New York City Marathon (a photo essay)

Ok, time to quit procrastinating about writing this report.

I started working toward doing this race four years ago when I first applied for the lottery.  At that time, there was a policy that if you entered the lottery for three years and were not selected you were guaranteed entry in the fourth year.  I then spent the next three years entering the lottery with my fingers crossed that I would not be selected as I had other races planned in 2011 (Switzerland), 2012 (San Francisco) and 2013 (Lisbon).  All went according to plan and 2014 was the year for the New York Marathon.

My training for this race went very well … up until about the month before when life started to get busy and my training started to get a bit spotty.  I had hoped that this might be the year that I would finish in 4:30 or better.  I had previously done Victoria and San Francisco in 4:34 (both hilly races) on less training so this was a reasonable goal … sort of.

I had initially booked accommodation close to the Empire State building but in September I received an email that the hotel had gone out of business and I had to make other plans.  This prompted a rapid scan of Expedia which netted a discount hotel in the Upper West Side.  The hotel was located just off Broadway at 87^th, within a block of the subway and around the corner from a Starbucks. The location was great for the race and ended up being pretty convenient for our whole week in New York.

We arrived in New York early on Thursday morning after a great non-stop overnight flight from Vancouver.  We were able to store our bags at a friend’s hotel and we spent most of the day touring Manhattan on a hop-on, hop-off tour.  The day was definitely too chilly for an open air bus but it was a nice day otherwise and the bus tour was a good way to spend the time until we were able to check into our hotel.  The weather forecast in the days before we arrive in New York had been really nice so my wardrobe was really inadequate for the weather on Thursday and Friday.

Friday morning we made our way to the race expo.  We arrive at the convention centre around 10:30.  The Expo was supposed to open at 10 am and the shopping was definitely open but I think the package pickup opening must have been delayed as there was a huge line up that snaked back and forth through the convention centre and did not appear to move for the first 15 minutes we were there.  I sent my friend off to explore the Expo while I waited on line.  Just before 11, the line was suddenly given the all clear and everyone streamed into the package pickup.  There were numerous pickup desks and I got my race bib and shirt within about 10 minutes.  I did a quick browse through the Asics shop and the other vendors in the expo before meeting up with my friend at our rendezvous spot.  On my first time through the Asics shop, I thought the checkout line ups were really long but by the time I grabbed a jacket and a couple of shirts when we went back the second time, the line up had grown exponentially.  For all of that, the line moved fairly quickly and we were able to get through in under an hour.  There was another area on an upper floor with lots of photo opportunities and maps of the routes.  I believe they had a number of speakers throughout the three days of the Expo.

A few folks in the checkout line.                                                    Previewing the course and modeling my new purchase

Friday night was Halloween, so we took in an amazing Halloween parade along 6^th Avenue.  Incredible costumes, stilt walkers, bands and floats.  This was an awesome event, there was a young girl and her mother watching next to us and the girl attracted a lot of attention from the parade participants who all took the opportunity to come over and try to scare her.  Thankfully she was a good sport and didn’t get freaked out by all the zombies and monsters.

Some highlights from the Halloween Parade. 

Saturday was a low key day, we went to a matinee of Wicked so I managed to stay off my feet for the most part.  We had dinner at a neighbourhood diner close to our hotel.  I had the requisite pasta and then we headed back to the hotel to lay out clothes for an early start on Sunday.  I think I was asleep by about 8:30 and I actually managed to sleep quite well for most of the night.

I was up around 6 am feeling well rested, we had picked up a selection of food from a nearby grocery so I had a decent breakfast of banana, yogurt and bagel.  The food needed to last me until late afternoon so I wanted to make sure I had lots to eat.  I made a quick trip to Starbucks for coffee and then by 7am it was time to start the adventure, as I was on my way to the subway.

Ready for the day

I ran into two women who were obviously lost so I directed them to the right subway platform.  There were a few moments of suspense as the subway line had been closed over the weekend in upper Manhattan and Harlem.  A notice popped up that our train was “delayed” and the next train was not due for 15 minutes, however, shortly after that our train appeared and the adventure was under way.  By the time the train reached 42^nd St, it was standing room only and by 23^rd St, folks were being left on the platform.  The station at the Ferry is curved so the train can turn around and only the first five cars of the train actually open.  Folks in back cars of the train had to exit at the stop before the ferry.  This was only a couple of blocks walk so they probably arrived around the same time we did. 

Making our way to Staten Island

Upon arrival at the Ferry, the departure hall was filled to overflowing.  There was security prior to entering the departure hall in the form of a couple of laid back Labrador retrievers who had a token sniff at folks’ bags.  The ferry arrived right at 7:45 and I was able to get on board.  I initially grabbed a seat but then ended up wandering the boat for half the journey, taking pictures of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.  I guess the Ferry crossing was probably 20 – 30 minutes and then we streamed off the boat and through the terminal on the Staten Island side.  It was around a five minute walk to where the buses were waiting to take us to the start area.  This was well organized, buses loaded five at a time and were replaced as soon as the full buses departed.  It took three sets of buses before I was able to get aboard and then it was off for a fairly long drive from one side of Staten Island to the other.  The bus ride ended up being at least 30 minutes and a number of the runners were getting restless as their start times were nearing.  We finally reached the start area shortly after 9am (so a two hour trip all told), disembarked the buses, went through a security check and then hiked for a fair distance to reach the various start coral areas.  I went with the no baggage check option but it looked like bag check was well organized, they had numerous UPS trucks organized by number.  When I finally reached the Blue start area, I still had over an hour to kill before my start time.  There was an area with hot water for tea and hot chocolate, folks handing out Power bars.  I believe there was supposed to be coffee and bagels as well but I didn’t see where those were.  The day was chilly and there was a nasty north wind, so I spent my time either in potty line ups or huddling out of the wind.

Finally, the announcement was made for Wave 4 and I made my way to the entrance of the start Coral.  There was some delay as quite a few people from Wave 3 were still trying to get into the Coral (I ran into a friend on the course who was in the Green section and she said she ended up having to start in Wave 4 as they wouldn’t let folks into Wave 3 after they made the announcement for Wave 4).  As Blue Corral, Section F of Wave 4 we were the last of the last folks starting.  The start corrals had tons of port-o-potties which had the added benefit of blocking the wind.  The start was pretty anti-climactic as we were very far from the start line when the gun sounded.  It felt like a several km slog through discarded clothes, past the bus parking lot around several corners and then we were finally on the bridge and across the start line.  My wave was supposed to start at 10:50 and I started my watch at 10:59.

Some pictures I borrowed from the media, when I saw the middle one before the race I just about freaked.

This was a really tough race for the elites and early starters due to high winds, by the time my wave started, I think the wind had let up a fair amount but it was definitely gusty going across the bridge, mostly the gusts were cross winds that kept blowing my feet and making me kick myself but on occasion it would whip around and give us a nice tail wind.  Once we got off the Verazano Bridge, I didn’t really feel that the wind had much impact on my race.  The sun was shining and for much of the race, I felt the temperature was perfect.  Because I had been cold for much of the previous couple of days, I had wondered if I would actually discard any of my throwaway clothes, I ended up running in tights, a long sleeve shirt with a short sleeve bike jersey style shirt on top.  I did have gloves and a plastic rain poncho that I kept on until I got off the Verizano Bridge.  I was also wearing a light weight wool beanie that I took off early but kept stuffed in a back pocket and put back on whenever we went through a cool, shady section of the course.

My race went according to plan for the first half, I had my own Gatorade that I intended to drink for the 10 – 15k so I ignored the water stops as much as was possible.  Because I wasn’t using the water stations, I found them somewhat irritating, first you had to navigate the congestion of people grabbing water on either side of the road, someone inevitably stopping right in front of you, then you had to wade through the mass of discarded cups, then there would be the block or two that your shoes would be sticking to the discarded Gatorade on the roads.  The water stations were far too frequent for my preference but well placed if you weren’t running self-supported.  I reached the half-way point right on plan, I was actually a minute or so fast so I took the opportunity to walk up the slope on the bridge approach.  Around this time, I started stopping occasionally for photo opportunities as well so my pace started to drop.  Because my training had fizzled a bit in the last weeks before the race, I had pretty much realized that a sub 4:30 was unlikely.  The wheels didn’t exactly fall off the bus but they did start to get rather sticky and the last 10k of the race was pretty slow.

This is definitely a race to just soak in the spectacle, with 50,000 runners, I was pretty much always having to pass people but I was able to maintain my pace.  The spectators all along the route were outstanding, I high-fived lots of folks.  I had intended to do this race incognito, but I ended up running in a Sugoi Canada bike jersey-type top as the pockets were great for holding gels and my hat.  I got lots of “Canada” shouts all along the course which was fun.  Many of the runners had their names written on their shirts somewhere and the crowd was happy to be able to call people by name.  I think I did the whole race close to a woman who was having her 30^th birthday on race day as the crowd sang Happy Birthday numerous times throughout the day.

 More "borrowed" photos, showing just how amazing it all is.

Around mile 16 we crossed the 59^th St Bridge, this was probably the only section along the race with no spectators, it was a tough stretch as there was  a long uphill to the middle of the bridge.  This was also where we started catching up to a lot of the Achilles runners and their guides.  I like to whine a lot during training, but passing the fellow doing the whole race pushing backwards with his feet in his wheelchair definitely puts things in perspective. 

Once off the 59^th Street Bridge the crowds are back with a vengeance all the way up 1^st Avenue through the Upper Eastside in Manhattan.  Folks obviously make a day of cheering for the race, if they live nearby, they probably don’t have much choice in the matter as it’s not like they are going to be able to get anywhere for the day. 

The run up 1^st Avenue, over the bridge into the Bronx and back into Manhattan was a bit of a slog, by this time my legs were really starting to complain and I was walking on anything that slightly resemble a hill.  The crowds were still amazing but from 30k+ I was definitely no longer worrying about finishing in any kind of PB.  The nice thing about the New York grid streets, it was really easy to count down the blocks.   As we passed mile 24, we entered the secured part of the park and there were far fewer spectators.  I was starting to feel quite rough around this point.  My hydration/fueling  for the race was about 20 oz of Gatorade and three gels but as we were finally approaching mile 26 I started feeling rather light-headed.  Since the day was cool, I didn’t drink as much as I usually would and that was probably a mistake.

  

During the early part of the race, it was quite hazardous trying to avoid all of the discarded clothes but from mile 22 – 23 the hazard was banana peels as they were handing out bananas along the course and the road was awash in peels.

Finally, we turned the last corner in the park and there was the finish line.  My final time was 4:42:30 - not quite what I had hoped for but considering the stops for photo opportunities, etc not too bad. Because of security, the public was kept well out of the finish area, though they were quite close to us as we went around the bottom of the park.  Once across the finish line, the zombie shuffle commenced – first we got out medals, then the “heat sheets”.   We shuffled past folks handing out stickers which I thought was some security check but were actually tape to hold the space blankets on.  A block or so further, we went past the tables handing out the “food” bags.  This was an unfortunate selection – a bottle of water, a bottle of lime Gatorade, a bottle of protein recovery drink, an apple, a powerbar and a bag of pretzels.  With all that liquid the bag weighed a ton!  The only thing I could face out of all that were the pretzels, they turned out to be a life saver, by the time I finished half of the bag I was starting to feel human again.

The finish line is around 64^th Avenue and from there we had to hike up to 77^th Avenue before we could exit the park, then they directed us down to 72^nd Avenue to get our pretty blue Poncho’s and to exit the “lock down” zone.  The folks who had checked bags had to continue up to around 85^th before they could get their bags.  People with friends meeting them, then had to make their way back down to around 60^th St.  I was really happy to be able to just walk three blocks over to Broadway and a dozen blocks up to 87^th St to get back to my hotel.

This year was my tenth marathon and they have each been great in their own way but I would have to say that the New York City marathon has the most spectator support of any race that I have done.   

Wine Day in Provence

Sorgues or Seguret?? They are not comparable towns. We stopped in Sorgues first and realized that this was not the enchanting village we had envisioned - it did not make the list of "the most beautiful villages in France" though may other of our stops did. However it did have a Super U where we picked up lunch and dinner including a six pack of vin du maison. We quickly moved on to Chateauneuf-du-Pape. After a tour around the town and up to the last remaining wall of the Chateau as seen on many wine labels from the region, we stopped for our first tasting. We tasted one not so good white and with Ken's expert advice immediately moved onto the reds. The middle of the road from this group was the winner and Mary purchased a bottle. Our next stop was the wine museum which was closing in 20 min and there was no tasting, so we left. Time for lunch so we drove back to the castle we had spied on our way into town and made our own picnic. Luckily they had a degustation and a free bathroom. Sarah had a lovely conversation with the lady pouring the wine who complemented her on her excellent French. From there back towards town and a stop at the now open Clos des Papes - the best rated wine according to Wine Spectator magazine. Well worth the wait and the 5 euro tasting fee. It was so good we decided to buy a bottle regardless of the price. Ken, Sarah, Mary and Leanne drove on to Vaison-la-Romaine where there was a terrific castle at the top owned by the Comte de Toulouse. This inspired Sarah and Leanne to begin singing "I'm the king of the castle, you're the dirty rascal." We finally made it to Seguret where Susan, Doug and Margaret were ensconced having coffee and pastries enjoying the spectacular view. We were so inspired - we also stopped for coffee, tea and pastries before heading back to our villa. The quinoa greek salad was so good the other night it was requested that Mary and Margaret make it for us again. Good food, good wine and good company - doesn't get better than this!

One Day in Provence

Our first full day in Provence started rather leisurely after our late night and multiple glasses (bottles) of wine the night before. Car 1 was sent to Raphele for provisions from the grocery store, patisserie and boulangerie. Upon return Car 1 made a return trip to Avignon to retrive Car 2. It was a rainy day so the rest of us relaxed at our new digs until everyone returned, the rain stopped and it was time to explore our closest city Arles. Susan, Doug, Mary, Margaret and Leanne took the nostalgic tour after entering the city right beside the hotel we had stayed at 4 years ago when we were in Arles on our Medoc trip. Sarah and Ken took advantage of "Jour de Patrimonie" for free admission to all of Arles attractions including the Arena and Roman ruins. We all met back at the villa for a chicken pasta dinner.

On to Provence (Mary & Margaret)

We caught the train to Nice with connection to Marseille at 9am.

We were planning to get to Arles by 3Pm to meet the others but our plans for the day were complicated upon receipt of a text from the main gang advising us that they had missed their train connection and would not be arriving until late. There was much exchanging of texts throughout our train trip.

We arrived in Marseille at lunch time and had about an hour to wait. We broke down and ate at McDonalds as it was easy and they had chairs. Our train to Arles was sitting at the platform so we got aboard, we ended up having to sit for almost half an hour as there was some mechanical issue with the train. There were three train staff taking a coffee break in our car, none of whom bothered to check our passes.

When we arrived in Arles, we had hoped we could get assistance at the information booth to call our host but it was not open on Saturday.

Mary discovered she did not know how to make a phone call in France with her phone so Margaret was forced to use the last of her minutes to contact our host for directions and to call the taxi. The location of our villa was so obscure that we had to have the taxi call her directly for driving instructions.

After an interesting taxi ride through the countryside (punctuated by swearing by our taxi driver, several more phone calls (answering machine then finally an answer), we finally located our villa - what a lovely site.  We were very relieved (and somewhat concerned being stranded somewhere in the middle of the random countryside - until our host pointed our three bicycles in the shed and advised us it was only a 3 km bike ride to the nearest village).

After a brief orientation (and after handing over most of the money in our wallets for the security deposit) we clambered onto the bicycles with our backpacks on our back to head off to the village to buy some groceries. We had our fingers crossed that we would also find a bank machine as we had only jingly cash left.  It turned our that the grocery took credit so all was well.  We bought as many provisions as we could stuff into our bags and headed back to settle in.  (Just as we were pulling into town, Mary's phone rang once again and we were able to give Leanne the update (we had arranged for a taxi to meet her at the train and bring her to the villa)).

After relaxing for a while, we set about to make a large Quinoa Greek salad for our dinner and to offer the weary travelers on there arrival.

Leanne arrived shortly after 8:30 right on time, Mary had just gone out to watch for her taxi and was able to guide her taxi into our laneway.

After some internet research, Mary had finally figured out how to make a phone call in France with her phone but was now finding that she didn/t have any reception.  At some point the light bulb went off in her head and she thought to recharge the phone.  Around 10:30 pm, she tried sending a last text message to the lost travellers, telling them to let us know when they were close so we could wait by the gate to signal them in, almost immediately she received a reply "NOW" so she ran out to wave in a cavalcade of taxi and the car load of weary travelers (how very Amazing Race!)

You Think You Had A Bad Day? This One Was Worse!!

Doug, Susan, Ken and Sarah were up early and made it early to the train station in Torino for the trip to Avignon. It was supposed to be a long day with the 8:11AM Eurostar train getting us in to Avignon just before 2PM so we could pick up our rental cars for drive to Arles and our rented villa. 2 changes - in Chambery and Lyon. Dragging all our bags and 12 bottles of excellent Italian wine. (1 bottle smashed as the carrier box disintegrated when we arrived at the hotel late the previous night - 22 euro of good Barolo on the hotel carpet!!)

When we originally tried to book a seat on the train with our Eurail pass we could not get a seat so we were forced to actually pay for second class seats for the leg between Torino and Chambery - 240 euros just to get on the train when we had already paid $500 each to get the pass in the first place! But, our choices were slim to none if we wanted to make the journey and arrive before midnight!!

The reservations for Susan and Doug were in car 8 and for Ken and Sarah in car 7. At about 8:00 when the train pulled in, we walked down the platform to our assigned cars and took our seats. Ken and Sarah were the only ones in their car and Doug and Susan only had 1 other passenger in theirs. Why in the world did we have to pay for our tickets when the train was almost empty?! What a rip off!! As were leaving the station, an italian rail person knocked on the window asking whether we were going to Paris. By the time Sarah got to the door to speak to the person, the train was pulling out and was on it's way. Our first stop was the other train station in Torino - Porto Susa. For some reason the train was spending a long time at the station so we thought it best to see what was happening. We found out that this was not the first stop but was in fact the last stop for this train. It was not going to Paris, it was going to the other Torino train station. Now we had a big problem!!

We immediately lined up at customer service which didn't open for another 20 minutes. We were 7th in line and after another 15 minutes got to the front of the line. Sorry can't help you, this is for the bus service. It was off to the Trenitalia ticketing office to see if they could help us. No can do. We need to see customer service next door. Next stop customer service. A very mean, Italian lady who spoke little English told us our next train would be at 5 and we would arrive just before midnight!! So much for picking up a rental car as the office closed at 9pm for Susan and Doug's rental and 10pm for Sarah and Ken's. OK, now what? We could take another with changes in Cuneo, Ventimiglia, Nice and Marseille getting us in at 10:04. Still too late to pick up a rental car and cover the 30+ km to get us to Arles....in the dark. Time to call the car rental company which was open till 10pm to see if they would be able to wait for us. Yes!! As long as there were no mix ups or train delays we might make it.

The cell phone we had for emergency contact was put into overdrive texting Mary to give updates as she and Margaret would have to contact the owner of the villa and get the keys. Sarah had to buy a double espresso and savour each last drop as we needed to charge the cell phone to allow us sufficient power to continue the frantic communication to salvage something of the day. At the end of it all everyone could be stranded at the Avignon train station with no where to stay and no way getting of getting to Arles. Did I mention we had all our luggage and 12 bottles of wine?! How many changes was that and how much time between trains!?!? Oh boy!!

With trepidation we got on the train to Cuneo. It wasn't much better than a derelict New York subway to the slums. And we were in 1st class. Time to drag everything off the train and do it all again to get to our next change. Between stops we managed to cancel Susan and Doug's rental car so they didn't get charged for the day. Tick. At least that worked out. Hopefully we will have a second rental car at Avignon and it will fit all our crap.

Between trains we barely had time to find out where to go next, use the facilities and get on board. The lunch packed from the breakfast buffet in Torino was all the food we had available as there was none on the trains and no time to find anything at the stations.

On the train between Ventimiglia and Nice, a masive number of people boarded train and made it impossible for us to drag ourselves and all our bags off the train. There was a sea of humanity between us and our next train change. Stops were less than 5 minutes at each station and it didn't look like we'd make it. Lucklily a lovely man from Quebec helped carry 1 of the bag and we managed to push our way off.

By the time we got to Nice we were happy that people spoke French and that the caliber of the stations had improved.  We also got better service and managed to get on an earlier train to Marseille and an arrival in Avignon an hour earlier than previously thought. Now we were certain to have at least 1 rental car. Things were finally looking up.

The train to Marseille was lovely and the trip smooth. The train from Marseille was a Eurostar to Paris and in 1st class was palatial. Now we could relax and enjoy the short trip to Avignon.

We arrived on time and easily found the car rental agency. They gave us a complimentary upgrade to accomodate all our bags and we were on our way. Our luck ran out at Arles. We had no idea how to find the villa in the dark and the map we were given was awful. We eventually resorted to calling a cab and following it in the rental car until we got there. 28 euros later we arrived. Relieved and tired but in 1 piece.

It was so nice to see the girls and they even had food waiting for us when we arrived. They travelled on bikes to the nearest town to buy food. What great friends we have. Thanks Mary and Margaret. A few of the 12 wine bottles we dragged with us were opened and a mini celebration was had.

There were no pictures as we did not wish to have any to remember the day by. Now for the rest of our trip. Here we come Provence!!

Leanne - Lunch with Rebecca/Travel Day to Provence

It was a rainy start to the day, but somehow managed to get a free shuttle to the train station (courtesy of the convention going on at the hotel that I was not a part of.) An hour train trip to Geneve and met up with Rebecca at the station. After stowing my bag we hoped on the bus to the Old Town. We wandered through the morning market, Rebecca picking up food for dinner and me picking up snacks of olives, cheese and cherry tomatoes for the train. The sun came out in time for us to have patio lunch and catch up on how life was living in Geneve. It was great to see her and too soon time to return to the train station and on to Provence.

After an uneventlful train ride I arrived in Arles. Mary and Margaret and arranged for a taxi to meet me at the station and soon was with mes amies at our lovely rented house enjoying a glass of wine and quinos greek salad. Susan, Doug, Sarah and Ken arrived a few hours later and we all sat up sharing our stories of the past 4 days over a few glasses (bottles) of fantastic Italian wine. Thanks Sarah for lugging them on all those trains!

And on to France (Sept 15 - 16)

 On Thursday morning, Carol and Larry caught the train to continue their adventures in Venice and then Turkey. We will have to wait until we are back in Vancouver to hear how their trip went.


Margaret and Mary opted to spend several hours waiting in Riomaggiore to catch a direct (slow) train to Ventimiglia rather than having to drag their bags on and off several trains. They should have also opted to sleep in but unfortunately didn’t manage that. We saw Carol and Larry off, then went over to the main strip for a nice relaxed breakfast, then we spent a couple of hours sitting in the wifi spot waiting for our train.

The train to Ventimiglia was quite uncrowded but was also without any services such as restaurant car or snack wagon. There were lovely views of the coast and beachs in between many tunnels. Surprisingly, after a 4.5 hour train trip, we pulled into Ventilmiglia almost exactly on time. There were only a few platforms so we had no problem finding our next train within our 16 minute connection time. Initially the train was not too crowded, we were sharing a car with a number of Australian and other travellors, though many moved as they realized ours was a 1st class car.

Things changed quickly when we reached the station in Monaco at around 6pm (rush hour in Monaco), all of a sudden our car felt like Skytrain at rush hour. It took some fancy work and a few bruised toes to navigate our large suitcases through the crowded train aisle.

On arrival in Villefranche-sur-mer we attempted to navigate our way to our hotel with only the assistance of a Rick Steves “map”. Mary took several navigational walk abouts but we had to resort to calling the hotel to manage to locate it. Note for future – close on google maps is not necessarily close and google maps does not show elevation. (The hotel clerks comment when we advised him of our location “you will need to climb”). After another navigational sortie and after climbing several blocks (in a roundabout fashion to avoid having to climb streets of stairs) we found the Hotel Riviera.

Our first impression of the hotel was a slightly upscale East Hastings SRO, the impression was not improved by dark hallways, old red carpet and chipped plaster walls. Mary had been sold by the description of a lovely terrace overlooking the bay – the terrace was lovely, the attached room ….. not so much. It was a “lovely” orange attic garret. After the initial poor impression faded we noted that we did have working air conditioning and a tv (with only French stations) and the sheets were clean. We were also lucky that the suitcase lift did function all the way to the third floor so we didn’t have to carry our bags up the narrow winding stairs. Margaret thought the elevator did seem to complain over much while transporting her bag.

Mary had been battling a cold all day, she had made an investment in some Italian Ibuprofen/cold flu capsules and a wise investment in a six pack of Kleenex. Circumstances called for a bracing toddy of the miracle cure Sporer Orangen-Punsch. Margaret also had a preventative punch to ward off any incipient cold virus. Definitely the punch had more medicinal benefit than the cold capsules, so Mary had a good night’s sleep. The effects of the punch lasted well into the following afternoon. I am sure that another dose this evening will result in complete recovery from any cold virus.

By morning, our impression of the hotel was improving, we opted not to partake in the 10 euro breakfast at the hotel but ended up spending 6 euro for coffee, croissant and yoghurt so the hotel breakfast was probably a good deal.

Villefranche-sur-mer appears to be the discount Cote-d'azure, there is a long strip of beach at one end of town and that must be the attraction for most people as there did not seem to be a great deal else in town . We woke far too early as the shops were only starting to open at 9am. We wandered down to the beach, the water looked really lovely on a very warm morning, but our suitcases are already overflowing without trying to squeeze in beach towels and umbrellas. We toured the Citadel with its Museums of impressionist/surrealist art and many figurative statues of women. There was some kind of conference going on in the Citadel, we arrived just as they were partaking of their midmorning refreshment break and we got to admire the tables that had been set out for their luncheon break.

After admiring the art and the gardens of the Citadel, we took the walking path around the Citadel to Port Royal de la Darse. On seeing the Rick Steves recommended Hotel de la Darse near there, we were feeling even better about our more centrally located hotel. We had beer and a salad at the local favorite marinaside café. It was definitely the place to go for the locals (I suspect it was the only place to eat in Port Royal).

After a relaxing lunch (sometimes slow service is appreciated – on those days that you have nothing better to do), we wandered back to the old town and toured the few clothing and post card shops that were there. We viewed the lovely Saint-Michel church and paid our fee to view the small but intricately decorated Chapel Saint Pierre. The entire interior and the front of the chapel had been painted by Jean Cocteau in 1954-1956.

We are now relaxing on our lovely terrace, enjoying a refreshing beer and waiting until it is time to venture out for dinner. Life is good. When we returned to our room, we discovered that the housekeeping staff had made the trek up to our attic and we had our beds made and we had fresh towels :o