Endless sunshine

It is day 14 for us in Eze.  We are amazed the sun has been shining every day since we arrived bar our second day when it was rainy and windy.  It really is a magical place with its microclimate.  Every day is ground-hog day, we wake to a brilliant pink sunrise shining through the window – it is beautiful looking out over the sea. 

Since my last blog we have had a couple of day trips.  

On Saturday we visited the village of Eze.  It is the medieval village that sits on the rocky outcrop behind Eze Bord de Mer (Eze on the sea – where we are).  It was a 20-minute bus ride up the mountain.  The village is amazing the way it sits on top of the mountain.  It is a labyrinth of windy rocky streets.  Now days the houses of past are shops, art galleries and restaurants.  At the very top there is an exotic garden of cactus and succulents.  The gardens are dotted with sculptures of ladies and each lady has a plaque with a comment.  We loved it all – the views, the gardens and the ladies.  It is amazing to think the sculptor was a man.  Sorry no offence but, the comments were so in-tune to a ladies thoughts. 

Sunday was a quiet day spent enjoying the sun and views from our veranda and a wander around the streets in our neighbourhood as hilly as it is.

Monday – we caught the bus to Nice (I am over the trains for a while) to wander around the flea market.  The flea market has been running for at least 20+ years because that is how old the ‘visitors guide’ is in the apartment.  The market is a mostly antique affair which I love, shame we couldn’t buy anything.  After the market we took the tourist toy train around Nice.  You remember it is one of our favourite touristy things to do.  We were so excited when we saw it pass by.  Jim ran into the middle of the road to ask the driver where we boarded.  We made our way to the starting point and half an hour later we were on our way.  The views from the top of the mountain overlooking Nice were fantastic. 

Today, Tuesday was another quiet day here at the apartment.  We searched for accommodation for our two nights in KL.  We found an appealing B&B near the airport.  It will be ideal as we only have one full day in KL after leaving Phuket in between our flights home.

http://www.rumahputih.com/Rumah_Putih/Rumah_Putih_Bed_and_breakfast_hotel_near_KLIA_and_LCCT.html 

Catch up with Jim’s great photos on Flickr of the gardens at Eze village, the tour of Nice and the beautiful sunrises from our apartment. 

A streetscape of Eze village

View from exotic gardens overlooking Eze Bord de Mer

Jim - with the endless sea behind him

I liked this plaque from the sculpture of Isabeau

One tiny section of the flea market in Nice 

A 'selfie' with Nice in the background

Do you know what this is?

Bloody bloody bloody!!!!!!

It is a fine for ticket evasion – can you believe it?

The story is today we went to catch the train into Nice.  The ticket machine was not operational which, is a common occurrence we have been told.  Obviously we have been lucky up till now we have been able to buy our tickets without any problems. 

No worries, we will buy our tickets from the conductor on the train that is what our German friend from last weeks train trip to the market told us. 

We have been on the train only a few minutes when Jim catches the eye of the conductor.  He asks for two return tickets and extends his hand to her with the 10.40 Euros ($15) fare whilst explaining the ticket machine wasn’t working.  She looks down on us dismissing Jim’s offer of cash and says that will be 35 Euros ($50) each because we boarded the train without a ticket. 

Jim tries to explain again about the machine and us buying a ticket now.  The stoic good looking blonde is as hard as nails and relentless in demanding 70 Euros ($100) from us. 

Jim explains we were told we could buy the ticket from the conductor – she says yes that is correct but you have to approach the conductor on the platform before you board the train. 

What !@?**  you are kidding me – how are we to know this.  

The technicality being buy the ticket before you get on the train as the sign says BUT the sign is on the inside of the train as she also points out to us.  

I said to Jim thinking back our German friend from last week may have mentioned this & we have both seen the notice in regards to travelling without a ticket but nothing about having to purchase the ticket prior to boarding the train - too late to piece it all together after the event and lacking confidence to find that sign to prove a point. 

I was so upset I felt like crying but I thought I wouldn’t cry in front of this robotic blonde.  I was feeling so good up till then with my new smart looking haircut and blow wave from the hairdressers visit earlier that morning. 

Now that I have come to terms with our loss of money and the unfairness of the situation I will tell you about the hairdresser.  It is common in France for hairdressers to do home visits so we asked Nicola if she knew of one and she gave us Meri’s number.  Meri was lovely, an American about our age who has been living in France for the past 14 years.  

Jim had a hair and beard trim and looks very neat again.  He was looking very woolly.  I had a trim and she blow waved my hair straight.  It looks good for a few days till I wash it again and it goes into it’s normal state of every which way. 

New hair always makes you feel good until........

Looking neat and tidy again

Jim standing in front of Bono's (U2) house on Eze beach

Sunrise this morning from our bedroom window

One year on!

Sunday 1 Dec  - It is a year today since we flew out of Brisbane for our time abroad.  Looking back it has been many things; exciting, exhilarating, fun and then the other not so good things like feeling scared, anxious and apprehensive at times.

Obviously, being together every day with very little time to ourselves, has not always been easy.  Jim can suffer from anxiety in situations where he feels he doesn’t have control and that is a lot when travelling.  My dreamy attitude as he puts it makes his anxiety worse – difficult at times to find a balance for us both but we have survived this far – experiencing occasional days of quiet times, both needing our own space also difficult to achieve when having to share the same house or hotel room where outdoors for me to walk and get away on my own has very rarely been an option.  Jim is happy so long as he has TV and his IT gadgets to play with.  I am so grateful I can practise yoga anywhere well, almost anywhere.  It has not always been easy but here in Eze it is a joy to practise overlooking the ocean.  It helps to keep me balanced both emotionally and physically.  Enough of that emotional stuff most people don't like discussing it.  I’ll put you off reading the blog I just felt like being honest about how we are coping during our time away.  

Looking towards the marinara on our walk for lunch

Mussels for lunch

After a wet and windy day yesterday (Saturday) today was brilliant sunshine.  We walked along the roadway between the mountains and the coastline into Beaulieu Marina for lunch.  A promenade of restaurants line one side of the marina and the boats line the other.  We walked along and ooh(ed) and aah(ed) at the impressive boats docked side by side, so many, so much money – typical of marinas the world over.  Forgot to mention the apartment has a set of binoculars that are great for looking at the cruise ships, sailing boats and other craft sailing by.  It is quiet at this time of year but I can imagine how busy it is out there over the peak summer months of July and August.

For lunch I had mussels cooked in white wine with French fries – moules & frites with a Belgian beer Grimbergen.  It goes together really well.  There were so many mussels; there must have been half a kilo.  I did this for you – Peta and Frank.  They were great.  Lucky we walked to and from the marina to walk off the meal.  Jim had a hamburger, salad and fries.  He said it was good.  He finds it amazing he has been asked the few times he has had a burger in Europe ‘how would he like the burger cooked’ – that doesn’t happen in good old Oz.

Jim admired the cars which drove past while we were having lunch: Porsche, Bentley, Maserati, convertible this, convertible that.  Our convertible mini would have been right at home here.  They are as common as muck as the saying goes but mind you we haven’t seen a burnt orange one yet.  Stu, would love it here with all these beautiful cars – we even saw a few ‘new’ rangas.

Tuesday 3 Dec

Today we caught the train into Nice, only fifteen minutes along the coast.  For a large town the city centre had a good feel.  In a large park near the beach there is a Christmas village of sorts set up with stalls selling all Christmas paraphernalia; food, gifts rides and even an ice-skating rink.  We had a ride on the ferris wheel.  It was fantastic value for 7 Euros each ($10) and the views were spectacular.  You must look on Flickr for the views – you’ll work out which photos they are.

Beautiful Christmas decorations along the streets of Nice

The ferris wheel

View from the ferris wheel

In the Christmas village we had ‘Socca’ a traditional Nice dish for lunch.  It is made of ground chickpeas and olive oil cooked in a super large pan in a wood oven.  Looks like a pancake or flat bread or pizza base, you get the idea.  It was yummy.  It would have gone well with olives and cheese.  

Needing a toilet we decided to venture into McDonalds, always a good toilet stop if you see a McDonalds that is.  Anyway, this McDonalds you had to buy something to get the code for the toilet door – they are obviously sick of people abusing their toilets so Jim bought a thick shake and I bought a hot chocolate and a macaroon.  Yum! The French are very good at hot chocolate and McDonalds is no exception, it was real chocolate.  A bit embarrassed to admit being in the home of the macaroon we hadn’t had any (as yet) they always looked a bit sweet, I know that sounds rich coming from me who loves cakes and biscuits but I don’t like overly sweet things.  Anyway I chose a rose one and it was delicious.  A bit of worry really because know I won’t hesitate to buy more.  I would like to try one of each colour before we leave France. 

Lazy Saturday in Eze

From now on I am going to call mandarins ‘Clementines’, isn’t that a great name!.  They are in season at the moment and are super (as the French would say with their charming accent).  Another cute thing about them is they often have leaves on the stalk – just makes you want to take a photo. 

Woke up to a dark sky this morning.  It has turned out to be a wet, windy and cold day by French Riviera standards but we are very cosy here in our abode looking out over the water watching the weather coming in across the sea.

Earlier today we caught the bus into Beaulieu to have a look around.  We weren’t there very long, weather put us off.  We can save it for another fine sunny day.

I spent the afternoon making pasta tomato sauce for our dinner tonight from vine ripened romas and fennel bought at the Ventimiglia market yesterday.  The train trip from Eze to Ventimiglia was a half hour trip.  The trip over we were jammed in like sardines, ironic considering we were headed for Italy the home of sardines.  The trip back was spacious and we even got seats.  The train stops at Monaco (two stops up the road) – we might go back another day and have coffee in the main square that is about the only thing that interests us in Monaco. 

While waiting on the train platform at Eze a lady started chatting to me in French, I replied with my normal response ‘Pardon, no French’ and she replies with ‘What would you like to talk in’.  I said English is good for me.  We ended up standing, jammed next to her more like it on the train and chatted the half hour to Italy.  She was in her late sixties (at a guess), German with dyed red hair.  She was very funny.  During her working life she had worked for Ansett Airlines and spent time in Australia and New Guinea.  She moved here to work in a travel agency before she retired.  She says it is a relaxed lifestyle and easy to get use to living with the sun year round although she does get bored so goes over to Ventimiglia every few weeks to pretend she is travelling and to speak Italian for a few hours.  She has travelled widely as you can imagine and spent 5 weeks last year on a train trip around Canada (on her own).  She said we were friendly just like Canadians, which she said is not the norm in France – the friendliness.  We must be lucky because all the people we have dealt with have been friendly and helpful.  We have spoken more English in the past few days with our new Chinese friend and now our new German friend than we have in weeks. 

After a wet day today the forecast for the week is sunny with temperatures of 13C.  Super!

Talk towards the end of the week, you never know we may have made more new friends.

PS. Jim has found a new website 'Filmon.com' so he can watch TV from all over the world including the ABC from Australia and the BBC from the UK which shows 'Home & Away' - perfect.  He is currently match ready for the rugby match Wales Vs Australia on BBC2 - talk about the 'Accidential Tourist'.  

Have you bought your Poinsettia for Christmas?

Cyclamens, one of my favs at Ventimiglia markets

Morning coffee at the markets

Our first day in Eze

It is 2.49pm on Thursday afternoon and I am sitting on a sun bed overlooking the Mediterranean with the afternoon sun warming my face and toes.  It has been a long time since I haven’t had to wear shoes and socks.  It feels great.  I have to make the most of the sun, as it is starting to go behind the hills (the end of the alps is really what they are, they are massive and very impressive).

We arrived in Eze last night at 8.20pm and Nicola was at the train station to pick us up as promised.  The apartment is only a few minutes drive up a windy road above the train station ‘Eze-Sur-Mer’.  Our apartment is on the ground floor of her house where she lives with her Norwegian husband, Egil, their 14 year-old daughter (don’t know her name as we haven’t met her yet) and ‘Chloe’ their standard poodle – another one, what a coincidence.  Chloe is white and very friendly.  Nicola is English and they have lived here for 8 years.  They return to Norway to their summerhouse for the European summer school holidays in July & August.  Perfect!

The apartment is well equipped and will be a lovely place to live for the next three weeks.  I just love this outdoor area, especially if the sun shines for part of the day.

This morning Nicola drove us into Beaulieu, 4kms away (heading towards Nice, the other direction takes you to Monaco and the Italian border) to the supermarket to do a heavy shop as she called it – so thoughtful.  

Tomorrow we plan to go to Ventimiglia, which is in Italy, only a half hour train trip away.  Apparently the market is huge with everything from clothes to food and everything in between – but Nicola said be careful when buying imitation goods as the customs police can confiscate items at the border if they are inclined – lucky that won’t be a problem for us as we are not in the market for anything along those lines – can’t carry anything extra.  It is more the fruit and vegetables we are after but it never hurts to have a good look around, you never know what you might find.

After shopping this morning we walked down to the esplanade to a local café for lunch straight across from the train station.  There is a short cut (of sorts) from the apartment to the main road via many flights of stairs between the streets.  You can imagine who had to bite their tongue with Jim’s love of walking and stairs. 

We ended up having the funniest lunch being entertained by ‘Annie’ a Chinese lady (forties or fifties, hard to tell).  The tables were set so close to each other you couldn't help but acknowledge your lunch partner whether you wanted one or not with a 'bonjour'.  She was very chatty and I asked her lots of questions.  She is married to a Norwegian guy and has been living in Oslo for the past 3 years, prior to Oslo 11 years in USA.  She has been on holiday in Eze with friends from China who live in the USA.  She is flying back to Oslo tonight and just filling in time today.  She says her hobby is travel and spends $70K approx each year on travel – I nearly spat my food out at that remark.  Like I said, she was very entertaining.  She went on to say she would love a winter apartment in Nice because they are so cheap at 250,000 Euros ($375,000), at this remark I said ‘and why not at that price’, rich coming from the girl who doesn’t have one house let alone a winter or summer house. 

Anyway, she liked us even if we do wear jeans (she actually said this in a round about sort of way) and gave us her phone number and invited us to stay in her summerhouse in Norway.

PS.  Pieta, if you are reading this, don’t worry we didn’t buy mussels in Beaulieu this morning only salmon, scallops and prawns.  The seafood is so fresh and appealing.  Jacq told us about your in-house joke of warning Frank against eating mussels while you were on holidays here years ago.  Maybe another day, I’ll let you know.

Part of our view from our apartment

Looking back into the apartment

Lucky we sold the Polo

Looking down the (short cut) of stairs to the main road

Another day, another market

Today (Sunday) we visited Issigeac and its market.  We have driven through Issigeac a few times on our way to Bergerac but today was the first time we stopped and walked around the village.  What a cute village!  The market was busy and stallholders were both French and English.  As I have mentioned before this part of France the southwest is very much an English strong hold – don’t let any French read this, they would dispute that, as they don’t like the English as a rule.  We were told by our English friends to let the French know we are Australian not English if asked.  

I was very excited at the market.  Whilst walking around I was planning our Christmas day lunch in my head because there were so many appealing stalls to buy fresh produce and ingredients.  We plan to visit again on the Sunday before Christmas and buy up.  For starters Jim can have freshly shucked oysters and prawns and I can have smoked salmon and goats cheese.  The main can be a chicken roll stuffed with prunes accompanied by assorted roast vegetables.  All locally grown produce.  There was an English lady selling home made Christmas cake and mince tarts, I’ll see if she has Christmas pudding when we return and buy all three. 

Melinda (home owner) recommended La Bruceliere in Issiegeac for a more up market meal but unfortunately they are closed for a few days over Christmas so we have booked lunch for 27 December.  Check it out - it looks lovely.  I have translated the menu so armed and ready to order.

http://www.labruceliere.com/Accueil.html

On Tuesday afternoon we pick up Melinda from the Bergerac airport.  We have the evening together and she will drive us to the Bergerac train station on Wednesday morning.  Our train leaves at 8.30am for Eze.  We change at Bordeaux and will arrive in Eze at 8pm.  Jim is looking forward to being a passenger, to sit and look out the window at the countryside.  We bought a couple of English books at the market this morning for the train trip.  Nicola, the lady that owns the apartment in Eze will pick us up from the train station.  How nice of her.  So until Eze, au revoir!

The markets are so colourful

Yeh!, what to buy & cook

Looking down a side street off the main square of Issigeac

Food & wine - the things that France is made of

Markets, patisseries & boulangeries (bakery) are common place throughout France as is the wine produced in each area.  Wine is cheap compared to Australia.  You can pay 4 Euros ($6) for a reasonable bottle and as low as 2 Euros - not sure what they taste like, that seems a bit too cheap to me.      

After visiting the Villereal market on Tuesday we also visited the markets in Montapazier and Bergerac during the week. 

On Thursday we visited Montapazier.  It is 16km away.  It is another bastide town.  Bastides were only built in the south west of France so most of the local towns are bastides.  

The weekly market was set up in the town square.  We bought fresh fish & mussels.  We had fish & chips for dinner that night and I cooked the mussels up for Friday lunch in leeks, shallots, wine, stock and crème fraiche (sour cream).  They were really good, so fresh.  We soaked up the stock with the obligatory baguette.

This morning (Saturday) we visited Bergerac and its market.  It has been a cold day at 3c.  We bought a pastry and an espresso to warm up and sat and watched the market activity.  The old town is picturesque and very appealing.

Just in case you were wondering – at the end of the previous blog we were off to buy pizza that night from the pizza man in the van in Beaumont.  It was yummy – just the way we like it.  A thin base and not too heavy handed with the topping.  Jim had ‘jambon’ – ham & cheese with olives, you know who ate the olives and I had the vegetarian – artichoke, asparagus, green pepper and olives.  If we go again I will have to remember to take a photo of the van.  The guy in the van looked warm and toasty with the wood fired oven keeping him warm.  We took the menu (translating it at home prior) and pointed at the pizzas we wanted.  Where would we be without the Internet – hungry!!!!!!

I spent so much time yesterday translating menus from a couple of local restaurants trying to pick one for our Christmas lunch.  It looks like we will be having a cooked chook here.  Our chicken and seafood will be fresh anyway with the markets to visit a day or two beforehand and buy our Christmas lunch.  Wonder where I can buy a Christmas pudding!

Montpazier's town square (part of)

Montpazier's Mayor's office

Lola - the more bossy one

Fizz - she is more docile & submissive than Lola

Sights of Bergerac

More Bergerac sights

River Dordogne in Bergerac

Melinda's (home owner) soap books - I couldn't fit her other 27 crafts books in the picture