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My wife and I just got back from a two week vacation to southern France and northern Italy. We considered a bunch of different travel options, but eventually settled on staying in four hotels and using a rental car to get around for most of the trip.

Our first stop was Aix-en-Provence in southern France. From there we spent a day driving to Avignon, Isle Sur La Sorgue, Gordes, Lourmarin, Roussillon, Bonnieux, and Fontaines De Vaucluse. The highlight of the day was Isle Sur La Sorgue which was a nice little town and Gordes which was beautifully set on the side of a mountain. On another day went to the French Riviera and drove through Monte Carlo, Eze, Nice, and Cannes. Unfortunately, it was so crowded in Monte Carlo we couldn’t find reasonably close parking. The drive from Nice to Cannes was quite harrowing! We read before we left that you are putting your life into your own hands driving around the Riviera and they were not kidding. French people apparently consider road lanes as merely guidelines and nothing to deter them from moving in and out of other lanes without pause.

France was nice, this was the second time I’d been in southern France, but the food is not at the top of my list. I’m not sure why people make such a big deal over it - I had a couple of nice pastries, but our dinner meals were mostly mediocre (except for the first night). And since the French generally don’t provide English menus, we were left guessing at what we should order (maybe that was part of the problem). While we didn’t experience many rude French people, I often felt like I was annoying them.

The drive on the A8 from Nice to Genoa has to be the most scenic I’ve ever done. The road mostly follows the coast line high above the towns on the side of the mountains. The other interesting part about the drive was the 50 or so tunnels we continuously went in and out of while weaving our way around the mountains.

We stayed in Santa Margherita right outside of Portofino, the latter of which is a rather exclusive resort town where many of the Italian elite vacation. It was not disappointing - it was extremely beautiful. I think my wife would have been happy staying 14 days just here! It was similar to the Amalfi Coast, where we were married, but Santa Margherita is a little more accessible and there is more stuff to do (but just as pretty).

On the trip to Florence, we stopped in Pisa to check out the leaning tower. Pisa’s Piazza has to be the most beautiful I’ve seen in all of Europe. This was my second visit to it. On my first trip in 1998, they didn’t allow visitors to climb up the leaning tower. Now, they do.

Next we stayed in Florence for 5 nights. We did day trips to Siena and Arezzo (big antique market). It is safe to say that both my wife and I enjoy Italy significantly more than France. I tend to like the architecture better, the people are nicer, the food is better, and the sites are more scenic. All the vineyards in Tuscany reminded us of Napa. It is interesting how similar northern California is to northern Italy in terms of terrain.

The last leg of the trip was to Venice. We decided to ditch the rental car in Florence because we wanted to decrease the stress level (I still find driving in Europe stressful). We took a train and had a nice conversation on the way with a 27 year old Italian student studying foreign languages (her English was very good). I had heard a lot about Venice and how beautiful it was. We were both thinking it wasn’t going to live up to the hype. Surprisingly it did! Venice was indeed beautiful. All the canals and walkways make it truly a unique destination. It was, however, very expensive. We paid 90 euros for a water taxi from the hotel to the airport!

All in all, we had a very good time. I took a bunch of pictures, some of which I posted to Flickr. My favorite towns out of the ones we visited include Gordes, Monte Carlo, Santa Margherita, Portofino, Florence, and Venice.

Now I just need 3 or 4 days to rest from my vacation!

Here are a few stats from the trip:

Days: 14
Countries visited: 4
Towns visited: 19
Hotels stayed in: 4
Distance flown: Over 10,000 miles
Distance driven: 1,650 km (1,025 miles)
Top speed on autostrada: 145 km/hr (90 miles/hr)
Buses taken: 3
Trains taken: 3
Boats taken: 2
Pictures taken: 327 (200 MB)
Money spent: $(%&@%#!