Friday, October 8, 2010

Our European Holiday

We have been home for a couple of weeks and have been amazed at how the trip affected us. One thing it did was slow us down. So it is taking a while but we do plan to sum up the trip in a later post. But before we do that we thought we would show you what we did after arriving in Nice.

The first thing Rhonda did was to dispose of the pants she had been wearing for over three months (and were held up with the help of a safety pin) and go on a couple of big shopping trips to buy new clothes. I, of course, stuck with the my old clothes until we arrived home, except for buying some new walking shoes, as my hiking boots were heavy and worn out.



We spent six nights in Nice and had beautiful weather almost the whole time. Nice is a beach town with a stunning strand, fancy hotels, hills covered with villas and sun that sets off the colors and shadows in a way that has made it a favorite of artists. It's like a warm San Francisco before all the high rises, all wrought iron and pastels floating on the hills.

Matisse lived in Nice and his Museum was for me the high point of our visit. The museum is set up to show how Matisse worked and is as clear a view into the mind of an artist as Van Gogh's letters. The temporary exhibit on Matisse's paintings of his late life muse Lydia Delectorskaya featured a room with perhaps two dozen sketches and several studies using different colors that were used to create one painting.

We traveled by bus one day to Vence to see the chapel Matisse designed, but it was closed. Our habit of showing up without checking ahead got us this time but we still had a great day wandering the streets in this medieval hill town.



A view of Nice from the hills.



Views from the walk in Gairant in the hills above the city along the canal that has carried water to Nice for hundreds of years.






From Nice we took a train the Genoa. The rails hug the coast and there are tunnels through ridges all along the way. The coast is strung with villages in the valleys and villas dotting the ridges between them to make one continuous urban strip all the way to the Italian border that includes Monaco and Menton an alternate end to the GR5.

Where Nice is all beach front hotels with a small ferry terminal, Genoa is a working port with terminals and docks along the sea. Nice is a play ground, Genoa a working city with a medieval center and neighborhoods ranging up the steep mountainsides above town. It was fascinating walking the winding narrow streets and the stairs climbing the hills festooned with clothes hanging out windows to dry.






From Genoa we took the train through Milan to Venice. Venice is busy with tourists but still magical. We wandered the city eating the checheten (Italian fast food) at small cafes called osterias and watching the crowds. One morning we got up early and visited the magnificent St. Mark's square without the crowds. As we walked the city woke up and we were soon surrounded by children of all ages, laughing, teasing and gossiping on the way to school.

We visited many galleries in Venice including one with a show of Stanley Kubrick's early photographs. The young Kubrick used the camera to create stories, anticipating his future as a film director. Another look into the mind of an artist.



From Venice we took a train to Trieste where we met our friends Darilyn and Paul Dircksen who were traveling for a month. We had an adventure in Peru with the Dircksen's several years ago so when they contacted us and asked if we would like to meet them and see the Alps of Slovenia we jumped at the chance.

The first day we spent in Piran on the Adriatic Coast of Slovenia.



On the terrace of our place in Piran.



Sunset from the terrace.



Next we went to Bled in the Julian Alps of Slovenia. Having just experienced the dry Maritime Alps, Italy, and the Adriatic Coast we were surprised at how green the Julian Alps are. It was like being back in the Jura.



Hay drying racks in the countryside.



From bled we took the train through Austria and Bavaria to Bamberg for our last stop before returning home. So nice to be back in German train stations with their bakeries, restaurants and bars!

We decided that Bamberg is our favorite city of the trip. Perhaps it was because we felt like we were home at Ben and Melanie's place after four and a half months on the road. But Bamberg has so much to offer the traveler -- history, beautiful old city hall, castle, monastery, cathedral, great shopping and 10 breweries.

The old City Hall.



St. Michael's Monastery



At the train station in Bamberg heading for the Frankfurt Air Port and home.



Stay tuned for what we learned from our adventure.