The last day of Nice has finally come. After a month of sunshine, Med. sea, baguettes, brie, rolling hilltop towns, very cheap and good wine, we are heading to Paris for 2 nights and then back to lalaland. In the last two days we have visited the Chagall and Matisse museums which are close to our apartment. The boys both lived in Nice, so we felt it was appropriate to pay homage to their great works. I decided to leave my wallet with all my cards and money on the street by the Chagall museum. Two girls recognized me when we were parking the car, and went through the museum with my wallet looking for me to return it. Lucky, n'est ce pas? Joey left his really good camera in San Remo, and as we were leaving, realized it was at the beachfront cafe. His camera was returned to him as well, so Joey and I win the awards for bigtime losers.

Yesterday we spent the day at the seaside at Villefranche Sur Mer. The water and weather were both perfect and it was hard to leave. We came home, packed and tidied up, and went for a crepe dinner at a funky yesterday in downtown Nice. We found Brasserie Flo, a restaurant we had been looking for but decided it was crepe time in France. Good choice.

Tonight we will pay homage to the Eiffel Tower and get Marlisse off to Vancouver for the next morning, after 6.5 months in Europe. We feel very lucky to have spent a month here in the Riviera, and it has been a wonderful first visit to Europe for Joey. 

The kids are looking forward to comfortable beds and we are looking forward to salad and water products. We have all agreed that we could live in Europe, especially in the Riviera.

Au revoir, a bientot, bon nuit, bon soir or bon matin for whatever time zone you are reading this in.

Amour,

Patty, Les, Marlisse and Joey

The boys arrived back in France just in time. We let them take 2 minute showers and off we went to the Nice Jazz Festival,which apparently is world reknown, at least in Europe. We just wanted to hear Leonard Cohen. We had a little trouble getting through security with our bottle of wine and Joey's intense camera, so we lost the bottle of wine and then checked the camera. In theory this sounds like nothing, but then the guards, and I mean Nazi regime, wouldn't let me back into the Jazz Festival. It is hard to negotiate in a language where I speak Pig Latin, but eventually I got in and Leonard was all that we hoped he would be. And I hope the French security enjoyed our rose wine. We certainly enjoyed the 6 euro champagne.

It must be a theme, because we also got kicked out of the Negresco Hotel by a very angry security guard. We were touring the hotel after a wonderful dinner, and the guard told us to leave as we were disturbing the tranquillity of the guests. We said we were waiting for one more person in our party (Les was in the bathroom) and the security guard insisted we leave. We fought it out until Les finally sauntered back. We have been kicked out of worse places. We are definitely too loud for France.

On Wednesday, July 23, we got up nice and early and headed for Italy. We went to San Remo and had the most wonderful beach day, with cots, parasols, lunch and lots and lots of Italians. We were clearly the only English speakers on the beach and it was a lovely day. The ocean had breakers so we had a swimming pool and a dock and could swim all day without getting carried out to sea. An idyllic day where we stayed for six hours. We walked the streets of the Italian Riviera town and found a little restaurant for dinner where the waiter gave us complimentary bruschetta which was fantastic, and complimentary limoncello after dinner. Joey tried to teach me how to take a shot, but I kept getting it all over my French face. He looked horrified that I was so stunned. I just kept taking shots. And more shots.

Off to the beach in Antibes and perhaps Cannes. Tra la la la la.

July 21, 2008

We are sans garcons, as they have trounced off to the Motherland of Hungary, and won't be home, and by home I mean Nice, until tomorrow night. We are hopeful they will be on time, as we all have tickets to see Leonard Cohen at the Nice Jazz Festival tomorrow night. 

Marlisse and I got back from a fun-filled and busy trip to Milan. We started our journey by witnessing a train passenger having her finger crushed by a train door on our way to Italy. I must say that put us off our brie and baguette. We volunteered one of our ice bottles of water so that the poor girl could get some relief, and we ate our way to Milan, six hours later, as the train was not on time, of course. Oh, Italy. After finding Duomo, an imposing and regal square with an amazing church that took 500 years to build, and is the third largest Catholic church in Europe, (Joey would be jealous)we found our beautiful hotel, where they upgraded our room to a suite.

 We then fast-walked to the center to buy a ticket to La Boheme at La Scala for the next evening. I was amazed that we were lucky to get one of the last sets of tickets to the world's premium opera house. And my favourite opera. We ate a good dinner of pasta, bruschetta, pizza and chianti, and called it a night, after an intense photo shoot in our hotel housecoats, on our upgraded beds and in our upgraded sheets. Grazie, Italy.

The next morning, we moved hotels, and got another upgrade. Another photo shoot in hotel housecoats. The hotels in this city are rather amazing. We then bought tickets to Seraville, the Italian outlet malls, and took the bus tour close to Genoa, which took 1.5 hours. Planning to buy our way to the opera that evening, we were looking  for Italian designer clothing. After 5 hours and much shopping, we came away with American shoes and 2 bras. This did not bode well for opera wear.

We attended the opera in stinky shopping clothes, and it was an amazing experience but perhaps not for the patrons who had to sit next to us and smell us. The house was accoustically perfect and the opera was gorgeous. We felt blessed to have been able to attend.

The next morning, we went on a tour to see Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper." It was fantastic, and one of the highlights of the trip thus far. We visited the castle, the La Scala Museum, Duomo and had a bus ride through the city. When we finished the bus tour, we high-tailed it to the railway station for our 3 p.m. tickets back to Nice. An exhausting but culturally incredible 2 days. When we got to Ventimiglia, Italy, we were basically told to vacate the train, even though we had a direct train to Nice. We found a connection in Ventimiglia, and got home late, yet again. Oh, Italy.

Next day was going to be a chill beach day, but I seem to get bored after 2 hours on a beach. At the last minute, Marlisse and I decided to leave the beach and get on a bus for Monaco for one euro. Clearly it was time to pay our respects to Princess Grace et all. Monaco, 45 minutes later, was gorgeous and clean and fun. We gambled at the Casino, built by Charles Garnier, ate chi chi tarts and pastries, walked the pier, and then hightailed it to the castle. We decided to mix up our public transit options and took the train home to Nice. All in all, another day in Paradise.

Adieu for now.

Internet seems to still be at a premium, as we are now a famille of four. The enfants have arrived, Marlisse on Saturday and Joey on Monday. It's great that we are all together, and wish Greg could be with us as well. We are making do in our one bedroom apartment with a peekaboo view of the ocean. Marlisse and I waited for Joey at the Nice airport, drinking wine and presenting the weary traveller with a glass as soon as he entered the arrivals area. We were so busy taking a photo shoot of ourselves drinking wine in a public place, that we almost missed finding Joey, as we were waiting in the wrong area. All turned out fine, though, and we are still all drinking wine.

Putzi and Mike Hicks came from Switzerland to visit, and we had two great nights with them in Nice. Les and I realized how fabulous Nice is at night, with the streets all lit up, and a party atmosphere surrounded us throughout the Centre Ville. It takes younger blokes to force us to stay up past our bedtime of 11 p.m. I just put that in to make us sound good. Let's be honest--we were really going to bed at 10 p.m. Not any longer though. We now eat dinner at 10:30 at night and have embraced the European bad habits. Marlisse and Joey are impressed.

Yesterday, we piled into our Subaru, and headed for the hilltop towns close to Nice. I planned an itinerary that matched a bus trip ad, as the buses seem to know the highlight hilltops. Les navigated through the windy rues, and we had a wonderful 10 hour day. First we went to Grasse, which is famous for its perfumes and flowers. It was a beautiful and pretty city, filled with lovely scents. We started the day with cafe lait and cappucino, and many, many croissants and pains des chocolats later, we walked the streets. Chanel #5 was created in Grasse, as were many other famous perfumeries. We all purchased the beautiful soaps, and  visited the obligatory church, and headed once again for the hills. We ended up in Gourdon, a medieval hilltop town which was beautiful. After walking the steep rues, we found a gorgeous restaurant overlooking the canyons and countryside. We ordered Trout Almondine and Fillet with Mushrooms, and ate an incredible French feast.

Sated and happy, we paid homage to the church (Marlisse and I are down to basically waving and saying "Ah yes...there's the church" and Joey and Les still walk through and look at the paintings) and headed for Tourettes. We were going to stop and pose for a photo shoot, because our family in front of a sign that says Tourettes is just too good to be true. However, we parked and went in and visited the medieval village, and were glad we did. It was the prettiest of all of them. Very little tourism, but just enough to keep the girls happy. Flowers, potted plants, more flowers, windy streets, and an ambience that was warm and welcoming. And yes, there was the church.

We were now getting pretty fatigued, but powered through one more hilltop town, St. Paul De Vence, the most visited village in France. There are only 200 parking spaces here for 10,000 daily visitors, so we thought we would give it the old college effort and then peace out. However, Les, our chauffeur (we still need to purchase him a beret) found one of the 200 spots. It was now 6 p.m., so it was quieter and very pretty with winding streets (what else is new?) filled with art that was gorgeous. Marlisse and I purchased a signed poster from one studio, and the man insisted on showing us all of his work and giving us detailed explanations. Lots and lots of detailed explanations.  We had a quick drink and left St. P without even visiting the church, though I think Joey tried. 

Today is a beach day, though right now the sky is overcast. Joe and Les are packing for Hungary and Marlisse and I are packing for Milan. We are going to lie on the beach today in Villefranche Sur Mer, which is right outside of Nice and very pretty. Joey loves the beach at Nice, and the two boys spent five hours the other day beaching it up. Marlisse and I bought bathing suits at Galleries Lafayette, so we felt we were beaching it up as well.

Au revoir for now, and soon to be Ciao and hmmmm....what is Hungarian for good-bye?

For now, I'll just stick to Au revoir.

I am finally back from Montpellier where Les and I stayed in a 16th century villa at a high school friend's of Les's. As you can imagine, internet was at a premium, so I couldn't exactly stay in touch. We had an eventful 3 days, driving four hours to Montpellier, with a quick side trip to see Van Gogh's yellow cafe in Arles. Of course,  we also saw Christian La Croix at a fete in Arles. Nothing in France but celebs. We are still waiting to run into the twins in Nice. Arles was old--what can I say. When we got to Doug's, the ami of Les, we were basically in the middle of nowhere. After swatting 40 flies, playing with the dog and the horse, and making up my bed in the trailer, I drank a lot of wine, and embraced the whole scenario. Of course, I am at my best when posting the "Do not disturb" sign at a Hilton, but...when in France..... We visited Montpellier, which is a beautiful city with an even more beautiful beach, Nimes-- a Roman city with wonderful water viaducts from Roman times, a few hilltop towns which were medieval and simply perfect, and drank copious amount of wine from the Langedouc region of France.

We left Doug's chateau after 3 nights of being Trailer Trash, and started our journey back to Nice. It took 14 hours with many stops along the way. First we went to a medieval village for fresh bread, almond croissants and wonderful caffe au lait. The baguette was the best ever. Then on to Avignon, where I sang the ditty "Sur la pont, d'Avignon" in full voice, much to Les's chagrin. Avignon is beautiful and is the Pope's summer residence. Make that was. We spent an hour and a half in Avignon, the start of the Provence region. We drove through fields of lavender and fields of sunflowers and were overcome by the scenery.

We ended up in the Luberon region, where village after village charmed us with their regional delights. Nougat in Apt, reknown for the regional candy, Sante Fe red Rousillon, which shines brilliant crimson from the highway, Gordes perched on the mountain where the beautiful people have refurbished this once ghost town, L'Isles -de la Sorgue which has water wheels and water running throughout the city, and Moustiers-St. Marie, where the church was carved out of the rock at the top of a mountain, with the star hung in the clouds. 

On our way home, we winded our way through the Grand Canyon of France. I was absolutely terrified of the sheers drops and the horrible road. We drove at a snail's pace through the curves and crevices of the region. Les wanted to punt me down a gorge, but I wouldn't let him.

We are now sitting on our French balcony in Nice, sipping French wine, serving French food and basically, we are now French and with the warm weather, French fried. Hope you are all well. Wish you could all be here.

Amour,

Patty and Les

We are ici in NICE and it is tres jolie. Bernhardt's apartment has four balconies, and we have a wonderful peekaboo view of the sea, the ambience of Nice surrounded by palms and crazy Vespa drivers. Speaking of crazy Vespa drivers, Les decided today was the day to drive around in his motorcycle. All he needs now is a french beret and he will be the spitting image of a madman in France. Driving around the streets is the most stressful part of our vacation thus far. That, and me trying to be the translator for the French language. I am getting pretty good with my 100 French words. Les has dubbed me the tranlator from Hell, but he always dubs me something from Hell, so really, that means nothing. We have been swimming in a town close to Nice called Villefranche-sur-Mer, climbing the medieval hills in Eze, an incredible hilltop town, and we accidentally ended up in Monaco without passports, so we left quickly. We have driven on two of the three Cornishe highways which have stunning view of the Meditarranean Sea on the Grace Monaco Highway. The villas are to die for, and so is Les's driving.We are busy purging ourselves on gnocchi, brie and rose wine. And red wine. And white wine. Au revoir for now....my citron tart is waiting on la tableau....

Au Revoir Adios

The day has arrived and sadly, we are only allowed one suitcase each on our budget airline. Clearly, no one who made up these archaic rules had size ten feet. One pair of shoes and the suitcase is half full. We are looking forward to flying to Calgary ?????? before we actually get to go to Paris. In Paris we are meeting Marlisse for what she has dubbed a Charles DePicnique (she is bringing us a picnic at the Charles De Gaulle Airport) as we have a four hour layover before our flight to Nice. Do you think we'll recognize her now that she has a BFA? It will be a treat to see ma petite fille again. It will also be a treat because she has promised us lemon tarts as part of our picnique. I told her not to bother coming all the way out to the airport to meet us as it's a very expensive train ride. She assured me that it was no problem, as she was planning to put all of this on my Visa. Some things never really change.

When I next write in this blog, I will be rather intoxicated, both with Riviera sunshine and the local regional wine. I will have better things to report than mowing lawns, packing, cleaning and other mundane chores. Les and I will be sipping cafe on our little balcony overseeing the Mediterranean (that took three tries - phew - and I'm not even jetlagged yet), and trying to decide whether it would be better to munch on a croissant or a patisserie.

Ilona will be meeting our French man today and showing him around our house. She has graciously offered to pick him up from the airport and give him the grand tour. Joey and Marlisse will be meeting us in two weeks and joining our adventures in Europe. We'll just have to buy Greg some really good bottles of cognac to keep him sated.

I'd better go now and finish putting up ridiculous yellow stickies all over the house, so that Bernhardt knows which rooms and drawers to use. Au revoir et je t'aime...xoxo