THE SOUTH OF FRANCE
THE RENTAL CAR
We were very excited when the Avis lady said, "We have a brand new Fait 500 for you". This is what we imagined it would be.
GRASSE
Sept 14-Oct 4
The weather was not kind to us in Paris, but we were very surprised how
quick the week went. We left the apartment in the rain and walked a block to
Rue Montparnasse and caught the #91 bus to the Gare de Lyon. We found a very
comfortable café with wi-fi (we did not use it) and settled in to wait for TGV
2903 at 12:49, our ride to the “French Riviera”. It is only know as that in the
U.S.. In Europe is the Cote A’zur. Also know as Provence.
One thing we are really missing the boat on in the U.S. is high speed
rail. Walk in the terminal, get on the train, and whisk away at 120 mph. No
check in, no one probing your body, no one rummaging through your luggage. On
board, no seat belts, no one telling you where to shove your luggage or what to
do with your seat and table. For me, it is travel heaven.
Rather quickly Paris was behind us and we were roaring through the French
countryside. The quaint French villages, surrounded by brown fields that had
been turned under for the winter made them look drab and dull under the low gray
clouds and mist. The scenery changed as we moved south. From tilled fields to
rolling green hills spotted white with cows and sheep. Further south, corn
fields that were half way through their life cycle, started to enter the
picture. About three hours south of Paris we entered the more arid Mediterranean
area of rocky hills and scrub evergreens. The fields changed from corn and
sunflowers to fruit orchards and olives. Our first stop was three hours and
forty five minutes into the journey at Aixe en Provence. A quick five minutes
and we were on our way. Now we saw only vineyards and olives and a occasional
glimpse of the Mediterranean. After another quick stop at Toulon, we were at St.
Raphael we got off. And so, it seemed, did everyone else.
The next stop, Cannes, was closer to our destination of Grasse, but St.
Raphael was smaller and I was familiar with it as I had lived here for three
months in my futile attempt to learn French. Familiar with the area did not make
the line at Avis any shorter. We stood in the Avis line for about an hour in
this small train station. I have know idea what kind of reservation the other
people had but it took agonizingly long periods to handle each customer. When
we finally made it to the front of the line and showed our paperwork, the agent
was ecstatic as she handed us a car key contract and said have a good time. That
was it.
We arrived in Grasse just at dusk and our neighbors from Florida and the next week here, Vicki and Rich were
waiting with wine and food. It was a excellent reunion. Vicki recounted here
story of going to the butcher and with very little French trying to buy a meet.
One gentleman spoke about as much english and he told her the cooked meat she
was looking at was smoked “donkey”. This exchange happened a couple of times, as
she was pretty sure it was not smoked “donkey” when some one else entered the
shop with better english and explained that it was indeed not “donkey” but
turkey. With everyone having a big laugh she bought the “donkey” and served it
for dinner. It was damn good “donkey”.
THE RENTAL CAR
We were very excited when the Avis lady said, "We have a brand new Fait 500 for you". This is what we imagined it would be.
GRASSE
To often I hear the arrogant and ignorant
statement “if weren’t for us, you would be speaking German”. Well, dumbass, if
were not for the French you would be having high tea. Just because they do not
say “yes” to every cockeyed war thought we have does not make them
unsupportive. The French were a major force in defeating the English. In the
siege of Savannah there were more French, 3000 visa the U.S. 2000. Admiral
Grasse commanded the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, which lead
directly to the British surrender at Yorktown. There were thousands of French
troops, back when that was a large number, fighting along side the colonialist.
On Sept 14, here in Grasse there was joint
celebration of the effort of Adm. Grasse. It was quite a impressive event
attended by U.S. and French military and diplomats. Quite a enjoyable event,
except the band played about 10 songs that everyone stood through. We listened
to the U.S. Navy Capt. speak, and not very comfortably, and then we left. There
were way to many people lined up to talk and it was to nice of a day to hang
around.
The week in Grasse at the Bastide,
high up on the side of the hill looking at the Med in the distance,
was a busy one with Rich and Vicki2. We hit all the highlights:
Gorges de Verdon, Cannes, Antebbe, took a ferry from St. Raphael to
St. Tropez and the bus back. These are wonderful places and that is
why the rich gather there with their toys and yachts and mega yachts.
St. Tropez was great but we did encounter traffic on the bus back to
St. Raphael for the car. The bus is a great ride along the water, but
it was stop and go for about a third of it, and on the way to Grasse
we ran into a accident that required a deviation on the Autoroute but
it all worked out. These were all places Vicki and I have visited
before but new to Vicki2 and Rich.
oh god, which one's should I chose
on the riveria you may see this or that....
the gorge
However,Rich and Vicki had spent a
night in a lovely town called Vence. We had not been there so we
drove over one afternoon. We stopped first in Tourittes-sur-Lope a
very, very small restored village. It was nice, but all about
tourist. Rich kept looking for Mickey Mouse ears to pop up.
In contrast the city of Vence was
great. It was larger, but the old town center was still functioning
on a whole different bases serving the locals with bakers, butcher
shops, etc. It is my type of town. That evening Rich and Vicki2
treated us to a fantastic meal at a fantastic restaurant, Auberge deSeigneurs, with
fantastic owners. It has been their family since 1916. It sat about
20 people and it was popular enough with the tourist and locals that
you needed a reservation most nights and fortunately we had one. Our
meal of chicken and lamb were cooked over a open spit fireplace in
the dinning room.
There is a small chapel in the town built by
Matisse and we went to visit it as we were told there were paintings
by him on the tiles. The paintings looked like finger paintings and not signed. Rich and I were grossing about being cheated out of our 5 euro
entrance fee. But Vicki2, in all her charm convinced, the guide to
give us a lecture on the chapel in English. This rarely done as the
minimum is 10 people. So the few english understanding people and
about 10 other people listened to a great story about the
chapel. He had designed and built the whole chapel himself over a 4
year period. Including the priest garments, stain glass window, alter, etc.. The drawings were very simple and not signed as he did
not want it to become a museum. There was much more to the story and
you can read it yourself. Without Vicki2 we never discovered the
wonder of the story. I am sure the guide was a nun from the covenant
next door as when people started to speak her commanding “SHHHHHH”
quieted everyone. With out her we never would have discovered they great history of this small chapel.
BastideO'nhora, was a four unit apartment complex high up on a hill. It
was wonderful, but a challenge to get to. Even on the main road,
depending on what direction, you had to do 3 point turns in the car
to get up. And, depending on how good you were, there were two to
there of these turns up the drive way. Nice place to visit but I would not
want to live there.
Saturday we said good bye to Rich and
Vicki2 as they headed for Nice and back home and we headed west. The
Bastide was nice but out of our price range for a extended stay. We
had negotiated a apartment outside of the small town of Lorgues. It
is twice the size and about half the price. The owner speaks no
English and I had been corresponding with her daughter. There was a
fairly long time delay in response from her. I learned last week
that the delay is because she lives in South Korea were she is
starting a new hotel for the Accro Group and had to email back to
France to her mother. That explained a lot. For the finishing touch
I just had David the owner of Bastide call her with the final
arrangements.
LORGUES
SLIDE SHOW 1
LORGUES
Our new home is in the country just
outside of Lorgues
in the middle of the Cote de Provence wine region. This is a rose
that is served chilled and not often found in the U.S. It is good
wine for serving on hot days.
The other guests here, who got the
little cottage we wanted, are French. Our landlord introduced us. They are Christian Lecoeur and Michele Abba. He
is a Air France pilot and has been retired for 25 years and they live in
a adult community a couple of hours from here. His daughter is
married and living in Winston-Salem, who I have now met thanks to Skype, and his son was a flight
attendant for Air France and worked many years building flight time
and was hired as a pilot four years ago at the age of 36 with Air France. Rightfully he is very proud of him.
Their stories of senior living here is just like the
U.S.. They have all the things they need from groceries to doctors.
The also have all the infighting and clicks. The world is the same no
matter where you go.
We took a ride in the country. First
stop was Flayocs as it was market day. The market was very small, but
the church had some interesting with tile mosaics and a ceramic black
Mary and Jesus.
I made on of my “any turn will do”
and as more often than not it was a great choice. We meander up a
narrow winding trail to Tourtour, just a speck of a village high up
on the mountain. This would be a great place to rent a Gite to get
away and have a great view and that is a note to self. We meandered
back home passing Lac(lake) de Carces.
note the black mary and jesus in this church
In the evening our neighbor, Capt Lecour helped us book our next home. Again the owner spoke no
French but with the help of Christian everything was set.
I was headed for Draguignan for some
business and to visit the U.S. Military cemetery until my our
landlord said there was a big, big market in Locgues today. I waited
until Vicki was up and off we went. It was a big, big market. Every
town has a market day and depending on location it varies in size.
The vendors move from town to town and we saw some from yesterday in
Flayocs. We bought some fruit, a chicken and a bit of sausage. We
also did the French thing and had a coffee, very inexpensive here,
and people watched. We met our neighbors at the market and Michel brought home a yellow rose and gave it to Vicki.
did I mention the black helicopter that hovered 50 feet over may head yesterday? for some reason I think I am being watched.
donkey
yep, the sky is that blue
Another “any left turn” adventure
took us down a single lane road that turned in to a cow path and back
to a single lane road. On this adventure we found the fountain of
youth. Just down hill from a winery we found wine flowing in the
stream. Damn this is a great country. You don't find Jack Daniels
flowing across the road in Tennessee.
That is wine!!!!
My early morning wanderings took me
down a narrow road to the Chateau Martinette. The vineyards are perfect
and new. I stopped and talked to the Spaniards building a stone
wall. They have worked all year and done 10 Km or 6.2 miles. I
asked “who can afford this”? “A Russian of course”. The nouveau rich Russians are not liked at all in the places we have been but I am sure the Spaniards a happy for the work.
on both sides of the road for km's was the russians
Went to see OS (that is “old shit”
to those of you new here) today and have a picnic. The Abbey
Thournet dates back to the 1100's and closed around 1800's with seven
elderly monks living there. It has been owned by the government as a
tourist attraction since 1840.
Down the road from it is the monastery of the Monastic Family of Bethelhem and the Assumption of the Virgin.
Whew, that is a mouth full. Compared to the Abbey these guys are
babies, founded in 1950. The have franchises in the U.S. and around the world. They wear
KKK outfits, minus the dunce cap. We were allowed in the balcony of
their church. Best I can tell they have no outside contact, but one
of the two monks looked up and smiled as he was leaving. This their daily routine:
1
hour of the liturgical hours
45 min of lectio
divina (Bible reading)
1.5 hours of
personal prayer
1.5 hours of
biblical and theological study
c. 2 hours for 2
daily meals and free time
4-5 hours of work
8 hours of sleep
On one of the "any left turns" we met this couple. The are making the pilgrimage from Venice to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. This a christian pilgrimage that dates back to medieval times to what legend says is the burial spot of Saint James. This couple had been on the road for 3 months and have 3 to go.
Wine, I love it. This machine, made Michigan at New Holland is replacing the grape pickers. Of course, top in vineyard would never use one of these as they just strip the vine and are not selective. But what do I know. I just drink cheap wine anyway.
But sometimes a man just needs a drink.
