Mid Covid Travel

 

 Bring all the patience you can carry.  Airlines appear understaffed at all levels with a limited and too rested fleet.  Airports’ preventative safety requirements are posted everywhere amid a newer, stark, antiseptic appearance:  fewer customer services and ATM machines, dining choices, and information centers.  All point to the ‘new normal’.

Adapting travelers,  engage your ‘keep moving forward’ skills.

After an initial three hour delay and an added connection in the new bookings,  I’m also rewarded with a 5 1/2 hour CDG airport layover.  

Finally. . . . Toulouse!  Checked into an Ibis across from the gare and ‘hit the hay’ 36 travel hours later.

Now the travel pleasure begins.

Retirementtravels follow one traveler, usually alone, who enjoys southern France.

One carefully selected village is chosen for a month's stay, taking day trips or overnights if necessary, to wander and explore.

         

                       Doc:  (so, therefore)

With this intro and previous explanation of lengthy absence, here goes. . . . . . 

More than a Cursory Experience. . . . . . . 

Culture, History, markets, shops, transportation, gelato, entertainment

Let's Talk Markets

Markets provide every sensory experience you should ever need to feel alive.  I love markets.  Annemarie, a teacher I had in Uzes, 150 steps to her 3rd floor apartment, took me by the shoulders, steering me to a window after I asked where she shopped without a car.  She pointed down to the Place Aux Herbes, telling me if it wasn't there, she didn't eat it.  Fresh?  Farm to market?  Absolutely.

While shopping at a local Casino in Cros de Cagnes, my friend bought items for dinner: fresh salmon and bib lettuce for a salad.  We didn't use all the bib so next evening she pulled out the remaining lettuce.  It was spoiled.  Fresh, fresh, fresh with daily trips to the market if you wish to eat like a local.

Many of my bus or train trips are organized around market days.  Although I've never cooked nor baked much, markets absolutely fascinate me.  I've learned more about produce and metric weight than in cookbooks or textbooks.  I've tried herbes and spices that had never been noticed at home, packing a couple kilos of interesting items to repackage as gifts.

Look at the beautiful leeks.  Have you ever?????  Previously I wrote that 'not being a gourmande', just discovered gourmande is an adjective for greedy.  Must find a substitute word.  Once spent $50.00 on enough leeks to make a gratin.  It wasn't special but I'll try again someday, 'not being much of cook'.

 

                                                         Biking around Lucca wall, 2016

                                             BLOGGING AGAIN AFTER LONG ABSENCE

Several years ago, while saving photos, computer crashed and I lost my wonderful record of a 2008 month-long stay in Fayence France.   Sat in garage, cried, and quit posting to my blog and Facebook.  Here I am, giving it another go as I'll soon be in southwestern France for 2 months, wishing to record again.

If all goes well, I'll catch up with some past travels before the 2 months begin in August.  

retirement travels-robertas.blogspot.com

A Brief Discussion of Food

You do not have to spend much time in France before you realize there is an haute culture of food. As a non-gourmande (which means 'glutton') the following tidbits will appeal only to those of you who eat along the way, as tourists do, like I do.







Food is everywhere. Restaurants are everywhere. Food stores are everywhere: 8 a Huite (our 7-11), supermarchets, Lidl, Super U, Casino (a food store, why not?), groceries under my favorite department store Monoprix, food in tremendously exotic 4-story malls with Bacarrat crystal chandeleirs in Monaco, large and small outdoor markets, produce outside a small shop. Are you beginning to visualize?

My favorite food experiences are shopping for the groceries. Favorite stop this year? Super U. Last year it was Casino, but I do not have to weight my own fruit and veggies at Super U. If you appear at the check-out with unweighted fruit or veggies at Casino, they send you back with a flip of fingers, sans smile.

I love reading cheese packages. Knowing I don't like goat cheese, it still thrills me to gaze at the beautifully presented cheeses. Meat!! Sausages!! Fish, oh my. Heads rising out of the crushed ice looking to jump at a lure!! Oysters, shrimp, mussels, snails, I cannot begin to list what things are. And, this is just a small, local market. Shopping nearly every day, like the locals, I find my favorites: muesli, milk in a 1 litre plastic, butter, oil, basalmic vinegar, eggs, jambon (ham, don't ya love it?), emmenthaller and spreadable Happy Cow, yogurt, lettuce, apples and wine.I purchase a demi-baguette for approximately 27cents and I'm off.

Along the way special purchases are made: tapinade, Tuc crackers, to die for treats at the boulangerie/patisserie, and a brief error in judgement, a large slice of bread Dina and I tasted at the market and drooled over, then incredulously forked over the equivalent of $20.00 for the slice. Daughter said 'What!' Reply was, "It's artisanale." OK, that's a major shopping lesson.

Interestingly enough, when I asked Anne-Marie, my French teacher at Uzes, what she ate, as she was extremely tall and thin, she replied she ate only the foods that were at the market. Never, ever shopped anywhere else. If it wasn't at the market, it wasn't fresh, relatively local, or wholesome and nutritious. And, she didn't eat it. This bit of information remains with me but I have not, as of yet, wrapped my brain around it enough to design a healthy food lifestyle.

Dining out is an experience left to others. Grabbing a sandwich, pizza, or crepe is my idea of getting to the next adventure. I drink more wine than at home and was introduced to lemoncello last year. Chantal and Josette, from Cros de Cagnes last year, gave Dina and me Limuni. It's described as LIQUORE NATURALE ALL' INFUSO DI SCORZE DI LIMONI CALABRESI. Mighty fine lemoncello. Sweet? OMG!

I walk up to Fayence and stop at a small kiosk for my single dip 'parfum.' I had to look it up. Strange, but it does mean flavor. Usually in restaurants, a scoop of ice cream is called a boule. This ice cream provides one milk serving toward my daily food requirement.

In closing, last night's dining experience par exellence. After a lovely morning coffee with the ladies of the Var organization, I decided to attend their Scottish dancing class, which was just beginning its Fall session. Scottish dancing in the South of France. I have to tell ya, it just doesn't quit, does it? Well, there they were, 24 strong, in a little community hall off an ancient eglise in Tourettes, about 3 kilometers away. One of the perched villages of the Var. Most dancers wore those little soft-leather, black dancing slippers that lace up to the ankle. Looked rather serious. At least I wasn't over-dressed. Casual day, casual night.
As the Scottish do, I was warmly welcomed, asked if I had Scottish ancestry, duh, Grandmother a Campbell, and amidst thick brogue and smiling, ruddy faces, proceeded to turn a reel or two, to my incredible amazement.

'Like to join us for a wee bite, we dine at the Fayence Glider Airport where the food is, what do you say, like the workmen? It is very modest.' It was the tastiest meal during my stay in Fayence. I ordered pork in cream sauce. Delicious fries came with the order along with lots of tiny halved tomatoes stuffed with something yummy. Total? 14 euros. It would have cost around 35 euros at the restaurant in the picture, down from my terrace, Restaurant L'Auberge Fleurie. Remember to add one third to the cost for euros to dollars. That plate was the perfect end to my food experience this year.

If you have food questions, just ask. I will attempt to answer. Keep in mind that is not my foremost reason to come here. But, even as a food novice, it's still quite a roll.

A Few Quiet Days

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18

Cannes: Life of the rich . . . . . Wednesday, rode with a friend to this seaside city and walked along the promenade. St Raphael also has a promenada, as does Nice, Ventimigilia, Genoa, and Cros De Cagnes, where I resided for a month in 2007.

Let's go back together to Le Cros. This little seaside village was once the village of fishermen. Cagnes sur Mer, nearby city of 40,000 inhabitants nestles alongside Le Cros with it's old hilltop village and final home of Renoir. Guide books 'guide' you to skip Cagnes sur Mer and the nearby 'tacky' seaside village of Le Cros: too many converging roads make accessing city difficult while sights are up ahead or back toward Italy. Well doesn't this sound like a less than $$ place to check out? Perhaps not too touristy either.

Let me tell you about Cros De Cagnes, with it's MOST BEAUTIFUL AND UNCROWDED promenade. There is a colorful local church, fully restored, on the bas corniche. The best boulangerie/patisserie is a few steps away. My friend Josette informed me it was the only place to buy bread. She also walked me to her hairdresser, also the only place to get a haircut. Right on the bread, Josette, but on the haircut. . . . . . .NOT!

Central location on the 60 square meter condo. Small and comfy. Located 50 meters from the train station and about a block from the bus stop, where the TER (local) system takes you anywhere from Nice to Cannes, all for the price of a Coke. Until I visited Florence for 3 nights and met a couple from Placerville, I never spoke English. What I spoke was rudimentary French, and when new friends cared enough to help, it got significantly better. This trip was spent traveling anywhere the notion took me: northern Italy, Florence,Ventimigilia , (where I spent the night in the train station because of a weekly workers' strike) Monaco, Eze, Biot, St Paul de Vence, Gourdon, Grasse, Entreveaux via Le Chemin du Fer. But I learned little
from the local people because I couldn't tap into their more complicated thoughts and feelings.

Fayence: Non central location for the owner's huge home. Two bedrooms, three lavs, covered terrasse with plants everywhere, big screen TV, more electronic gadgets than I know how to work, hi-speed internet, and a big, black, gas stove that terrifies me. Accessbility to touring- OUCH. Charm- mais oui. But first and foremost, friends of my landlady's have reached out to me with sincerity and assistance. Also, I have joined the expat group of British women. With this treasure trove of friendship, information, and guidance, I am learning and discovering more about this area of the Var, northeast of Cannes and St Tropez.

For my last 12 days here, I will rent a small car. Until that time, buses will take me short distances. Feet will work for the hike up to Fayence and the daily walk-abouts.

All in all, each year the monthly stay re-invents itself upon arrival. This year is no exception.
What I will learn and see does not materialize until I am settled in for awhile.

I hope I have been able to explain how each travel experience develops a character of its own.

Today I took a conversational french class. 10 Euros. Such a bargain. My wonderful bottle of Rhone wine costs 2.70 Euros. But, it really isn't cheap here.

Walking into Fayence the 'long way'

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15:

This is my address. Not much of a picture, but I was hoping you wouldn't miss the car, the Smart Car, actually. Bill and I were mesmerized by it years ago during a trip with my Mum to the Dordogne Valley, East of Bordeaux. Imagine two Smart Cars parked side by side, perpendicular to the other cars, occupying ONE spot. Cute. This blue babe belongs to Andrea and Reto, my Swiss neighbors.

My entire day was spent with Sue, my landlady's friend. She lives outside Fayence and drives a British-style Volvo. Imagine: sitting on the driver's side without a steering wheel, verring right around a tight corner, and a car speeding at you. Yep, a new experience.

Sue, from Scotland, has a very provenciale home. In her professionally landscaped garden I saw olive trees, oleander, flax, sego palms, all other palms, lavender, pittosporum, wisteria, gardenias, most things we have in Auburn. Also, Sue had a pool and koi pond, some things some of us do not have in Auburn. Sue retired from American Express, having worked in Edinburgh, New York, Milan and Paris. Just an adorable little Mum in the South of France, raising three adorable children with her French husband, who commutes weekly to Paris.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16:

Dressed up today. Clean tan slacks and blouse. Had a date at 10:30 with the Women's Group of the Var, Fayence chapter. Now if you can imagine walking all day, remembering not to smile too much and avoiding eye contact with any couple you pass, your day feels a little sad. Now, you have just stepped onto a terrace full of mostly British ladies, colors ablazin' and laughter surrounding you. Oh those Brits. Gotta love 'em. Irreverent, engaging, chatty and sooooo friendly. I plunked down my 20 Euro immediately to join this group. This vacation will be remembered as "English Spoken Here."

Tomorrow we are off to Cannes. My new friend Christine is shopping for cotton clothes to wear on a trip later this month to Egypt. She is Phillipine and married her French husband while working in McLean, Virginia. Feels like traveling around the world, doesn't it?