Parting thoughts

Unfortunately, as with all good things, our time here has come to an end. It was a most enjoyable seven weeks, but now I am sitting in the lounge at the Frankfurt Airport waiting for our flight to Toronto. I look forward to seeing our family and friends, but I am especially anxious to see our little mutt Rocky. While we were away, he had a couple of seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy. He is now seizure free and doing well on meds. A special thank you to Alycia, our wonderful dog sitter who took extraordinary care of him in our absence.

My time in France this year was quite different than my last experience. Firstly, I had company and lots of it. Keith, my dear husband and Brian, our very good friend were with me. Friends and family from Canada, England, Finland and France came to visit. It is so wonderful to share experiences like this with others. Thank you to everyone who made the effort to visit. Secondly, school was a more positive experience than last time. I don't think I improved much in terms of my speaking and writing skills, but I do think I understand a little more. I also realize that my journey to acquire French is by no means over. I will have to investigate other possibilities to continue my language learning. One of these days, as my brother recently told me, it might stick. Thirdly, living in your own apartment so conveniently located to everything also meant more freedom - daily shopping, meals at home, ability to walk almost everywhere and public, affordable transportation was nearby when you needed it. Lastly, I think the weather was even more moderate than in Montpellier. We had quite a bit of rain and a couple of torrential downpours, but the temperatures were generally pretty mild. And when the sun shone and the skies were blue, life was good!

While in France, we visited many sites along the Côte d'Azur. Nice is still our favourite. It is a beautiful part of this country and we really loved the lifestyle. On our last afternoon, Keith and I headed down to the sea for one last look. This is what we saw.

After spending some time at the sea, we walked across the Promenade to one of our favourite bistros for a beverage before going home.

Brian joined us in our apartment for our final "happy hour".

To celebrate our last evening in Nice, we went out for dinner to a restaurant in the old city. It was a charming eatery with great service, good looking waiters and excellent food. Who could ask for anything more? Needless to say, I have included a few pictures. 

Keith ordered the fish - Les rougets et tapenade d'olives....

with a side of (I think it was called) Pannis, made with chickpea flour

I had the l'escalope de veau provençale.

One of the good looking waiters....

.....and here is another.

At the end of the meal, they offered us a complimentary limoncello which we raised to toast our time in Nice.

A fabulous experience! No doubt, I'll be back. Until then, thanks to everyone who read my blog.

Stay tuned, the adventure continues. I'm going back at the end of February to study for a month at the Institut Français in Villefranche-sur-Mer. 

Grasse

We spent our last "away" trip in Grasse and it did not disappoint. All of us enjoyed this hilltop, medieval village after visiting so many coastal towns recently. It felt quite lived in, less tourist oriented and more diverse than some of the others. Grasse is about 12 miles inland from the coast and to get to the top is a formidable hike. This time we took the bus from the train station to the top and it was the best €1,50 we ever spent! As with most of our day trips, we had a few sites that we wanted to see, but the rest of the time we just wandered following our instincts, rather than a map. 

The Cathedrale Nôtre Dame du Puy.

It contained three paintings by Rubens and the one below by Jean-Honoré Fragard, the namesake of the famous perfumery.

The beautiful gate to the Hôtel de Mairie.

Place de l'Evêché. These arches, now closed over, were once the vaulted entrances of former 15th and 16th century cellars and warehouses.

Magnificent views.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a restaurant called Les 3 Garçons. Le Plat du Moment was a Risotto crémeux Émincé de Poulet aux Champignons. It was superb! We even liked the bowl it was served in.

Here is the chef hamming it up

One of the main streets in Grasse. We followed this road down to the perfumery.

Prior to our visit I had done a little reading and discovered that Grasse is the world's capital of perfume - la capitale mondiale des parfums. It even smelled good as we got off of the train. Grasse produces more than 2/3 of France's natural aromas for perfumes and flavorings and its microclimate is condusive to growing a variety of flowers. Nowadays, modern fragrances contain synthetic chemicals so Grasse has adapted by turning to aromatic synthesis and food flavorings.There are several perfumeries in Grasse including Galimard, Molinard and Fragonard. We decided to go to the Parfumerie Fragonard for a tour to learn about perfume production.

Our tour guide who spoke English was very engaging. She led us through a number of rooms with a variety of equipment as she talked about distillation, perfume essences, soap manufacturing, packaging etc. It was most interesting.

At the end of the tour, we landed up at the perfume counters where she gave us the opportunity to test our noses "les nez" to see if we could detect the subtle and not so subtle scents of citrus, spice and florals.

 

Of course, we had to buy some perfume. How could you leave Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, without some?

By this time it was late afternoon and we wanted to catch the train back to Nice so walked or should I say sprinted to the bottom - it was quite a hoof and we made it to the train with about 2 minutes to spare! 

Les Pâtisseries

I just thought I'd post a short blog with a few pictures of some about the beautiful and amazing desserts and confectionaries that can be found find all over France. The pictures speak for themselves. Be prepared to salivate!

and perhaps laugh.

Cannes

It is pretty hard to come to the French Riviera and not make a trip to Cannes. Today, December 7, the train strike was over and the sun was shining, so we spent the better part of the day in Cannes. Originally Cannes was a small fishing village, but now it is a glamourous and upscale seaside town. Every May it hosts the Cannes Film Festival and the rich and famous flock to the beautiful hotels dotted along the coast. There is the Promenade de la Croisette which is a street lined with palms that follows the waterfront. Up the hill, you will find the old town Le Suquet which provides a good view of the port and city. As with most of these coastal communities, there are large marinas/ports with huge yachts and sail boats. There seems to be no end to the opulence and wealth. Off the coast there are a couple of islands that you can ferry too. One is called Île Saint-Marguerite where the Man in the Iron Mask spent 11 years in prison. The other, the Île Saint-Honorat has been inhabited by the Cistercian monks since AD410. There is still a church on the island and the ruins of the 11th century monastery. Nowadays the monks divide their time between prayer and wine production. 

Initially we walked along the Promenade de la Croisette past the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.

Hotels and casinos as far as the eye can see.

As per usual, we stopped for "smoko" in a sunny spot and ordered our regular coffees with a little milk on the side. It turns out that the waiter brought us 3 lattes to the tune of €17,40 equivalent to about $25.00 Canadian! This was a picture of the boys before they saw the bill.

This is after.

From the waterfront we began the steep climb to the old city. We passed through the large and bustling covered Marché Forville although we didn't stop to buy.

These were just some of the steps on the way to the top.

At the top was a lovely church. We stopped in briefly and found a very interesting mechanical display of a crêche. An elderly lady beside me inserted a euro and the display lit up, characters began to move  and music began to play. I was suitably impressed. Outside of the church there were some great views of the port and the city.

Obviously, the seagulls are well fed and very tame. This big fellow sat there very patiently while several tourists, including me, took his picture.

Just up the road from the church was the Musée de la Castre. I had read that the views of the city and port were best from the top of the tower. Before climbing to the top, we visited exhibits of artifacts from the Pacific Atolls, Peruvian and Equadorian relics and Mayan pottery. There are 109 steep steps to the top of the tower, but the climb on such a beautiful day was worth it. Below is a picture of the church.

 The waterfront, port, Palais des Festivals. 

The boys.

The French flag at the top.

A view to the east - isn't the Mediterranean a beautiful blue?

This is the tower we climbed.

On our way down, we passed by this door that looked like a prison with a replica of the Man in an Iron Mask on the arch.

At the bottom was a beautiful Trompe d'oeil which celebrates Cannes' involvement with the film industry.

Three days left! Tomorrow, Grasse.