Day 14 - Laragne-Montéglin

Day 14—Saturday, May 23, 1992

Went down to have an early breakfast at the Belize hotel, and who should we run into but le grand jerk. We sat down and were served some stale bread and two small cups of coffee, instead of the usual morning pitcher of coffee and one of milk. Bad as that was, it was all the worse because I had distinctly asked the jerk if breakfast included a pot of coffee, and he more or less assured me that it did. So after our coffee, I pointed this out to the miserable fellow, and he, predictably, denied having ever made such an assurance, and he wasn’t about to give us another cup of coffee for free. Fortunately, I had an ace in the hole: I had noticed that a couple who came into the dining room after us were served two large cups of coffee (they had been served by the jerk, whereas we were served by a waitress). I pointed this discrepancy out to the jerk, and he then grudgingly agreed to give us each a large cup of coffee. I told him we wanted that with milk. After he balled out the waitress, he brought us two cups of black coffee. I had to call him back to point out that he had forgotten the milk. He brought the milk and in as smacked-ass a manner as possible he asked if I wanted anything else. “No,” I said, “just what I ordered.” And that was the last of the biggest jerk in France. The coffee was pretty bad.

We took to the highway, intending to stop in Beaulieu, where I wanted to pick up some postcards, but I never saw an exit for the town. We planned to stop at the beach outside Nice, where we’d seen the beautiful water the day before, but I missed the exit. So we kept on driving until we came to Cannes, where I didn’t miss the exit.

I found a parking garage in the heart of town, near the sea, and parked there. Then we wandered around downtown Cannes, starting off at an outdoor flea market. We didn’t see anything of interest and continued our walk, first returning to the strip along the sea where we’d stopped on our previous pass through town and then we wandered around the busy commercial district. Aside from a couple of sandwiches at a concession stand and a few postcards, we didn’t buy anything. We returned to the parking garage and were all set to leave, when we noticed that the weather had changed dramatically for the better—from cold and drizzly upon our arrival to warm and sunny. So we decided to have a beer down by the beach, which we did. That beer tasted great. We then walked to another beach near the auto garage, which also provided a view of the Carlton Hotel. The area was packed with people and had a festive aura. We drank another beer and watched the crowd, which included a comical group of Japanese businessmen in suits taking pictures of the bare-breasted women on the beach.

Well, the weather was nice, so we decided to make one more run to St. Tropez and Tahiti Beach. We took the autoroute and stopped in Ste. Maxime for coffee, then for the third time drove into St. Tropez and then over to Tahiti Beach, arriving at about 4:00 p.m. The beach, at least had some bathers on it this time, although there wasn’t anyone in the water but a dog and a couple of kids. We walked along the shore for about a mile, where we watched the dog and kids in the water, then we made the long hike back to the car. Tahiti Beach was not any Secret Beach or Orient Beach that’s for sure.

The time had come to leave Cote d’Azur for good. Our time here for the most part had been aimless and unrewarding; whatever I had hoped to find had never materialized. The lousy weather didn’t help.

To avoid driving over the stretch of highway between St. Tropez and the autoroute, which we’d already covered too many times, we took Route N98 to Toulon and picked up the autoroute there. This stretch of Route N98 was quite scenic, and driving through Toulon was a breeze what with three lanes of traffic and catching all the lights. Once we reached the autoroute, Sharon took the wheel and we piled on the miles heading north. There were stretches for ten to twenty miles where we didn’t encounter a single car in either direction. The autoroute ended near the town of Sisteron, so we continued on Route N75 to the town of Laragne-Monteglin. By the time we got there it was nearly dark. We spotted the Hotel Chrisma and checked in, then went into the small, quiet town for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Chez d'Inalde, where we drew some attention to ourselves from the contingent of locals dining there. But the service was friendly, the beer was good, and the Roquefort cheese stromboli I had was exceptionally Roqueforty. Sharon had ordered lasagna, and it was considerably more palatable than my stromboli, which grew more challenging to eat with each bite.

Back at the Hotel Chrisma we soon crawled into bed because it was so cold. Sharon fell asleep almost at once, and I wasn’t far behind her. I flipped on the television, cracked open a Pelforth Brune, and was asleep myself by 11:15 p.m., having never touched the Pelforth.

HIGHLIGHT: Nothing great, but I guess the beaches in Cannes and the beers we had there.

LOWLIGHT: Nothing awful, but I guess the missed exits at the beginning of the day.

REFLECTIONS FROM 2020:

As the account tells it, we never did find our groove in Cote d’Azur. I don’t know exactly why that was, but it was probably a combination of things including the weather, the traffic, the crowds, and the costs. It’s obviously a beautiful area, but it sure has been discovered. If we were to go back after having done ample research beforehand and spending lavishly while there, I’m sure we’d have a better time.

While retracing our steps on Google Maps, I learned that we passed right by a stunning rock formation in Sisteron called Rocher de la Baume (see the photo on the left). I don’t know how we missed it—perhaps it wasn’t visible from the highway or maybe it was too dark—but if I’d known about it, we might well have stayed in Sisteron and explored the rock and surrounding area the next morning.

Oddly, I took no photos on this day. I wish I’d taken one of the Japanese businessmen taking pics of the topless women on the beach (or better yet of those women).