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Chambord is the biggest chateau in the region. It is about an hour drive from Amboise. We got there by 11am, had an ice cream and then head straight into the chateau. The architecture is very interesting, with somewhat plain walls on the outside, and more decorated / ornated buildings in the middle. The signature of Chambord is the double-spiral staircase in the middle of the building. It allows two person to go up and down the stairs without seeing one another. |
| We left Chambard around 3pm and drove along some more French
countryside. Chenonceau was the prettiest chateau we've seen. It's built
in the middle of a river with bridge on one side and a draw bridge on the
other. Two beautiful gardens (Diane's and Catherine's) on both sides. The
history was that Henri II gave this chateau to his favorite mistress--Diane
de Poitiers. After his death, Catherine de Medicis made her return the
castle in exchange for another one (Chaumont, which we did not have time
to visit).
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After dinner at the hotel (too lazy to venture outside), we thought about going out to find a gas station to refuel. We got into our obligatory nightly lost again and never found a gas station that is still open.
The weather at Avignon is still very summer-like. 
It
must have to do with its proximity to the Mediterranean. The primary attraction
at Avignon is the Papal Palace in the middle of town. Taking a guided tour
with an English tour guide was a great idea. We learned so much more about
the history of the palace and the custom then by taking this tour.
From the Papal Palace is a short walk to the river where the Pont de
Saint-Benezet still stands. It has a church on the bridge and extends
half way over the river. I made up some story about it never completed
building and Yulin bought it...for a little while. Then she found out very
quickly that there are only 4 arches left because the other 18 were destroyed.
Uh-oh, there goes my reputation.
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 In
the gallery of di Blanco. We bought two reproduction of his work. He does
not speak much English, and we don't speak much French. It was an interesting
"conversation". |
We
were going to take the TGV from Avignon to Marseilles, but it was delayed.
Instead of waiting for another hour at the stinky train station, we decided
to take a slow but direct train to Nice instead. On the train, we managed
to find the first class cabin. These are cabin for six. We happened to
share the cabin with two American guys from Utah who have been trekking
through Europe for the last 6 weeks. We talked through most of the train
ride and traded many stories about what we liked. They were particularly
impressed by Chamonix in Switzerland for its beautiful view of the Alps.
The also liked Prague for its pristine beautiful old history and relatively
undisturbed environment after escaping most major wars (as well as the
beautiful women there).
We arrived at Nice at 6pm on a Saturday night and the Tourist Information office is jam packed. We made the mistake of plunking down a total of 1500FF for 5 nights at a hotel without checkout out the room first. The hotel is called Hotel Avenue, a 2-star hotel. Since we had a 2-star in Paris and it was okay and we were too eagar to get a place to stay. Bad Mistake! The place is filthy and noisy and the bed is squeaky. Two rules for hotel shopping:
We walked down to the rocky beaches after dinner and the water was really nice and warm, even at night.
We took Bus #22 which took us through some market selling food and produce and then up some hilly streets to Cimiez, an old Roman town where you can see amphitheater and Roman bath ruins. It is also where Musee Matisse is located. The museum is a rectangular pinkish building amongst the Roman bath ruins. It took us a while to find the entrance at the basement. There was an exhibition on painters of the Cote d'Azur. On the other floors are mostly paintings collected by Matisse and represent the style of artists at Cote d'Azur as well as some of Matisse's earlier work and some cubist works.
From Matisse to Modern Art. We took Bus #15 from Cimiez to Musee d'Art
Moderne. It is a totally different experience going to a modern art museum.
You never know if it is mean to be an empty box or whether they just took
the art work away. There are also crushed cars, casts of human bodies,
plastic bottles strung up on a rope, canvas of uniform color, or mechanical
devices that turns on its own. This just isn't stuff you see at the Louvre
or what normal people called art. Just whatever you do, don't cross those
white lines. They mark where the alarm start.
| Another big advantage of going into the Modern Art Museum is the roof top garden. It has a stunning view of the entire Nice. Not to be missed. | ||
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