La motocrotte

There are many things that we have been happy to find unchanged in France, for instance, the taste of the muscat grapes in the Fall, the simple pairing of French bread with a slice of "saucisson" and the  never long nor difficult search for a good coffee.

It is also true, however, that no matter how close that perfect espresso is, you best be keeping one eye on the pavement as you walk to avoid any smelly missteps.  Something more distasteful we have found unchanged?  Dog poo on the sidewalks is still a regular occurrence.

I popped down to the front of our building last week to take a picture of the door knocker because I like it.  I would suppose it dates back to a time when this building was all one residence. 

 

What I didn't like was what I almost stepped into.

As our French neighbour from a few floors up said with sarcasm, "Sympa".  

Nice, indeed.  

But, Barry made a recent discovery that there is a man about town who is working to make a difference.

Yes, that's right.  You are looking at a motorcycle that is decked out with two powerful vacuum hoses with easy grips,  one for each side, to suck up "la crotte de chien".   Barry spotted this man and his vehicle in action early in the morning, and literally chased him down several streets to ask him about his job and get his permission to take a photo.  

The official title for this French invention is "la caninette", but apparently the French prefer to use the moniker "la motocrotte".  He explained to Barry that his job was a necessity because French people are just "trop cool" to pick up after their dogs.

They kept their friendly exchange brief.  After all, he is a busy man on these streets.  And well, Barry was only too happy to move on to some fresher air.

Monaco

I've never been much into cars.  If a vehicle's engine starts and the brakes work, then I don't mind too much what I'm driving. 

But I have to admit that I appreciated the Mercedes Benz rental that we lucked into during the Irish leg of our journey for more than its reliable engine and brakes.  It was one comfortable and smooth ride.  Lily wasted no time in telling us "I could get used to this",  as she hopped into the white leather back seat.

The girls and I with our Mercedes rental car.

Even being aware that this rental was a major upgrade to what we drive at home, I was still taken aback when we were cruising slowly, due to Dublin traffic, along the River Liffey with the sun shining and windows down, when I saw a man on the sidewalk grab his buddy and point at our car. He then looked at me and said, "Nice car, love." 

Well, that was a first.  The only time anyone has ever pointed and talked about my car it's been more along the lines of "Oh, that poor women with that broken down car at the side of the road".

However, if we had driven into Monte Carlo with this car, I can guarantee no-one would have batted an eye.  Even with our amateur eyes, we all knew we were seeing quite a few luxurious driving machines.

Here I am casually walking away from what I rolled into Monte Carlo in.  The man with the black backpack?  I peg him for a 2002 Toyota Echo driver.

Monte Carlo makes a distinguished impression right from the get go.  We had never seen an exit from a train station like this one:

From the train station, we walked up the hill heading towards the casino area.  We took a break to look back over the city for our first views.  In the distance is the "Tête de Chien", the rock that overlooks Monaco from 550 metres high.  The girls decided it didn't look at all like a dog's head.  Maybe there's a reason for this.  I read later that it may very well owe it's name to a homonym mix up of the Occitan (a language that developed in the area from the Vulgar Latin spoken by Roman soldiers) words for "dog" and "military camp". 

In any case, it made a striking backdrop to the city.

The first building that caught our eye was the "Hotêl de Paris", which made a big impression on the girls due to it being featured in the "Monte Carlo" film starring Selena Gomez.

L'Hôtel de Paris

We thought we could pop in here for some lunch but, after peering at the menu,  decided that eating outside would be a great idea.

Menu at the "Hotêl de Paris". 

A yummy €18 Euro lunch of supermarket sandwiches and salads was enjoyed in "Les Jardins des Boulingrins".

We, of course, also saw the legendary casino and soaked up the atmosphere at the "Place au Casino".

A peak inside the lobby of the casino.

After lunch we travelled by bus to the old town for a look around the Oceanographic Museum that was opened in 1910 and where Jacques Cousteau was director for over thirty years.  Lily especially loved the exhibits, and it had a great viewing area from its rooftop.

The museum rises up 85 metres from the sea.  I don't even understand how this part of the building was being held up!

View from the Oceanographic Museum looking east over the city and Port Hercules.  It was from this port that Julius Caesar sailed back to Rome after his conquest of Gaul.

On the short walk from the museum to the "Palais du Prince", we passed by Saint Nicholas Cathedral where Prince Rainier lll and Princess Grace were married.

We also did a self-guided tour of the official residence of the Prince of Monaco, where the Grimaldi family has lived and ruled for some seven centuries.  This tour really held the girls' attention.  Grace told me that this was her kind of history and good for the imagination.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but here are some of the ornate rooms we saw.

In front of "Le Palais du Prince" after our tour inside.

Just before catching the bus to head back down to the train station, we took a quick, quiet rest in the "Chapel of Mercy" that dates back to 1639.

Our first out of town field trip of our school year was a success.

Les pâtisseries, la poterie et les pointes

Pastries, pottery and pointe shoes made for some very pleasant moments over the past few days.

First of all, not far up the street from the "chocolate cave" establishment, there is a bakery (this, in fact, is true no matter in which direction you choose to walk).  But this particular bakery had the girls, once again, stopped in their tracks.  It was the dainty pastries and the writing on the sign that grabbed their attention.

There was no doubt among the four of us that our family could, without much hardship, polish off eleven of these tasty looking treats.  But, trying to impart some sense of moderation to my children, I told them that we should hold off on this "eleven for €10" deal until we had some friends to bring on in to the sampling party.

Well, guess what?  We had our first visitors!  Some friends from Nova Scotia, who had just finished some interesting travels around France, jumped on a train to Antibes from their last stop at Nice, and joined us for a picnic and some play time at our beach.  I had no argument now against buying a box full of pastries.

Grace and Lily brought our young guest, Emily, down the street to this window and, between the three of them, they made some tricky decisions on what eleven to chose.  We did eat more than just pastries for lunch, but this is what dessert time looked like at the beach:

A little jumbly from the walk in the beach bag, but here's the selection the girls chose.   

They disappeared very quickly.  That was the evidence Grace needed to suggest we should have doubled the order and bought twenty-two for €20.  Clearly, in her mind, when it comes to French pastries, moderation really has no place.  She maybe had a point.  I could have stood to sample a few more.

Lily, Grace and one of Lily's Guiping sisters, Emily, at "la plage de la Gravette".

 

This weekend, Antibes organized its third annual "Marché Potiers" on the Esplanade Pré des Pêcheurs.  The girls really enjoyed getting an introductory lesson on a pottery wheel.  I enjoyed the sunshine and browsing around the stalls.  I couldn't resist buying a bowl.

 

And finally, last Friday we had a fun outing.  The first, and most important, stop was to get Lily her first pair of pointe shoes.  She was thrilled.

Second stop was a French salon for haircuts for the girls.  The hairdressers were so kind to them, it made for a fun experience.  In the meantime, Barry and I were able to head down the street for a quiet coffee.

Loving the new haircuts

Rue Fourmillière

 

 

Before heading back to some schoolwork, the girls picked up a Bubble Tea, french style.  A little different than they are used to back home, but still delicious.

Wishing you all some pleasant moments in the week ahead.

Sup Yo Dude!

There's a certain type of dreaming that occurs, at least for me, on a red eye flight.  And, of course, I'm not referring to the high quality R.E.M., blissful dreaming of the truly comfortable.  No, it's more the "day"dreams of a restless, groggy economy class traveller with a child sleeping on her (and in this case, not even her own child) with visions of a business-class Air Canada pod bed dancing in her head.

I don't think I'll ever love flying and we are lucky to be able to fly at all as a family and visit interesting places and wonderful people, but flying first class has got to make the red-eye less painful.

Less than pleasant travel moments are also conducive to imaginings of booking places to stay without a thought to a budget:  desirable locations, super comfy beds and pillows, a little extra room for nine pieces of luggage, a yacht with two helicopter pads for Lily...you get the idea.  But then, if you really could travel like Beyonce, your children would never be inspired by the Olympics to invent the "Medals for the Dodgiest Accommodation" game.

I thought I would share stories from the Silver and Gold winners, as awarded by the judges Grace and Lily.  Up first, the silver medal that went to a north end Halifax, Canada apartment.

This apartment could have very well pulled out a gold medal finish if it was judged solely on our arrival night.  We had been so looking forward to spending four nights with a whole apartment to ourselves and our baggage, and I think that anticipation made our first impressions all the more disappointing.  We were clearly not in the best part of town, and arriving after dark likely amplified our misgivings.  There was garbage and a random pair of high heels littering the lawn, and some tags on the side of the house, as you can see from these photos taken the next morning.

 
Our Halifax friends later told us that they had been a bit surprised with the area we had chosen to stay in, but had figured we had just wanted to experience the "real Halifax".

From the moment we pulled up, Lily was imploring us to take money out of her bank account and take her to a hotel room.  On entering the apartment, I was simultaneously trying to calm the girls down and trying to handle my own qualms about the dirty bathtub and stained pull-out couch the girls were to sleep on.  I also quickly closed the door to the "junk" room.

Thank goodness for the great distraction of Olympic swimming!  The girls had just settled down with the T.V. and I was enjoying some quiet, alone time out in the kitchen (a rarity with hotel living), when there was a very close and very loud bang.  I was startled and let out a scream, which started the girls screaming.  All three came rushing to join me in the kitchen.  Both girls were convinced it was a gunshot.   Barry tried to reassure all of us that it was just a car backfiring.  I agreed because I had no other explanation that wouldn't further terrify the girls, but kept giving him the hairy eyeball when the girls weren't looking that said "That was so not a car backfiring!".

By this time it was close to eleven p.m. and we found ourselves trying to now convince both girls (and a bit myself!), that we were safe in the apartment and that we wouldn't be leaving to get a hotel room  We had had some recent heart felt conversations about keeping as safe as possible while travelling, and it was difficult to see them so scared.

Then things got weirder.  I noticed a pool of dark maroon liquid that appeared to be coming from the fridge.  Lily had been keeping a very close eye on me, and when her eyes saw what I was looking at, she became hysterical.  In her mind, there was only one possible link between the bang and the liquid and it was a scary one.

I was about to capitulate.  I felt not even Penny Oleksiak could help us now.  I was about to leave Barry in his "reasonably priced" apartment and get us three to a hotel room.

Barry had two girls wrapped around him and so, before making any final decisions, I ventured forth to take a closer look.

Ahha!  The dark liquid was not coming from the fridge, but from a high cupboard to the left of it.  I opened it and discovered....

a bottle of blueberry juice had exploded.

Well, that explained everything!

Both girls needed a parent with them before falling asleep, but sleep they did.  And, the apartment and area, well, it seemed a whole lot safer to them in daylight.  In fact, some of the writing on the wall has become a go-to family tag line.

   
The rest of our Halifax time was nothing but fun and rewarding!

With the mystery of the "exploding blueberry juice" solved, we could enjoy ourselves on Halifax's Citadel Hill.

The Dilbar

The name "Dilbar" will always be linked with arrival week in Antibes for these four Canadians.

The city of Antibes traces its name back to the 4th century BCE, when the Phoceans, Greek colonists from the present city of Marseilles, arrived here to set up a base for their trade routes.   "Antipolis" means "town on the opposite side" referring to Antibes' location opposite Nice (originally "Nikaia" from the Greek goddess of victory, Nike) in the Baie of Anges.

Looking across the Bay of Angels to Nice from Antibes.  I knew we were close to Nice, but didn't expect it to appear so close.

This bay and Antibes' harbour have witnessed the arrival of the Romans, the departure of crusader ships in the 11th century, and the naval base for King Louis the 14th in the 18th century, just to name a few historical notes from these waters.  

It's fascinating to look over this stretch of water and contemplate the centuries of seafaring history and amazing facts and the human experiences that were part of it all:  so much history lost to us now.

However, one piece of history we were here to witness was..... the arrival of the "Dilbar".

Below is a photo that the girls took of Port Vauban and its large boats from their first night ferris wheel perch.  They both quickly became  interested in the yachts that were moored below. 

The quay alongside the largest yachts has the official name "Le Quai Camille Rayon".  It is better known, however, as "Le Quai des Milliardaires" or "Billionaire's Quay".

A few mornings later, while taking a break from our morning math studies, we wandered down to the sea for a break and the girls were stopped in their tracks with the sight of this giant that dwarfed the 60 metre yachts beside it.

Even as new yacht watchers, we knew that what we were looking at was no ordinary multi-millionaire's yacht.  In fact, the girls were convinced it had to be a super, fancy, modern cruise ship.  I jumped at their genuine interest in this boat, told them to note the name of it and we headed back to do some research and write a paragraph on this boat, the "Dilbar".

It turns out the Dilbar is no cruise ship but, in fact, a 157 metre yacht among yachts.  The Dilbar traces its name back to the mother of Alisher Usmanov, the multi-billionaire Russian who owns this vessel worth some $600, 000, 000!  Some more facts the girls discovered are; it is considered the largest yacht in the world (measured by volume), has 20 rooms for 40 guests, 35 rooms for 80 crew members and boasts two helicopter pads.  Alisher doesn't even need to leave his boat to mingle with the other billionaires using the on site helicopter pad located alongside the Billionaire's Quay.

I knew this coast of  France had a higher percentage of wealthy visitors (we knew it wasn't foreign teachers on a sabbatical year buying the €15 mangoes at the marché provençal), but I didn't realize the port in Antibes is the largest marine harbour in the Mediterranean Sea, with the highly sought after berths selling for millions of euros.  Needless to say, the Dilbar has sparked numerous interesting conversational tangents in our house. 

Lily thinks to travel in, her words, "moving luxury" would be fantastic.  I told her chocolate mousse in a chocolate cave we can deliver on, travelling by any-sized yacht, not so much.

In any case, Lily and Grace will be able to tell their grandchildren that they arrived in Antibes along with the Dilbar.

La Rentrée

We no doubt have left our British Columbia, backyard wildlife far behind,  however, we were most surprised to have some local Antibes wildlife visit us our very first morning in our apartement.  Through two large windows opened wide to allow the early morning air in, what should blow on in with the breeze, but a pigeon.  She settled in on our couch for a bit, but with some coaxing from Barry eventually made it to the floor by the window  She was clearly in no rush to leave.

Eventually she did fly back out just before the girls were up.  Every pigeon they now see they ask us if it was the one that flew in to hang out on our couch.

"Pigeon Day" fell on Tuesday, September 6th, or better known as "La Rentrée" or "Back to School" to friends and family back in British Columbia.  For the past few days, we had been reminiscing about our last back to school experience in France, when we all had one of the most memorable "rentrées" of our lives.  I remember very clearly walking two brave, but very nervous, daughters to their Maternelle (Kindergarten)  and CE1 (Grade 2) year in French public school in Avignon, as Barry and I headed back as full time french language students at the University of Avignon .  It ended up being a very good schooling experience for us all, but there were some challenges to overcome that month!

La rentrée 2010 in Avignon

 

This time we decided to change things up  and, as Barry calls it, take the girls "off grid" and not enroll them in any school.  Their education this year will come from what Barry and I can teach them and, we hope, from new experiences and travel. 

So, after clearing the school room of flying interlopers, we started the girls on their first math lesson of the year.  Lily got started on her Grade 6 curriculum and Grace and I both headed into new territory with Grade 8 math. 
 

A much happier Lily starting off this school year in France.

We all headed out after math class in search for some school supplies and to explore our town beyond the chocolate shop!  We found a Chinese Restaurant just a tad further down the road where the girls had their first steamed bun fix in a long time.  We wandered into a bustling "librairie", or bookstore, where the girls both picked out a french novel to read.  They also checked off a return to France must:  the purchase of chocolate covered almonds made to look like olives.

Steamed buns and a coke:  first day celebration lunch.

Chocolate olives found, bought and eaten:  check.

Back in the apartment, the girls enjoyed organizing the new supplies in their "lockers" while they made some jokes about their new history/book obsessed teacher, Ms. Avery, and how rough it must be for her own children to hang out with her on holiday, because she would have to read every single historical marker.  It was hilarious.

"Lockers" are organized.

"La rentrée" 2010 was special and memorable, but "la rentrée" 2016 was, without a doubt, the least stressful in my decades of heading back to the books as both a student and a teacher.  

A stroll to the beach seemed the best way to bring it to a close.

La Plage de la Gravette quiet and calm in the evening.

 

The Forty-Seven Day Journey

Yesterday, after a 47 day voyage that included:  four flights, three different rental cars with which we covered approximately 4500 km of road distance, 2 train voyages, and overnight stopovers in 22 different cities spread over 5 Canadian provinces and 5 countries, we finally arrived at our rental apartment in the city of Antibes, on the Côte d'Azur.

 

Lily thought it was a very good sign that there was an owl at the bottom of our building's stairwell.

We were all so ready to unpack our bags and set up a base, but Lily beat us all to the punch as she had her bed set up within minutes!

Our apartment building is located in what is called "le vieil Antibes", or the old town of Antibes, on a street for pedestrians only.   We were very excited to check out our new neighbourhood and headed out soon after Lily had her stuffies all in a row.  The first exciting discovery was a dance studio on our quiet street, a mere "70 Grace steps" away (yes, she counted).  The girls will be trying out their first classes there this afternoon! 

The view down our little road with the dance studio just past the open door on the right.

The second discovery was just around the corner:  a chocolate/pastry/macaroon shop!  Anyone who knows Lily won't be surprised to learn that our walking tour came to it's abrupt end here.  We celebrated our Antibes arrival with a chocolate mousse for Lily, 2 vanilla macaroons for Grace, and coffees for Barry and me, which we enjoyed in the shop's "la grotte en chocolat".  It sure smelt like chocolate as we entered the small brown alcove, but couldn't quite trust what we were smelling until we saw the sign asking patrons not to taste the walls!  Later, I read that Jean Luc Pelé was inspired by the world of Tim Burton films to do something unique with the little corridor that was part of the new shop location in Antibes and so he decided to create a space for customers with an "edible tapestry". Of course, the room must be kept at a precise temperature and humidity so that the walls don't melt.

Notice how the passerby on the right can barely steal his eyes away from the display window.

Welcome to the Chocolate Cave.

After dinner we walked down to the Mediterranean.  While the girls are now too old for the carousels they used to love that are found in many main squares here in France, there were no arguments about them ending their day on a ferris wheel set up beside Port Vauban, the yacht marina here in Antibes.

So, all in all very positive first impressions and bags are, for the moment, unpacked.