Southern France

 

Leaving Pisa was the best moment from Eurotour. After leaving Pisa, everyone on the bus passed out. After driving for a few hours, I woke up to see this view welcoming me into France. Driving into France was beautiful. You literally drive through mountains. If you are not in a tunnel, then you are driving over a bridge, 100 or more feet above the ground over canyons and small seaside towns. To put it simply, France is beautiful, and I understand now why so many people love it.

Monaco


Monaco was our first stop in France, but we

actually stayed in Nice(Monaco is really a microstate like the Vatican, so that techniclly we weren't in France.) Monaco was nice. We got there a week before the formula one races, and we were able to see/walk through, the construction of the stands in the harbor and the yachts starting to enter the marina. One of our stops in Monaco was the Monte Carlo, a famous casino, for those who didn't know. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go in.

 Monaco, like I have heard, was filled with luxury cars. If you drove an entry level BMW, Mercedes, or Audi, then you looked poor. On the contrary, The law of Monaco is that you must net at least a million US Dollars to be able to live there. To be honest, Monaco is only a marina with condo buildings. I liked Nice a lot better.

Nice



I am not sure if anyone else had ever played Driver 3, but I was excited for Nice because it was a map in the game, and I felt like I knew the city already.

After our half day in Monaco, we went to the beach. Unfortunately, by time in the day, the weather had become colder and rained for the last five minutes of our beach break. Unlike the sandy beaches I had become accustom to, the beaches in Nice are made out of stones, which are Surprisingly comfortable. I did try the water, but because it was early April, it was freezing. The airport for nice is located at the end of the beach, so that the planes would fly over on their way to land. (see picture below)

One the next morning, we started out by going to the marina in Nice, and looking at the yachts. I never thought to take pictures of the yachts while I was there, but they were some nice boats. After reaching the other side of the marina, we walked up the highest point in Nice for a nice view of the city. That day would have been a better beach day.

After climbing down the other side on the hill, we visited the old part of the city. The brightly colored buildings made think we were somewhere tropical. The old city in Nice really help me realize that Nice was one of my favorite cities from Eurotour. I would definitely be back in Nice during some point of my life.

 Avignon

After Nice, we drove a couple hours north to Avignon. In Avignon, we stayed across the river from the city, in a campsite hostel. On the first night in Avignon, I had the best dinner from Eurotour. It was a Cuttlefish served over a bed of pesto green beans with a mushroom rice.

On the first day, It was Easter, and everything was closed except for Mcdonalds and a coffee shop. The dog was my friend from that coffee shop. I wish I wasn't in Avignon during Easter because there was not much to do, and I am sure Avignon could have been more interesting.

After seeing a little of the city, we went to an aqueduct a few miles out of the city. They gave us a chance to go swimming in the river underneath the aqueduct, but instead I took a two hour nap on the second cliff in the picture to the left. I would to visit the napping spot again some day.

Can't wait until Summer!

Last week Petra planned our Summer Vacation. The originial plan was to go one week on a houseboat in France, and then another week in Tirol(That's Italy). We came to the conclusion, that that would be too much driving. We are now going, one week on a houseboat is middle/southern France, and one week in Western France, on the Atlantic Ocean.

This will be my first time ever seeing the Atlantic Ocean. Kind of a weird thought because I had to fly over it to get to Europe, but I was in the middle section. In Mamabear's and my opinion, we had the best seats on the plane.

It was funny, all my host brothers were excited about the house we will be staying in. It was a nice cape cod/ old English style house in Britanica, France, but I was more excited about the houseboat. Since, I was only out on my boat 3 times last year, I am looking forward to going out on a boat again.

When I saw the house boat, I said wow it's relatively new, and got funny looks because my "Relatively New" is a boat from late 1980's til 90's. I always imagined a house bought as an ugly thing from 1950, that you find on the Chain O'lakes, but this looks more like something that would come from Winthrop Harbor.

When I showed my host family our boat, my host mom asked if we could sleep on it. I laughed a little in my head because it's a tiny fishing boat, maybe 6 meters long. I called it an only fun boat, and my youngest host brother laughed, and the middle was jealous because he loves fishing more than my Dad. I guess I never realized, not everyone has a boat.

I have never been "boatless", and even the Marpert's have a canoe, so that I am still not "Boatless." If they do visit, I think my host brother, Fritz, needs to go Salmon fishing on the Bad Medicine and catch some real fish. Carp are garbage fish.

I am going to start a new thing. I am going to add one of Petra's easy recipes to the bottom of every blog, so that you can cook like a German House Wife. This week is a Dish I didn't know how to name, but Petra called it a Casserole. If you have a better name, I would love to hear it.

Zucchini Gyro Tomato Casserole

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook time: 25-30 min. Servings: 4-6 people

Ingredients

• 2 Zucchinis
• 2 c. (200g.)Grape Tomatoes (1 c. Plum)
• 1 lb. (500 g.) Gyro Meat
• 1-2 c. (100-200g.) Gouda Cheese(or Mozzarella) 
• 1/2 Tbsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Pepper

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375°F (200°C)

Start by washing the vegetables. Slice the zucchinis in half. Scoping out the insides sides (so that you only have a zucchini shell left) and saving the inside of the vegetable in a bowl. Quarter the tomatoes and put them in a small casserole dish. Sprinkle Salt and Pepper over the tomatoes. Finally lay the zucchini halves on top of that.

Cook the gyro meat according to packaged directions in a pan. When the gyro meat is cooked almost finished cooking, add in the insides to the zucchinis. Cook until the meat is finished.

When the meat is finished, stuff the meat into the zucchini halves. Layer the cheese on to zucchini/meat combination and bake until the cheese is bubble and golden brown.

*Note Originally a Weight Watchers Recipe