Monday, August 07, 2006

Where I've Been, What We've Been Doing

So although G$ thinks that I am obcessed with computers, I somehow I haven't been good about updating me blog...oops. Here is a quick catch-up...

I'm sure you're wondering, K, how is your hair looking? ...with the humidity, I'm giving Shirley Temple a run for her $. Total corkscrew curls all day long. It looks kinda cute, and since it is so curly, it is suddenly chin length, so it's mostly off my neck.

Incidentally, the backpack I'm using is Ace's from 1995. It was built for unusually tall people and has an aluminum frame that I think are way out of use. People are stunned by the size, and apparently kind of angry when I knock them with the frame while walking down aisles on the train. (I didn't notice because it is so big--D only told me yesterday. Oops!)

We got to Nice around 10AM, and decided we'd spend the day at the beach because it was crazy hot. So we went to a private beach and got the cute, comfy chair and umbrella, and I was instantly in the water. The temp was fantastic, and it is so salty, you barely have to move to stay afloat. I was in a few minutes and heading back to shore when this enormous pain hit my shoulder. Total searing pain. I think I kinda screamed, and the tears started because the pain was just crazy. Turns out I was stung by a jelly fish...never happened to me before. And that was the end of my swimming yesterday in the Med. I guess because of the water temp being so high, a lot of them were close to shore. Which was unfortunate to learn after the fact. But the day only got better from there--it would have to right? :) (Although I had to give D some crap because she heard me scream and didn't come running. What the hell is that?) The rest of the day I hid under the umbrella (if you expose the sting to sun, it will leave a scar. Too bad almost all of my shirts are tank tops).

Other than that...all has been well, relaxing and fun. Went to a Matisse museum in Nice. Perfect size--the entire museum was the size of a large house. AND it had an air-conditioned theater on the bottom floor, so while d went shopping, I took a nap. the movie they were showing was in French, so it wasn't as gripping as you'd imagine. It was kind of like watching Bob Ross (the Happy Trees painter)--spells nighty-night for me. My commentary on Matisse--his busts of his wife's face consisted of a series of four. The first was flattering, and each subsequent one was less and less until she started to look like an ogre. I wouldn't be too happy with my husband...I hope she made him pay for that. But then again, I remember the drawings i did of my friends and family. Not the most flattering portraits...but I did make myself look like an east-Indian Time Life Alien, so maybe it wasn't malicious.

Later that afternoon, I went to Monaco, while D stayed in Nice. Lemme tell you...you haven't seen or met wealthy people til you've been there. We all have friends that "have money", but no one we know has this kind of money. Which is too bad, because I really want to go for a ride on one of those boats. Five stories tall, all attractive and male crews. Ski and sail boats along side so you don't get bored. The cars driving around are Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Lamborghinis...and oodles of them. The Monte Carlo casino charges you to just get in to play, so I decided to instead drive a Ferrari around the F1 racetrack that circulates Monaco. But there was a bit of a wait, and my time had been shorter in town than planned because I got off the bus about 3 km downhill from where I should have. (Never so good with directions...) So I didn't get to do either. But I did make it back to Nice, and for me that's quite an accomplishment!

We went to this other city in France that is about 40km from Geneva on Monday. Crazy beautiful. I think the name of the town was Anesse. Huge lake and quaint town with huge mountains rising up next to it. It is close to Albertville (they had the winter olympics there a few years ago). The lake was so clear it looked like the Caribbean. I've never seen a lake like that. Amazing. We spent a good portion of our day walking, then floating on a boat, swimming and just enjoying. Love it!

We're heading out soon...more later!