Aerial Views of France

Toulon–Hyères Airport, a tiny airport that is shared with the French Navy. It is very common to see jets looping through the sky.

An estimation based on wishful thinking: this is Port-cros Island, which I visited during my stay in France. The three major forts of the island are visible.

Further up north to Paris, perhaps around the Fontainebleau area?

 

Patchworks of farmland.

Château de Fontainebleau, a royal palace. I imagine Versailles must look even grander from high above.

The Eiffel Tower, visible upon touching down at Orly Airport. Unfortunately, both Orly and Roissy Airports are quite far from the center of Paris.

My flight from Paris to Tokyo was at 22:30, so I got to see a gorgeous sunset.

Panorama Shots of France

Paris, taken from the top of the Arc du Triomphe.

A late lunch at Jardin des Tuileries, overlooking the Place de la Concorde.

Along the coast of Le Gau Benat, all the way to the southeastern tip of France.

Also in Le Gau Benat, but higher up in the mountains.

A gorgeous sunset.

Fort de l'Estissac, an old fort on the island of Port-Cros, a national park about an hour away from the above area by ship.

A view of the Mediterranean Sea in the mountains of Port-Cros.

The famed croisière in Cannes.

Another view of Cannes.

Departing from Toulon Airport.

A Brief Stop in Nice

Picked up a friend at Nice Airport and then had dinner in Nice, which is on the southeast coast of France.

It's a shame I didn't get a photo from further away, because the lights were lovely. This was taken on the main street alongside the beach, but there were also lights twinkling further up on the mountain.

 

A pharmacy vending machine that sells even sunscreen and diapers.

 

Electric cars being charged overnight.

Dinner, which was only 17 euros for an appetizer, a main, and a dessert.

A cooking studio, it seems. There are squares of chocolate in the foreground.

The streets were lined with parked cars because the parking garages were already closed.

Hyères

Spent a nice afternoon in Hyères, in southeast France by the coast. This building is Gare d'Hyères, the train station.

With a population of under 55,000, it is a small town that I'm sure sees a huge swell of people in the summertime.

 

Another name for the area is Hyères les Palmiers, in relation to the thousands of palm trees that are cultivated here.  

A wedding dress rental shop.

Pomegranate flowers by the train station.

On a Sunday afternoon, the only two shops open were a grocer's and this bakery/cake shop.

A fish shop with a cat nearby, naturally.

Flowers on a window sill.

Having visited France four consecutive years at the exact same time of the year, it is now a given that I will be able to see baby ducks.

An odd mural.

A sign for a store providing butane and propane gas.

Gare de Lyon to Gare de Hyères

Took the TGV (France's high-speed train) from Gare de Lyon in Paris to Hyères, on the southeast tip of the country.

 

Gare de Lyon was extremely crowded with vacationers. I liked the ad for How To Train Your Dragon 2.

Right outside Paris was a clutch of industrial sites. The Big Brother vibe of this one was a bit unsettling.

It soon made way to a long stretch of farms, broken up occasionally by small patches of industrial areas. It was a clear reminder of how large the agriculture industry is in France.

A field of poppies in the distance.

 

Dogs are allowed on the train!

Lots of sheep, followed by horses and cows.

I was looking forward to seeing the lavender fields that are famous in the Provence, but I fell asleep just as we entered the region.

Many castles and churches in the distance.

See?

 Marseilles, the second-largest city in France.

Though a beautiful port city, I was surprised by how rough some of the areas looked. I noticed the same in Paris -- the poorer areas would inevitable have rows of shabby high-rise apartment buildings.

 

After three and a half hours, we finally arrived at Hyères.