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| Sanremo from our Hotel |
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| Sanremo Selfie |
Oct. 12, 2015- Sanremo
Retracing Our Steps-Sanremo
I bet you didn't know that Sanremo was one word. We've always thought is was San Remo until we tried to enter it into Our Lady. Man oh man. Nothing's easy. Getting out of Carcassone included. Streets were narrow, buildings were close together, and we lost the satellite. We pulled into a parking lot going the wrong way on a one-way street to get clear air space, and we were off. It was the first wrong way this trip, not too bad.
We had a six to seven hour drive ahead of us. We had the name of two hotels and high hopes. We learned a new term for what the French call a Junction when two roads diverge. It's a bifurcation here. I must say the French are law-biding drivers. They signal turns, let drivers merge, and most follow the speed limit. The only moment of terror was when David went for the brake and stepped on the clutch by mistake. We thought we had no brakes. Quick recovery and his error was corrected. After examination, the brake and clutch are very close together and the same shape, size, and level.
I'm in charge of having money ready to pay tolls. I usually don't handle foreign currency when we travel and only use plastic. With travel on the toll roads, we need ready change. Every time we pay with paper bills we get coins back. There aren't postings of upcoming tolls nor are tickets marked with the cost of highway use. I have to produce close to the right amount right after the ticket is inserted and the screen shows the cost. Today I was able to quickly find the correct amount and use up most of our small coins so David's pocket isn't so heavy. We don't mind the tolls even though today added up to $45. Without the toll roads we'd be on local mountain roads. It would be more dangerous and take forever. Even Rick Steves suggests toll roads.
We retraced our route back around Nimes, Arles, Aix, and Nice up, through and over the Maritime Alps following the coastline of the Mediterranean. We were on an elevated road with a bird's eye view. Although we were in and out of rain, it was still majestic. We've had good weather until now. Don't mind rain on a driving day.
We're at the Hotel Modus Vivendi. We traveled several switchbacks to get here. It's not in town, but high enough for a magic view of Sanremo and the Mediterranean below. Our room was quoted as $100 including breakfast, but they lowered it to the on line price of $69 with breakfast and free parking. We didn’t even ask. It's a 4-star hotel, the nicest yet. We're not leaving for dinner. No way are we driving those crazy roads in the dark. The nice man at the desk ordered pizza for sretracingeveral guests and for himself. We're in on it. He's very accommodating and his English seemed good, but when David asked for two hand towels he thought we wanted a room with two bathrooms. That resolved, we have a suite with a bunk-bed room, kitchenette in the main room, and balcony.
Other than a false fire alarm, our evening was boring. Our pizza was two hours late, but so was everyone else's. It was perverse, but we watched a cooking show in Italian while waiting. Food is easy to understand in any language. Our pizza arrived before we learned if the raw meat on a stick in the cooking show demo was going into the Bloody Marys or was to be eaten separately.
Just checked our hoped for destination (Cinque Terre) and rain will continue through Wednesday. The whole point of the area is to walk from town to town along the craggy coast. Not foul weather activity. We may head North to Stresa on Lago Maggiore. Looks like the weather might clear for a bit there.
I bet you didn't know that Sanremo was one word. We've always thought is was San Remo until we tried to enter it into Our Lady. Man oh man. Nothing's easy. Getting out of Carcassone included. Streets were narrow, buildings were close together, and we lost the satellite. We pulled into a parking lot going the wrong way on a one-way street to get clear air space, and we were off. It was the first wrong way this trip, not too bad.
We had a six to seven hour drive ahead of us. We had the name of two hotels and high hopes. We learned a new term for what the French call a Junction when two roads diverge. It's a bifurcation here. I must say the French are law-biding drivers. They signal turns, let drivers merge, and most follow the speed limit. The only moment of terror was when David went for the brake and stepped on the clutch by mistake. We thought we had no brakes. Quick recovery and his error was corrected. After examination, the brake and clutch are very close together and the same shape, size, and level.
I'm in charge of having money ready to pay tolls. I usually don't handle foreign currency when we travel and only use plastic. With travel on the toll roads, we need ready change. Every time we pay with paper bills we get coins back. There aren't postings of upcoming tolls nor are tickets marked with the cost of highway use. I have to produce close to the right amount right after the ticket is inserted and the screen shows the cost. Today I was able to quickly find the correct amount and use up most of our small coins so David's pocket isn't so heavy. We don't mind the tolls even though today added up to $45. Without the toll roads we'd be on local mountain roads. It would be more dangerous and take forever. Even Rick Steves suggests toll roads.
We retraced our route back around Nimes, Arles, Aix, and Nice up, through and over the Maritime Alps following the coastline of the Mediterranean. We were on an elevated road with a bird's eye view. Although we were in and out of rain, it was still majestic. We've had good weather until now. Don't mind rain on a driving day.
We're at the Hotel Modus Vivendi. We traveled several switchbacks to get here. It's not in town, but high enough for a magic view of Sanremo and the Mediterranean below. Our room was quoted as $100 including breakfast, but they lowered it to the on line price of $69 with breakfast and free parking. We didn’t even ask. It's a 4-star hotel, the nicest yet. We're not leaving for dinner. No way are we driving those crazy roads in the dark. The nice man at the desk ordered pizza for sretracingeveral guests and for himself. We're in on it. He's very accommodating and his English seemed good, but when David asked for two hand towels he thought we wanted a room with two bathrooms. That resolved, we have a suite with a bunk-bed room, kitchenette in the main room, and balcony.
Other than a false fire alarm, our evening was boring. Our pizza was two hours late, but so was everyone else's. It was perverse, but we watched a cooking show in Italian while waiting. Food is easy to understand in any language. Our pizza arrived before we learned if the raw meat on a stick in the cooking show demo was going into the Bloody Marys or was to be eaten separately.
Just checked our hoped for destination (Cinque Terre) and rain will continue through Wednesday. The whole point of the area is to walk from town to town along the craggy coast. Not foul weather activity. We may head North to Stresa on Lago Maggiore. Looks like the weather might clear for a bit there.
Toby
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