Change of destination

During our stay in Nice we were thinking about to not only go to Nice in Paris in France. Aurélie came up with the idea going to Toulouse, cause it's worth seeing this town. So we changed our route.

To get to Toulouse we took the train, train in France is much more expensive as in Italy, before we tried to find a seat in a car (car pool), but we had too much luggage for the drivers heading this way.

Well train would also do it. At a train station still an hour away from Toulouse the train stopped at a station still and there only came announcements in French. Damn we still didn't understand a single word, so we had to asked someone. Luck came back, the guy spoke English and told us what's going on. Train had some problems, a while later the guy informed us that the delay would be more than an hour and we should switch to another train going to arrive in a few minutes. If he won't have informed us we would have waited and for sure the delay would have been much longer.

After arriving we headed into town, making our first explorations and decided to get to most of the places again the next days, because time came very quick to meet with our host for the night so we walked to the place we planned to meet.

We met Julie at the De Danûan Irish pub in Toulouse, had great conversations with some of her friends and also many strangers. Bernd got very thirsty so he drank one pint of Guinness after another, not being able to walk anymore when we left the pub and went to our flat for the night.

The next day we started a bit later and in a relaxed way, also had to say goodbye to Julie, too bad that we only had that single day to stay with her.

As usual time has come for our explorations, Bernd was quite good for being that drunk last night. At least he had enough energy to walk around. First we went to the city centre to the Capitol, also took a look inside seeing some nice paintings. 

From there we went along the streets In direction to the Garonne, passing by and going in Couvent des Jacobins, Eglise de la Dauraude and walked along the river before passing the bridge. 

On the other side was a museum in the old hospital Musée de la Médecine, but it was closed during the days we were here. Bernd was so happy that it was closed, he got scared of seeing this old fashioned tools for operations used in the medieval times. Next we got into the area were the current hospital is and got kind of lost in the area, we only planned to pass through and leave at the other end, but there was none. Bernd started to panic and grumbling that we'll never get out of here. Before his panic got too tough one guy from the security came by and explained us the way to get out again.

In a park we found a nice place to hang out and relax. Also Bernd could calm down there. After a long time we crossed the Garonne on another bridge and went through some nice alleys to the basilica St Sernin and back to the Capitol, cause we needed to take the metro to get to our host for the next nights.

Our hosts, Aurore and Axel are living together with their tomcat in a small house in a quite surrounding. The cat was rather big and lazy so got a feeling like he is Garfield. For sure Bernd stayed as far away as possible, he his such a chicken. It's only a cat and usually they do not eat bread. The cat gave me a good welcome and I could not resist to pet him and get him on my arms and fondle making him purr. Bernd kept staying away.
The evening we spent chatting and had great dinner with self made fish balls. Aurore is a real good cook.

In the morning we left the house and first went to a park to see the Japanese garden, a very beautiful one and saw a dragon close by. Yes the expected event happened and Bernd ran away out of the park down to the metro station, due to a missing ticket for the train he had to wait for me, there was no need to hurry. 

We took thee next metro to get to Carmes, the older part of the city centre with many old buildings and parks (Jardin des Plantes and the Grand Rond) around. All worth seeing.

Since we have only been to churches and basilicas now it was time to get into the cathedral St. Etienne. From the outside it was not so impressive, but even more from the inside. The best thing about churches, seeing the work of great artists.

Back in the centre by the Capitol we listened to some street musicians, a band playing a Beatles songs in a much different way and felt the heartbeat of the city. When we again got closer to the Garonne someone passed by and asked us if we smoke weed, don't know if he wanted to sell some or thought we would some to him.

The next thing we wanted to see was the Prairie des Filtres, a park for relaxation and sports. There you can borrow table tennis equipment, volley balls and some more stuff, kids can do some rock climbing, climb in a rope castle and do many other things. And the best of this place is, that all is for free, no kidding. Bernd tried the rock climbing, but his arms were to short to reach the first piton, he asked me if I can manage to get up the wall, for sure I would have been able, but it was only for kids, so I was not allowed to get up there.

After spending the whole day in town we got back to Aurores and Axels house, had another good diner with fresh self made mango ice cream. Could not have been better in a restaurant. We had a very good time with them and went to bed late.

Next day we got to leave them and travelled by car pool to Paris.

Nice Nice

After all this travelling we thought It's time for a short break. And what could have been nicer than Nice ? From the ferry the town already looked nice and when we left the ferry we realised that our feeling did not betray us.

At the harbour we met with Aurélie, a beautiful couchsurfer with whom we spent the next days. Too bad that she had to work during the days, so we only spent the evenings with her.
Her flat is not directly in Nice it's in Cagne sur Mer, a town close by the sea. From the apartment we had a good view to the castle close.

And the beach was not to far away. The beach was the first place we went to. Time for relaxing.

In the evening we met with Aurélie and went to a beach party with some of her friends. We had a good time there and also got a great view of Nice, especially cause of the red moon rising up above, too bad that we could not take a good picture.

As usual the night was very short, we spent a couple of hours talking before going to bed.
Next day we did what we usually do, exploring the city. Because we were staying in Cogne sur Mer first we got on the way to take a look at the old parts of town and the castle. The city has nice little alleys in the centre leading up the to the castle. We tried to get up there with a bike but Bernd couldn't make it up the hill, so we left the bike behind and walked up the hill. The castle is in a very good condition with a museum inside and also offers a great view around.

Leaving the castle was kind of funny, there was a glass door blocking the way out and you're supposed to ring the bell, so we did. And it was not a normal bell we rang, it was the one in the tower close by to the castle, what a great idea.

After another break at the beach we headed to Vieille Ville (old town) of Nice. Well first we arrived at a big square and some parks, but it was not nice there, it would be, but right now it's a huge construction area, not a place we wanted to stay at. The old town has many small alleys with some dead ends and several turns, feels like a small labyrinth.

From the old town some stairs lead up to the Ancien Château, more like ruins, still interesting cause you get a great view above the harbour, the old town, well and most of the rest of Nice.

There is also a water fall, offering a place to rest and relax.

At night I went to a after work party, Bernd was not in the mood to party so he stayed home. So I went to Aurélies office, but they didn't finish working on the layout and tested for the newspaper they got to finish this night. Short delay but not a big problem. I got introduced to her colleagues and had an awesome time. Most of the time they were speaking in French, not to keep me out of conversation, they still had to talk about some working stuff. Later in the hallway we made a office chair race, some acrobatic actions, took over the big bosses office and went down to see how the just finished newspaper gets printed. It was a very good and long night, too bad that I do not speak any French, at least all of them spoke a little bit English and several German words.

Again time past by, last day in Nice. We started the day much later as usual, first we went to the beach and in the late afternoon went to the harbour in Antibes, there were some small boats.

In the old part of the town is an ice cream shop offering some very especial tastes. Like mustard,  liver paste, olive oil with basilica or pepper. Because we were almost starving we decided to get something to eat, but not in this shop. We went to a nice small restaurant and ordered some French dishes, for Bernd it was not a good idea. We also got snails, he even did not want to try them, he acted like the British girls next to our table and said it's disgusting. Well I've never eaten snail in my life before, cause I'm braver than my travel partner, I tried them and I must say that they taste good.

It's always hard to say goodbye but our time has come to continue our journey, hope to come here again some day, see Aurélie again and maybe also being able to speak French. By the way rumours about the French seem not to be right, they are very friendly.

Tour through Sardinia and Corsica

Our time in Rome has come to an end and were heading to France, the idea was getting on a ferry to Corsica, that fore we took the train to Civitavecchia, unfortunately there is no ferry going to Corsica during this period, so we did not have to take the train for a longer journey we decided to go to Sardinia and maybe stay there some days and then get to Corsica.

On the ferry we met some friendly Italians. And had a good conversation, also they helped us to find a place to stay for the night in Olbia, the ferry arrived there later as we expected and it would have been hard for us to find a place on our own. Two of them gave us a ride to the guesthouse and helped us checking in, the nice girl running the business did not speak much English. But she tried to help us and was so friendly. Next time we gonna spent some more time at her place.
Because of the high prices at the hotels we did only stay for one night and got on our way to Corsica. In the morning we went to a bus stop to get to Santa Theresa and on the ferry to Bonifacio. At the bus stop we had to wait for more than an hour, but time passed by cause we met there a couple from Germany and a couchsurfer from Paris. So we had good company and conversations.

And the day got even better at one of the stops a beautiful girl entered the bus and was joining us on our trip to Bonifacio.

In Santa Theresa we did not have much time for exploring, because the ferry was leaving too soon. But we could get a feeling of the town, because it took a while to find the harbour and the ferry. We were the last persons getting on the ferry.
It was so amazing on the ferry, the north of Sardinia is so beautiful and when we got closer to Corsica we could see the high cliffs and on them Bonifacio. A view I'll never forget.

In Bonifacio Nina had to leave us and after enjoying the ancient parts of this town we headed to the bus to get to Aleria.
But there was no bus going, so the only bus we could take in this direction brought us to Porto-Piocchio, but also from there was no bus leading to Aleria. We tried to get a ride in a car poor but for the, it was also to late. So we got to stay here for the night. Seems our luck has disappeared. The prices in the hotels here were so incredibly high that we were not willing to pay so much and preferred to spent the night outside. Bernd got totally frustrated and was grumbling all the time. His mood got better after realising what kind of bed I found for tonight. A Hammock. First he was very cautious, thinking of all the people falling down from a hammock, but at the end it was safe and comfortable. At least we got a good sunset and sunrise there, also full moon.

Unbelievable after the bus ride we arrived at about noon in Bastia and what happened there, next ferry goes next day at eight o'clock in the morning. What the hell is wrong in this island ? Three days just to pass through, bad place for traveling as a backpacker.
At least here we could find a hotel close by and did not have to search for another place to stay outside. Bernd hates started hating Corsica and will never get back here, so he stayed the rest of the day in our little room.6

From the land and the people it's nice here, also when you are not able to speak french and they not speaking English or German, they try helping, for sure one day I'll get back here. But tomorrow we will finally be in Nice.