Backdated Post - Traveling Home

After a fun night on the boat, it was time for us to dock in Toulon - just in time to see the sun rise!

Sun rising over Toulon!

More sunrise over the city.

Pink sky view from the boat.

I only had a few hours in Toulon because my plan was to catch the train to Nice and then take the airplane home from there. Because of the time crunch, I decided I would just sight-see on my way to the train station.

Boats on the docks.

Pretty fountain.

Me and a cool building.

You can see the mountains in the background.

Palm trees line the streets.

The statue is Le Génie de la Navigation by Louis-Joseph Daumas, 1847. 

Boats in front of the maritime museum.

Front of the maritime museum.

The Naval Base. Obviously not allowed in here. 

Me in front of some random American flag street art making a confused face - why is this here?!

Pretty building.

Pretty fountain.

Building with bust of Admiral Victor Senes.

I did stop for a short while at Place de la Liberté. The square was originally called Place d'Armes because it was used for military manoeuvres, but it was renamed in 1889 to mark the centenary of the French Revolution. The fountain in the square is called La Fontaine de la Fédération was made in 1980 and it marks the centenary of the French Revolution. The three figures are supposed to represent (from left to right): Force, Freedom, and Justice.

The square - you can see the fountain in the distance.

Me in front of the fountain.

Looking from the fountain back out of the square.

After that brief stop, it was back on my walk to the train station.

The Commerce and Industry building.

Street with a view of the mountains in the distance.

I love these iron balconies.

The train station!

I was excited to see that the train station had a piano! Clearly this meant it was time for some impromptu karaoke. I sat myself down and played/sang "Someone Like You" by Adele because it's the only pop song I could remember how to play on the piano that is both in my vocal range and likely to be known by a bunch of random French people in a train station. A group of teenagers actually sang along with me so I was pretty happy about that. Unfortunately I was also kind of embarrassed at drawing so much attention to myself (clearly I hadn't thought that part through) so in my rush to get away from the piano after I finished my song I managed to drop my phone and crack the corner of its screen. Oh, well.

Piano.

Train tracks.

Me awaiting my train.

The ride to Nice was lovely but I was dismayed to discover that the station in Nice charges you to use the bathroom. Sigh. I stopped for a little bit to charge my phone and met a nice man from Sweden who caught the bus to the airport with me. We parted ways at the gate and I caught my first airplane with no problems.

The second plane was more frustrating. The connection was confusing and I was picked for "extra security" - which literally happens to me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. No joke. It's ridiculous how much time and money the United States is wasting on a random dude from MA with no criminal record. Thanks to this extra security, I held up the plane, which did exactly nothing to endear me to everyone else on board. And I had no time to fill my water bottle or use the bathroom because I was busy getting an unnecessary pat-down. When I did finally get settled in my seat, I discovered that the man in front of me had a serious issue with gas. It would have been impressive if it wasn't so unpleasant. This was my face by the time I made it home:

Unhappy me on my last flight.

On the plus side, it was a wonderful trip overall and I was greeted by Joy, Mini T, and Belle who were excited to look at all of my photos and share the Corsican delicacies I had brought with me.