Seniors' Sabbaticals

Geneva, Switzerland

It’s hard to believe that we were wearing summer clothes up till yesterday and now it is cold.
At Marseille station this morning everyone was in winter woollies.

We’d seen on the news last night that there were strikes etc with train workers, but normal services began today. We had reserved seats to Lyons, but from Lyons to Geneva we had to scramble for seats and everyone had luggage. We ended up sitting on pull own seats with everyone’s luggage around us. Fortunately it was only 2 hours.
The countryside was considerably greener than we’ve seen over the last 4 weeks.

It was raining as we arrived in Geneva, but our hotel is virtually across the road – an amazing improvement on last night!!

We’ve been out to have a little look-see, collected a map from the tourism office and planning a little boat trip on the lake in the morning – weather permitting.

We leave for Innsbruck at midday.

Marseille, France

This morning was spent with last minute washing at the Lavarie, having coffees and buying lunch from the bakery.
At lunchtime we headed off to Marseille to deliver the car and stay the night. The drive/delivery went pretty smoothly. We even found a petrol station to fill the car, after the station we’d programmed into the GPS, no longer exists!!

Then we headed off on the Metro to our hotel.

Now, as you know we’ve been living it up on the French Riveriera, so imagine how we felt as we walked into Fawlty Towers, Marseille style!

First, it is in the not so elite part of town.
Second, our credit cards did not work on their machine, so we pay cash.
Third, we are on the third floor and there are no lifts.
Fourth, we have a bed, a shower and a handbasin, but where is the loo? Oh goody, we share one with all the guests on our floor. (The place is full. Backpackers, mostly)

However, when Gray was out getting more cash from a hole in the wall, he spotted some possible restaurants. We had a super dinner, yummy and cheap.
And we slept really well!

I announced that when we went down to breakfast in the morning, we’d take our luggage as there was no way I was going up and down again unnecessarily!

Le Grau-du-Roi, France

Our preparation to leave is quite strange. Dawn left yesterday. This morning we had our last outing, driving to Le Grau du Roi, one of the villages we visited on the boat.

After coffees, we headed into the streets only to find it was market day. We bought only a rock melon as we were trying to use up food, not buy more.

I also bought a pair of shoes as my kiwi ones bought especially for walking on European streets have worn out! No I didn’t buy them from the Warehouse!!

We watched a movie, Cider house Rules and early to bed.

La Grande-Motte, France

Today was Dawn’s last day here. After breakfast we walked over to the laundrettte, then off to the shop where we’d seen the Le Creuset ware. Originally we’d asked the guy whether he could send a dish to NZ, but in the meantime we decided that we’d pack it in our luggage. So we bought it.

Had a coffee at the bakery then headed off to the tourism office to do emails etc.

We had lunch in a cafe near the apartment. Over the past few days I had seen people being served a small bucket of mussels and thought that that must be an enormous amount to eat in one sitting! No, it’s fine. They slide down very easily! Gray didn’t have a clue what he’d ordered but he really enjoyed it as Dawn and I tucked into our mussels.

We then drove Dawn out to the airport. She should be landing in Gatwick about now.

We’re doing some more writing for Liam, then a quiet night in.

Bon soir!

Aigues-Mortes, France

If it rained every day from now on we’d feel that we have been quite lucky with the weather. The weather has just been glorious with temperatures in the late 20s day after day – very much great holiday weather.

This morning Gray and I headed off to Aigues-Morte, a fascinating place nearby. After successfully finding a good park, we walked into town, had coffees then went into the walled town which was nothing like what we had expected!!!

We imagined it would be empty, but people actually live here and the tourism industry is thriving!

We hopped onto the little train and although the commentary was in French, we were given an English translation, so were able to understand some of the history.

The ramparts were begun in 1245 and took many years to build. They are 6 metres wide at the bottom – they must have had strong horses back then if they thought they could ram a building that thick!!!

We ate lunch in the shade and headed back home.

We slothed out for a while, went to the supermarket, found a fabulous hardware/kitchen shop where that had really nice things, including Le Creuset ware.

A candle-lit dinner at home tonight.

La Grande-Motte, France

We slept really well!

After breakfast we headed out for a coffee, then to the Wifi place to check emails etc

We decided to have lunch at home, then in the afternoon we took a boat trip to Port Camargue and Le Grau-du Roi. It was another hot, sunny day, but we were able to keep out of the sun but still enjoy the views.

Chris, I checked out the Real Estate. What do you think?

I figure that Brian could be kept busy with boat maintenance; just need to find work for Gray!!!
Sorry there are no garages, just space for the boat!!

Walking back home, we chose where we’d eat and later enjoyed a lovely meal altogether.

We thought of you today, Graeme and Robin. We hope that you had a very happy anniversary.

Bon nuit!

La Grande-Motte, France

No sleep last night. The flat is lovely and so is the bed, so no excuses really.
Dawn had planned for us to join her friends for lunch, but because we felt so tired, we declined the invitation and had a very quiet morning at home.
We did pop out to the market for a short while. There were so many people buying and the stall holders were in full flight with their sales banter.

Luckily Dawn had filled the fridge so we tucked into lunch, had a short nap then headed out again to wander about. It is still very hot. Whilst out we tried the free Wifi outside the tourism office.

Had a marvellous dinner out having chosen a place earlier, only to discover it was closed at 7pm. Many places are open during the day, but not the evening. Dawn headed out to join us, but because we were not where we said we would be, she missed us.

However, we had a big catch up when we got in.

And hopefully a good nights sleep!

La Grande-Motte, France

It was another blue dome day as we drove out of Auriol on our way to La Grande Motte, Languedoc.

The trip went pretty smoothly until we came across stopped cars around a bend on a motorway. Fortunately we stopped and no-one piled into us. We crawled along for simply ages until we came across the cause – a shocking accident.

We arrived at the apartment at lunchtime. It is great to see Dawn again.

After a large lunch, we chatted until the early evening when we went for a walk around the town, enjoying the atmosphere of families and friends in cafes and on the beach. We stopped for a drink before heading back to the apartment.

Supper.
Heaps more chat, then off to bed.
Bon nuit!

Auriol, France

It’s hard to believe that two weeks have gone by since we arrived in Provence! What an experience it has been. It has dispelled some previously held myths re – the people, food… We will cherish our memories for a very long time.

After a coffee and some hard work in town we’ve headed back for lunch – purchased from the boulangerie, of course.

This afternoon, after the washing has dried, we’ll begin packing.

Tomorrow morning we head off to La Grande Motte, in Languedoc, to stay in Dawn and Mandy’s apartment. We haven’t seen Dawn since we were in England in 2002, so we are excited to catch up with her again.

We may find it a little difficult to work on the net there, so blogs may not appear as regularly as they have in the past.

So it’s au revoir Auriol!

Auriol, France

It is always lovely to walk into our cool cottage, out of the heat of the midday sun.

Going to Trets became more and more difficult to plan, so this morning we decided to explore our own medieval village. After parking in our usual car park (thank goodness most people drive grey Renault Clios) we walked into town along the road.

When we got to the bank Gray decided to change some money as he only had large notes in his wallet and we needed a coffee. So into our bank we strode, but where were the tellers? This bank has a hole in the wall and people who arrange bank loans etc, but no tellers. As soon as Gray explained to the woman, we needed smaller denominations in order to buy much needed coffees, she sprang into action,
She rushed outside to the hole in the wall, withdrew money from her account then she and Gray swapped notes! We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and friendliness of the people here.

So off to our coffee place, then we planned our trip through the streets. Both of us snapped madly, our biggest challenge to get good images minus power lines! I guess there will be a bit of Photoshopping when we get home.

On our travels we found another boulangerie, so bought lunch. However, the biggest find was a wine shop that only sells wine from local growers. They, themselves make wine. We bought a rose – thanks Becs and Liam for introducing rose to us.

We walked back to the car along the pathway along the river and took more photos.

This afternoon is working on more stuff for Liam – after a Nana nap!