Monaco, Provence and Paris, 2015

At that point of trip packing where I'm like "screw it; I've got my passport and smartphone, that's really all I need to worry about."

930am jet lagged TGV out of Paris, landscape zooms by at 200kph while Gas "Nah und Fern" drones in my headphones.

Took 40 hours, am now in Monte Carlo. Feeling like a wealthy tax-avoiding European already!

Monte Carlo is very popular with 60-something men and their 22 year old Russian girlfriends.

Musée Oceanographique de Monaco.

Car collection of the Prince of Monaco.

Monaco is a remarkably vertical city, presenting a significant cartographic challenge. Curious if anyone has a good map with elevators etc.

The official tourist map of Monaco is not good at vertical depiction. static.monte-carlo.mc/documentation/Brochure_Plan_Officiel_EN.pdf
OSM lacks public elevators, etc on it.

Getting a car in Monte Carlo. Albeit a rental Peugeot, not a Phaeton or Aston-Martin or Ferrari.

My hotel near Cannes has a Bond Aston-Martin / Omega / Bollinger party. Here is Ken with the DB10 from Spectre.

Lunch in Cannes at Le Caveau, a lovely old brasserie full of lovely old French vacationers eating shellfish.

Market hall in Cannes.

Other photos from Cannes.

And some low art in Cannes.

Long shot, but do you know any recommended Provence tourist stops between Cannes and Arles? I already know Aix and Marseille.

Using the Michelin restaurant map as a proxy for "towns with some tourist interest". viamichelin.com/web/Restaurants?position=43.4825702;6.4946365;11

Fondation Vasarely in Aix-en-Provence. Sadly decrepit, currently unfashionable artist. But amazing installations.

the pain of crooked photos of a geometrically precise artist. Sorry! Vasarely makes me sad; the leaking building, the forgotten artist.

An encouraging collection of signs at a restaurant.

Roman ruins day in Arles.

Signs and street art in Arles.

Every French merchant has been (understandably) baffled by these American credit cards that have chips but no PINs. Chip+signature is dumb.

Torrential deluge in sunny Provence; waiting it out in our hotel with a bottle of wine and a view of the village.

Gone 250km from Monaco to Les Baux-de-Provence and yet still under Grimaldi rule. The Prince of Monaco is also the Marquis des Baux.

Tourist day in the medieval hilltop village of Les Baux-de-Provence.

Happy birthday Ken! Fabulous dinner at l'Oustau de Baumaniere, tasty potatoes cooked in a packet of pork fatback.

Every single hotel wifi has a different problem. This one resets HTTP connections when trying to load jQuery and other Javascript frameworks

Excellent lunch at La Patio in Fontvielle. Leg of rabbit made confit in olive oil. Starting to get this Provençal cuisine thing.

The Carrières de Lumières in les Baux is remarkable. Stone quarry converted to monumental video projection space.

I'd love to do an interactive installation at the Carrières, some sort of geovisualization art. Anyone have a spare empty quarry?

Drinking sand wine in the city of stagnant waters.

Aigues Mortes, an odd walled town in a marsh, controlling access from the sea.

In Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. But the Marys are dull. The cool saint is Sara la Kali, the Romani unbeatified saint. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sarah

One bummer about lunch in France on a beautiful day: your options are to sit inside or sit on the terrasse in the smoking section.

A brief visit to the captive papacy in Avignon. Didn't see any anti-popes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy

And now in Valence, preparing for a fine meal at Maison Pic. 80+ years of exceptional chefs in the family.

The tetrahedral chevre ravioli came in a sauce of bergamot, watercress, ginger, and komatsuna.

Afterwards the fish was in a sauce of green zebra tomato, woodruff, verbena, and cucumber. Need I say Mme. Pic is amazing?

Seriously, the food at Maison Pic is unique and incredible. Innovative beyond most chefs; she talks a lot about perfume and fresh herbs.

@sgillies As they say, "vaut le voyage". Still not seen Valence!
BTW I kept seeing the town Saint-Gilles on a map and thinking of you.

Wikipedia is such an amazing resource when traveling. Particularly with an offline version loaded on your phone. Instant knowledge.

Still thinking about dinner last night. Anne-Sophie Pic is doing something unique at her level. I wonder if other chefs follow her cooking?

@scalzi I just finished Old Man's War and it was great! Thanks for the novel. You're keeping me company in Provence and the Rhone :-)

In Beaune! Well the highway rest stop at least. Crazy customer feedback gadget in the coffee joint.

Brief mediocre lunch stop in Vienne on the Rhone. The gothic church was so light inside! Bonus Roman temple.

And now in Saulieu, Burgundy, chasing another extravagant dinner.

Admittedly Bernard Loiseau is something of a grim story when talking about the pursuit of Michelin stars. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Loiseau#Death

In retrospect, scheduling two top-end destination restaurants on successive nights might have been a bit too much.

Anyone know the trick these days for avoiding the ticket line at the Louvre?

Ah, here's the Louvre trick, the Porte des Lions. Being French, it is randomly closed at various times. apartmentsdulouvre.com/the-louvres-secret-entrance

A full day at the Louvre.

More vignettes from the Louvre.

My favorite thing at the Louvre was Rubens' cycle about Marie de Medici (her commission). Interesting politics. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de%27_Medici_cycle

Another successful cassoulet at Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes in Paris. Now I'm full of beans!

Happiness is Sunday lunch until 6pm at a Parisienne friend's home. Quail with puff pastry, foie gras with mandarin, pears poached in wine.

Paris street shots.

Guimet museum of Asian Art. The amphora is 7500 years old. !?

One last French lesson: when something is closed "pour des raisons techniques", that means "shit's fucked up, yo".