The view from our apartment in our wonderful village of Carqueiranne
We were on the top floor of this apartment a bit right of centre.
I really got into painting when we were in Carqueiranne in 2002 & 2003. In the next photo, Jim is preparing his classes. Who do you think is having more fun?
I'm thinking of writing up our experiences in France so re-reading the letters I wrote in 2002 and my blog in 2003 and 2005. It's amazing what you forget! I also found an old file I can't open (hope Richard can) of letters I wrote to my parents when we were on a 5 month trip to Europe (mainly France) in 1976. My mother saved the letters.
This is my blog post from Tuesday, April 1, 2003. The anti Canadian sentiment from the US is because Canada did not support the US in the war with Iraq. I couldn't believe it when I read a reference to SARS. Maureen and Roland drove down from their home in Germany.
TUESDAY, APRIL 01, 2003
It is great to be home, even if it is 10 degrees and raining. Great to sleep in our own bed and wake up to the birds singing.
We had a wonderful time with Maureen and Roland the last few days we were in Carqueiranne and showed them our favourite places of Cassis and Sanary. We also introduced them to eating raw sea urchins...a big specialty in that area during the season of Jan - Mar. They didn't quite share our enthusiasm for these creatures ( the "hedgehogs" as Maureen called them!) but they did both agree the white wine of the Cassis area is very special.
Thanks again to Maureen and Roland for coming down to visit with us and bringing your "magic box"....a seemingly bottomless box that continued to produce goodies of food and drink all through the visit!
We spent our final two days in Nice basking in the sun, drinking pastis on the Promenade des Anglais and getting our last fill of fish soup and other Mediterranean specialties. Our flights home were long and tiring but good connections and everything on time. The fire alarm went off when we were in the international area of the Vancouver airport...was rather disconcerting (or perhaps not) as there seemed to be no question of letting people pass through customs and immigration without being checked properly. Caused quite a bit of havoc as the luggage shut down and we wondered if we would make our connecting flight to Victoria. Everything worked out in the end.
Back to reality seeing almost all airport employees wearing rubber gloves (to protect from SARS) and to hear about all the anti Canadian sentiment from the US. One seems to be very away from all that in the south of France. I wasn't even sure what year it was when I went to fill out the customs forms....
We came back to an immaculate house, lawns cut, and with home made spaghetti sauce and bread waiting for us.
We are so lucky to have such fabulous renters...thank you, Lynne and Lloyd!
We had a wonderful time with Maureen and Roland the last few days we were in Carqueiranne and showed them our favourite places of Cassis and Sanary. We also introduced them to eating raw sea urchins...a big specialty in that area during the season of Jan - Mar. They didn't quite share our enthusiasm for these creatures ( the "hedgehogs" as Maureen called them!) but they did both agree the white wine of the Cassis area is very special.
Thanks again to Maureen and Roland for coming down to visit with us and bringing your "magic box"....a seemingly bottomless box that continued to produce goodies of food and drink all through the visit!
We spent our final two days in Nice basking in the sun, drinking pastis on the Promenade des Anglais and getting our last fill of fish soup and other Mediterranean specialties. Our flights home were long and tiring but good connections and everything on time. The fire alarm went off when we were in the international area of the Vancouver airport...was rather disconcerting (or perhaps not) as there seemed to be no question of letting people pass through customs and immigration without being checked properly. Caused quite a bit of havoc as the luggage shut down and we wondered if we would make our connecting flight to Victoria. Everything worked out in the end.
Back to reality seeing almost all airport employees wearing rubber gloves (to protect from SARS) and to hear about all the anti Canadian sentiment from the US. One seems to be very away from all that in the south of France. I wasn't even sure what year it was when I went to fill out the customs forms....
We came back to an immaculate house, lawns cut, and with home made spaghetti sauce and bread waiting for us.
We are so lucky to have such fabulous renters...thank you, Lynne and Lloyd!
