Sunday, October 25

We got going on time from Servian after last minute cleanup and packing and Justin strategically packing the trunk of the car so it all actually fit. We scheduled our drive so we could stop in Nîmes to take a tour of the Ampitheatre and the Maison Carrée both of which were more than 2000 years old. Max was happy being the leader and walking around the arena while the rest of us listened to our audio guides.

Shelby at Arènes de Nîmes

Max & Shelby at Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France

After having lunch at a cafe across from the Arena we got back in the car and headed for Grasse France so we could meet Nicole, the owner of the house we are staying in and drop off a couple bags we don’t need for our time in Italy.

Lunch in Nîmes, France.

Upon leaving Grasse this is when things got hairy. The roads went from fast (they’re always fast) and not so busy to fast and busy. With the surprise time change today, yes, I woke up and was cleaning the kitchen and looked at the clock in there and it said 9:30 when I knew there was no way it was that late and wondered “has that clock always been an hour ahead?”. Anyway, obviously the population between Cannes, France and Sanremo, Italy is much more than what I am/was used to in our little village on the west coast of the mediterranean. The driving was insane! Not only are you hitting toll booths for which we don’t have a ticket for so we just pay in cash the amount that comes up when we arrive at them. I guess where we got on from leaving Grasse was midway along a toll road, I don’t know. Thankfully somehow we fluke out and always pick the right booth, I think I know which one to go to but I’m always happy it’s the right one, pick a ticket or pay. As usual you’re approaching these at 130km and leaving at 130km, Justin calls it a road race when you leave. I know I’ve mentioned it before but envision this, approaching from 2 or 3 lanes into something that opens up to what looks like 20 drive thru order kiosks. Then you grab your toll ticket or pay and then there are cars LEAVING these 20 drive thru kiosks at the same time. They’re not always ALL going but lets even say on a slow day, there are 5. Well then, you are all jockeying for the 2 lanes, sometimes more depending on the size of the highway, but then there are more cars departing too. You do NOT want to get squeezed out. Thankfully our car is peppy and gets going pretty quick. I’ve actually gotten used to the toll booths, I don’t even mind them so much. But today, was a new experience.

Link to video of leaving a toll booth in France from our drive today. I think it speaks for itself.

So back to departing Grasse after meeting Nicole, we’re booting along the highway and because of the time change it’s starting to get a bit dark already. It’s only about 5pm. As we keep going we start to hit some tunnels that actually look beautiful carved into the sides of mountains. You drive through, then pop out then there’s another one and another one and another one. But you see, as it gets darker, the tunnels are brightly lit up, as you near the exit of it, it looks like a black hole! Remember you are driving 130km, sometimes it drops to 110km, and the tunnels have curves and when you exit there are curves and since we’re driving east the water is on my right and it’s just black sometimes or there are lights from the towns twinkling. Justin would ask me a question and I’d answer “mmhmm”. Then he would comment like “I bet it looks nice during the day?” “mmmm” I would say – I could NOT speak! Subconsciously I believe I did not want to speak, because I felt like he had to concentrate on his driving and not talk either. I couldn’t be rude and tell him that, but I guess I kind of was. I do remember my one comment about half way through the tunnel drive and it was “didn’t Princess Diana die in one of these tunnels in the French Riviera?”. See, this is where my head was at. On a closing note, people were passing us too, probably doing 150-160km/hr – craaaazy. But, I survived the drive! I should put that on a shirt.

We take the turn off to Sanremo and we have about 2km left to get to our B&B. The gps has us turn right on this road that looks like a 45 degree driveway up to nowhere, and it keeps going and going and I’m thinking I sure hope this is a one way road. Nope, here comes a car thankfully it was the widest part of the road, if you can call it that. We finally pop out on to something actually paved and continue the windy drive to the B&B and notice the exit right on the turn of a switchback part of the road, who puts a driveway on a switchback?!!? The Italians do!! We pull up to the house number and assume that it’s the right place, but I think Justin knows my patience for another narrow 45 degree driveway is limited so he offers to walk up to make sure and thank god it is. We drive the car up unload and chat with the very sweet Italian lady. As she shows us around our unit we ask her about dinner places, I think we’re communicating but there is a lot of nodding and saying “yes or “ok” from us. Justin you’d think understood Italian because he’s agreeing to a lot of what she’s saying. By a stroke of luck I notice a menu on the table in the unit and ask her if they deliver and they do!! YAY!! no need to get back in to the car till daylight.

We ordered pizza for the 3 of us and as usual Max wanted no part of pizza, I didn’t even bother calling it cheese bread (although he might be catching on to that term too. I saw calzones on the menu, ham and cheese, perfect, I convince him a calzone is the perfect meal for him. 2 bites in and he doesn’t like it, he says it’s burnt and won’t eat it. You can tell it was baked in a pizza oven and it was yummy. Well a week in Italy, he may have another go at a calzone or pizza or something similar I’m sure.

Off to bed now, I’m sure I’ll dream about the drive and wake up in a cold sweat, I will tell myself “no problem, I survived the drive!”. Hoping tomorrow is a better day. Ciao!