Europe (cont.)
4/5/2005 - 4/19/2005
4/14 - 4/17 Corsica: On Thursday, we caught a train to the coast of Italy (Livorno) and then hopped on a ferry to Bastia, Corsica.
Bastia is a mid-size port town on the Northeast coast where not many people speak English. Our tourist guides didn't have much info on Corsica. So, we had a bit of a time finding a hotel on the first day...
I called the one hotel in our book and said, "Parlez-vous Anglais?" The reply: "No". That was the end of our conversation. Fortunately, Tammy and I were able to find our way to the hotel, which ended up being fairly nice.
The picture above is of the rental car that we used to drive from Bastia to the North tip of Corsica (Cap Corse) and then along the West coast to Calvi. We then cut through the interior to Corte and then back to Bastia.
Here's a cool shot that Tammy took along our drive. This guy was perched on the side of the road. He was painting a picture of the view.
Corsica is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen. The hills are full of old churches, hillside towns, rolling hills, and mountains...
The coast is dramatic with rocky shorelines and also some pretty amazing beaches.
Apparently, Corsica is fairly popular with the French mainlanders and the Brits. We really didn't know what to expect, but were totally amazed with its beauty.
The roads offer some tremendous views.
The only caveat is that the road on the Northwest shoreline was pretty intense. It's about one and a half cars wide. The Corsican drivers are maniacs. They pass on curves, speed around bends, and generally have no fear. It was a beautiful drive, but after about four hours of it, I was ready for a nice straight road.
Finally, the road led away from the coast and offered more amazing scenery.
At the end of the second day, we ended up in Calvi, which is a pretty little seaside town on the East coast. From the number of bars and restaurants, it looks like it's probably a pretty good place to party during the season.
On Saturday, we drove from Calvi back to Bastia, through the interior and via Corte.
This town is right outside of Corte.
More "strauss pictures"...
Church window in a Corsica seaside town.
Saturday evening we were back in Bastia and desperately needed to do laundry. It probably took us close to two hours to find this laundrymat. We ended up getting directions from a couple of Mormon kids from Utah.
Sunday morning we flew from Bastia back to Paris for the last few days of our trip. Here's a view of the Corsica coatline as we flew away.
4/17 - 4/19 Paris: Back in Paris we saw some street performers in front of Notre Dame. These guys were rollerblading down a ramp and were then trying to make it over a high-bar. You can see the guy in the picture to the left doing a split over the bar. I could've done it...when I was 13...maybe...not.
We went to the Picaso Museum in Paris...pretty cool place. For some reason Tammy wanted me to pose next to this sculpture. Hmmmmm.
Tammy fashion.
Water art outside of the Pompidou Centre. Anyone thirsty?
