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Saturday, July 18, 2009
Champagne toast to our flight home.....self portrait;-)
The End Of France 2009 Trip
Our summertime 2009 adventure in France is over. We experienced three completely different things during each week:
Week one Paris- tons of history, architecture, art, the hustle and bustle of 20 million people and great cuisine.
Week two- on the Midi Canal- living and working together through the dozens of locks eventually dropping to the Mediterranean Sea. Seeing this French county side by boat allowed us to take in all the slow paced culture of these ancient towns and traditions. I t was truly really like we were looking at picture book.
Week three- our own private 3 bedroom-4 bath private villa a few miles from the sea where we relaxed, ate great food, explored the area, swam, read, napped and laughed.
I have learned that Yo Yo's hair looks great when left alone without modern conveniences ,like a hairdryer and straightening iron. The men at the locks snapped many a picture of her while she was tending to the boat dressed in her swimsuit at picture point range.
Jessica has the most pretty 'hanging out' clothes that even the Kennedy's would be proud of.. She is always the one making sure everyone else is ok. Thanks.
Tammara! has extraordinarily long legs. She is also a great boat captain and Paris tour guide. Never wanting to the the first one to bed- she did her best to keep us in party mode and sight seeing until we dropped.
Victoria, the Admiral in Charge of this trip- can manage a boat, a train, a map, a car, her family and friends and still keep her cool each evening with a pack of cigarettes and a glass of her favorite beverage. Impressive Oye!
"Lisa Lisa" McDaniel is forever the happy go lucky a person who mastered the French Press so the rest of us could have coffee each day. This was a critical function for our team. She also supplied chips and salty snacks at happy hour when we needed it most.
Going Home
Sighhhhhhh...............alas it has come to an end. We have had a fantastic adventure and ended yesterday in Nice after spending the afternoon in Monaco. Great experience...... we strolled through the little streets and toured the Palace. We are hanging out now at the airport in London - we have about 5 hours to kill before hoping on our 9 hour flight. Then home to Teddy - I am so excited to see my dog.......I have been dreaming about it - thats weird but what can I say I am nuts for the little guy. I am attaching pictures from yesterdays adventure. See you all soon!!!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
We are tasting the life of luxury in southern France. Since my last blog, we visited St. Tropez ( you know- for the St. Tropez tan) visiting the 'farmers type' market in the town square open only on Tuesdays. It also happened to be Bastille Day which is some big celebration like our fourth of July. It seemed as though most of the country was on "holiday". In St. Tropez, designer shops- aka D&G, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent-and billionaires with unbelievable yachts meet the old town of St. Tropez and common folk as ourselves. Right now I am the point of hilarious laughter because my original spelling and pronunciation of Dolce Gabbana translated in French as - 12 shrimps. Hey, I shop at Target, Rite Aid and True Value. What did you expect? Tammy just threw Victoria in the pool so I feel better.( to stop Vic's laughter I'm going to have her spell supercalafragalisticexpealadouchous and explain to me why Julie Andrews would be so damn happy taking care of all those children. HA!) Yesterday we went to the Port of Grimaud just a few miles from our villa the where the town was laid out like Venice Italy. Little waterways are accessible by boat through this quaint village. We had a quick lunch since we were hotter than the crepe pan sitting outside at noontime. More poolside fun and a luscious home cooked dinner under the stars completes yet another 5 star day. | t |
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Saint Tropez
Saint-Tropez, the marina, the market! Lives of the rich and famous, well that's us sorta of ;-) We started our adventure at the "St. Trop" (as the locals call it) market. Yes, you could purchase fruits and vegetables, meats and cheese and just about anything one can desire for the body, the home...you name it! We then ventured into a few designer stores. I think one was called Dulce and Gambas ;-) and then on to the marina. What a sight this was! Boats the size of a football field...well not entirely but pretty damn close. We had lunch, shopped a bit more then we had a delicious lamb dinner, sooooo good.
Ramatuelle Village
Tahiti Beach Saint-Tropez
Yes we managed to pulled ourselves away from the villa but lounged Cote D'Azur style. We swam in the Meditterranean Sea, a first for most. Afterwards we hit the quaint village of Ramatuelle.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
This is the life ! Every day we encounter a quaint little village with cobbled stone streets, ivy growing on the walls of buildings , small cafes and shops. It is like we are seeing a postcard picture wherever we go. We have found most of the French people to be very nice, accommodating and gracious people.
We finished our day by candlelight on the veranda with wine, cheese and bread. What else? We're in France.
Grimaud
After a splendid day of lounging and what not at the Villa, we walked up to Grimaud, a delightful village paved with cobble stoned streets lined with restaurants, art galleries, a butcher and baker and many homes. We also walked up to a 12th century castle and after exploring this historic site. We dined at a restaurant that had a historical equestrian theme. The food was delicious...my favorite, "Mama Rosalie's" slow cooked beef stew, Provence style, hmm, hmm good!!!
Quick stop before heading back to the villa...Ramatuelle...how adorable.
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Evening in Grimaud
We had a spectacular evening in the little town of Grimaud. It is a quick walk from the villa - and while it appears you are hiking up at about a 45 degree angle - I managed to scale to the top with only minor gasping and grunting :) It was worth the effort - the sea with St. Tropez in the back ground, vineyards running off into the distance and ruins in the foreground would be hard to top for beautiful!
We then found a charming little restaurant on one of the small winding side streets and dined to well!!
Today we are heading to the sea and then to the mountains for wine tasting.....continuing to rough it..........I am willing and able to do so..........alas the madness :)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Our new home away from home...the Villa Leopard
The days spent at the Villa so far have been very relaxing. Books are being read while lounging poolside; a few libations here and there ;-) and of course indulging in the tasty treats! After regrouping, we hiked up the hill to the Village of Grimaud. More of that adventure to come...
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Canal...
We had a week long adventure on the Canal du Midi, motoring along in our 50 foot "Le Boat" and navigating through 64 locks. This entailed a lot
of work but it was truly a great experience. The landscape along the way was breathtaking. It could not have been a better way to see the country side of southern France.
Our Amazing Vacation in Venice and France
Our trip to Venice was simply incredible. Our hotel room was beautiful, the food was amazing, all travel in the city was via boat or gondola or walking in narrow beautiful streets with amazing shops, cafes, views, amazing !!! Simply calm, beautiful.
Garbage is picked up by boat, not kidding, cars are rare, which makes me so happy!
We met the girls in Paris, where we went to a cabaret where a variety of music was played, walked through the city, had incredible duck, simple pealed tomato salads with just a touch of olive oil and salt, simple and amazingly delicious!!
Wine and cocktails of course have freshened up our day!! Not to worry, it is warm and we are definitely drinking lots and lots of water.
Then Canal di Midi with Jesus, Isabel and Cristina, Isabel's best friend. What an incredible experience, history .... this is what the French used to transport goods for commerce. Incredible to think they built them without machines.... just a pick and wagon. Jesus kept us fed with historical details! He is like a library, it was amazing to me, how can he possibly keep that much information in his head?? Yes, I need his secret!
The boat was big, we learned so much about the canals and yes, it was hard work, especially in the beginning, since we had no f... g clue what we were doing, but towards the end, we were experts and able to relax while going through the locks, tying the boat, releasing, next lock, tie again..... it was a very narrow entrance and exit area in the locks.... Vic and Tammy did an incredible job. It was an amazing experience.
Now at our beautiful residence in "La Costa Azul" AKA the French Riviera, we are spoiled by views, amazing rooms, a pool, kitchens where we are cooking and an outside BBQ!!! Bloodie Marie's are on the Brunch menus with cheese that tastes like heaven and stinks like a cow's...
We are having an amazing time! It has been an incredible vacation!!
We think of all of you often and send you lots of love!!
OK. Back to the pool!!!! More to come soon. XXXOOO JESSICA AND VICTORIA
Dry Land
We have arrived at the villa -ahhhhhh dry land. I still walking sideways - but it could be the wine rather than my sea legs. We are sitting by the beautiful pool - Mediterranean Sea to the left and a castle in the distance on the right not a terrible way to start a Saturday! So far each leg of the journey has been a fantastic adventure - everyday something new and interesting. We have managed to come to this point with only minor scrapes and a few bruises - not bad for boating novices!! We are all marveling at the luxury of a toilet you don't have to pump after your business - simple thing - NOT. I will never take it for granted again - not sure if that means I will be concentrating on the fact each and every time I take that trip but hey you never know.
Our trip mates are fantastic - what a great group to travel with. Each and every girl has something excellent to offer and they have all been so much fun. Great help caring the monstrosity which is my suitcase! Our two small ones broke when we arrived in paris and know I have one the size of steamer trunk - to those of you who know me - well thats everyone following this - it will come as no shock!! And no its not hair care products!! No blow dryer and the flat iron broke on day 2 - its all good is my mantra!!
More later......................back to the hard life bloody marys are coming!!!
Friday, July 10, 2009
We are finally backed in Internet land. What an experience- adventure really, our boating leg of the journey was on the Midi Canal. Knowing little about going through locks, like from Lake Washington to Puget Sound, we proceeded to go through...are you ready? 64 flipping locks!!! On our way to the Mediterranean Sea, we dropped 654 feet. Thank god for Captain Tamara who steered and maneuvered a 50' boat from day one.
Our boating crew was named "team lock" and we went to battle stations as many as 16 times a day. Thankfully we didn't own the boat as a few minor scraps were had into the ancient medieval walls followed by a castle size stink eye from the lock tender. It's a good thing to not understand French at these delicate moments.
This journey allowed us to have callus’s any teamster’s worker at the docks would be proud of. We also gained many bruises on various parts of the body, stubbed toes and feet on cleats, put goose eggs on our heads fighting low clearance and now have general neck and back ailments. Thank goodness for Advil!
After a taxi, two train rides and a rental car; we now have an awesome villa just across the bay from St Tropez. The place is amazing- and the small things in life like- having enough water for showers; toilets’ you don't have to pump to flush and a bed bigger than a county jail cell is great.
The week of the le boat and 64 locks...
Okay, so yes we posted photos during week 2 but they were not that great as they were sent via my blackberry. I continued to post so you all would know that we were still alive and well;-) We will now add a bunch of photos so you can appreciate what we got to experience over the past week.
In addition to driving a 50 foot boat from 4 to 8 hours a day, over the
entire trip in the canal du midi we had to pass through 64 locks. This
entailed attempting to control the boat, folks around the boat handing the ropes and jumping off the boat and then back on when the time was right. For me the highlight of the week was when we stopped in Carcasonne where there is a medieval town started by the Romans around 300 A.D. and finished by the French in the 12th century. It was quite impressive. The scenery and countryside we were able to see by boat was beautiful including the many vineyards and agriculture. There were also long sections of the canal that were lined with beautiful trees where the cicadas sang.
This leg of the trip was also unique because Victoria's parents (Isabel and Jesus and their friend Cristina) joined us making our party complete with 2 boats. This made the locks more fun since we usually needed to fit 3 boats in each of these 12 and 13th century locks.
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