Road to Antibes

After the four of us had just two short days of downtime in Toulouse, we got our happy feet back and headed out on Friday, October 2nd. This time we were headed to the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur). That day, on the road to Antibes, we first stopped at Arles, to see the Roman Coliseum and have lunch at a small sandwich shop named Huile d'Olive, which was just around the corner from where Van Gogh painted 'Cafe Terrace at Night'
The nice folks there suggested we go to Des Baux de Provence, which they said was very close. I had heard about this town from the guys at work and they confirmed that it was one of the top 10 most beautiful french towns. We hear this a lot and suspect that there are over 100 in the this top ten list but we weren't disappointed at all with the slight change in our route and plan for the day. As soon as we walked into the picturesque village, Dan went off on his own and got lost. I figured he was holed up somewhere like a sniper, with his camera and his mono pod, trying to scope out a long range shot. Luckily he bought a cell phone that works in France. However, he couldn't hear it ringing in my car. :) We toured the ruins of the hilltop castle fortress there and saw the huge catapults they demonstrate there in the summer. There was a beautiful view of the area from up there...but the mistral winds were really really strong. On the way out of town we stopped to admire the beauty of an olive tree grove and Janet did little fresh olive tastings...right from the tree!! It seemed like a good idea but she convinced us it was actually a very bad idea.

From there we went to our first stop, at the Hotel Emeraude in Antibes. Even though we all agreed that the carpeting needed replacement, the place turned out to be comfortable. We got a typical warm Iranian Scottish welcome from the owners. Their illegitimate Slavic daughter Maria (just kidding) and her English friend Vanessa worked there and had interesting travel stories to tell us (that may get more interesting with Dan's credit card). We visited the market in town and walked along the waterfront one day. We went on a quick tour of the Maritime Museum there and saw Napoleon's hat!...needless to say, Randi was mesmerized by it :) Our second night there we went to dinner right on the beach, with our table being just 20 feet from the tide coming in.

After two nights there, we drove down the French Riviera coast, enjoying big views of the sparkling Mediterranean along the way.
I'd said before that I expected the Mediterranean Sea to be kind of a run down, medieval version of the Caribbean but I was wrong. It really appears to be coral blue, clear and clean. We stopped at Villefranche-sur-Mer and walked through an outdoor antiquités brocante. I made the only purchase of what I thought was a heavy stone planter with a small sculpture of a French medieval castle on it but when I looked at it at home later, I found some Chinese inscription on it and realized that the castle is actually the Great Wall. I'm a shrewd bargain hunter I guess. Ironically, I was thinking of using it for a bonsai tree, when I get back to the States.
We also stopped in Monte Carlo and toured around the city. We walked up to the casino but it was closed for lunch at the time...probably good news. Finally we stopped for lunch in Menton, before doing the Mambo Italiano, "like a mixed up Siciliano", and crossed the border into Italy.
We were four Americanos staying in San Remo for one night at the Villa La Brise hotel, operated by the reserved but friendly Marco. It was a great deal at 70 euros, right across the street from the sea, with air, free wireless and free bike rental. We took a bike ride that night, before dinner, on the biking trail along the coastline there. Unfortunately we seemed to be haunted by Sophia Loren's song "Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo" in our heads the whole time.

The next day we were heading back into France and into the Provence area. For Randi and I this may have been our 5th? time there but each time we go we find there is something else new to see and do. We stayed at the gite of Pascal and Sophia Loren's daughter (possibly?), Laura Donna. It was called the Mas Cassaireu d'Auseu in the town of Plan D'Orgon. It was a beautiful, recently renovated, 19th century farmhouse. The rooms were very tastefully done and spotless. We went and explored the area that afternoon. We made our almost daily stop to pick up bread, cheese and a few bottles of wine. We visited one of the more than 100, top 10 most beautiful towns in France called Gordes, before driving on to see the red rock of Roussillon. That night we ate in Cavailon. The following day we started out by visiting Avignon and the Palais des Papes where the Poop[s] lived for most of the 1300s. Randi and I did an audio tour of the Palace, which my favorite story on there was regarding what was cooked for the coronation of Pope Clement in 1307. He had them cook 118 oxen, 60 pigs, 1023 sheep, 101 calves, 3043 fowl, 7148 chickens, 1195 geese, 6900 weight bacon, 39,980 eggs and 95,000 loafs of bread. Basically he had them exterminate the forest and shoot everything that flies or runs by.
After a quick lunch in Avignon, we went on a scenic ride in wine country. We stopped along that way at a few different wineries in Beaumes De-Venise, Lafare, Suzette and Malaucene. One of the most entertaining stops was at the Domaine Saint Amant winery in Suzette. There was a very nice older man tending to the wine tasting duties there. He seemed to be getting a little confused with what we had tasted and what we hadn't. After a while I realized that Randi was trying to talk him into not only giving up additional tasting but also his late model automobile and any lucrative stock and bonds he might have..."do you have a 2001 rouge vin we could taste ?...do you have any stock certificates that are maturing ?". She's ruthless sometimes. She had him confused and dreaming about cruising the countryside with her in the passenger seat, wearin those new boots of hers, smiling and winking at him. I could tell...I've had that same dream. :) After he showed us their cave, we purchased a couple bottles and ended up finding a medieval picnic table to stop and try one. The table looked like somebody took down Stonehenge to make a little rest area out of it. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.

For the record: The Vikings beat the Packers 30-23 on 'Tuesday Morning Football' to improve their record to 4-0. Farve had a great night going 24 of 31 passing for 271 yards and three touchdowns. Here's a guy who spent almost his whole career playing for the Packers and then here he is, on their arch rival, kickin their a*s. Think about it. It's just better than I ever imagined.

On Wednesday, Oct. 7th, we left our comfortable gite to head back to Toulouse. But first we decided to stop to pet the donkey and goat next door. Everything was fine until the goat barged under the fence. We were in a panic for a short period of time and were considering going back to the farmhouse to try to tell them a goat escaped...this would have required some sort of goat imitation. But just then the goat calmly went back in, under the fence and stared at us. We thought we just better get the he*l out of there. We decided to drive into St. Remy, where I held a small parking clinic for the kids..."don't be afraid to tap the car in front of you or behind you...that's why they call it a bumper...feel the curb...hop the curb if you have to...visualize the space...be the car". The group of around 20 young drivers gave me a standing ovation (they were standing at the time) and kept looking at my car as we walked off...like there were mirrors involved or somethin. It was an odd moment. We went to a flea market there, where Randi found a 35 euro steal on a Dresdin porcelain figurine...she later found something similar on the web selling for a few hundred dollars! Dan and I both bought knifes (package deal for 20 euros each) that had cork screws built into the handle...C'est la magnifique!! It's so important to me here, I don't leave home without it now.

The final couple nights they were here in Toulouse we hung pretty low, reminisced about our travels and played a few aggressive games of CatchPhrase. We really loved having them here and being able to spend the days of vacation together in France.