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General information pages on www.les-kaias.com
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| | | 2006-7-02 5:07pm
On June 2nd we arrived into Nice, France after a long and difficult flight from New York's JFK airport. The flight was difficult due to the fact that I was traveling with my two year old daughter, Katya who was unable to settle in and get comfortable. She wanted to lie down to sleep and as hard as I tried to provide her options, she was unable to find a comfortable spot. This was compounded by the fact that the flight attendants on this particular Delta flight were horrible. They were short with most parents traveling with small children and failed to offer any courtesies to my daughter, regardless of our paying over one-thousand dollars for her seat. She was a passenger like any other, yet was treated worse. When she cried from the pressure in her ears (at two she doesn't yet know how to equalize) a flight attendant very sharply asked me what was wrong with her (as if to say "shut her up now"). When I requested her child's meal, which normally comes in advance of the other meals being served, it came out late and far too hot for consumption. These types of happenings, along with our very late departure (take off was delayed by nearly two hours) made for a long and difficult flight.
Our arrival to the Nice airport was a welcome change of scenery. Though the skies were overcast and wind a bit strong, knowing we were on French ground made everything seem worth while. It had been nearly three years since I'd been back and I'd missed it. We rented our car from Europcar. This company offered the best rate, though as a preferred rental agency of European travelers it also offered the longest lines. At this point I wished we opted for an Avis or Hertz rental, their lines were near empty. As a result of Europcar's long lines, we waited another two hours to get our car. My daughter exhibited patience normally unknown to a toddler. She was wonderful, though certainly ready to get on with things.
We piled our many bags (mostly my daughters things!) into our Ford Monteo. It wasn't the Peugeot or Renault I'd grown accustomed to from previous trips, though it was a great car for touring the countryside. From the airport we headed to Frejus and Saint Raphael. Two great seaside towns known for their relaxed and family welcome atmospheres. We stayed at a spa hotel in Frejus and prepared for the next leg of our journey to a small town called Laudun in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, on the border of Provence. I wish we had more time in Frejus. It was a lovely town. Very relaxed with well priced shops and restaurants. It was very different from the seaside towns made famous by the Cannes Film Festival, Princess Grace and the Monoco Races. Frejus is not about pretense or lavish lifestyles. It is about true enjoyment of the seaside; a place a family can come to and feel comfortable dressing down and mingling among the locals. The town didn't feel nearly as touristy to me as Cannes can at times. Don't get me wrong, Cannes is a town close to me heart. I have traveled there many times and we even spent the last night of this trip there. I am just referring to fact that the restaurants and shops seem to be geared to the tourist dollars. It feels like you can find anything there, not unlike a big city such as New York. There is an English bookstore, all the big French names such as Hermes and Cartier line the main street and most of the staffers speak very good English. In addition to this, many of the people walking on the Croisette wear t-shirts emblazoned with names of other popular destinations (clearly tourists). These are not features that I can relate to Frejus.
The public beach of Frejus was one of the prettiest beaches I've had the pleasure of sitting on. While it was not quite warm enough to swim, it was fun to watch the many locals enjoying themselves. My daughter didn't love the idea of sand between her fingers and toes (this is a new stage) so we chose not to spend too much time there. Instead we utilized this first stop as a way to get our bearings, rest up and prepare for the next leg of our journey.
Technorati Tags: France, Frejus, Saint Raphael, France travel, Europcar, Cannes, French beaches, Languedoc Roussillon, Provence
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