Not-so-Nice luggage hassle didn't put a damper on trip

"May I see zee carry-on bags, please?"

The airline check-in agent in Nice, France, is eyeballing my trusty little black roll-aboard, the carry-on veteran of dozens of trans-Atlantic and domestic flights. It is not bulging or gaping or otherwise conspicuous, but it is full of treasures from our two weeks in Southern France.

"You are only allowed seex keelograms total of carry-on," explains the agent as my heart sinks right into my high-mileage walking shoes.

Seex keelograms! That's 13.2 pounds. The bag itself, I later confirm, weighs 8 pounds, which leaves about 5 pounds for all the weeks' worth of stuff you don't want to leave your hands. Books to read on the flight; cashmere shawls from the market; a bottle of aged cognac and a flagon of passion-fruit liqueur; perfume from the Fragonard shop and dozens of little breakables.

The bag must be checked, after the breakables are removed and stuffed into a tote bag that now must be carried (not rolled) through all our flight connections, including a trudge down what felt like miles of walkways at Heathrow. I'm sure the tote bag was heavier than 6 kilos, but the agent had achieved her objective: That roll-aboard, bien sur, was going into the luggage hold. Later, after boarding the aircraft, I watched strong men pant and gasp as they clean-and-jerked their own bulging carry-ons into those overhead bins. I'll bet those bags far outweighed 13.2 pounds, and I'll also bet that weigh-in procedure at check-in is purely a matter of chance.

We begin with this episode because it was the last lesson of our otherwise painless trip, and because no one should have to completely repack his or her luggage at the check-in counter. The lesson: Find out the carry-on luggage restrictions for your airline, and expect those restrictions to be arbitrarily enforced . (For example, our airline, British Airways, didn't blink an eye at any carry-ons on the two outbound flights to Nice, nor on the return flight from London to Seattle. Just that one Nice-Heathrow segment.)

Two weeks on the French Riviera.

Doesn't it sound idyllic?

It certainly is, especially if you go at the start (or the end) of the offseason to avoid the crowds that jam the Côte d'Azur all summer. There were still plenty of people on the roads and the beach at Villeneuve-Loubet near Nice, where we ended up in late September, but not nearly so many as if we'd gone a month earlier.

It brought plenty of hits

We knew we wanted to be in that area to visit with friends who have a condo there. We also didn't want to stay in a hotel, but somewhere where we could be on our own and cook if we wanted to. So we hit the Internet, bombarding Google.com with such phrases as "French Riviera vacation rentals" and "French Riviera vacation condos." Such phrases will net you from 15,900 to 95,500 hits, more than enough to research the sort of places you have in mind. We decided to try a specific location — the giant, pyramid-like condo complex at the Marina Baie des Anges ("Bay of Angels"), on the waterfront with a large marina stuffed with yachts of the rich and (probably) famous. It was fairly close to our friends, and the views were great; we also reasoned that with so many units, there'd likely be some for rent.

And there were. In Web site after Web site, packed with details on villas, condos, apartments and every other accommodation ranging from four-star to no-star.

Of course, there are many resources beyond the Web for non-traditional housing in France. One Seattle family booked a good-sized and beautifully located place in Paris by answering one of those enticing little ads in The New York Review of Books.

Sources for leads

Bookstores are full of travel tomes advising you on the best ways to find a home or condo or apartment for short- or long-term rent. Agencies, like Seattle's "France: Homestyle," link you up with places in France where the location and the price are both right.

There are many advantages to staying put on the French Riviera for a couple of weeks. First, you don't have to pack, unpack and drag your suitcase from hotel to hotel. Second, there's such a wealth of things to see and do within an easy day's trip from the area around Nice (site of a particularly well-organized international airport) that you'll never get bored. Walking along the shores of the Mediterranean, dipping into the water, browsing in the markets for fresh fruit and relaxing in sidewalk cafes are all good places to start.

Even though the traffic along the Riviera can be horrendous, it's worthwhile renting a car for the freedom it affords. We've had great luck with diesel Renaults, which are economical to operate (an important factor with Europe's high gas prices).

The four of us ventured far afield during our two weeks based in Villeneuve-Loubet. Here are a few places we visited:

• The glass town of Biot (you pronounce the final T). You can watch glass-blowers create their works and purchase pieces in the shops afterward. There's also a museum devoted to works of artist Fernand Leger.

• The Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer: The last home of Pierre-Auguste Renoir is delightful, perched in beautiful grounds above the Mediterranean with views that are still recognizable from the abundance of paintings of the same vistas inside the house.

• Château Grimaldi Museum: Uphill from Cagnes-sur-Mer, in the medieval village of Haut-de-Cagnes, you'll find the 14th-century Grimaldi Castle, built for ancestors of the family that rules Monaco. The castle is now a museum, with frescos, art exhibitions (including 40 paintings by renowned artists of chanteuse Suzy Solidor) and views from the tower.

• The perfume town of Grasse is full of beautiful sights and aromas, many of the latter emanating from the perfume houses that blend flowers grown in surrounding fields. The houses of Fragonard and Molinard are especially fun to tour; you can buy relatively inexpensive sets of fragrances, soaps and lotions.

• The hill town of St. Paul de Vence has narrow, winding cobblestone streets and views in every direction. The town itself has been the subject of countless paintings; artwork of every description is sold in tiny, colorful shops that line the lanes.

• Another particularly lovely hillside town, Eze, is perched vertiginously on a cliff that practically dangles over the sea. Wonderful views, especially from the terrace at the Château Chèvre d'Or (Golden Goat) Hotel; there's also a Jardin Exotique at the very top of the hill, a garden full of exotic plants and trees, with dizzying vistas.

• Nice Market: Every day, starting at 6 a.m. the "old town" (Vieux Nice) in the coastal city of Nice has a market full of culinary delights — cheeses, fruits, vegetables, fragrant spices (sold in bulk, carefully weighed and dispensed), as well as flowers. On Mondays, the square has a flea market instead.

• Picasso Museum in Antibes: In 1946, Pablo Picasso worked in a studio that was part of yet another Grimaldi castle, one that was turned into a civic museum in 1929. He donated 181 drawings and paintings to the town of Antibes, later displayed in the museum, renamed the Musée Picasso. The museum also houses many of Picasso's ceramic pieces.

• Great markets across the border in Italy: In San Remo (Tuesdays and Saturdays), Bordighera (Thursdays) and Ventimiglia (Fridays), you will encounter street markets whose vendors migrate from place to place, offering everything from fresh-roasted chestnuts to luxury furs. Lots of cashmere knitwear and shawls, bags, household goods, designer knockoffs, all kinds of stuff at bargain prices. Arrive early, by 9 a.m. if possible; some of the markets close by 1 p.m. That's when you repair to one of the nearby cafes to gloat over your market loot while pizza toasts in a brick oven.