France in review

P1010179
Originally uploaded by European Dave

Well my sojourn into France is nearly over.. on Sunday i'll be off to Genoa and a few days in Turin and Venice - would have loved to have stayed longer than 4 nights in Italy altogether but Italy is hopeless for cheap accomodation and couldn't decide where to go in Italy.. after reading through Lonely Planet and hearing stories abt the overratedness of Florence and the nothingness of Milan i settled on Turin, Genoa and Venice - Turin actually looks p amazing while Milan apparently has nothing although could still go there via train..

Anyway will be v sorry to see the back of France.. i've finally found the perfect country.. brilliant train system and a country where everyone has a right to do whatever they want, say whatever they want as long as they don't break the rules.. a bit pricey too but then again it is a highly advanced country that lives on beauty and its food.. and the people have been fantastic from the buzz of Paris to the small village of Saint Bortlase.. France is a country that I definitely will come back to visit - and probably then will have more time to spend in the Loire, Provence, Rhone valleys which I didn't quite get to see.. will be v sad to see the back of those TGVs, Gare SNCFs, etc. a country which has more than captured my heart and probably a bit more so than Great Britain.. would live in France if it weren't for the language barriers which actually aren't too big as I quite love the language and with a few more lessons could live somewhere in Paris or on the Cote d'Azur.. A 9 out of 10 country for me from Brittany to Langudoc-Rossilion..

Paris definitely had to be the highlight.. no other city bar London has so much within its boundaries to see.. shame that the railway strikes and the uncertainties raised thereafter over transport in Paris kinda ruined my second weekend there when I wanted to see Sacre Coèr and La Defense but even then I had probably done quite a bit in the area.. the one place that really captured my imagination was the Latin Quarter and its heart Rue Mouffetard.. shame the kitchen at the hostel wasn't really much coz the markets on Mouffetard brimmed with variety..fish, wines and fresh produce.. Paris produced quite a few high highlights of my tour too with Eiffel Tower (rugby and going to the 3rd floor) and the Mona Lisa.. the best city in the world and was v sad to see it disappear into the horizon as the TGV pulled away from Gare du Lyon towards the quiet of the rest of the country..

Best French city would have to be Rouen.. a city that has v much preserved its history and really liked it.. Nice would be p close being near the beach.. Caen is a great city to explore the Brittany coast.. Montpellier is a beautiful city but my memories will probably be affected by the fact that all its shops bar the cafes were closed on the Sunday but it did redeem itself when i came back from Barcelona during the week.. Avignon i think is a bit more of a day city.. doesn't quite have a nightlife.. Toulon was quite a nice small sized city famous for the rugby team and its naval port.. and Mr and Mrs Jean Mallet (in photo) were really nice to me, with Jean even meeting me at the station and then driving me just outside Toulon to see the whole region - talking abt Pierre-Etienne's parents of course.. as Pierre told me, they didn't speak much English but they did try and I myself tried to speak French when I can.. other cities? did see glimpses of Marseille - didn't really see the heart, saw the suburbs which didn't really catch my eye, Rennes looks alright, Le Mans is probably like Cardiff - alive only when there's a sport on in town, Nimes looks quite nice and so are Perpignan, Beziers and Narbonne v near the Spanish border..

anyway better go get some dinner in town.. tomorrow Monaco and a bit more swimming in the beautiful seas of the Mediterranean.. there is quite good surf on Nice's beaches but the beaches are mainly loose stone and they all seem to have a dip before the sea, making it a bit tricky for swimming.. but the water is p mild..