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.