6/9/08 Monday ~ Travel Journal

Entry:
11am
Jere woke up up shaking, realizing that he left our camera on the train last night. Somehow he woke up from a dead sleep and remembered it. We went to the train station to ask about lost and found. Now we are leaving Avignon and going to check Marseilles - the end of the line for the train we were on last night) We are praying that some kind soul took it to lost and found.

On a good note...our stay at camping Bagatelle was only 11EU! That's amazing.

2:57pm
Our camera is gone. We're not getting it back. We filled out a form but it's more likely that someone took it or kept it. This is the first time on our trip that I feel despair. Through all the things that have happened, I haven't cried until now. That camera was the way we were going to remember everything. Maybe we'll buy another - digital small camera. It's going to be expensive. We still have THREE weeks left though. I feel forlorn.

4;20pm
We are on the train to Cannes/Nice. We are trying to get out of France but there may not be a regular train - only a night train. We are trying to shift our thinking into a more positive outlook again as it was before. At the train station in Marseilles, a magnificent thunderstorm passed overhead with enormous claps of thunder and cracks of lightening. It made me want to be home (a comfortable place) and cuddling instead of traveling. Jere and I got McDonald's before jumping on the train - hoping to taste home. Instead it made us realize nothing is like home until we are there again.

6:05pm
We are riding by the Mediterranean. We passed through Cannes and are headed to Nice. The sea is a brilliant blue and the hills are a wonderful orange with dark green vegetation. The train is running along through the gorges and every once in a while we can see the sea again. It feels good. There are houses dotting the hills like the pictures we've seen before. You know, all those pictures of houses built into the hillside...

7:19pm
We are in Nice, France. We decided to stay here and booked a hotel room through the tourism office. There are no campings in Nice, although we didn't think there would be. We are staying in a Comfort Hotel and there is an Internet cafe a few doors down. Our room is on the third floor, and there is a balcony! It seems very cheery and fresh.

11:30pm
We left our hotel around 9pm. We checked the Internet and walked down to the Mediterranean. Upon arrival, the sky and the sea were the same shade of blue. (medium electric blue) Everything blended together. We sat on the stony beach and threw rocks into the water. Somehow the thought came to me that I could make necklaces out of the rocks for gifts from France. Jere immediately told me he was pretty sure it was illegal. I took them anyways. Hopefully I won't get arrested.... :) I want to wrap wire around the rocks and connect them to something.
Anyways, after being on the beach for a while (and after seeing 3 (+/-) men pee into the ocean, get dressed and pee in a corner) we walked up to the street and bought some ice cream. Jere got tiramisu and I got cappuccino. (maybe that's why I couldn't fall asleep!) We went back to our hotel and laid around.