Wow
folks, I ran out of gas a couple of days ago and just sat on the balcony
watching France go by below me.If you ever want to see real daily French city life, you must sit on this balcony.
And the owner, Ray, is a great landlord.
And he has a B&B in New Orleans.
Contact info.
Plus I had some other problems to work on.
The shower hose burst after I was here for a week.
I replaced it with another and that one burst a few days ago.
The problem is: there is a wimpy plastic hose inside the serious looking aluminum wrapping.
The shower head has one of those water saver devices in it.
For you Seinfeld fans, you might recall the water saver episode with Kramer knocked down in the shower.
Well, the water saving device in the shower head creates a backup of pressure in the hose.
The water pressure here is very high.
I had been turning the water on and adjusting the temperature with the flow diverted to the shower.
That created more pressure than the hoses could handle.
So when you come here and use this balcony, adjust the water in the tub through the spigot before you divert it to the shower.
And, by the way, if I had called Ray about this problem, he would have had it taken care of it right away.
But, he's a really good landlord, and I don't like to bug him with issues I can resolve.
So,
I went to buy another hose, but they were out of the metal clad 2 meter hoses,
so I had to get a 1.5 meter PVC hose.It's a little on the ugly side, but I think it's sturdier.
And it worked nicely.
I've
been intent on visiting an old medeival village near the Grande Corniche that I
passed last year on my way to Berlin.It's Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
But it's the old city and not very easy to get to.
After some serious research, I figure out a way to get there.
As has been normal the last few days I get a late start, so I go to the bus stop at Max Barel about 15:00. I catch the #7 bus to the Riquier station and get a ticket to Menton, near the Italian border.
Here we pass Villefranche-sur-Mer. It has a really nice natural harbor for the big cruise ships.
Unfortunately, it dumps a copious amount of tourists on the area.
The Disney cruise line even comes here.
But
it's a nice scenic train ride along the coast.
In
between Monaco and Menton is Carnoles.Haven't heard of it and haven't spent any time here.
It's
only takes about a half hour to get all the way to Menton.It cost me 2€ for the ride. $3.
I
head to the Gare Routière from the train station.This is where the 100 bus originates to go back along the coast to Nice.
If you really want a seat on this bus, catch it here.
Rush
hour traffic in Menton.It's 17:00.
I
get to the Gare Routière, it's about 8 blocks from the train station.
I
wander all over the station looking for the stop for the 113 bus.I can't find it and I'm deciding to just go visit Menton.
I've given up and it goes by.
I figure I just missed it.
But I follow it around the corner.
And
here's its origin point.Maybe that's why I couldn't find it.
This tree is not quite tall enough.
It doesn't leave here until 17:10, it's 17:06.
It's a little bus and I really want a seat as I know it will be another Mr. Toads Wild Ride.
So, I get on after only two other people and get a prime seat.
I did have a little issue with the driver as I tried my French on him and wanted to make sure he went all the way to Monaco, and I wouldn't get left at the top of a mountain.
This was the last bus going this direction.
He kept telling me to take the 100 bus. I told him no, I wanted to go to Monaco par Roquebrune, he finally figured it out.
My French really sucks.
This
was a great ride.Check out the Google Maps route.
One
of the hairpin turns on the route.
This
is a 1€ bus ride with some serious scenery.
I
really like these mountain roads.
And
the scenery.
We
go through Roquebrune. The old city, and now I know where to get off to visit
it.I think I can get off at the top and walk down.
There were 8 people on the bus.
2 from Montreal that were staying in the old city, 1 from California that was visiting a friend, and 1 from Orlando.
We wind up going back down through Beausoleil on the way to Monaco.
This
is the little bus.I'm going to take a chance on this on Saturday.
From
the stop in Monaco, I walk up the street towards the train station.Thats the Monte Carlo Casino with the tribunes for the Grand Prix race in front.
I
really like this view from the train station entrance down to the port.
Monaco
train station.
I
catch a train back to Nice Riquier.Have a little problem with the #7 bus as one shows up with the "this bus doesn't take any passengers" sign on.
I wait a couple of minutes and he changes it to #7.
So I walk over there, but the door is closed and the driver is reading a paper.
While I'm there, another #7 bus shows up behind this one, and drives around him to the stop.
Everybody that went to the other bus tries to run back and get the other bus, but he stops and leaves in 457 milliseconds.
A lot of discontent around the stop.
But it's only 5 minutes and the other #7 bus gets rolling.
The #7 bus takes you from Riquier to the port tout suite where one can acquire a nice Guinness.
I
stop at the grocery store for dinner, and pick up an entrecote.I'm having the entrecote with a green peppercorn sauce, some grilled sweet peppers, and a baked potato with butter with sea salt crystals and a little rouge from Bergerac.
It's pig out Friday.