Driving along the Côte d’Azur

I’ve gone to the beach two days in a row! It is every bit as beautiful as I expected, and then some. I have never seen water so blue, beaches so perfect, tiny towns so colorful, or roads so narrow and winding.

Oh the roads. Nightmares. My automatic Peugeot isn’t as compact as the manual cars from the rental place, so I have to be extra careful. Bicyclists take up room on the right, and motorcyclists speed around you unexpectedly on the left. When I pass another car, it feels like my mirror will get hit or I’ll scrap the passenger side on the stone walls going around tight uphill bends. I was grateful to be following a slow minivan with Danish plates most of the way yesterday. I knew if they could make it, I could, and there was no pressure following as opposed to being the lead car.

Today, a motorcycle tried to cut around me as I was making a left turn. My signal was on, but he didn’t notice or care. He didn’t hit me, but he stopped abruptly and had to put his hand on my car. It scared the shit out of me. I was prepared for him to start screaming at me in French, but he was kind and nothing was hurt or damaged so we went our separate ways. Then I spent the rest of the drive being angry at myself for my initial instinct that I had done anything wrong. I had not.

I had my first bit of loneliness (I guess that’s what it was?) last night in Nice. There were so many people out and about, that dining alone just didn’t feel fun. I wanted someone to talk to about everything. I guess that’s why these posts are so long. Anyway, I got some lavender gelato (yum!) and walked along the Promande des Anglais at night, simply watching people. I saw many people wearing Levi’s t-shirts, so I guess that’s super cool right now? And the dumbest thing I saw was a middle aged American couple eating McDonald’s ice cream with three different gelato shops in view...I mean, come on folks!