Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 08:12:11 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Driving through the land of EXTREMELY RICH people
Hola,
Estoy en Barcelona ahora. Today's drive was from Nice along the French mediterranean coast all the way down here... it was overcast with a few raindrops here and there, but other than that it was a beautiful drive!
This whole stretch of road reminded me of two places in the U.S. Starting off from Nice towards Cannes and Toulon and then Marseille, the road is a lot like Hwy 101 from L.A. to the Oregon border. Lot of rolling hills, occasional views of the sea, and in general, quite scenic. In fact in the city of Nice there was one oceanside drive which looked exactly like Pacific Coast Highway from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach, CA! ocean and beaches on one side and really really really really really NICE villas and apartments and stores and restaurants on the other.
Well, from Marseilles all the way down to Barcelona it's more like North and South Carolina... lot of greenery and a lot of farms, except here they grow grapes instead of cotton. Oh, and also the view of the Pyrennes range in the distance. That's something NC and SC dont have!
Along the way i took the exit for a town called Narbonne - there's a nice medieval castle there i saw from the freeway, so i wanted to get a close-up picture. well, that did not go too well. i got lost inside the town and the navigation system in the car was no help.. and i never saw the castle. Back on the freeway, i could see the castle again but behind trees. Finally i took a picture of an oldish-looking building with a tall steeple. i dont know how that came out - i haven't checked my pictures from today yet.
This hotel in Barcelona is fantastic! a 5-star hotel at a 2-star price ( < 80 euros/night). i'm up on the 8th floor with a nice view of the city --- looking forward to seeing that at night! and i'm here for 2 nights. tomorrow go around Barcelona, then day after tomorrow off to Valencia and Madrid.
Another interesting little thing - after landing in germany i've driven through Austria, Italy, France, Monaco, and now Spain... and the Spain border was the only place that had a border checkpoint. Even there, they just waived everyone through.... Now if the I-5 border guards south of Vancouver did that instead of having a 2-hour wait, i'd go there a lot more often!
Speaking of which, i really haven't gone there in a long time....... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... (hint for the vancouver people: tell the border guards to waive everyone through! then i can go there to die more often)*
-yo.
* "die" = http://www.deathbychocolate.ca
(i really should get paid for endorsing that site so
often!)
ANYWAY....... back to europe..... december 23rd i'll be in madrid.
France: Starting out from Nice toward Marseilles:
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City of Marseilles, France:
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Other France Pictures:
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Spain:
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