Skiing and other adventures in France

Follow that bus!

There were a few sore heads this morning, and our 5am wake up call didn’t help matters much either!  Nevertheless, we got on our way, and started out on the drive in convoy to France.  Zac slept most of the way to Chamonix as he was still fighting a fever but the sleep was probably good for him.

After a few stops for petrol and coffee and driving through many tunnels we finally arrived in Chamonix around 1:30pm just in time for lunch. We found our chalet (right on the river with amazing views of the surrounding snow capped mountains) and walked to the nearest restaurant for something to eat.

 Zac seemed to go down hill from there and could barely keep his head up during lunch and hardly touched his cheese and ham toastie - which was very unusual - so we were starting to get concerned for him. After lunch we hired our ski clothes and boots and booked into ski school for the next three days! Then it was time to check out the chalet – it didn’t disappoint!! We have been extremely fortunate in our choice of accommodation the entire trip and the chalet is very well appointed for all of us.

Bec and Kel went to the butcher for some steak for dinner and we cooked a lovely dinner in the chalet before heading to bed early after our long drive.

Off to our first day of Ski School

We woke up bright and early and were disappointed to hear it raining outside. Zac woke up again unwell, so we left him in bed and kitted ourselves out in our ski gear for the day. So 5 became 4.

After meeting up with our ski instructor, Pascal, he walked us to the bus stop and showed us which bus to catch to Planards, one of the beginners ski slopes. The rain was falling but we were nice and dry in our ski gear so it didn’t bother us too much. After a 5 minute bus ride we arrived and were met by Pascale as we got off the bus. He showed us were to buy our ski lift passes and once we had them in our hands it was off to the snow!

We started slow by learning the basics of how to push off, snow plough to stop and walking up a slope. Then he said it was time to go up the ski lift to the very gentle beginners slope to practice turns. We freaked out a bit as we didn’t feel ready but it didn’t take us long to grasp the concept and soon we were skiing very slowly down the slope. Tim found it difficult as he naturely wanted to sit back in his boots instead of forward, so as the day wore on so did his frustration levels! Although Kellie and Jess fell numerous times, they got the hang of the turns... but Tony mastered it the fastest and didn’t fall at all. The rain eventually turned into snow and then the sun came out and so did the crowds!

We were exhausted by the end of our lesson and our feet were cold and hurting so we caught the bus back to the chalet to check up on Zac. He was still not well so we tucked him into bed and headed out for some lunch. After a lovely traditional French meal Jess and Tony headed back to the chalet while Tim and Kel explored a bit of Chamonix.

Tim packed his bags and 20 minutes before having to leave, the Henry’s arrived home in time to say their goodbyes. Tim had to fly back to London from Geneva to work the week so after he left the Henry’s climbed into the Jacuzzi and we had a quiet night reading and watching tv.

Tony on the slopes

We decided the night before that Zac would still not be well enough to come skiing so 4 became 3! Jess, Tony and Kel got up early and headed out to walk the 15 minutes to the bus stop and it’s not that easy to walk in ski boots let me tell you that!!  We caught the bus again to Planards and heard a lady and her daughter chatting and recognized the accent immediately. Kel started to chat to them and it was their first time to ever ski and they were starting ski school so we chatted to them and then showed them the way to the ski school. When we arrived Kel went to buy the ski passes and realized that she didn’t bring enough money. After having a slight panic of what to do a male Aussie accent from behind her said “no worries, I’ll give you the money, I can’t let a fellow Aussie down when you are here to ski”.  Mark was buying a ski pass for his wife who was also in ski school for the next few days, so I made the promise to fix him up the next day. Mark was there to drop her off then heading off to meet his children as they were all black level skiers. Mark & his wife were from the very south of WA and the lady from the bus was from the Sun Shine Coast so it was really nice to have a chat to some fellow Aussies!

Pascal found us soon after and we hit the slopes again for a bit of a refresher. It didn’t take long for it all to come back however Jess was suffering quite a bit of pain in her ankles. After two runs down the gentle slope she was nearly in tears so Pascal suggested that maybe her boots didn’t fit properly so Jess made the decision to return back to the villa and exchange her boots.  So 3 became 2!!

With only two of us, Tony and Kel had lots of one on one time with Pascal so they progressed very quickly and headed half way up the green slope to learn side slipping. After a dozen times of doing that run they headed to the very top with much trepidation!  It was extremely narrow so we had to do a lot of side slipping (which isn’t easy for a beginner!) until the slope widened out and then we could ski the full breadth, which is much easier.  

There were a few falls by both Tony and Kel today but with each fall we learned very quickly why and how to correct it so by the end of the lesson we were skiing quite well. We were both very exhausted after our lesson but ran to catch the waiting bus back to Chamonix and chatted with the same Aussie lady on the way back.  Tomorrow we will find out her name!

Back home to check on Zac and he was feeling much better but still not well enough to come out for lunch so Jess, Tony and Kel had a quick lunch across the street and then off to buy supplies for dinner. After the Henry’s got home Kel, Bec and Jess jumped into the Jacuzzi with a glass of champagne and then out to cook Umbrian lentil stew for dinner from a recipe we found on the internet from Panicale. The lentils were bought in Panicale so we thought it was quite fitting. Will let you know how dinner tasted tomorrow!!

The town of Martigny.

We were up again early and the routine was very familiar – breakfast, into our thermals, on with the ski gear and off on our walk to the bus stop. Only this morning Zac came with us!! He was feeling much better, and was keen to give skiing a try. We met up with Marcy who was actually Mark’s sister-in-law (and yes Kellie did return the 10 euros!) and Kylie on the bus then bought our lift tickets on arrival.

While Pascal was instructing Zac for the first half hour, Tony, Jess & Kel skied many times down the gentle slope before hitting the green run with Pascal. Yes, this is not a typo, Isaac had progressed so far in such a short time that he was able to join us on the green run! Pascal was very good with him and demonstrated every move he needed to make and Isaac followed him perfectly. Unfortunately, after about four times down the green runs Isaac fell on an icy patch and lost his confidence... so he chose to watch us all after that. 

Jess thoroughly enjoyed herself today after having a rest yesterday, and the new boots really helped. By the end of the day all three of us were skiing the green run confidently and even thought we might ski again with Pascal on Thursday after a day of rest.

Back to the chalet, we had a rest and waited for the Henry’s to get home. After some lunch we decided to drive to Switzerland for dinner in the Henry’s bus! Boy was that an experience! We drove up and down several high mountains to a town called Martigny. The road was very windy and narrow in places and fell away into a sheer drop at many times with no barrier at the edge of the road to stop cars from going over in the event of an accident. The steep descent into the town of Martignygave us a beautiful view of the valley below and we were in awe of the many rows of vines that were growing on the side of the mountain. 

After arriving in town we found a local bar to have a drink and get out of the cold night air. We then went for a wander to the town center, which was lined by very unusual looking trees without their leaves. We decided on a restaurant to have dinner and it took us a while to choose our meals as the menu was only in French. Luckily, the waitress spoke English so she interpreted it for us and we didn’t have to wait long for our dinner. Jess was the only one who tried the local dish cheese fondue (after taking an enzyme tablet!) and the Henry boys ordered the other Swiss dish, potato rosti. We soon realized how good we had it in Italy with the prices of food and wine... when the bill came we were charged 11 francs for a bottle of sparkling water!! Even Chamonix’s prices were better than Switzerland’s!!

On the way home, Anthony drove very slowly as the road was even hairier in the dark! As we turned a corner heading up the mountain we came upon a wild boar on the side of the road. It was much larger and ugly than a pig, very dark in colour and quite hairy but it was interesting to see the animal that we had been eating in Italy! We were all very tired after three days of skiing so we headed straight to bed when we arrived home, looking forward to a sleep-in the next morning.

Lunch while exploring Chamonix

We woke to rain this morning and colder temperatures. There was also snow higher up on the slopes as the trees had a dusting of snow covering them. We heard a series of loud bangs, very similar to thunder and Anthony thought they were blasting the ski slopes to stabilise them for skiing.

Bec and Kel walked to the shops for croissants for breakfast & meat for dinner but struggled to stay upright as the road were extremely icy. After a late breakfast the Henry’s left to drive to Geneva for the day (with a packed lunch needless to say!!) while we decided to stay in Chamonix for a day of rest, and to explore the town centre. Unfortunately, the rain continued to fall so during a light patch we managed to get out for a walk and have some lunch. During lunch we all decided that we would like to ski one more time so Kellie texted Pascal and arranged to meet him at Flégère the next morning. 

After putting the osso bucco in the oven we wandered across the river to pick up our ski gear again and then headed back to the chalet for a lazy afternoon. The Henrys arrived home in time for dinner and they decided to join us the following day at Flégère to ski. We had a lovely dinner catching up on the day’s activities then off to bed before our early start.

A pair of Ski Bunnies!

The whole house was up by 7am this morning excited that the weather conditions were perfect for skiing. We packed up the Henry’s bus and headed off to Flégère. While we were in line waiting to buy our ski lift passes Pascal found us and we introduced him to Bec and Ant. We were able to skip the queue for the gondola ride up to the ski field because we had a ski instructor so parted ways and agreed to meet up for lunch at the restaurant at 12 noon. Little did we know how much we would be crossing paths over the course of the morning! 

During the ride to the top Kellie chatted to Pascal and for the four months of the year when he wasn’t teaching skiing, he makes red wine across the border in Switzerland. What a life!! Skiing and making wine! Pascal said that Swiss wine is very expensive to buy because they do not export their wines so it can only be bought in Switzerland.

When we arrived, Pascal gave us a quick overview of the green run and what to expect regarding the steepness and width of the run. Then we were off!! The start of the run was windy and narrow but we navigated it well with Pascal leading. He stuck close to Isaac, who had only had one lesson to our three, and by the time we were half way down the slope Max and Tom flew past us on their boards! Soon Ant, Bec and Will sailed past us but we were taking the first run slowly since we had had the previous day off. Soon we were on the chair lifts heading up the mountain and Pascal was great to Jess and Zac who are afraid of heights. He took a lift with them, one of either side chatting to them the whole way while they had their eyes closed tightly! Tony and Kellie followed and met them as we alighted from the lifts. That’s when we discovered the problem!! The short run down from the lifts to the start of the green run was practically vertical!! 

It took us awhile to navigate the steep descent because we all fell over numerous times but we eventually got there and started our second run down. Thanks to Pascal’s guidance we maneuvered each run faster and faster so by the time Pascal had to leave we were amazed at how far we had come. We said our thanks and goodbyes to Pascal and met up with the Henry’s for lunch. 

After lunch Ant, Max, Tom and Will decided to hit the red and blue runs so Bec stuck with us on the green run and we skied together. Zac skied once after lunch but unfortunately he wasn’t confident enough to keep going without Pacsal so we found him a chair in the sun to wait for us. An hour later Jess and Kellie were exhausted so they joined Zac in the sun with a bottle of wine and while Bec and Tony kept each other company. Several runs later they finally joined us for a drink in the sun then we left the Henry men to enjoy the last hour of sunlight on the slopes and to find their way home, while Bec drove us back to the villa. On the way home we stopped at the ski hire shop to return our gear and while Kellie was struggling to carry 3 sets of skis and poles she heard someone call out her name. It was Mark! After a quick hello and another thank you for the 10 euro loan we returned the gear and headed home to start dinner. Such a small world but nice to connect one last time before leaving!

Jess at the cold and windy Glacier

Today the Henry men went off skiing while Bec spent the day with us. After a sleep in and breakfast we headed off to the Montenvers Mer de Glace on a purpose built train up the sides of the Aiguilles de Chamonix to an altitude of 1,913m. The Mer de Glace (sea of ice) is the largest glacier in France, 7km long and 200m deep. The train ride took 20 minutes and the views on the way up were spectacular. At the top we disembarked into a snowfall with cold and windy conditions which made it extremely uncomfortable to stay outside for too long. After a few photos and a wander around we took refuge in a café and ordered a glass of wine to wait for the return train. This was the first place we have encountered very little English so it took a while to get the message across that we wanted one red (rouge) and two white (blanc) wines. We eventually got there and our order was taken, however the real communication problem started when the first glass of white wine was poured from the dregs of a bottle and another bottle was opened. The problem was that the second bottle of wine was completely different! After pouring the second glass the man serving us topped up the first glass and we said “no that glass has two different wines in it!” He couldn’t understand us but eventually gave us a fresh glass of wine (thank goodness!!) because we kicked up such a stink!

After a quick stop back at the chalet we walked to a local restaurant for lunch and Kel and Bec shared a traditional meal of salad nicoise and steamed mussels before heading home to pack for our departure tomorrow. We have thoroughly enjoyed our skiing adventure in Chamonix and have vowed to ski more often in the furture! We are looking forward to Tim’s arrival in the morning and our journey to Provence, however, at the time of writing this blog we still don’t know where we are going!!!

Leaving Chamonix

We got up early this morning to a think blanket of snow over everything outside!  It had started snowing as we went to bed and continued all night (and was still going!) while we were sleeping.  It looked beautiful in the early morning light.  It did mean that we had to put snow chains on the front tires of the Bus – Our “Duster” was 4WD, so we were OK – and off we journeyed to pick up Tim en route to Provence.  Our route would take us inland a bit and then over the Alps, and down inland to Le Plan de la Tour, picking up Tim at a stop on the freeway on the way. 

We stopped at a place called Voiron near Grenoble for lunch.  Unbeknown to us the town was the one where the liqueur “Chartreuse” is made by the Carthusian Monks – and has been since 1737.  It was Toms favorite liqueur, so after Tom, Max and Tony had their fill of Chartrese soaked Tiramisu, we set off to try and find the factory… but unfortunately it was closed being a Saturday.  Chartreuse is one of only a few liqueurs that continue to age while in the bottle.  We continued on after lunch to complete the 6 hour drive to Provence, ending up at Le Plan de la Tour at around 6.30pm and meeting our hosts who introduced us to the “replacement house” (as mentioned earlier in this blog, the house we originally booked was not able to be used as it experienced a severe water leak).  The “replacement house” was great!  Good living areas, great location (actually the same district as our original house) in the countryside, just outside of Grimaud, and close to St Tropez.

After quickly unloading the bags, we set off for dinner in St Maxime – a 5 minute drive to the coast – and walked along the port until we found a restaurant that took our fancy.  After looking at a few menus in the windows we were standing in front of one, looking at the menu, when a jazz bad started playing inside…. This made up our mind and we settled in.  The band was “La Zauto Stompers” – not that that would mean much to us Aussies – but they were a really good 5 piece band that played ragtime and some old French Jazz Standards (as well as a few American Standards).  A very pleasant evening.  Later in the evening as we walked back to cars, we passed a fashion show being held on the waterfront….. but of course!  This is St Tropez, after all!

Back at the house for a bit of a relax and settle in, we discovered a Billiard Table – excellent!  But when we took the cover off we discovered it only had 3 balls (two white and one red) and NO POCKETS!  After scratching our heads for a while, we decided to consult Dr Google.  Apparently, the table is for playing an ancient French game called “Carom”. The intention is that each white ball belong tone player (there is a small maker to tell the difference), and the object is to score “counts” by caroming ones own cue ball off your opponents and onto the red ball – this is a “count”.  Sounds simple right?  Wrong!  The game ends when the pre-set number of counts has been reached.  Max and Tim tried to master the game (without much success), and eventually decided that bed was a less frustrating option!

Kellie and Bec with their new friends Lilly and Reine.

We woke to some beautiful weather, and a little warmer than Chamonix – which was nice for a change.  We decided, that after a lazy breakfast, we would walk into town and have a look around.  It was Sunday, so many of the stores were closed, but it was a short walk of 10 minutes into town with some beautiful countryside to see along the way.  Our house is set in a fallow vineyard, and there are many vineyards around us.  The landscape is distinctly more Australian (surprisingly so, as you will see later), with the majority of the trees and shrubs being evergreen…. a first on our trip so far.

We walked through the old part of town, which had some very similar characteristics to the other old villages we had seen on our travels….. narrow streets, close living quarters, town square with church style community buildings in the center.  Each town has its own particular style and character, but the base elements are the same.  It does make me think the Australian suburbia-style living, might be missing out on something fundamental.  As we wandered, we came across an open restaurant – and decided to return after our explorations.  So far, every village or town we have been to in this part of France has a street named “Rue Victor Hugo”…. St Maxime had one and Le Plan de la Tour has one.  He was obviously an influencial chap!

After the girls had purchased some meat from the local butcher, with a little bit of translation assistance from Jess, we headed off to the restaurant.  Jess had gone on ahead to use here French skills to book a table for 10 – not an easy task, as we have found out during our travels!  They told her that it would be ten minutes while they rearranged tables… we did not realize, that this meant moving some of the elderly locals from their seats and putting them in different tables so that they could squeeze us in!  It was very kind, and the 3 elderly ladies, we found out later during our lunch were the towns “ladies who lunch”… and one (Lilly) was 100 years old, one (Reine) was due to turn 100 in a months time, and the other was a spring chicken of a mere 92 years!  They were very entertaining, and wanted to dance the tango with Anthony or one of the other “lovely young men” in our party.  Needless to say, the 92 year old at one stage got into an argument with her elder peers and decided to walk out of the restaurant in a huff!  The owner assured us that she would be back later in the week with her friends sharing a meal as always…. It’s good to know that you can still have a bit of a ding dong argument with your mates, and still be mates – even when you are 100!  As we bid them both goodbye, they raced off – one in her Zimmer frame with wheels on it, the other using a babies stroller as her mode of support!  They made us promise to send them a postcard from Sydney on our return…

We have shared some great Sunday lunches during this trip, and this one was also great.  Excellent food, good local wine, great conversation and company – a Sunday lunch habit that we will make sure we try and continue with when we return to Australia.  With a mixture of sadness and anticipation, we realized that this was the last Sunday lunch of our trip.

After walking back to the house – past a football/soccer match, which looked VERY MUCH like the Berowra over 45’s that Tim plays in…. it even looked like the same standard, with similar words of “encouragement” being yelled from the sideline in French! – we decided to get into the Henrys bus and drive to Port Grimaud and have a look around.

Port Gimaud was a short 10 minute drive from the house, and was on the same Mediterranean bay as St Tropez and St Maxime.  The town is built on a series of waterways, ideal for mooring your boat – and there were some VERY large boats (or were they “ships”?) in the town – in fact each home in the town tends to come with its own berth.  The town was created in the 1960’s, but it continued on with additional building projects during the 1970’s and 1990’s.  It is mainly free of cars, and you can walk around the town on foot through the small laneways and streets.  The town square even had gum trees in it!  They have been pruned over the years so they “looked” European, but they were certainly Australian Gum trees… they looked quite healthy too!  We also saw some donut shaped topiary trees – they seem to love their topiary in this part of France – to go with the unusual topiary we saw in Le Plan de la Tour.

Then back home to the house for some local risotto and sausages that was purchased from the local butcher, and a bit of a catch up on the outstanding blog entries.

Aix-en-Provence

This morning we set off for the home town of Jess’ High School French teacher – Aix-en-Provence.  It took us a while to get going, but we eventually made it out the door just before mid-day.  The fact that Ant and Bec had walked up to the local shops that morning o get some Croissants and Baguette might have contributed to our late departure!  It was unfortunately a bad day to visit any town, as it was raining quite heavily and pretty cold to boot!  That said, we made our way into the center of the old part of Aix-en-Provence, which was full of busses…!  They must be the man mode of transport for this city!  Eventually we found a parking spot (even if we couldn’t get the ticket machine to work) and set off on foot for the old part of town, which was quite close.

We walked past many of the old buildings, but our first port of call was a restaurant for some lunch.  After which we did a short bit of exploring until the rain got the better of us and we had to make our way back to the car.  A shame really, as the old town of Aix-en-Provence looked quite beautiful… Monday, though was the day that many of the shops were closed so it seemed fairly deserted.  It IS true that we saw a water fountain on every street corner – something for which Ai-en-Provence is renowned. 

We then decided to set off for Marseille with the intent of buying some fish from the fish market, and then taking the coast road to Toulon and then back to Le Plan de la Tour.  It was a bit of a disaster…!  A combination of underestimating the size of Marseille and how difficult it was to navigate the city and find ANYTHING, and the fact that our STOOOPID GPS system nearly drove Tim to frustration (well to be fair it DID drive him to a high level of frustration….. for which I hereby apologise, in public, on my blog, for loosing my cool and getting upset at those in the car who were trying to be helpful…!).

The interesting thing about the brief impression we had of Marseille, is that it seemed to be the “Gotham City” of France.  The look of decay was everywhere.  It was only down in the historic section, where the revolution started, that it seemed to have any character – everywhere else we were amazed by the high levels of Graffiti, the abandoned buildings, and the general sense of decay.  It was a far cry from the once-strong capital of France before the revolution.  Jess was giving a running commentary on French history and how the revolution started in Marseille… we were probably a bit to frustrated to take it in at the time.  Perhaps we will have to return to get a different and better experience of this major French city.

By the time we had gotten ourselves out of Marseilles, we were so frustrated and exhausted,, that we just headed for home.  The rain was closing in, so it was probably the best choice in any case.  Back at the house, we learned that the Henrys bike riding day, ended up being a bit of a disaster too… as the rain stopped their cycling activities.  An early night, after our day of driving was what the doctor ordered!

The big boats at Antibes

Today we decided to go to Grasse, the perfume capital of France (in fact it is considered the worlds perfume capital).  It is an old town on top of the hills overlooking Cannes, and they have been making perfume there since the late 18^th century as the climate of Grasse was good for growing the flowers used for the natural aromas of the earlier perfumes.  Many “noses” have spent time in Grasse training themselves to be able to distinguish over 2,000 different smells – a skill essential for the perfume industry.  Unfortunately for us, much of the town was closed for the winter and many of the stores and sights were shut.  It seemed to be bit of a ghost town (like a lot of the towns around the cote d’Azur), so we decided to make our way down to Antibes to see if there was a bit more action down on the coast.

Antibes is a very ancient port, and has been used for shipping since the time of the Greeks and was founded by the Phonecians in the 5^th century BC.  It has an old stone wall around the old part of the harbor, that would have acted like a fortress in times past… you can walk the top of the wall (as we did) and get a great view of the harbor and the boats that are moored there.  You can catch glimpses of the beach through the “windows” in the wall where the archers would have defended the port.

We parked in the center of the town, and walked down to the old section of the city to have lunch on a cobblestone courtyard near a fountain.  Very simple French food – Crepes and Baguettes – which was lovely… the trick was to duck whenever the Pigeons decide to dive bomb us and grab some of our food!  We then explored the town, and walked down to the old harbor.

Some of the boats that were moored there made the ones we saw the other day in Port Grimaud look like row-boats!  There was one owned by some wealthy Russian that was over 100 meters long and carried a staff of 47 to crew it!  Another a bit further along (…past the Helipad!) was another one called the “Kingdom 5KR” which was owned by a Saudi prince – it cost $260m to build and if you want to re-fuel it you will need to shell out a cool $1m!!  It’s claim to fame (other than the fact that is it HUGE) was that it appeared in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again as the villain’s mobile HQ.

We then decided to head for home, driving past Cannes and back via St Maxime so we could buy some supplies for the Carfour (supermarket) – rudimentary French was enough for us to buy some basic food and veg from the huge supermarket.  Back home for a little rest and we decided to go out for a bit of a fancy dinner as it was Bec and Will’s last evening with us… they fly back to London from Nice tomorrow to hook up with the long haul flight home from Heathrow.  We headed down to the waterfront at St Maxime once more and selected a restaurant that was to everyone’s liking and wished Bec and Will a “bon voyage”!

STOP PRESS…. As I am writing this on Wednesday morning (Provence time) we have some great news!  Tony has just received, via the internet, an offer of a position at Newcastle University in Bachelor of Food Science and Human Nutrition.  Yippee!!

At the Grimaud Castle...

Today we were very excited to wake up to find that early this morning Tony got advised that he was offered a position in Newcastle Uni – the one that was his first choice.  We are all very proud! 

Today, the Henrys dropped Bec and Will at the airport at Nice as they were flying home to Sydney via London.  The Powells decided to go on a bit of a local road trip and see if we could search out some smaller local Provence Villages and Towns.  It was lousy weather, and rained on-and-off all day, bu it was a good opportunity to drive on some of the smaller local roads and see the local Provencale scenery.

First we aimed for Grimaud, a town that has historical links with the Grimaldi family (the family that was later associated with the establishment and rule of Monaco).  It is a beautiful town that is reminiscent of some of the small Umbrian and Tuscan towns we have seen, and is dominated at the top of the hill by the ruins of a castle that is dated from the 11^th and 12^th century.  The view of the surrounding countryside from the top was spectacular.  The rain held off just long enough for us to walk around the town and experience the sights.

We then headed to Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer.  But as we past the St Tropez International Airport and headed into the town (the airport was nearly deserted… no doubt it is packed with Lear Jets during the summer months!) the very small road was blocked by two semi-trailers who seemed to be loading up some mobile homes – that seemed to be the local industry of the area – and they were not going to leave any time soon.  We decided to turn around and make tracks via another route for Bormes-les-Mimosas instead.  Borme-les-Mimosas was originally known as Bormes, but changed it’s name in 1968 as a result of the Mimosa plants (Wattles, as us Aussies would know them) that were imported from Australia that have really made their home in this area – you can see them everywhere along the drive in full yellow flower during the northern winter.  Made us feel a little like being at home in Australia!

As it was raining hard at the time, we decided to continue on down the hills to Le Lavendou to try and find a sport for lunch.  We eventually found something down near the ocean, where there was a good surf rolling in – and quite  few surfers who were braving the conditions.  While we ate, the rain came pouring down, so they must have been very keen indeed!  Jess felt right at home in the restaurant, as she felt like they were playing her iPod selection on the PA system while we were eating!  The waiter had very little English, and Some of the French words were not familiar to Jess, so with a bit of help from Google Translate, Kellie and Tim hoped they would be getting Duck Breast – we did, and it was great!  Interestingly the Mayor of the town passed an unusual bylaw making it illegal to DIE in the town, as the cemetery was full!  A bit of politics being played out between the local mayor and the Council in Nice, I think!

After lunch we headed out to Collobrieres, which was a lovely town situated in a valley with a small river flowing right through the middle of it.  The town is famous for growing edible chestnuts, and also cork trees.  We could see the cork trees with the bark “harvested” up just past head height on many of the trees along the road side.  As we drove through the country-side, on the winding narrow roads, there was many signs for us to keep an eye out for deer crossing the road – alas we didn’t see any.

We then made our way back home to the house via Grimaud, on some pretty hairy roads!  Great views though, when we (well, Tim, the driver) could actually look at the view and not the road where he was driving!  A bit of a lazy late afternoon, as we had a light dinner and watched a family video on Jess’ iPad.

St Tropez from the Castle

Today was our last full day in France and the weather was great – sunny mainly clear skies – so we decided to see one of the local villages and St Tropez before we left.  So we set off for Frejus, a very old town with Roman heritage that has now become one of the resort towns on the Cote d’Azur.  In fact the name of the town means “the market of Julius”, named after the Julius Caesar who had built a road from Rome to Spain through this part of France.  It still has some Roman ruins on display one of which is an Amphitheatre.  Although not as large as the Coliseum in Rome, it has the unique characteristic that it is still operational! – it still holds bullfights and concerts – and has been partially restored and modernized to seat approximately 10,000 people in an outdoor setting.  Frejus was also one of the first town in France to be converted to Christianity in the fourth century AD – in fact Christians have been documented as living there as early as 374AD.  In the old town of Frejus, is the Cathedral that was built in the 5^th Century AD.  It has a Baptistry, an octagonal room that had a basin in the middle that was large enough to fully immerse an adult person… many of the ancient Italian churches also have these Baptistries… it seems the idea of “sprinkling” water on babies from a smaller baptistery came a bit later in church history.

We wandered around the old town of Frejus, which seemed to be a centre of an art community.  At one point we came across a courtyard where every bollard, seat, light-post and handrail was painted in bold colours and patterns – each one obviously having been done by different individuals.  It was very uplifting, and would put a smile on any visitors face.  We then wandered on to try and find a restaurant that was open for lunch, and we passed one of the old buildings that was being restored and the yellow Provencale cement render that is typical of these parts was being applied by about 6 builders/craftsmen – it was great to see some of the traditional building skills still being applied to maintain the character of the area.  We found a restaurant on the edge of the square (next to a fountain, of course!) and had some lunch.  Jess loved the place, as it (again) played her kind of music.  Tim and Kellie loved it as we got to taste some “Daube de Boeuf a la Provencale”  a beef stew from these parts…. Delicious!

From Frejus, it was a drive along the Cote d’Azur to St Moretz.  It was a beautiful drive, and the scenery reminded us of Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast…. Partly because of the colour of the sea and the rocky outcrops at the ends of each of the beaches as we passed – but mainly because we have spent our whole Aussie summer over here in the cold and have missed our time at Batemans Bay!  Once we got to St Tropez, one thing that was obviously different was the amount of money that this town had!  Every shop was an expensive “brand” shop, and the prices were astronomical!  Tony and Tim had the most expensive Coke of their lives, and Kellie and Jess had a glass of Champagne whose price was eye-watering!  Still, you only live once (and we wont be buying anything from a café overlooking the St Tropez harbour in a hurry…!

Just a side note about Provence, and the Cote d’Azure in particular – obviously we knew this is a tourist area, but we were amazed that the majority (not just some!) of the homes, shops and restaurants in this region are closed during winter.  It certainly added meaning to our understanding of “hibernation”!  The place must be thriving during summer, and some of the discussions with the locals we have had indicate that the place is a nightmare if you dislike crowds, because the place is certainly deserted during winter.  It is in stark contrast with Tuscany and Umbria in Italy…. There we found a few shops and restaurants closed, but they seemed to be in the minority – here we have always struggled in the coastal towns to find anything that is open.  Bizzare!

We had a wander around the town of St Tropez, which is quite beautiful and Tony and Tim walked up to the Castle at the top, and got a good view of the town and across the other side of the bay to St Maxime, where we have spent some time over the last few days.  We could imagine the almost deserted bay ( a little larger than Sydney Harbour) during summer – PACKED with sailing boats, motor yachts and passenger ferries.

We then headed home to meet up with Anthony, Max and Tom who had been riding on some very dodgy bikes around St Maxime for the day.  We decided to visit another of the local restaurants for dinner, and were again treated to a magnificent meal – we were the only ones in the restaurant, so we had their undivided attention!  The doorway as you walked in, was made of stone about a meter thick, and we were told that these stones were from an olive press that was operational over 100 years ago.  We looked down and underneath the glass panel that was the doorstep was the ancient round olive press that was still there.  Another example of the amazing history we have been absorbing over the last few weeks.