stuck with it longer because the French words feel rusty like nails crumbling out of my mouth - painful to watch and listen to.

Normally Neda is very outgoing when it comes to talking to strangers. However, because she doesn't speak any French at all, I found myself having to carry all the conversations at hotels, grocery stores and gas stations. It was so interesting watching her shirk away from having to talk to anyone. Whenever somebody approached her, she would immediately tap on the communicator or tap me on the shoulder, "Uhhh.... Gene!"

What a complete role reversal from Latin America! I got a little taste of what it was like having to take point for all communications and I respect Neda more for it.

Notre-Dame de la Garde church, built on a hill
can be seen from anywhere in the city

The first day in Marseille we got rained in, so we spent the day cooped up watching the water fall from the skies. The weather co-operated with us the second day and we took a stroll around the port area of Marseille to get a feel for the city.

Monument aux morts de l'armée d'Orient et aux héros des terres lointaines - what a mouthful!

Looks like our Arc-Friend from Nice, Bernar Venet, has been busy in Marseille as well. I still don't get it...

Right on the Bay of Marseille is a nice spot called Pharo Garden where you can see the harbour and most of the port. On the lawns of the garden sits another modern sculpture called Désordre (Disorder). I'm renaming it "The Graveyard of Giant Three-Ring Binders".

 

[lightcycle]

View of the harbour from Pharo Garden. Fort Saint Jean on the right, Bulbe à Clochers Church on the left

Walking through all the war monuments and forts, reminded me of just how influential the French Empire was. It had such a huge role in the colonization wars in which it raced against Spain and Britain to claim territory in the Americas and all around the world. It struck me that in all of our travels across Latin America, we marveled at the imprint of Spanish invaders on the land, when back at home, we could've seen that same imprint that France left on Acadia and French Canada.

Our journey across the ocean to Europe has been like coming back to the source of history in the Americas.

Monument aux héros et victimes de la mer (Monument to the heroes and victims of the sea)

Peugot's three-wheeler, the Metropolis, is France's answer to Piaggio's MP3
and is the most popular scooter in the French Riviera

Look! Up above! It's... us.

Seems like every city in the French Riviera has to put up a ferris wheel for Christmas!

Bear-Nice (Sauce?)

Les Oiseaux en Colère!

Walking around the old part of Marseille - called Le Panier

We were walking around a part of the town called "The Sidecase". hehe. We visited the Givi Hotel, Hepco Becker Boulangerie...

Laundry day

We've seen a lot of people wearing hijabs and thobes in the French Riviera. About one third of the population is Muslim, the city was liberated from German occupation at the end of WWII by soldiers from Northern Africa. The last time we we were here, it was the summertime, so we stayed mainly on the beaches and back then we thought only pasty white (and lobster red) British people lived here!

 

[lightcycle]

Brown farms on the French Riviera. This must be so colourful in the summertime!

We found out that Trevor has settled into a little French villa in a small town called La Cadière-d'Azur on the coast between Toulon and Marseille and to return the favour, he's invited us to stay for a few days. So that means we're going to kick back and relax and not worry about hotels, AirBnB or Français for the next little while! Très bien!

We doubled back on the coastal road - D559. I've been staring at this road on Google Maps and my GPS with dread for quite some time now. Just an hour east on this exact same road from where we're staying is where I had a bad motorcycle crash 7 years ago that left us stranded in Côte d'Azur for a week... on this exact same bike I was riding now.

I could feel my bike underneath me taking the turns with just a hint of hesitation, a touch of tentativeness on the throttle...

Parking in Trevor's little French villa

View from our patio. Beautiful!

We've been very fortunate that we've had access to a kitchen for the last few days. Neda has been on a strict non-gluten, non-dairy menu for almost a week now and her gastrointestinal problems have abated somewhat. We're going to give it a full week to see if goes away completely.

"Hey Neda, you know what they say? No grain, no pain!"
She rolls her eyes and shoots me a distasteful look: "That's terrible."

Grocery run! Essentials like French wine and lots of gluten-free legumes and lentils for Neda.

While browsing the grocery stores we've noticed a lot of Rosé wine on the shelves. Seems that Rosé is the specialty wine in the French Riviera because of the ambient temperature and soil conditions. We also scour the shelves for food that will fit Neda's new diet.

"Hey Neda, I guess you're wheating out all the bad foods!"
"... you are the worst person that has ever lived!"

The new diet

This is what she makes pretty much everyday and since I'm so lazy, I end up just eating what she cooks instead of preparing my own meals. I've never eaten this healthy before in my life.

I don't like it.

"Hey Neda, looks like I'm a gluten for punishment!"
"I hate you."

I find D minor is the saddest of all keys

To undertake this trip, we've stripped ourselves of all our belongings besides what we can carry on our bikes. It's been two and a half years and we've carried no more than a weeks change of clothes suited more for hiking than entertaining. No cars, snowboards, dirtbikes. No house, no fridge, no drawers full of the bottles and jars of liquids and goop that make men smell manly and women look pretty.

We've realized we don't miss most of it. But during all this time, it becomes glaringly obvious which things (besides the people) we've left behind that leave a hole in your life. For me, it's music. I look forward to the day when I can have a room and fill it with guitars, a piano and a drumkit in the corner.

Neda wants a room too. She wants to fill it with shoes...

 

[KiwiKurt]

What an epic adventure!!

This question is a touch personal, so I apologize in advance. But if you are willing to answer/discuss it, what has been your financial expendiature for the duration of the trip thus far? How did you plan/budget it in advance?

 

[lightcycle]

This question is a touch personal, so I apologize in advance. But if you are willing to answer/discuss it, what has been your financial expendiature for the duration of the trip thus far? How did you plan/budget it in advance?

I don't have specific numbers, but definitely less than the guy who just bought a new BMW 328i...

As far as planning/budgeting, we did it the old fashion way: always spent less than we earned, then before the trip, we sold everything we owned: home, cars, bikes, sporting equipment, etc.

Here's an excerpt from one of our earlier blog entries (http://ridedot.com/euro/081807.html):

The train ride back to Munich had us discussing what it would take to do a motorcycle tour for over year, possibly two, that would take us around Europe (properly this time), Eastern-Europe, Africa and Asia, and even back to the Americas (south and central). It probably won't happen for a few years, but I think we're both committed to this idea.

That was written on August 17th, 2007. So we've been planning this trip for quite some time...

 

[profdlp]

I don't have specific numbers, but definitely less than the guy who just bought a new BMW 328i...

Knowing nothing about BMW, I expected that to be a pricey high-end model. It is amazing you two have pulled this off for an amount in that price range. You have made me dare to dream...

 

[joeyabisa]

Knowing nothing about BMW, I expected that to be a pricey high-end model. It is amazing you two have pulled this off for an amount in that price range. You have made me dare to dream...

.

2015 BMW 3 Series - - MSRP: From $32,950 USD