Or literally almost as high up here in Haut de Cagnes. In the divine sense we’re there too. The place we’re staying in – Maison Bleu – is so gorgeous I couldn’t have dreamt of anything better. It’s a 17th century stone house which has been completely updated. The plumbing works (LOADS of hot water instantly), the kitchen is modern with gas and a big fridge, the bed is super comfy and it’s decorated exactly the way I would have done it (if I had an unlimited budget!) The large private terrace (we could cavort if wanted to) overlooking Cagnes sur Mer has a garden with an orange tree, geraniums, and masses of fragrant roses. The doves coo and the swallows swoop and sing all day. Need I say more?
Ok, so it wasn’t all sunshine and roses getting here! Scott, never the calm sort (really??? you say??), did fine on the super highways but as soon as we entered Cagnes sur Mer with the crazy french drivers he started to unwind. Cursing and sweating and grinding gears painfully, the final gasket blew as he attempted to climb the last hill to the maison. Let’s just say that he and the car were not “one” and separated in intention when, while he urged it forward (you can imagine what that sounded like I’m sure) the car slid BACKWARDS down the hill.
That aside, and ok everyone – the picture we e-mailed with the car crash was only a joke – so sorry! We have a twisted sense of humour. Too bad for the poor person it DID happen to though. In fact, we’re having a WONDERFUL time! We’ve been so busy having experiences that I haven’t had any time to get in here and write until now. Just got up from a long siesta (Scott’s still sleeping) and I’m sitting outside enjoying the balmy mediterranean air. In the european style, we’ll be having a glass of wine (or two) soon with some olives and good french sausage and cheese soon.
So backtracking…WHERE do I start? Friday – we spent the night with Lisa and Josef celebrating our birthdays. What a night! First of all, imagine the house in Under the Tuscan Sun BEFORE it was renovated. Fantastic still though! Lise and Jos were in fine form (as always) and we had a glass of wine in our hands before we’d even seen our room. We met their friends Bill and Betsy and were sitting outside eating and drinking when another friend, Hugh arrived. It was an international group – Bill and Betsy from Phoenix, Hugh from Scotland, and we Canadians (in Josef’s case via Bavaria). While we enjoyed ourselves, Bill played the grand piano in the salon. (Lisa also played but we weren’t allowed to listen?). Lisa made some yummy spaghetti (she’s not capable of making anything NOT yummy) which we eventually ate with some wine, followed by cheeses – and some more wine. By now it’s 10:00 pm and Bill and Betsy, jet-lagged, went to bed leaving the rest of us to – guess? YES!! Drink MORE wine!! I do believe that there were 14 bottles consumed altogether. I think Hugh must have had about 3 of them (plus pastis and beer – together!!) because he got more and more hilariously entertaining as the night went on. Josef went to bed, Scott went to bed, so it was only Lisa, I and Hugh carrying on ’til 2:30 in the morning. Inexplicably we sang Blue Christmas at one point.
We had so much fun that it was hard to leave the next day but we were eager to get HERE too. On the way, we took a wrong turn (I was navigating instead of the more reliable GPS BUT before the wrong turn I had just been thinking we should make a detour to there) and ended up in the picturesque provencal town of Isle-de-la-Sorgue. It was almost lunch time anyway so we stopped and perused a few of the antique shops (there are 300 of them in Isle-de-la-Sorgue), saw a whole stuffed brown bear in one of them, and had lunch at one of the MANY cafes/bistros/brasseries beside the clear waters of the river while watching kids swim in it. It was 27 degrees – could life BE any better?
Now I have to go further back in my crammed memory to Wednesday (which seems like eons ago) and Barcelona. After our usual croissants and coffee (made most excellently by Connie’s mother Tove) we headed out on the hop on hop off tour bus to Santa Maria del Mar – a church built entirely using measurements divisible by eight. The “energy” in the church was – well, indescribable, and not like any other church I’ve been in.
After the church we explored the Barri Gotic – a marvelous maze of medieval houses and the oldest part of Barcelona – and finally found ourselves in a square where we sat down at one of the ubiquitous outdoor tables and revived ourselves for an hour or so. Continuing on, there was no mistaking when we came to the famous Las Ramblas – a boulevard filled with every kind of shop you could imagine. However, we made a beeline straight for La Boqueria – the food market!! (I don’t like those at all haha.) It was incredible – stalls and stalls and stalls of vegetables and fruits, fresh seafood, fresh meat (not for the faint-hearted – sheep’s heads and pig heads and bunnies), olives, cheeses, sausages, and spices etc etc etc. Oh joy!
Exhausted (I speak for Scott and I – the rest of our group apparently had more stamina) we returned to the apartment for a short siesta before heading to the Pobles de Espanyol for the flamenco dancing. The village is filled with artisan shops selling everything from handmade jewellery to works of local artists and even a huge glass-blowing workshop. We had an hour to shop before the show and the best thing was that the place was practically empty except for those people going to the show. No hordes of tourists! The tapas and show – touristy or not, was nothing short of SPECTACULAR. The intensity! The drama! of those severe faces and gestures and heels banging the wooden floor. Wow. Wow. The meal was much more than we expected too – tapa after tapa with jugs of sangria and even dessert and coffee (by the way, I am LOVING the coffee here).
After leaving the Poble we were all in a partying mood so we stopped in at our favourite restaurant across the street and our favourite waiter Jose Manuel Miguel Valdez (not his real name but we thought it sounded good?) made us some KILLER sangria – Kim made sure my glass was never empty. Here he is serving us some fabulous paella on Wednesday (?) night.
Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling so well the next day so while the rest of the group went out touring, we stayed at home to rest and relax until going to the Magic Fountains at the palace-of-something-or-other that night. The fountains and the Freddy Mercury/Montserrat Caballe crescendo at the end of the show are not to be missed. Unfortunately, Connie’s father Gunnar was pick-pocketed which marred the experience entirely for them. It was the second time that day – the first attempt was unsuccessful (on the Metro) but the second wasn’t. But, as Gunnar said, no one was hurt.
We left the next day – heading for France! The drive through Spain was uneventful (except for tolls – it cost us 40 euros to get here!) The super highway is 3 lanes and the speed limit varies but is mostly steady at 130. It was lunchtime by the time we arrived in France and we intended to go to a restaurant the GPS found – Le Jardin of something but that didn’t look so good so we found another place that was quintessentially ” french village” but it was closed already (at 1:30 pm!) and the table of men sitting inside just stared at us hostilely. We kept driving and turned up at a place in Fitou where, in my bad french, I requested une table pour deux s’il vous plait. The hostess, whose English was as bad as my French, indicated that she needed to ask the chef if the kitchen was closed. Happily, he agreed to feed us! We had the best full meal we’ve had at a restaurant here – the plat du jour – medallions of crusted pork in a champignon sauce with haricots vert and assorted wild mushrooms and followed by an apple croustade for me and a pear tart with pignoles for Scott and ending with the fabulous european coffee of course! We were the only ones left in the restaurant so the hostess had time to talk with us a bit and there was much laughing as we tried to interpret each other’s language. When we left we called out bon soir and she corrected us – only bon soir after 6:00 pm – until then – au revoir!
And that FINALLY catches us up! From there it was straight to Menerbes in the Luberon in Provence – which is every bit as lovely as pictures indicate – to Lise and Jos’. Also uneventful except for the roundabouts every few miles – Scott got the hang of those pretty quickly though but thank God for the GPS when we took a wrong turn!
Scott is up now and we’re having that glass of wine with olives and sausage and then we’ll walk up the hill to see the Grimaldi castle and museum and make reservations for our last night here (Thursday) at Fleur de Sel.
So until next time – au revoir!
Oh and by the way, I FINALLY GOT THE PROPOSAL I NEVER HAD!! Better late than never right?? And I have BLING on my finger! 5 diamonds each representing 5 years to equal the 25 years we’ve been married. It’s so sparkly – I LOVE it. Anyway, we renewed our “contract” and have agreed to spend the next 25 years together so I guess you could say that YES, it IS working out just as well as 1980! Kissing my man now… I know girls…ewwwww.
Barb & Scott's European Adventure 
