Here, There and Ireland, too!: Me and my Mercedes

Well, I have moved on from Nice. I was ready and had seen all I really wanted to see. I hopped the bus to the airport and picked up what was to be my Volkswagon Golf. They were fresh out of Golfs so I am driving a Mercedes-Benz B Class. I would classify it as a crossover and it is very nice.

I headed up to the Alps toward Grenoble (although I did not get that far). I stop at a little town call St. Saviour en Tinee. Very quaint, sitting in a valley surrounded by some pretty big mountains. As the road went on, there were villages perched on mountains with the church steeples high up above the towns. There were gorges and rivers and the rock changed from a gray to a red shale like rock. It changed the whole color of the scenery. River were swiftly flowing everywhere. There were people camped all along the roads and swimming in the rivers. The rock formations reminded me of the southwest. The roads were winding and narrow. I missed much of the scenery due to the roads.

The next stretch of road heading to my home for two nights, ran along the Verdun Gorge. This is called the "Grand Canyon" of France. This was incredibly crowded and I was beat from the drive on the roads so I by passed most of the scenery so that I could get to my hotel. I will go back and do it properly tomorrow.

I reached my hotel in Moustier Ste. Marie, another lovely mountain village. I walked into town, about a 10 minute walk. It is perfectly charming. The streets and narrow and uphill with a beautiful church in the center.
Dinner tonight was interesting. It was at a place called Le Relais. I sat on the outside terrace. I find restaurants in France to be a little strange but some of the things they allow really annoy me. This one tonight had a couple with a baby about 10 months with no clothes on. Another couple brought their dalmatian who sat and eyeball each person and each fork full of food. Very, very annoying! Anyway the meal was very good.
I am back at the hotel and ready for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow I plan to do the gorge properly. Until then.........