Freedom
After weeks of ferries, buses, trains, and just good old walking, we are back in our own set of wheels again. Maybe it’s just the SoCal in me, but I’m sick of public transportation. Waiting for buses that don’t come and sitting on trains that don’t go has stretched the limits of my new-found travelers’s patience. I know buses are necessary and good for the environment (and cheap), but I don’t have to like them.
After yet another bus ride, three more trains, and a final agonizingly slow bus that stopped at every block, we arrived in Nice and picked up our new car. There is a special buy-back lease program in France for non-EU citizens, so we are now the proud owners of a Peugot 207 SW, at least for the next 2 1/2 months. It’s more fun to drive than I expected and much easier than the NZ campervan which had the shifter on the “wrong” side. It’s 90 HP, diesel, and has a cool GPS (a computerized version of me navigating who seems to do a better job of it).
Getting a car is allowing us a lot more flexibillity in where we can stay. We no longer have to look for hotels that are in walking distance of a station, and are hoping to head for some smaller towns off the tourist trail. On our first night with the new car we headed back into Italy to Cuneo and we’re off to the wine regions next. Here’s a few pictures of our mobility.
Check out the odometer… only 4kms when we got it! And that new car smell too!
halftime
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
nice ride… not quite the convertible bimmer… but a good road trip car
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:06 am
cool ride and reminiscent of the 403 in that french Taxi movie. Being diesel is it noisy though?
June 8th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Not noisy at all – very efficient and decent gas mileage too.