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Published: October 11th 2005
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View from Cindy's house
I can't tell you how lucky we are to have stayed with Cindy and Alain. They have a beautiful Villa style house up on the hill overlooking the bay of Theoule. Each morning we woke up to find ourselves in heaven and couldn't believe our good luck! Bonjour Tout le Monde!
Testing, testing. How do we like the new travel blog concept? I think this will be easier for me to use than the mass e-mail list. This way I don’t feel like I am imposing my life on you all, but at the same time you can check out what I am up to. Hopefully it will also make me feel more comfortable blabbering on about what is going on for me ... so just check out my site when you feel like seeing what Winnie is up to!
I start classes this week. Up until now I have been taking a French grammar course that was from 2 - 5 PM. The past week I had no class and so I took a trip down to the south of France. My Dad’s cousin Cindy Janet and her family, who live in Theoule-sur-Mer on the Côte d’Azure, where kind enough to let me and my friend Katie stay at their house for the entire week. For those of you who don’t know, Cindy is married to a French husband and has 2 children, Dylan who is 17, and Alysse who is 20. Cindy showed
Regatta near Cannes
Our first day in Theoule we went out boating with Cindy and Alain to see the Regatta that was coming into Cannes. me a picture of Alysse and I just after Alysse was born, being 3 months older than her I look like a dandelion headed giant compared to the bald and much smaller Alysse. Now, she is taller than me and can speak perfect French and English, so I feel that she has upped me somehow, but because she is so nice I let it fly 😊
Despite the picture of us together, I have no memory of ever meeting Alysse or any of the Janets. Thanks to their extra room, the “family dinners” together, their advice on where to go in the Côte d’ Azure, and all the rides we hitched with them to different towns the trip was an astounding success on a fairly low budget. So just a message to everyone out there, housing student travelers makes their trip really terrific and comfortable; otherwise they might be sleeping on a hard, bug infested bed. I am sure it also gives the host family lots and lots of good Karma!
A few descriptions of the Côte d’Azure for potential visitors.
Scraggly bushes scattered over reddish rocky earth. Most of the coastline rises abruptly up
Kt
This is my dear friend miss Katie Fox, excellent travel partner, chef, and knitting diva. She hails from Colorado, goes to University of Colorado at Boulder, and spends her summers sailing in Main. Between her sailing knowledge and being a Co. resident she had a lot in common with cousin Cindy! from the sea into these hills covered in the houses, rocks, and trees. In the distance to the east you can see the sparklingly blue Alps creating this great contrast between the sea, the desert like terrain, and the incredible mountains.
Lots of tourists clamber through some of the more touristy towns all across the Côte d’Azure. Monaco was the only town that lost its charm as a result of tourists. I was actually kind of disgusted by Monaco and would not recommend it to anyone, although I did not get the chance to see Monte Carlo. It is a .7 something square mile of condos that never seem to end.
I would however recommend visiting Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, Nice, and St. Tropez. We went when a sailing Regatta was coming through both Cannes and St. Tropez. In Saint Tropez there were lots of families there, ice cream in hand, watching these magnificent ships sail into the port. Later in the evening live music serenaded the sailors while they made merry after a long day of sailing, drank, and played the game “Boules” despite the rain. I have decided that I want to crew on
Alysse, me, Kt
This is not the outfits we worked on all evening ... this is right before going to a cool rock bar in Nice a sailing boat, it looks like a great time between the sun, the water, and the friends you make on the ship! Also, Cindy and Alain are big sailors and all their stories of traveling around the world by boat got my adventure bug going.
Katie and I only spent one day in Nice but I wish we could have stayed there longer. The Musée Chagall in Nice is incredible. It is very small, but one room houses about 19 of Chagall’s paintings on the Old Testament. Each painting has a rainbow of colors, and seeing them all react together in the same room is really moving. The exhibit hall reminded me of Linden Hall and other “Waldorfian” (I know there is a better term for this but can’t think of it at the moment) architecture, so I think it also made me feel at home in the space. This is my favorite Museum experience thus far in France and in the States.
In Nice we also got to check out some of the hot night life thanks to Alysse. I only saw the old town of Nice at night, and supposedly this is the best time to
visit when you can’t see the decrepitating buildings. I love feeling like you are “in the know” when you travel, so this was really fun to go to the hot spots with her. Katie and I brought no clothes to go out in, so Alysse helped us get ready. This was a really fun experience. Even though we had just met her a few hours before she started to through all sorts of things our way, shirts, pants, bras, roommates clothes, jewelry, makeup, the whole 9 yards. I felt like I was in seventh grade again spending the night at Georgia’s house with all my girlfriends when we would have our huge dress up parties (meaning we try on everything Georgia or whoever owned hoping to get to go out that night) Well, now being 21 I do get to go out! And after trying on a skirt that I wouldn’t be able to bend down in, Alysse “dressed” me in jeans and converse and a tank top. Funny thing is we were going through this whole process because she had said that you couldn’t wear jeans or sneakers to this bar. BUT apparently they make exceptions for certain BRANDS
Cindy and Me
Cindy had Wednesday off of work, so she drove us into St. Paul and went to the Meaght Foundation with us (a modern art museum) of jeans and sneakers! Well, I was to not have to expose myself all night in that little skirt, and so didn’t question the ethics of this brand discrimination.
Alright, that is all for now. Keep me updated with all of your lives as well. Even when I don’t respond right away I love hearing from everyone! Tell me how you like this blog or if you prefer the e-mails.
Ciao, Winnie
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