Sunday: Corsica

Hi, everybody!

It's been a couple nights since I was able to write an update.  The combination of a busy schedule, uncertain wireless connections, and power issues conspired to keep me off the blog since we were in Nice.

Now we're on the island of Corsica, where we arrived last night.  I know many of us hated to leave the Cote d'Azur, because we had such a wonderful time there.

Monaco is truly a magical place.  The scenery there is incredibly beautiful, and it is immaculately clean.  Many of us watched the changing of the guard at the Monagasque royal palace on Friday--an event that made it seem even more like a fairy tale kingdom.  A few of us were also thrilled to see part of the course where the famous Grand Prix auto race is held each May.

From there, we traveled to the village of Eze, a medieval town between Monaco and Nice.  We visited the Fragonard perfume factory, and most of us hiked up to the village itself--well worth the climb.

Yesterday we said au revoir to Nice, and boarded the ferry for a six-hour ride to the island of Corsica.  The sea was a little rough along the way, so we were all glad to reach land...only to discover we still had to ride a bus for over an hour through winding mountain roads!  Eric, our driver, is highly skilled, and he is apparently a fan of Whitney Houston; he decided to entertain us by playing her music over the bus's sound system.

The long journey turned out to be worth ever wave, twist, and turn.  Our hotel is located in the town of Propriano, on the southeastern coast of Corsica.  When I say it's on the coast, I mean it's on the coast.  We can see and hear the Mediterranean from our rooms.  The sound of the waves soothed us to sleep last night.

Speaking of sleep, it's 11:05 in Propriano, and I'm going to call it an evening.  I'll hopefully be back tomorrow, from either Corsica or Sardinia, which is our next destination.  I'll write more about our visit to Corsica then.

Our adventure is now about half over.  We're tired, but we're healthy and happy. 

Until next time,
Chris