Institut de Français, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Foundation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France

I have my chief's hat and I'm ready to start cooking!

At Institut de Francais we attended a lecture after lunch on different topics.  One day Julian talked about the many cheeses of France.  Afterwards we were offered a variety of cheeses to sample and a little glass of wine to wash it down.  Nathalie our chief extraordinaire came by at the end of the lecture to make sure everything was in order.  Of course the whole talk was in French.

Julian with Natalie after everyone had sampled the cheese and wine.

One Saturday we decided to drive to Italy for olive oil tasting at a factory where the olive oil is produced.  Our GPS took us up into the mountains on a tiny, twisty, windy road the likes of which I have never seen.  Tom would actually approach a curve, go as close to the opposing mountainside as possible, back up, and make a hard turn to get around the curves.  It made the trip that much more interesting.  One of our fellow students, January (Jan) from Seattle, came along for the adventure.  Afterwards we had lunch in San Remo, Italy and walked around.

Frantoio Di Sant' Agata D'oneglia for olive oil tasting.  We sampled four olive oils, and they were delicious.

Tom, January and myself with a wall of products available for purchase.  Of course we bought some olive oils, olive tapenade, and olives, as well as pesto  to take back to the boat.

My lunch in San Remo

Tom's lunch was delicious.

We walked around San Remo and then headed down to the marina so Tom could look at boats.

The weather became beautiful and the beach filled up in Villefranche-sur-Mer..

The steep steps  and narrow passageways in Villefranche-sur-Mer are picturesque...and breathtaking (in more ways than one)

Looking down towards the water.

France had a national holiday which meant school was closed.  Field Trip!  Those of us who were interested got on a comfortable bus to be shown more sights around the South of France.  We went to Foundation Maeght where we viewed a large collection of Miro and Calder.

We saw for the first time work by the artist Lee Bae.  He works in charcoal... burned pieces of wood that he uses to create amazing pieces.  It was written "that we think of charcoal as only black.  In fact it has hundreds of colors from cold blacks, warm blacks, slightly grey, some shiny like metal and some matt. Black is not only color, it has depth."  I love his work.

Artist Lee Bae

Detail of work done with charcoal.  You are looking at actual pieces of burnt wood.

 Our next stop was the delightful town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence perched on top of a hill built in the early middle ages. We wandered around the narrow streets admiring the old architecture, charming walkways and cute shops filled with tourists. If you have a choice, the best time to visit this town is early morning or late afternoon.

The view as we approached Saint-Paul-de-Vence on foot.

Picturesque views everywhere.

When it was time for lunch I happened to look down into the kitchen of this restaurant.

The kitchen of O Batik where we had a delicious lunch. 

Guys are lucky in that there are public urinals for them.  It isn't as easy for us women.

We went to Cagnes-sur-Mer which was the home of Renoir.  The home with its extensive gardens was lovely.

Artist Renoir

The grounds were covered with gnarly old olive trees.

The trees were art in themselves

The tree trunks are works of art

Walking back to our apartment one evening after dinner I looked up.  The Fort Du Mont Alban was all lit up.  What a sight.

Fort du Mont Alban

Institut de Francais worked hard to hold our attention.  One lecture after lunch was a cooking lesson.  We were shown how to make crepes.  Of course there was then a crepe for each of us to eat.

I see a new profession in Tom's future.

Julian gave an excellent demonstration on the art of crepe making.

During our break it was lovely being able to study in the garden.  We had a class of serious students.

When the weather permitted Sylvie held class in the garden.  I was able to stay awake and focus with no problems when we were outside.

Villefranche-sur-Mer and Institut du Français, France

Checking out a sculpture by Volti in Villefranch-sur-Mer at Fort Saint Elme 

We searched far and wide, high and low, thinking we could find a mooring for our 128 foot peniche for this coming winter.  The South of France is beautiful, but apparently not meant for our size boat.  The places we liked were full, and the spaces we found (except for one) we didn't feel would be safe if we wanted to leave Rabelo for a while.  It was fun exploring but we were on to our next adventure:  

We arrived at Institut de Français in Villefranche-sur-Mer.  A boot camp for those wanting to learn French.  Or as they put it, an intensive French course that runs for 8 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks.   The Institut was founded in 1969 and they run an impressive program.  This was possibly the most difficult thing we have ever done.  The first day English was spoken in order for us to understand what the next 4 weeks would entail.  From then on we could speak only French.  Having once been fluent in Spanish that's what kept coming out of my mouth.  The teachers were patient and we all got a good laugh on a regular basis over my French/Spanish.  For those of you who know me, you can imagine my frustration at breakfast, lunch, and break time when other students (more advanced) were chatting away with each other and I couldn't say more than hello and how are you.

The view looking out over the bay to Cape Ferrat.

This gives you an idea of how the town of Villefranche-sur-Mer is built.

We managed to get up early one morning for a walk before school. The sunrise was lovely.

The garden and view from the school are breathtaking.

Another view of the bay.  We never got tired of looking out at the scenery.

 The school understands that all work and no play will burn us out.  Knowing that they are located in a beautiful area they arranged field trips and dinners which allowed us to see some of the local sights as well as meet  fellow students besides those in our class.  The first outing after class was a boat ride from Villefranche-sur-Mer to Monaco and back along the coast.

A view of the fortified walls of Villefranche-sur-Mer from the water.

The picturesque town of Villefranche-sur-Mer.

It was a perfect afternoon for a boat ride.

Monaco has some very large yachts.

Tom is always happy on the water and viewing yachts.  Monaco is behind him.  

 Our next field trip was a walking tour of Villefranche-sur-Mer on a Saturday morning.  Included in the tour was Fort Saint Elme which houses the artwork of their local artist Volti.

An old canon.  Rosiers de la Resistance et de la Deportation

The town is painted in traditional mediterranean colors.

One of my favorite sculptures by Volti.

Volti had different styles.

The work of Volti is well respected.

Chapelle de Saint Pierre des Pecheurs

This was originally a street.  When the new walls were built to protect the city the homes lost their view.  Arches were built over the street and homes then constructed above the old street.  Each arch is unique as different people built their own arches.

We had a nice hike from our apartment up to Fort du Mont Alban.  We couldn't go inside but we could at least walk around the exterior and admire the view.

Fort du Mont Alban

View of the bay from Fort du Mont Alban

Another angle of Fort du Mont Alban

The teachers and staff at Institut du Français are all impressive, hard working, entertaining, extremely patient and most importantly excellent teachers.  The fact that I was almost in tears at the end of the day after our lab work was not an indication of their lack of effort, but rather my being slow at grasping/memorizing/understanding all those verbs.  My one complaint are the chair/desk we had to sit on all day.  For me it was painful.  Tom thought they were meant for children.  A treat when the weather permitted, was holding class in the garden.

Carnon, Aigues-Mortes, Marseillan, Sete, and Vermouth tasting at Noilly Prat, France

A wonderful lunch of mussels cooked in a wood fired BBQ.

Our plan is to spend 1 1/2 years living in France.  That translates roughly into two summers and one winter on Rabelo.  The catch is that Tom doesn't want to be cold.  Our normal mooring in Saint Jean de Losne, Burgundy, France can be cold enough to freeze in the winter.   This meant that we needed to explore the South of France to see whether we could find a decent mooring for our big baby.  

Road Trip!  We packed our bags, loaded up the car, and off we went.  Our first stop was to visit friends in Aramon.  It's a fabulous little village.   I was so fascinated with the place that I forgot to take pictures.  Next time.  It was fun visiting with our friends Nancy and Stephen, and catching up on life.

After lunch on their boat, and a great visit we drove to Carnon which we used as our base for exploring the surrounding area.

We toured Aigues-Mortes in our search for a winter mooring.  It's located in the extreme South of France in the Petite Carmargue region.  Aigues-Mortes was established in the 13th century as the first Mediterranean port in France on the orders of the King of France, Louis the IX.

The region is worth visiting to see the Carmargue bulls, wild white horses and flamingoes, lots and lots of flamingoes. 

Aigues-Mortes is a wonderful old fortified city and a great tourist destination.  We had lunch at Le Petit London which serves amazing hamburgers.  This is the town square.

It''s a bustling town filled with visitors.

Lovely old buildings.

The old wall with the Constance Tower

Beautiful old grapevines waking up from their winter slumber.

We were surprised to discover that the South of France produces some delicious varieties of wine.

When it's mealtime I'm always on the lookout for a place to eat.  Trip Advisor is my source and it didn't disappoint us.  We found an amazing little restaurant La Cabana in Marseillan with two items on their menu:  Mussels and Oysters.  The BBQ mussels were possibly the best mussels we have ever tasted.  They were amazing.  We watched them BBQ the mussels in a special oven just behind Tom.  It's a tiny restaurant where we ate outside with a view of the lake and the shellfish farms.  What could be better than freshly farmed, bbq'd in front of us, mussels, fresh baguettes, pomme frits, and crisp white wine.  Heavenly!

Tom is ready to enjoy his wine and mussels.

The best mussels we've ever had!

Mussels being bbq'd in a wood burning oven.

 In the town of Marseillan we bumped into our friend Julian who suggested a tour of Noilly Prat which makes vermouth.  It was an informative tour which ended with a vermouth tasting.  We discovered that not only is vermouth excellent for cooking, but we now enjoy it over ice as an aperitif.

The vermouth does its first aging inside these giant casks.

The wine is then moved to old casks which sit in the sun baking.

After a long but worthwhile tour (in English) we tasted the vermouth.

Dinner with a view in Carnon

We had a lovely dinner at La Grande Passerella.

It was wonderful being able to catch up with Nicole and Julian.

We had lunch at the covered market in Sete.  Starters were great.

Lunch was amazing.

Artists create street art in Sete

Sete street art.

 The toilet paper debate has finally been resolved by the company Kleenex who makes toilet paper.  They print their name on the rolls so that there is no question as to how the toilet paper should be placed on the holder.

Proof positive that toilet paper needs to roll off of the top.