Dijon and Belfort

We arrived in Dijon around noon and had the afternoon to tour around the city before meeting up with Celine, my cousin. So first thing that we did was find a place to store our bags for a few hours and then we made our way downtown. While wandering through the streets to get downtown we saw that there were several mechanical booths setup playing music on the street so we stopped to enjoy a few songs before we found a nice small park area to sit down and eat some lunch in. After lunch we toured around the city a little bit and generally just admired the beautiful architecture of the buildings, a few churches and of course we stopped off to buy some dijon mustard. One of the things that we made sure to do was to pet the lucky owl on the side of one of the churches but other than that we just strolled along the streets enjoying the mechanical music and the very pretty downtown area. After wandering the streets for a bit we decided to sit down in one of the sidewalk cafes for a drink before we had to meet up with Celine. After our drink we made our way back to the train station where we collected our bags and then went back downtown to meet Celine. Upon meeting up with Celine again she immediately took us to her dorm room where we were going to spend the night and after dropping our bags off there Celine took us out for a better tour of the city. After Celine's great tour of Dijon we figured it was time for some dinner as it was getting late and wound up having some delicious pizza before heading back to her dorm room where we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching a movie before all somehow sleeping in the small space.

The next morning after breakfast Celine took us around some more of the city including through the large market where it seemed that you could get anything from food to house supplies and clothes. After our short tour of downtown we decided to accompany Celine to her university campus as she had a class to attend so we walked through more of Dijon and got to see the less picturesque part that wasn't downtown. Once we got to Celine's university though she discovered that her class had been canceled so we quickly turned around and took the bus back to her dorm room. Back at Celine's room we made some lunch and were met by Celine's other sister Sandrine who took all of us to her new house in Belfort for the weekend. The rest of the afternoon was spent driving to Belfort and when we arrived in Belfort the evening was spent enjoying a delicious dinner and catching up with Sandrine and her husband Guillaume.

The following morning we got up and planned on taking a road trip to explore the Alsace region just to the north of Belfort. We started off the day by driving up the nearby mountains to the top of Grand Ballon, the second highest peak in the area at 1424 meters. At the top we spent some time walking around and admiring the sights that were available but unfortunately it was too cloudy to be able to see the alps in the distance. Once we finished our short walk we stopped off at a small cafe where we enjoyed some blueberry pie, something the area was famous for. After our delicious pie we returned to the car and continued to drive through the mountains, stopping occasionally to admire the views, until we came to Munster a picturesque little town that's home to storks at this time of the year. We spent a bit of time wandering around the town looking at the storks and the beautiful buildings before deciding to stop for some lunch. After lunch we returned to the car and continued the scenic drive to Colmar. At Colmar we got out of the car and wandered around the extremely picturesque streets of the downtown area admiring the gingerbread house like architecture of the buildings and the flower lined canal. The city was absolutely gorgeous and deserved a couple hours of wandering around it just to admire everything. After seeing most of Colmar we returned to the car and made our way back to Belfort along the less scenic, but faster, highway. Back in Belfort we enjoyed another delicious dinner at home and some more relaxing and sharing stories about our trip.

The next morning was our last day in Belfort and Guillaume and I decided to spend the morning going for a nice bike ride while the ladies went to the market. The nice bike ride turned out to be far more difficult than I expected as super Guillaume too me on a 60 km ride up to the top of the Grand Ballon and back, a nice 3 hour ride that left me nearly dead. When we returned back home we enjoyed a great lunch before heading out to see some sights in Belfort before having to catch our train back to Paris. Sandrine and Guillaume were great guides as they took us up to the large Belfort lion and the fort overlooking Belfort as well as wandering through the streets of the old town and out to the city walls. By the time that we had seen the downtown area of Belfort it was time for us to head to the train station where we said goodbye to everyone and caught our train back to Paris. We arrived in Paris at about 10 pm and quickly found our hostel where we dropped our bags off and rushed out to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. We got to the Eiffel Tower and had about 30 minutes to admire it before catching the last metro train back to our hostel at 1 am where we both fell asleep absolutely exhausted.

The next morning we got up and just made our way to the Charles de Gaulle airport and eventually got on our flight back across the Atlantic to Toronto. So our trip was coming to an end, just a short visit in Ontario and then on home to Calgary.








Some of the nice buildings in Dijon.













Sandrine, Guillaume, Lianne, and Celine on top of the Grand Ballon just outside of Belfort.












Some of the beautiful buildings in Colmar.














The flower lined canal in Colmar.




















Guillaume, Sandrine, Celine, and Lianne standing at the top of the fort in Belfort.




















Standing in front of the Eiffel Tower on our last night in Paris.

Narbonne and Nimes

We finally got to Narbonne in the early afternoon and went straight to my cousin's apartment. We spent a little bit of time at the apartment while we unloaded the car and said hello to everyone but then we decided to go out and explore the town for a bit. We walked to downtown where we were pleased to find that all of the attractions were open free of charge to the public so we went to the city hall where we first toured through a nice art gallery before heading up to the roof. We enjoyed the views over the city from the roof of city hall for a while before making our way back down to the street. Outside again we continued to wander around the city for a bit and went into a church where we enjoyed a few minutes of a free concert before leaving to make our way back home. When we reached the apartment Lianne and I left everyone to continue going for a short walk along the canal while everyone else had to go get dinner started. When Lianne and I returned back to the apartment we spent the rest of the evening enjoying a few drinks, a delicious dinner and just spent the rest of the time relaxing there.

The next morning we got up and took our time getting ready for the day out, there are lots of chores to do when you need to look after a little boy. Unfortunately Phillipe had to go away on a 3 week course so we wouldn't get a chance to see him again and Claudine had to work all day so it was just Sheila, Christian, Alex, Lianne and myself for the day. After lunch we got moving and made our way out to a hiking area just off the coast where Lianne and I went for a slightly longer hike while Sheila and Christian made a rock collection with Alex on a shorter one. At the end of the hike we all met back up near a pretty lake and eventually made our way back to the car. After the hike we drove along the coast for a bit and saw some nice stretches of beach where Alex would sometimes come play although by this point it started to rain so instead of staying long we just slowly made our way back to the apartment in Narbonne. That evening Claudine returned home and again we spent the evening enjoying another delicious dinner and playing a few card games once Alex had gone to bed.

The following morning was our last in Narbonne and after saying good bye to Claudine we enjoyed our breakfast and got ready to set off for the day. Once we were all set we piled into the car made our way up the coast towards Montpellier. We made our way to Montpellier and then out to a small summer tourist town right on the coast where we found a nice restaurant pretty much right on the waterfront to have lunch in. After lunch we proceeded to make our way back to the car where we continued our trip up towards Nimes. On the way to Nimes we stopped off at Aigues Mortes which is small city that has extremely well preserved city walls. We spent an hour or wandering around the small streets within the city walls enjoying all of the shops, churches and ambiance of the picturesque city. After a bit of wandering around here we made our way back to the car and finished our journey to Nimes. We eventually found the hostel we booked in Nimes thanks to Christian's GPS and here Lianne and I said goodbye to Sheila, Christian, and Alex as they had to return to Narbonne that night. We had arrived at the hostel around 5pm and so the rest of the night was spent walking to the nearest grocery store to buy dinner supplies and then we spent the rest of the time at our hostel enjoying our dinner and some drinks before heading to bed.

The next day was our one full day to explore Nimes and the surrouding area so we got up really early and planned on catching a bus out to the Pont du Gard. However when we got to the bus station we couldn't find the bus that would take us out there and instead had to change our plans by exploring the city sights before catching a later bus out to the Pont du Gard. So we started off the day by visiting the Maison Carree an extremely well preserved rectangular Roman temple which is now home to an archive. From the Maison Carree we wandered to the Jardins de la Fontaine which is a nice area full of fountains at the base of a big park. Climbing up through the park we emerged at the Tour Magne, a Roman watchtower built at the highest point in Nimes and still in pretty good shape. After seeing the Tour Magne we made our way back down to Les Arenes, an extremely well preserved second century Roman Amphitheatre which used to hold gladiator fights and now has bull fights. In Les Arenes we got a great audio guide that provided some interesting stories about the different gladiators and audience that would come to watch the gladiators fight. By this time we were able to return to the bus station where we found the bus that would take us out to the Pont du Gard and eventually made our way out there. The Pont du Gard is a 275 meter long aqueduct built by Emperor Augustus' son-in-law Agrippa around 19 BC. We spent several hours wandering around the area and admiring the 49 meter high aqueduct over the Gard River. The aqueduct was absolutely amazing and we admired the amount of work the Romans went through to get fresh water to Nimes and how well they're construction has stood up over the past 2000 years. Once we decided to leave the Pont du Gard we found out we had to walk nearly 3km to a nearby city in order to catch a bus back to Nimes so we did this and eventually got back to the city. Back in Nimes we spent the rest of the evening running a few errands before making our way back to the hostel where we enjoyed another night of our home cooked dinner out in the hastel garden before heading to bed.

The following morning we woke up and made our way down to the train station where we quickly boarded a high speed train that would take us up to Dijon, our next destination.







A view of the cathedral where we enjoyed the free concert from the top of the city hall in Narbonne.















A view down the canal in Narbonne.




















Sheila and Alex walking along the waterfront near Montpellier.




















A look at one of the fountains in the Jardins de la Fontaine in Nimes.


















Lianne standing in front of Les Arenes in Nimes.














Standing in Les Arenes.














Lianne and I standing in front of the Pont du Gard.

Paris

We were met at the airport in Paris by my Aunt Sheila and she proceeded to take us to her house in Plaisir. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in their house and catching up before heading to bed.

The next morning Sheila wanted to take Lianne and I on a tour of Versailles so once we got all ready we left the house. Pulling up to the Palace of Versailles both Lianne and I were gazing forward and upon seeing what we thought was the palace we were amazed and commented on it only to be told by Sheila that we were looking at the stables and the palace was behind us. After parking the car we set off to explore the immense grounds of the palace where we planned on spending the rest of the day. Our first stop was to wander around the huge gardens which made the gardens at Schloss Schonbrunn in Vienna look tiny in comparison. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the paths, almost getting lost a few times, admiring all of the different trees and flowers and the spectacular fountains which were unfortunately mostly turned off. After admiring the beauty of the gardens for a while we enjoyed a quick bite to eat in a small cafe in the gardens before getting our tickets to tour the interior of the palace. Inside the palace we got to enjoy a great audio guide while wandering through several different rooms, all furnished from the time when they were used, including: meeting rooms, bedrooms, the newly renovated hall of mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed after WWI, dining rooms, studies, and many more. The tour through the palace was fantastic and we enjoyed spending a few hours wandering the magnificent rooms of the palace before we made our way to visit the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon where we hoped to visit the gardens but were told our ticket didn't work so we just set off to return home. That evening we enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal for the first time in a long time and spent the night relaxing and watching a movie with Celine.

The following day was our one day tour of Paris which was to be given by Celine. So after an early morning and a quick breakfast we set off to explore Paris. Our day in Paris was absolutely jam packed and we tried to see absolutely everything there was to see in only the one day so we started off with the Jardin des Plantes which was a beautiful garden located in the heart of Paris before moving off to see the Arenes de Lutece, an ancient Roman theatre. We then proceeded to wander around some beautiful streets and stopped to enjoy a french pastry outside the unusual front of the Pompidou Museum. We then made our way to see the Hotel de Ville before making our way to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was the first building that we entered on our city tour and the interior of the church was even more spectacular than the outside. From Notre Dame we crossed the Seine to the entered the ground for the Louvre where we walked around the glass pyramid of the entrance hall but due to time constraints we decided not to enter it. Instead we went to a nice park just in front of the Louvre where we were able to sit down and enjoy our packed lunch. After enjoying our lunch at in front of the Louvre we proceeded to walk down the shop filled avenue of Champs-Elysees before finding ourselves at the Arc de Triomphe. After admiring the Arc de Triomphe we hopped on the metro to head to the Eiffel Tower, Paris's most famous landmark. We spent a while wandering around the Eiffel Tower although we elected not to join the enormous lineup to ride to the top as there were still other sights that we wanted to see. Leaving the Eiffel Tower we got back on the metro and made our way to the Sacre Coeur, a church that sits atop the highest point in Paris. In the neighbourhood of the Sacre Coeur we also saw the Moulin Rouge burlesque palace and wandered around an artsy area of Paris. By this point it was getting fairly late in the day so we made our way to the Opera House for a quick visit before heading back to the train station to catch a train back to Plaisir. That night we again enjoyed a deliciously home cooked meal and relaxed at home with a movie before heading to bed.

The next morning was our last day in Paris and so for the morning Celine gave us a short tour around Plaisir including several of the places she used to hang out while growing up. After the tour of Plaisir we returned back to Celine's house for lunch before Celine set off to Dijon for university and we started to make our way south with my aunt and uncle south to Narbonne. The majority of the afternoon was spent driving south but towards the end of the afternoon we made a stop in Vichy to wander around the city for a while. Vichy is a picturesque city that contains some medicinal thermal springs which we saw. After wandering around the town we found a place and enjoyed dinner before continuing down the road a bit more to find a hotel for the night.

The next morning we set off again nice and early to get to Narbonne. We spent most of the morning in the car and stopped only for a short lunch break and sightseeing stop at the Millau Viaduct, a large bridge that was recently completed. That afternoon we continued to Narbonne where we met Claudine, my cousin, her husband Phillipe and their son Alexandre.







Lianne and I standing in front of one of the fountains in the garden at the Palace of Versailles.















The newly renovated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.
















Our tour guide Celine and myself standing in front of the Notre Dame.



















The Arc de Triomphe.














Lianne, Celine and myself standing in front of the Eiffel Tower.




















Sacre Coeur, the highest point in Paris.