Samedi 30 October

Today we are traveling back to Avignon because we are coming home SOON! We said our good –byes to Mariette and George (our hosts) and my mom cried because she thought that they are very sweet people and I thought they are too.

Mariette is Mari Claire’s auntand Mari Claire is a friend of mine along with Kira my other friend who lives with Mari Claire in Florida. We are taking the long route there and it will take about 6 hours and we will be stopping in a lot of little villages along the way. We are going to stay in Hotel De Colbert again because it was very nice. Happy Halloween everyone because Halloween is tomorrow! We stopped in Cucuron to have lunch and then we got on the road again. 

Then we will stop in Bonnieux and then we will be in Avignon by at least 6:00. When we got to Avignon we went to go see if we could find anything to eat. Then we found a little restaurant and it was so simple but so good. The dessert was a raspberry pie and that was great. Then we went back to the hotel and watched a kid singing talent show. Then at long last we went to bed.  

Vendredi 29 October

Today we drove to Monaco, but just for the scenic drive along the coast so we didn’t get out of the car. 

The road is called the Meyon Corniche and it winds along the cliffs on the coast. We were literally on the edge of a cliff and if the wheel of a van had been an inch farther than it was it would have fallen off the cliff. We stopped in Nice again to visit the Chagall and Matisse museums and to get lunch.

 Nice

 Roman ruins at the Matisse Museum

 Matisse Museum

We spent the  rest of the afternoon enjoying a sunny afternoon on the beach and we got an ice cream and sat on the beach while I went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

Jeudi 28 October

Today we drove to Nice, and I was reading in the car and I’m not supposed to read in a moving car but I did anyway and I got a headache. We have learned that one place with free internet access in France is McDonald’s, so for a few blog posts we had to go to McDonald’s to have wifi. My dad said that I should mark that on my calendar, the day he was looking for a McDonald's.  After the headache we went for a walk on the beach and picked up cool rocks, shells, and pieces of beach glass. 

Then we went to look for the Chagall and Matisse museums. There was a huge political protest march against retirement reform that lasted hours and we couldn’t get to either of the museums so we went to get our swim suits on and go swimming.

Then we went back to our flat with one last  stop at McDonalds so that I could post my blog. When we got to our flat I ate dinner and went out like a light.

Mercredi 27 October

Today we drove the Mediterranean coast from Cannes to Saint Tropez and found huge rocks that you can hop on in the water. 

Before that I went swimming at the beach in Cannes and that was one of the sandiest beaches I have ever seen. 

Then we went to get ice cream in St Tropez and along the beach and my mom found a painting that she liked and bought it. We used the Autoroute to return to Le Cannet, and in France the Autoroutes are like interstate highways in the USA, except they are toll roads. When we arrived at our exit my dad thought he only had a fifty Euro note, and the toll machine won’t accept anything larger than a twenty, but at the last minute he found the last coins he needed and we got away! Then we went back to our flat and ate dinner and went to bed.

Mardi 26 October

We stopped at Pont Du Gard, a famous aqueduct built by the Romans 2000 years ago.

It was used to carry water 70 miles to Nimes and surrounding towns.

The aqueduct was used so that you don’t have to go 70 miles to get a bucket of water and 70 miles back, so 140 miles all together.  This portion of the aqueduct crosses a canyon; they used tunnels and lead pipe to carry the water to many areas. The museum had a display that showed all of the possible routes that the aqueduct could take. We got to see how much it would cost in money and labor to take the shortest route, longest, and medium.

Can you guess which the Romans took? The shortest was the most expensive and hardest to build so the labor was really bad. The medium was a little bit easier but would still cost a lot. The longest was pretty expensive but they wouldn’t have to work as hard because the ground was flat. If you guessed the longest route you were right!  

Then we went to a wine museum that wasn’t very interesting to me. And we went to a chocolate museum and tasted chocolates and some wine. We visited some vineyards and wineries in Provence and tasted wine---- in France kids are allowed to taste, but not drink wine, so I tasted the wine as well.

Lundi 25 October

We are on the road and traveling to  Avignon. When we arrived there was a huge windstorm. Could it be any colder in Avignon? We went out for dinner and I almost froze my nose off! I don’t think it can get colder here in Avignon. We are staying in Hotel De Colbert. Not much happening today because we arrived at 8:00 at night.