Today we picked up our car..... and we are moving on. No more bus torture of us!! We packed up and headed west bound for the Camargue and our home on the farm south of Arles http://antonelle.net/.
Eight weeks in San Raphael and Frejus has been great. We have met many people, had great experiences,meals and made new friends. "It is very curious no?", as my french teacher Eric would say in trying to explain some french grammar thing, that about week 5, everyone that I had nodded to or maybe said "bonjour" began to stop me, shake hands and talk for awhile. The french, like many cultures are very reserved and many Americans mistake that as dislike or contempt for them individually. In fact it is just the opposite, they do not want to intrude on you. Anyway, the 5th week seemed to put me into a new category. Just on our alley alone there where be 3 or 4 people that began to stop me an talk. The election was always part of the discussion, but the rest was all over the spectrum.
Our neighbor Christy is a hockey fanatic and wanted to talk all about that. Her daughter is married to an American and we talked about that. She is the keeper of the animals, "Mekat", "Negro" the cats and "Kaline" the dog. It is interesting that none of these ever warmed up to Vicki but "Negro" and "Kaline" became my friends. (Don't feel bad for her though, the fish in the pond at the apartment liked her....if she fed them.) In all honesty my french is so bad and she talked to fast I was lucky to get 10% of what she said. (Just realized I have no picture of her and they have gone out of town for the weekend)
Next on the alley is the Renault repair shop. The boys started coming out and we talked cars, especially those gas guzzling American things, engine changes they where doing, the election and the weather. Nice guys.
There was the baguette lady at the Intermarche, the lady at the tourist office, the lady at the bus station and a few people that I had just passed regularly. Oh yea, and those guys at the Kabeb shop. They were great, funny and very very busy.
The school, France Langue & Culture, was great and I can highly recommend the school and all the teachers individually, Annie, Eric, Pierre and the owner. They were great teachers and great friends and continued to help us after the school was finished. We appreciate all they did for us and the other people they introduced us to.
I knew it was getting time to leave when my favorite morning spot where I had coffee and wi-fi informed me they were closing for the season. I had praticed my french on them until we became friends and then they used their perfect English to better communicate the more serious topics we had moved on to. I can highly recommend the Hotel Les Palmiers (hotellespalmiers.fr ). The owner, Emmanuel Quarterone a third generation, is an excellent person and his hotel is right on the water. If you are really lucky maybe Sandrina will still be working there, but she has decided it is time to get a real job.
And last but not least Jean-Pierre Meiffert our landlord of St. Tropez. What a prince of a guy and his little garden apartments in the middle of town where great. We have had many a fine landlord and they have left a bottle of wine, but never 6 bottles of wine and a bottle of champaign. I highly recommend his apartments. (I just discovered that he is another person we have no picture of)
So, if you come this way stop and spend a night or two. Or better yet, skip the big cities of Nice and Cannes and make Saint Raphael or Frejus your base and venture out from here via bus, train or car. Just never ever do it in August.
Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel's immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way.
--Ralph Crawshaw
