Day 14: Nice Travel Day

At last!  A day where we didn't take many pictures.  Day 14 was primarily a travel day.  Google maps says it's about a 7 hour drive from Marseilles, France to Montespertoli, Italy but we hit thick traffic and the trip took us far longer.  Fortunately, it's a beautiful route, hugging the Mediterranean coast from Cannes to Nice to Genoa before cutting inland right around Pisa.  If you have to be stuck in a car all day, that's the way to do it.

Here are the kids early that morning at our AirBnB on the outskirts of Marseilles.  The place may not have been the nicest, but they still slept well.

You know you're on the French riviera when you see palm trees.

For lunch, we did the same thing that we did most every day in Europe: find a grocery store and bakery to stock up on cheese, deli meat, yogurt, fruits, veggies, bread, and pastries.  Oh, plus dessert ligeois, and pots de creme. I never grew tired of our baguettes spread with brie and apricot jam    However, this picnic was particularly fun because we ate it on the beach in Nice. 

Being August, I'd learned to pack a small bag with swimsuits in case the water called.  We may not have had towels, but the kids didn't mind.  My one regret--I should have packed two pairs of goggles.  Annika and Talia regularly fussed about who got to use the single pair I brought.

The beach was clean and the water was crystal-clear.  At one point this official boat passed quite close to shore.  We thought it was going to tell us we couldn't swim out so far, which seemed confusing since we were well inside the buoys.  In fact, the boat was traveling back and forth along the shore, skimming the surface of the water to collect any sort of flotsam.  The pristine waters were a far cry from our Long Island beach experience this summer when we slipped on the sand because it was so full of tiny jellies (that came home with us in our hair.)  It wan't as cool though without the company of cousins.

Before we knew it, it was time to hit the road again.  

Poor Jason had to do all of the driving because I wasn't listed on the rental car agreement.  Truth to be told, I didn't trust myself to drive through the crazy narrow streets.  Jason did an amazing job, but it was exhausting without someone to spell him.  Here he is napping in the grass at a rest stop.

At one point we ended up in a huge traffic jam off the Italian coast.   I finally got out of the car and walked along the promenade since the car was going nowhere.

In the end, Jason took some epic twisting back roads to get us back onto the freeway.  The roads were crazy steep and crazy narrow, and I often found myself holding my breath and praying that we wouldn't encounter a car coming the other direction.  But he managed it like a pro.

Well-done Peanut Butter!  Thanks for keeping us all safe.