Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 6

April 1, 1999 – Nice, Eze, and Monaco, France

Today’s Itinerary: Visit Eze, Visit Monaco, Eat Dinner, Train to Paris

Tonight’s Hotel: Couchettes

Morning Departure Time: 13:00

Jim was nice enough to let us sleep in today.  Some decided to go swimming, but others went shopping, and a few slept in.  Although, we had to check out of the hotel by 12:00 and leave for Eze at 13:00.  Eze is a town kind of like St.-Paul-de-Vence; it is on a mountainside  and has an exotic garden, full of cacti, at the top of the town.  We shopped around for a little while and then went to the Fragonard perfume factory.  They showed us how perfume, soap, and various other body products are made.  We headed to Monaco next.  We sort of went sightseeing in Monaco but mostly we went shopping.  The group I was with, Meaghen, Jacqueline, Ahava, and Carissa, found a vending machine that dispenses thong underwear, it’s the most absurd thing we’ve seen so far.  After leaving Monaco we went straight to dinner in Nice.  Today quiche made up the first course.  Chicken and macaroni noodles made up the second course.  And a strawberry dessert for the third course was pretty good.  After finishing dinner we headed to the train station to catch the train to Paris.  Antonio and my roommates played Poker until a nice family of three took the other three couchettes in our six-bed cabin.  I have been writing this on the train with limited light.  So far the ride has been partially uneventful, the train consists of only couchettes, so there is not much to do.  The rest of the group’s cabins are two cars up, so we have the nice and quiet car.  Luckily for us…

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the sixth entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 5

March 31, 1999 – Nice, France and St. Paul de Vence, France

Today’s Itinerary: Sight see Nice, Go to St. Paul de Vence, Evening Activities

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Ambassador

Morning Departure Time: 09:00

Today breakfast consisted of croissants, hard rolls, orange juice, and hot chocolate.  We went to the Russian Church after breakfast.  The church was small for its size and elegance, which led to boredom, for me, quickly.  It resembled the big church in Moscow, however.  We then headed to an overlook on the eastern part of Nice to see a beautiful view of the surrounding area.  We kept going up higher and higher, we eventually reached another church and a nice garden.  We saw some roman ruins of a coliseum and ruins of some other building.  The coliseum was closed so we didn’t get any pictures of the inside, but it was much smaller than the Colosseum in Rome.  We went back to the hotel for two hours of free time.  A few people went running while others went walking.  A few people also went swimming, and for the most part they had fun.  For lunch I had American style pizza and water.  Our free time was up and we boarded the bus to St. Paul-de-Vence.  St. Paul-de-Vence is a neat little town with rather narrow streets and plenty of shops.  We went shopping for the most part.  The town had some interesting shops and even had a museum.  Three hours later we headed back to Nice for a quick dinner.  I don’t remember what was for dinner tonight.  Two more hours of free time followed dinner so we could prepare for clubs.  We didn’t have the opportunity to go to the Pam Pam or Wayne’s, the British Pub, so we decided to go to a Karaoke place near the hotel.  We stayed three to four hours.  In order to get in you had to buy a drink so.  I had a beer.  Most everyone sang a song or two.  Karaoke got kind of boring after awhile and some left, but most stayed until the end, which was around 00:30.

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the fifth entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 4

March 30, 1999 – Pisa, Italy and Nice, France

Today’s Itinerary: Head to Pisa, See Pisa and shop, Head to Nice, Eat Dinner, Evening Activities

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Ambassador

Morning Departure Time: 09:00

The day started with an ordinary breakfast of toast, rolls, etc.  After checking out of the hotel we headed to Pisa, which was about one and a half hours away.  In Pisa we saw the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery, and the Cathedral.  There was a mass for the Italian mafia in the Cathedral, so we couldn’t take any pictures.  We then had a couple of hours to shop.  The shopping was better here than it was in Florence.  I bought a leaning mug, a plaque of Pisa, and a thimble for my grandmother.  For lunch we stopped at an Autogrille.  I had pasta, lasagna, and chocolate pudding with pineapple.  The it was about four hours to Nice.  There were countless tunnels along the way.  After arriving in Nice we went straight to the chocolate factory.  We learned how different kinds of chocolate and candy are made.  The chocolate and candy that are made in the factory are really good.  After checking into the hotel we walked to Le Chantilly for dinner.  We had egg salad for the first course.  Veal and french fries made up the second course.  We had a really good chocolate pie for the third course.  After dinner we stopped by the beach.  The beach is very rocky and not fun to walk on.  We then went to a discotheque called the Pam Pam and stayed for about 30 minutes.  We headed for another but got turned away because there was a private party.  We almost got turned away from a British pub, called Wayne’s, with live music but some how we got in.  We stayed until closing, 15 minutes later.  This pub was crowded and smoky, and not to mention hot.  We might have better luck with the clubs tomorrow though.

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the fourth entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 3

March 29, 1999 – Florence and Montecatini, Italy

Today’s Itinerary: Go to Florence, See sights, Shop, Go to Montecatini, Dinner, Evening Activities

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Astoria

Morning Departure Time: 08:30

We started the day with the same continental breakfast.  We drove about three and a half hours from Rome to Florence.  Along the way we stopped at an Autogrille, which is basically a fancy truck stop, and shopped around for a few minutes.  In Florence we saw the huge Duomo.  The Duomo is another cathedral like St. Peters Basilica.  We saw the Baptistery with the golden doors, which is next to the Duomo.  The Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria has a replica of the Statue of David.  There were lots of other statues around there too.  Finally, we saw the Church of S. Croce.  Inside were the tombs of many famous people, including Michelangelo and Galileo.  We had lunch, which was pizza and water, for 8,000 lira.  Two hours of shopping followed.  I didn’t really shop; I basically watched the girls I was with, shop.  We left the area, walked down the river, and went to the very scenic Piazzale Michelangelo, a hill overlooking Florence.  Most of the city and bridges can be seen from here.  After 15 minutes of sightseeing and taking pictures we left for Montecatini, an hour away.  We had dinner at the small and charming hotel.  The first course was pasta, again.  Chicken and potatoes made up the second course.  And an apple cobbler, Italian style, was the third course.  About half of the group dressed up for dinner, I was the only one in my group.  We then went to the lively area of Montecatini; it was quite a distance from the hotel.  We rode a carousel and got gelati, which is ice cream made with whip cream.  Today was quite busy with lots of traveling.

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the third entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 2

March 28, 1999 – Rome, Italy

Today’s Itinerary: Continental Breakfast, Colosseum, Vatican Museum, St. Peters Basilica, Dinner, Evening Activities

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Palatino

Morning Departure Time: 07:30

The day started with a very good continental breakfast.  Pastries, meat, juice, and various other items were available.  After finishing we left for the Colosseum.  Going up to the second floor of the Colosseum was a challenge because the steps are quite big.  It was worth the climb though.  We went to the Vatican Museums next.  It was the last Sunday of the month and admission was free!  There are many statues and paintings of famous mythological people.  The museums are very large, and we eventually made it to the Sistine Chapel, there were many signs pointing the way.  For lunch I had Italian pizza and water for 10,000 lira [This was before the Euro was used in Italy].  The water was not very good.  It was carbonated.  We headed to St. Peter’s Basilica after lunch.  The Basilica is a very neat place, one of my favorite buildings thus far.  We went to the tombs where all of the Popes are buried, walked through St. Peters Square, and did a little shopping.  Fore dinner we had pasta with little bits of meat.  Chicken with cheddar colored sauce followed.  And for dessert we had a chocolate brownie with powdered sugar.  We went to the Spanish Steps and enjoyed a cultural song or two.  Trevi Fountain is the best fountain I’ve seen.  The Pantheon was great too but since it was after dusk it was closed.  And at Piazza Navona we found some really good ice cream.  It was a busy day!

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I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the second entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

Time Travel – Italy and France – Day 1

I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.”  Here is the first entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France.  I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.

March 27, 1999 – Rome, Italy

Today’s Itinerary: Arrive in Rome, Transfer to the Hotel, Have Dinner, Evening Activities

Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Palatino

Morning Departure Time: 09:00

We arrived in Rome at 14:00.  The other group from Colombia, MD lost a bag, so we had to wait for them to find it.  While transferring to the hotel, we got a basic overview of Rome and some of the sights we will be seeing.  After checking into the hotel and taking a shower, three others and I went for a walk to see a nearby monument.  There was a protest outside of the hotel about the Kosovo crisis half an hour before we had to leave for dinner.  We ate dinner at Taverne Navona(?).  Every  meal in Italy and France have 3 courses.  The first course was really good, pasta with broccoli and cream sauce.  For the second course we got roast beef slices with gravy, fried potatoes, and a salad.  The third course was dessert, a chocolate and whipped cream treat.  After dinner we toured the city more by the bus.  After the bus tour, our group went on a long walk to see the Colosseum and the Arco di Constantino.  We also saw the Vittorlano, which celebrates Italian unification, and Foro Triano, a column near the Vittorlano.  On the way back to the hotel we stopped for gelato, which is exceptionally good ice cream.  Of course, we stopped to take pictures with some of the locals.  It was quite a day, especially for the first day in a foreign city!

Home Upgrades – Bench Seat

Under the kitchen window is a bench seat.  We wanted to make this seat more usable so we changed its function from just a seat to a seat with storage space underneath.

The original bench seat.

After taking the seat off, we were left with a lovely sight.  It actually wasn’t too hard to demo the four support studs and clean up the inside of this space.  We added some new support studs to the concrete slab and then framed out the box with some plywood.  We finished that off with some cove molding.  We covered the rest of the exposed studs with some regular whitewood boards.

This is what was under the seat.

The other side of what used to be the seat.

The seat is paneled and raises to about 80 degrees (see the support block below) and would be great stained, however I’m not sure if it will be or not. I still have some nail holes to fill and some sanding to do before the storage area underneath gets painted.

The mostly finished bench seat.

The bench seat with the seat open.

This is a great addition and even though it’s not finished, we are already using some of it for storage!

Inside the bench seat.