Aug 7 2007: Getting Restless in the French Riviera

We've checked into the Hotel D'Alizee, quite a step up from the house of terror that we left this morning. The check-in had to be done in two trips, because my bike was in the garage. Cavalaire-Sur-Mer is about 10 kms away from Rayol, so I took half the luggage on my first trip, checked in, and came back for Neda and the other half of the luggage. When I got back to Rayol, Neda was very upset. Seems the old lady stiffed her out of €15 when she tried to pay for the night, taking advantage of the language barrier. Rather than fight with the old lady, she just left in disgust. So we packed up the bags, and as we were leaving, the younger woman who worked there, came running out and offered us the €15 that she snuck out of the old lady's register. She was very nice and told us the old lady was kind of a bitch. Glad we were out of there.

On the way to Cavalaire, we stopped by Paul's garage to say hi. As expected, the tire still hadn't shown, so we were here until Wednesday for sure. Paul seems to be a very jovial guy and despite the language barrier, his humour really shone through. Hopefully the tire mounting goes without a hitch. Rode to the new hotel, checked in and headed out for lunch at a restaurant just around the corner from the hotel. We should have stayed here the very first night! The town is a typical French Riviera marina, tons of sailboats line the harbour along the main strip and lots of touristy shops and restaurants eager to grab precious Euros from the visiting folks. The weather was nice, around 30C but not very humid.

Beach at Cavalaire. The confusing thing here is that there is another town about 15 kms west called Cavaliere.
Who would do that? Give two towns that are so close almost the same name? At least Oshawa and Ottawa are 350 kms apart!

Hotel D'Alizees, our home for a day

Benellli Cafe Racer: "More than meets the eye!"

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel room, cranked the A/C, but it was such a tiny unit it didn't really cool our room down very much. Oh well. Neda headed to the beach for the day and I stayed in a caught up on my blog and Internet habit. Around 7PM, we went for a walk around the city. It's quite a small place and all the stores looked the same. I think we're getting antsy, we need to get moving and it's frustrating being in one place for such a long time. The south of France is a great place to get stuck, but that's not what this vacation is all about.

Seems like everyone in France buys a fresh loaf of bread everyday. Everywhere on the streets people are walking
around with a loaf of bread, what a stereotype! So Neda is lining up to get us a couple of loaves so we can fit in.

Restaurants along the docks

After walking around for an hour, building up our appetite, we had dinner at the hotel, and got tipsy over a bottle of rose wine. We headed down to the casino down the road for some amusement. I extended my losing streak at Roulette, giving the house a substantial wad of Euros for the pleasure of sitting in a chair and watching a little white ball bounce around a spinning wheel. After, we sat down and watched people throwing large metal balls at a smaller rubber ball in what they call Bocce. Watching this was free, but once we figured out what the rules were, it was kind of like watching lawn bowling, or curling, or watching paint dry. Not that exciting. Ugh, we need to get back on the road!

Main square in centre-ville

I have no idea what this picture is all about...

I've spent most of the last couple of days watching the time go by in little ways. Like staring at the sea-water drying on my skin leaving salt stains that stick to the arms of my hair. Like the sun slowly moving from behind the shade of the parasol, playing a slow game of tag with me, as I move my beach chair another foot back into the shadow. That was good for yesterday, but today I'm in first gear, revving the engine, clutch half-way out, but I'm striving against the front brakes, which are engaged beyond my control. I need to go.