The French Riviera

Bonjour all

We are now down on the French Riviera mixing it with the rich and famous! We have seen plenty of rich but if we have seen anyone famous we don’t know who they are!

Our last night in Bourg was a little sad. We had dinner then went to our favourite café to say goodbye to Marina – the girl who has helped me quite a bit with my French. She gave us a little farewell speech which again almost had Mum in tears! She had also packaged up a little packet of homemade chocolates for me. When we left the café, Mum burst into tears, which then set me off. That night I also said my goodbyes to the old couple Jean and Giselle downstairs. They wanted to know what time we would be leaving and said they would be up to see us off. Sure enough, there they were first thing in the morning waving us goodbye. I have taken their address so I can send them a postcard from home when we are back – that will test my French!

On Sunday we spent the whole day travelling down to Antibes/Juan Les Pins. We took a scenic route (thanks Dean and Sara for the info!) through the Gorges du Verdon – an awesome canyon. We stopped for lunch at a cool little town called Moustiers-Saint-Marie just before the Gorge – definitely worth a look if you ever have time. The temperatures were into the mid-30’s the whole way down, making us very grateful for the air conditioning in the car.

Our apartment room here in Antibes/Juan Les Pins is in the perfect location – we have a supermarket downstairs, our own shopping centre with restaurants etc, and the beach is about 100m away. The whole French Riviera is absolutely beautiful! I wasn’t sure what to expect – I thought all the beaches would be pebbles and that it would be quite dirty, but it is quite the opposite. Our beach is sandy and the water is so warm. We have made a couple of day trips so far – one to Monaco which is an absolutely beautiful place. The views are amazing. We also went to Cannes, which was a cool place – so much to look at. A lot of people (not all) seem to dress up so much to go to the beach (in Cannes) - all the women are caked in makeup and in clothing I would consider suitable to wear to a wedding! We of course rocked on in wearing shorts and singlet tops, but we didn’t care – it was mid-30’s again!

I have been swimming in the sea here instead of the pool. Mum kept encouraging me to do so – think she may have noticed a mood change without the endorphins! It is way different swimming in the open water – I actually felt a little seasick at times when the boat wake hit me. It is certainly a lot easier at sea level than at altitude and I can now go back to breathing both sides every 3 strokes. The water is so salty and buoyant also, and it is a hell of a lot more interesting looking at small fish and rocks etc than the bottom of a pool. I have been swimming about 50 minutes at a time and Christine has been joining me for half of it which is great, especially since we appear to be about the same speed.

Yesterday we had a bit of a blow-out. We headed into Cannes at around 6.30pm to do some shopping, have dinner and then watch a fireworks display. Unfortunately when we got there the shops were all closing, we couldn’t really find a good place for dinner (unless we mortgaged the house!), and the fireworks were actually on the night before!! So we came back here and had dinner on the beach front.

Mum is having a great time here and is doing so well with her French. She managed to order at McD’s all on her own and totally in French – although we did have a laugh when she came back to the table with a Poulet Wrap (she had tried to order a Peche Frappe)! She also had a minor blunder at our apartment when she became confused in the bathroom and let’s just say there was an incident involving the b-day! As Christine is saying ‘what goes on tour stays on tour’ – although please remember to ask her about it – it is hilarious!!

Mum and Christine leave on Sunday for 2 days in Geneva with Pauline and Lex. Jase and I will stay here for another week as we love it here!

J