GSE Cote d'Azur

Finale

tracylh — Tue, 08 May 2007 16:50:06 +0000

We are now all scattered around somewhere south of Nice, some of us near the beaches, some up in the hills for our final week. The weather turned beautiful again – 80′s and sunny, and we have a couple of free days to hopefully get organized, and possibly sleep a little before we make the trip home on Saturday. Several cultural visits recently included the Chagall museum, the Rothchild Chateau, the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, and archeological tours in Nice. Yesterday we saw the glass factories and perfumerie in Grasse …. so we all smell very good now! Here are some little pics for you to see of our last days in the Cote d’Azur. Cannot help but mention that we are all looking forward to being home this weekend, despite the beauty of this place…..tura

Climax-Sunday, May 6, 2007

tracylh — Mon, 07 May 2007 19:35:37 +0000

We are alive in Nice! We reached our climax yesterday at the District Rotary Convention in Monaco. Prince Albert was a no show. It was fun to see the familiar faces of previous Rotarians from our exchange. Today was the presidental election in France. Sarkozy (right) won 53% to 47% Royale (she is a socialiste). It was a very interesting time to be in France. Many people had strong feelings about a woman running for president.

Free Day in Cannes-Saturday, April 28, 2007

tracylh — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 10:08:35 +0000

Hello from GSE

We have a free day today in Cannes. Caroyln and Sharon are relaxing with their families and Mark, Tura, and I are exploring the area. Yesterday, we learned about the French Justice System in Grasse. We actually sat through a criminal trial and the system is extremely different here. There were 3 judges based on the severity of the crime and also a state representative.

We had lunch at an Italian cafe and dinner at French Antilles restaurant. Both were interesting experiences.

Au revoir for now. Tomorrow we are moving onto Nice.

Tracy

CANNES, APRIL 25

tracylh — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:43:58 +0000

Spent our first day in Cannes visiting a private school and then had an opportunity to walk around near the ‘main strip’ where the famous film festival is held. There should be a LOT more tourists next week when the festival starts….good thing we’re here early!

We don’t have any photos ready from the past few days yet but here are a few from last week! Click each thumbail to view a larger photo.

- Mark

p.s. Tracy says hi to everybody back home but is staying at a house without internet access :)

p.p.s. The rest of us say hi too!

tracylh — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:38:13 +0000

Again, too tired to write much, but we are all ok and hope to have more time to post pics! Best to everyone – Tura

Sunday – leisure day!!!!

tracylh — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:37:01 +0000

Coast at Cassis

tracylh — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:34:45 +0000

On our way…..

tracylh — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:29:33 +0000

Tomorrow we leave for Cannes…..are not sure we will have internet access. Has been quite interesting and exciting this far. Visited an engineering school today and a huge french supermarket with all kinds of beautiful fresh produce! Tura

Porquerolles Island

tracylh — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:11:33 +0000

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Today we visited Porquerolles Island by ferry. It is a very beautiful island with a few beaches, restaurants, hotels, and homes. We walked around the town square and ate a lunch with Rotary members from Toulon. Lunch was great. The French told jokes about President Bush-tres interesant! They are sincerely concerned about the war.

They set us free and we rented bikes or walked to the beach. The water was very cold, but not enough for some of us to swim. This is definitely a place I would return to later.

No time for pictures. A demain.

Fair at Brignoles

tracylh — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:11:00 +0000

Hi, no time today to post photos, maybe tomorrow. We spent the day at a very interesting fair in Brignoles. We were lead around the fair by leaders from the Rotary Clubs. We ate a great lunch with them at the fair. It was an agriculture fair with food, wine, landscaping, building materials, animals, and about everything else under the sun. Its was very hot, in the 80s. They gave us each 2 bottles of special festival wine.

In the evening we went to the meeting place of 3 Toulon Rotary groups. It was very nice, located on the harbor. We traveled to an old fort and overlook to take some photos and headed out to the Sollies Rotary group. Our second offical presentation went well, even though we were very tired.

A Demain. I will post photos tomorrow, when I have more time.