9/1/09 - Provence - Cote d'Azure A long driving day today to get from the Italian Coast to Provence, France. We took the high road which overlooks all of the ocean towns. Great views without having to deal with the traffic. We went by Portofino, Genova, and San Remo before entering the French Riviera. Each town trumped the other one in beauty. In France we overlooked Monte Carlo, Monaco, Nice and Cannes. We have both been to these places so we just wanted to get to Provence. We entered a region called Verdon which was called the Grand Canyon of France. [View Full Entry]

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Has been a while since I last updated. Sat here thinking where have we been?! Briefly visited the Camargue-white horses,flat land and flamingos. Headed for the coast next. Friends from home were holidaying in the south at Calalivere-Sur-Mer. Amelia and Marshall were both excited to meet up with friends from school. The drive there was to be a long one but the route we ended on was unexpected. We took a wrong turn and Sean recalculated and took us on the road La Mole. All the way up a mountain and down the other side! Double switch back bends with no [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 18 April When we took a walk around our “block”, we noticed this; Sixten’s got a home! And a bed as well. We got really warm in our hearts and felt a lot better about leaving him. After all, we are heading north any day now. And Sixten will be staying in lovely Bonson, and enjoy his comfortable bed. Puh! What a relief! Yesterday we went to Carrefour and bought 40 bottles of “The Best of France”, according to us; bordeaux, champagne, rose, calvados. We put it in towels and sheets and stuffed it in every corner of the trunk… [View Full Entry]

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Friday 17 April We’ve had a couple of great days with our dear friends K and P. They arrived, in a rental car from Rome, a wet day, and left us on a wet day, but the three days in between was great. Sun and like 20 degrees. I finally got the opportunity to take a dip in the sea. It was really nice. Not exactly warm, but definitely warmer than Kivik in July 2007… And K and P didn’t just provide us with a great present (tickets to a summer concert with Thåström/Ternheim for the four of us), singing and [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 12 April Yesterday we got a visitor. Gustav. A member of the frog choir. We didn’t actually hear Gustav sing, he was quiet like a mouse. But his pals sang with strong voices. Just before we met Gustav we took a walk in the neighborhood, and noticed that the Mediatheque was open. We popped in and said bonsoir to the 5-6 people gathered in the tiny library. The librarian looked terrified and told us quickly “I don’t speak English”. I offered my usual: “Je ne parle francais”. And that could have been the end of the conversation in the Mediathequ [View Full Entry]

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Friday 10 April Every night when you go out on the porch, it sounds like in the movie above. It seems to be coming from the parking lot on the other side of the olive grooves. What it is? Give us a clue. Birds? Frogs? When we try to get close to them, they silence. Don’t know if it’s because they really silence or if there is an acoustic phenomenon which makes the sound harder to hear from the place where it seems to come from. This morning was special. I woke up at 8 (!) and couldn’t resist going down [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 7 April Our beloved parents arrived Sunday morning in nice weather, which became even better the day after. Good to see the ol’ folks again! We made lunch and dinner for them and celebrated their presence with champagne on the porch (what else?), between the old-timers occasionally naps… (Alright, they got up at three in the morning, so it’s nothing much to say about that…). Monday was walking the village and shopping at Nathalie’s. After lunch some clouds turned up, and we decided to head for Nice and maybe the Matisse Museum. But when we got to [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 4 April We’re having breakfast on the porch and are enjoying the sun again. Feels really nice. Yesterday we cleaned the house and washed all sheets and towels for our new guests who will arrive tomorrow. It will be great to see you, m and p and MiL! And to Little K I will add that Sixten is back again. And he seems to be in a good spirit as well. K and Sixten formed a little yoga class here on the terrace yesterday and went through all the exercises together. And I’ve got a new chapter written on my [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 2 April Time to say good bye to M, P and Little K. It was good to have you here! Rain all the way to the airport. Hope the sun is all over Strängnäs by now! We had the idea of doing some tourism after we’d left the airport “Nice Cote d'Azur”. Tried to reach Cagnes de Mer and Antibes, but the rain was pouring down so heavy we didn’t even see the Sea. And then we took a couple of wrong turns, so we ended up in Vence instead. A medieval town that is on all of the top-ten-lists [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 1 April The sun is doing it best to get through the clouds even this morning. So breakfast outside it is - with a sweater on. Yesterday we went to the supermarket Carrefour and M and P did the shopping. Thanks! Super big shrimps with Champagne, the real deal, before dinner that night! K and I tried once more to reach the goal of my dreams, Plan du Var, but weren’t successful this time either. The path ended at an abandoned house, and we couldn’t get all the way down to the river. But we were able to snatch a [View Full Entry]

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