May 25-28, 1984

May 25-28, 1984

In morning we took the train south to the western Swiss city of Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva. We had a few minutes to stretch our legs in the downtown before we caught another train to the small mountain town of Martigny. There we took a quick stroll along a canal for a view of the medieval castle of Batiaz on the cliff above.

We then hopped a third train to our destination, the alpine town of Chamonix, France. Chamonix is a cute ski town in the Mont Blanc valley. Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps. We took a gondola to its snowy top. This was the first time I had seen snow in late May.

The next morning we took the train to the French Riviera city of Nice seeking the sun and warmer weather. Frustratingly, it is still cloudy. Undeterred we headed for the beach anyway. Almost like a miracle, the sun greeted us as soon as we got there. We pulled off our t-shirts and rolled up our blue jean pant legs to catch some rays. I am sure we looked like nerds but we missed the sun. This isn’t exactly what I would call a beach though. Instead of sand it was full of large pebbles. No matter, it is finally sunny! Closer to noon my opinion of French beaches rose dramatically. The local female working population likes to eat their picnic lunch on the beach. They all brought their sack lunches, sat down, pulled off their tops and ate. France is a great place!

After lunch we walked through Massena Plaza, a central square with a nice fountain, and climbed to Parque de Chateau high above the city. This park was the site of the original but long gone Nice Castle. The park has a nice man-made waterfall and offers a good view of the coastline and countryside. It also has an above ground cemetery reminiscent of New Orleans.

Wanting a real sand beach we took the train to the nearby Riviera city of Cannes. On the train we met two buxom girls from Canada. We invited them to join us. On the way to the beach, I was hoping they were going to go “European”. One did, one didn’t. We returned after lunch to find the Canadians had attracted some new male friends who didn’t want us infringing on their view.

The next day we took the train east along the Riviera to the miniature country of Monaco, home of Monte Carlo and formerly Princess Grace. The Grimaldi family has ruled this city-state since 1300. We walked to the Palace and saw the changing of the guard. We also noticed grandstands being erected for next week's June 3 Gran Prix, a car race that weaves thru the center of town. In the afternoon Dave and I went to the famous Monte Carlo Casino to try our hand at poker.

That evening we rejoined the Paris girls and took a train to Italy. Unfortunately we got stuck at the border train station for several hours due to an Italian rail strike. We made the best of it.