Costa Rica Flowers & Schools

Tom and I just returned from a 12 day trip to Costa Rica.  We weren't able to post pictures while there (apple and Google don't play well together) so we decided to write about our journey while there and post the pictures when we returned home.  It was a spectacular trip starting in San Jose and covering the central valley, northern volcanoes and cloud forests then on to the Pacific coast.
Here are our impressions:

                                                             People - traffic - friendly
                                              Razor wire bars on walls, words I don't know
                                           Beauty and flowers everywhere, sweet sweet smells.

                                                      Poas Volcano cloud forest - only geocache

                                    Coffee red beans fruit, picking, drying,sunning, sorting roasting

                                                 Butterflies, flowers, chocolate coconut dessert

                                                              Did I mention coffee?

Ticas proud of their country, friendly, I can talk to people on the street 

No Army, no birds in captivity, value children

Bilingual, 95% literacy

Beautiful children in 3 room school house

Cerro Alegre - Happy Hill school

Girls in beautiful dresses like butterflies

National anthems

Hokey Pokey

Coconut milk, pineapples

Sweet smiles, silly boys

Washington DC

A new trip is coming up. 

Mt. Rainier

We spent six days in Mt. Rainier with Justin.  See my post here for more pictures.  www.candyce54.blogspot.com

Rainier is 14.410 feet.  It is covered with glaciers, spawns 6 rivers and is an active volcano.  10,000 people attempt the summit each year.  We enjoyed many of the surrounding trails, wildflowers, waterfalls and pine forests.

What We learned about France and travel

First, we found the French people to be delightful and easy to get along with, especially if you try to speak a few phrases and make an effort to understand their language.

Other travel notes:

• Get your Stair-master going beforehand.  Lots of steps to see the great sites

• Learn a few French phrases:  hello, goodby, thank you, where is?  I don't speak French, do you speak English.

• You will learn to eat late but take some Maalox

• Get a Eurocard loaded with Euros and use it.  Easier than credit.

• Take only good shoes which you can walk in forever.  Forget fashion, even if the French women can walk in those heels, you can't.

• Buy a museum pass - well worth the money and saves waiting in longest lines.

• Plan out trip routes on bus or metro and write them down so it is easy peasy.

• Take or buy a good map of wherever you are - especially a road map if you are driving.  Driving is not impossible but takes planning and a good sense of humor. 

• A good travel book is essential - we loved the Rick Steves Paris and Provence.  I would take them on my ipad or a Kindle next time to save the weight.

• You can learn to get by on fewer clothes.

• Save your subway tickets in Paris!

• Enjoy, absorb and most of all take lots of pictures.

Candy and Tom

til the next trip

Last Day in Paris

We traveled on the TGV (the bullet train) from Aix-en-provence to Paris and arrived to find warm cloudy weather.  Quite different from the sunny warm of southern France.  We thought we might catch one last look at the Eiffel Tower so we caught a subway there.  When we got off the subway we were challenged to present our ticket.  Because we kept confusing used tickets with new ones we got the habit of throwing away the old ticket.  Well...don't.  The subway police accosted us and made us pay a fine on the spot for not having a ticket with us.  Curious that there is no sign in English, only French, and they only positioned themselves at the Eiffel exit.  Do I smell a tourist trap? 

We got to the Eiffel and climbed up to the second level.  Quite a haul up there.  669 steps.  All of our stair climbing the past two weeks had been in training for this.  It is the way to go in order to avoid the long lines. 














From there we caught one of the elevators to the top.  The view was fine with all of Paris laid out below us.

We knew the next day was a long one so we had dinner and retired early.

We hope you have enjoyed our little story about two Mid-westerners traveling to Europe.  It was a great experience and we hope you can make it there someday and enjoy it as much as we did. We will do one final post about some of our impressions.   Au revoir!

Calanques of France

On our last day in Provence we returned to Cassis and caught a boat tour into the Calanques.  These are small narrow fjord-like bays off the Mediterranean sea around Cassis and Marseille, France.  The cliffs rise 1000 feet out of the water and are popular with rock-climbers.  The water was several beautiful shades of blue, the cliffs are white.

 After our boat trip we picked up picnic things from a local grocery and headed down to the beach at Cassis.  There is little sand on the beaches there, mostly small pebbles and rocks.  For one last time we wanted to dip our toes in the clear blue water of the Mediterranean.  Tom didn't do any nail polish.

 

 We took one last drive up the steep little road to the top of the cliffs overlooking Cassis and wandered around taking pictures.  We wanted the images to last a long time.  We have never seen such beautiful blue water from so high.

 We found a great little restaurant in Aix, called Pasta Cosy.  Great food and a great owner.  It was Candy's birthday so everyone in the restaurant sang Happy Birthday (in French).  And, for dessert, a kiss from Fabien!




And now, back to Paris!

Did I mention the poppies?

The poppies were beautiful and blooming everywhere.  Can't you see from the artist eye the great little splotches of red?