MONDAY 23 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Another morning in Aups to do some grocery shopping, home for lunch and then over to Gerald and Brigitte’s for a swim. Their property was about 5km from us down a windy but lovely road. When we finally approached their house we were surprised by the lovely scene we came upon. They actually had 2 large houses, one they lived in with a Gite (guest house they rented out) attached to it and another house which was Gerald’s parents with also another smaller house joined to it where their son now lived. The house that his parents lived in was empty but they had plans to turn it into a large Gite to rent out. They also had sheds that were built in a similar style to the houses which were your typical Provincial style … terracotta looking with tiled roofs and blue shutters on the windows. All the buildings were well and truly older than Australia itself.
We had a warm welcome and we all had a nice swim in the pool, the kids very excited by the fact that there was a frog swimming with them. A storm growled in the distance and we had a little rain but we stayed for about 2 hours and then headed back home. It was very kind of them to invite us over and we were happy to have met some nice people in the area.
TUESDAY 24 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Today we headed to the coast again today, first stop Cannes for lunch. It was much quieter today than last week because the Film Festival was over, it was much nicer to visit without the crowds. After we had had some lunch, we headed back along the coast towards Nice and went to Antibes to the beach for a swim. The beach was small but definitely fabulous to be on, we had a lovely view of the old town of Antibes on the point and further across the bay we could see the big town of Nice. The beach was sand however as you entered the water there were large pebbles which made it a little difficult to walk on. We were excited to be swimming in the Mediterranean Sea even though it was a little cold still but the day was hot so it was very refreshing.
Jack was a little uncomfortable on the beach because there were a few topless women (including a granny) and one guy who paraded around in his very tight white boxer cossies. We found it amusing when we came out of the water! We had such a fabulous time at the beach that we definitely needed to return another day.
We drove into the old town and port of Antibes and went for a wander through the laneways looking at the shops and restaurants. It had been about 17 years since I had been here but it hadn’t changed. Down near the port we found a restaurant and had a lovely dinner in the setting sun. We finally got back to our villa at 10.30pm.
This afternoon we went down to one of our favourite towns of Cotignac for an icecream (and a banana hot chocolate for me). We sat out in the main square of the town (though it more resembles a rectangle!) and enjoyed the sunshine. I love the atmosphere; it is so laid back and lazy in a nice way, no rushing, just a peaceful relaxed ambience to enjoy. We took our time, no rush to go anywhere and then we went for a wander through the streets like last time, enjoying a shops and incredible old buildings with their ‘antique’ doors and windows and shutters. We love that the buildings are so old that when they finally got electricity, they had to put all the wires on the outside of the house bunched together and strapped up the side and front of the houses. It is so nice to stroll and really observe the lives of the Provencal people. Equally, they like to sit and observe us wandering by.
When we left Cotignac, we went for a drive to Barjols and enjoyed the new scenery along the way, including a couple of gorgeous chateaux.
Tonight we went for dinner at Joelle and Francesco’s house who live nearby to us. We met them at the soccer match in the village on Sunday when Jack played in the same team as their 9 year old son Clement. They also have a daughter called Emma who is about 12 years old. Both Clement and Emma were adopted by Joelle and Francesco six years ago from Haiti. Neither speak any English, only French though they are trying to teach them Italian because their dad Francesco is Italian. Joelle told me that their parents were very poor and moved to Port au Prince, capital of Haiti in search of work. They ended up homeless in the slums and couldn’t feed their 6 kids. At one stage they only had mud mixed with water and salt to eat. The mum eventually got work as a servant in a rich house but had to live there permanently without her family. The father couldn’t look after 6 children so he sent the eldest daughter to live with her grandmother, gave 2 children to friends, kept the baby himself and gave Emma and Clement to the orphanage. Emma wouldn’t speak to anyone and they thought she was mute but she would only talk to Clement. Even though they say her age now is 12, they think she may be at least a year or so older because when a child is put into an orphanage at an older age, the parents lie and say they are younger than they really are because normally no-one would want to adopt a 6 year old. They are very lucky children to have been adopted and brought to France to live a wonderful life. Joelle doesn’t know if their family is alive or not after the earthquake a few years ago in Haiti. There is no way to find out unfortunately.
Just after we had arrived we heard some commotion up on the road. We ran up and there were sheep, goats and donkeys being herded down the road to another paddock. Yes, we were in the country!
An English friend of Joelle’s arrived. His name is Ron and is in his 50’s. He lives in a village about 10 minutes from where we were. We sat around the pool and had appertifs – martini’s and snacks, while the kids had a swim.
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| Corky and Joelle |
It took a while for our kids and their kids to gel because of the language barrier, but no doubt about it, kids being kids, they eventually found their way around the barrier and enjoyed each others’ company. Corky and I went for a walk with Joelle down the road a bit but unfortunately as we were heading down the steps, I twisted and sprained my ankle on the last step. I actually heard it snap. It didn’t really hurt much but it became very stiff to walk on and swelled up incredibly.
We sat outside amongst the mozzies and had a lovely BBQ dinner. Joelle’s mother Anita joined us but she couldn’t speak any English at all and sadly has Alzheimer’s. She kept trying to feed us all the salad (green leaves and whole tomatoes). Very sweet lady.
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| Joelle and Jack |
After dinner the cheese came out and so did Francesco’s guitar. He played a few songs for us and sang in Italian as the kids roasted marshmallows on the dying BBQ fire. It was a perfect end to a lovely homely French evening.
THURSDAY 26 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Oh dear, we all slept in very late this morning. I was the first to open my eyes at 10.30! We were heading to Aix En Provence today and I was hoping we would have at least been there by this time! Today the markets were on in Aix and it took us about an hour to get there. It is only about 70km but there are a lot of windy roads through the countryside to traverse before we got on a motorway which took us into this large city.
The markets weren’t terribly exciting, pretty much all the same sort of things being sold at each stall – clothes, shoes and linens, but nothing that I really fancied. We wandered up through the cobbled lanes full of shops and eventually found a sidewalk restaurant for lunch.
Late afternoon we headed back for a swim in our pool.
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