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.