Our last gasp of provencal air...

Well after a stunning few days on the Mediterranean we are back in Lourmarin for some final joy before heading off to Italy. It is wonderful to be back at the homestead for a few days. This place is so special to us. We are convinced we will be back again!

We got back on Sunday and have been swimming a lot to keep the heat at bay. It is very hot here now -- 33 degrees Celsius . . . but it is a lovely dry heat. We are lapping it up. It is amazing to see how the landscape has changed since we first arrived here in Provence. Gone are the brilliant greens and the early spring flowers. We are now in the time of harvest bounty -- berries, fresh fruit and produce are everywhere. Meanwhile, the fields are bursting with Lavender and Sunflowers. Here is a mix of raspberries, black currants, and blackberries that made it to our plates!
This pool belongs to our neighbour Phillipe. He has been very kind and lets us swim there to cool off. Set in the vineyards with the mountains as a backdrop, it is very nice!
Here is Pippin on one of her favourite local donkeys. They belong to an elderly couple (the sister of the family who we are renting the house from).
Today we went in search of Lavender fields. This is a local monastry that is known for its Lavender. Absolutely stunning! . . . and the fragrance!!!!
Our lovely, eccentric neighbour, Marie-Christian hanging out with the kids in her garden.
Well this is a very short entry. We just wanted to touch base before we head for Italia.
Take care all!

Until next time

Ronato, Skye, Kai and Pippin

Ramatuelle Reunion

We have landed in Paradise again. There is something about Provence that just makes us feel like we have come home. The sun, the dry hot days, the fabulous light, the medieval villages, the food, the swimming . . . Wow!

On Monday we drove to Lourmarin for one night en route to Ramatuelle. Ramatuelle is the hilltop village we would be staying in just above St. Tropez, on the Mediterranean. We had a slightly difficult night in Lourmarin, however, because we had not been given the right keys and could only get into one room with the result that we had no kitchen or refrigerator for all our food. vLuckily we had beds and a bathroom, so at least we were able to have a good night's sleep. It was too late to go get food elsewhere, so we opted for breakfast cereal on the floor of the bedroom which was a real hit with the kids after a really long drive (not!)

On Tuesday, we began our day with new found energy and drove down to the Mediterranean. The drive was stunning! After about a three hour drive we made it to Ramatuelle (seen below in the picture) and met up with Waneta. This has been a fantastic turn of events -- for Skye to have five days with one of her best friends in such an amazing place as the South of France.
The amazing thing is how this all came about. I am going to have to be cryptic here for reasons of privacy but it will be fun to have you all guess the identities of our sponsors. Waneta was flown here and treated to a holiday by a very good friend who is a big celebrity (currently acting on one of the most popular TV shows). They went to acting school together and have continued to be best friends over the years. This actor had to fly back to New York for some filming which enabled us to come and stay with Waneta while she is away. She is due to return on Sunday by which time we will be off back to Lourmarin.
The other amazing thing that happened is to find out whose home we are staying in here in Ramatuelle. Again, for reasons of privacy I am not going to reveal his identity but this actor was huge in a 1970's sitcom that we all watched. He was the height of cool in his day. See if you can guess based on the pictures of his place. Might be a tough one, but someone out there will get it. I will happily reveal details in a private email. All said and done it has been fun for us all to flirt with a little bit of fame. The house is filled with fabulous art and photo's of all kinds of celebrities. Ooooooh!
The bulk of our time here has been spent hitting the fabulous beaches in the region. Thanks to Waneta doing some sleuthing we were able to find a very quiet, stunning little beach with fantastic swimming and incredible views. It really reminds me of Lundudno (sp?) in Cape Town, except the water is much warmer. The kids have been swimming for hours everyday and having an absolute blast.
Waneta is all about having a good time and her energy has been infectious for the kids. There has been lots of laughter and telling of goofy stories. She is quite the entertainer.
Here is something we have not done before - a little video link! Here we are on the beach. Enjoy my lovely gut displaying all the fine pastries and cheese France has had for the offering. As we say: I have a "washboard made for fine silks"!

Pippin is the original water baby. She will literally stay in the water for the entire four hour beach visit.

Kai in the meantime will be interspersing his water fun with rock and stick hunting - a past time he has enjoyed since he was a toddler.

We have all completely embraced the beach culture while we have been here: reading, sunning, swimming, playing beach bats, riding waves, napping . . . it has been blissful! We have actually decided that for the rest of our time here in Europe (only one month left) we are going to make daily swimming a priority.
We have shared some great meals together while we have been here. One of the local delights in Provence are the Rose wines. They are light and fruity - kind of like "drinking summer in a glass." We have even treated ourselves to the occasional meal out especially since our accommodation has been free.
Yesterday we went to the very famous St. Tropez for a morning walk about. We were pleasantly surprised by the feel of the village. A gorgeous old village with a serious Gucci factor. In fact it felt like the streets were paved in gold!
There is wealth and then there is wealth. The money in St. Tropez is not the kind of wealth we have ever been exposed to. We are talking MEGA bucks. Multi-million dollar boats and properties are everywhere and the locals wear nothing but high end designer clothes and higher than high heels. Even the parking parkade looked like it was fine enough to live in!
Some lovely local flavour was evident. Lovely French accordion being played amongst the stunning blue skies, the colourful flowers and the great people watching opportunities.
One unfortunate event that did cloud our time here is that our car got broken into on one of our beach days. The f...ckers literally pulled out the entire window from the car. Luckily we have been on top of things and left no valuables in the car. The hassle of finding garages and dealing with insurance has, however, been a drag. We have refused to let it dampen our moods and fun!
May the culprits rot in hell!

We will leave you with a lovely picture showing the fine time being had by all.
Until next time . . .

Ronato, Skye, Kai & Pippin

Moving along to the Cote D' Azur

The last three weeks have absolutely flown by once again, and it is time to move on to some new adventures. Come tomorrow, we have arranged to go back to Provence for another week and a half. We will start by visiting a good childhood friend of Skye's (Waneta) who is staying in a very up-market village called Ramatuelle -- it is very close to St. Tropez. She has very kindly invited us to come and stay with her for a few days since our plan for her to come our way did not really pan out. It is going to be fun to be close to the Mediterranean to have some beach time with the kids. This is especially true since the weather here has been a little unpredictable for the last few weeks and we are ready for some even heat in a place we can swim. It will also be interesting to take in the French Riviera, since none of us have ever spent much time right on the Mediterranean.

After the time with Waneta, we will be going back to the same place in Lourmarin for about six days. We loved the Luberon Valley so much that we felt we needed a bit more time there before heading to Italy.

Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to John and Bay tomorrow. They are heading to Sweden to visit some good friends for the last two weeks of their European stay. It has been great having relaxing time away from our respective homes and being on this amazing journey together. The kids have loved having this family time after all these months away. Just last night, Pippin said, "We never get to see Grannie and Grandpa this much. It's nice!" We will be seeing John and Bay again in the Kootenays in a little over a month from now when we head up for annual summer stint. Some traditions just cannot be missed.
So what follows is just a quick recap of what we have been up to since our last blog entry. As shown by John here, there has been lots of "kicking back" at the old homestead, enjoying the lovely vistas from our farm house. When the sun is out, the views and light across the valley are very beautiful.
The Dordogne Valley has offered some great trips for us during our time here. There are all these amazing castles tucked along its bank from the 100 year war between the English and the French. We have gone on drives up and down the river, checking out the local villages and we have also gone into lots of old Medieval buildings. This picture above is at the Chateau Beynac, held by the French during the 100 year war -- it is directly across from another castle across the Dordogne river that was held by the British. We saw it on a wet, muggy day but somehow it added to its ambiance. It was the most authentic, semi-furnished castle we have seen in our time here in Europe, and we all felt as though we could "see" all of the soldiers and inhabitants wandering about, in our mind's eye.
We have had the pleasure of getting to know our neighbour while we were here. His name is Guy and he is from this region of France. His English is limited but we have all done very well in overcoming the language barrier. Having the kids speak French has helped and Skye has really needed to dig deep to access that high school French from her past -- it is amazing what is still there and also not there!
Guy invited us on an outing one day and so we agreed we would follow his car -- not really knowing what he had in stock for us. It turned out that he had a good friend who is French but who lives half the year in the USA, and he wanted us to meet her. Eveline's English was very good, and it allowed us all to get much more out of our communications. We met Eveline at a home that Guy is managing for a really rich Dutch family in the local area. It was quite the place, but I have agreed not to put pictures of it on the blog for privacy reasons. Let's just say that this family travels in circles that we have never and will probably never be a part of . . .
Apparently they usually come to their home three times a year for a holiday and they fly in by helicopter! When they are here they even go to various restaurants in the region by helicopter. Needless to say -- they are loaded! It was fun to get a tour of the property and to see all the luxurious furnishings, etc. Guy put out quite the spread for us on the terrace and we were drinking good local wine by 11 in the morning. It was lots of fun!
Above is the tree house built for the grand kids of the Dutch family. It was decked out and Kai and Pippin had a blast. Kerry Sears -- we thought this tree house project would be a great addition to your place on Denman, and thought that its design was right up your alley!
That evening Eveline invited us all over for aperitifs at her place which is further down the valley. She has an amazing acreage above the Lot River with a deck that looks out over the entire valley. We went expecting a few snacks and drinks but it turned out to be a five course meal. It was fabulous! It began with Kir Royale which is Cassis liqueur with Champagne. Very tasty! Eveline turned out to be a lovely woman with all kinds of rich tales to tell. It was Jill's last night before she returned to Canada, so it was nice to do something so celebratory before she left.
Here we all are enjoying the spread put on by Eveline (with Guy's help).
This is Guy's dog Mulan. A great big gente Alaskan Malamute. He seems more like a bear than a dog, and he provided some fun times for the kids.
Well, we could fill in lots more about all the touristy adventures we have been on but we will end with these pictures of some local buildings in one of the villages along the Lot River. There are a lot of turrets and old stone dwellings in these parts.
So until next time from the Cote D' Azur . . .

Skye, Ronato, Kai and Pippin

Settling in . . .

The last week or so has been a little period of adjustment for all of us, with both some highs and some lows. It is amazing how weather can affect our moods. After Nancy, Ken, and Sandra left, we had a shift to some cool, stormy and very windy days which made us all less inclined to be outside on the glorious veranda. It left us all feeling a little out of sorts. Then in the last few days, the weather bounced back and it was like " a cloud had lifted" (figuratively and literally).

Despite the inclement weather, it did not stop us from going on outings and we have seen a lot in this Lot Region over the past week. It is an area offering lots of variety, with villages, towns and cities of significant historical age and interest. It has been a very interesting contrast for us after spending the prior month in Provence. It is much more of an Atlantic weather pattern here, compared with the dry Mediterranean feel of Provence. It actually makes this area feel a little more like northern Europe. The air is so much more humid and the countryside is much greener due to the wetter climate. We are talking every shade and hue of green you can imagine. For some it can seem a little monotonous, for others lushly verdant.

The style of architecture also evokes a very different mood. There are still the medieval villages dotted throughout the landscape but the materials they use tends to be grey in tone compared to the bright colours of Provence. For example, the roofs here are typically made from slate as opposed to the terracotta tile used in Provence. In a weird way it almost feels more austere in a religious kind of a way. It is easy to think about the power of the church in these regions and how communities lived under the Catholic Church's shadow. Of course, Provence also has churches dominating all the town centres, but somehow it does not feel as oppressive. It makes sense that the British love this Lot and Dordogne region so much because in many ways it feels more like rural England, except that the climate is little more forgiving (well . . . at least warmer.)

We are not meaning to sound negative because we are enjoying the different things this area has to offer. The truth is that we are just heat seekers and as a result the Mediterranean regions draw us a little bit more. It makes sense given that we live in Canada. Give us sun anytime, anywhere!
Of course, looking at all the pictures it may seem like a very subtle difference. The landscapes continue to be stunning and the food speaks of everything good that France has to offer. In fact, this region is said to be one of France's richest in terms of gastronomy. Excellent wines, cheeses, nuts, fruits and for the more adventurous there is the local Foie Gras speciality (seen by some as barbaric given the way in which it is created.) For those of you who do not know what Foie Gras is, it is either duck or goose liver that has been sent into "fat overload" by force feeding the unlucky fowl to whom it belongs. Then, of course, once the animal has been sufficiently over-stuffed, it is killed for its 'delectable,' fatty organ and for its fat (another delicacy.) So that is the shortened version anyway. As we mentioned in an earlier entry, we (not Ronato) did get a chance to try this regional delicacy when we were in Paris, and while we totally appreciated the opportunity at the time (you know "when in Rome . . . "), it's probably the only time we will partake in this 'treat' while we are here.

We have been trying to balance our time here between having some 'down time' (we know this sounds ridiculous coming from a family who has been 'off' for the past six months) at the farm where we are staying and seeing what the area has to offer in the way of sights. We usually alternate between doing something locally and then heading off a little further afield. There are things to do and places to see in all directions, though it almost always involves getting in the car to get there as we are living in a rather remote location, it turns out.

Below is a picture of a very picturesque little village called St. Cirq Lapopie. This little medieval village occupies a high cliff above the Lot River about 30km south of where we are staying. It was the sort of village where you could still imagine medieval people living in the houses and living their lives there -- in your mind's eye you could imagine seeing the villagers talking to each other from their doorways or windows across the narrow lane, throwing their refuse out the window into the street, congregating at the church, etc. Despite its beauty, it also has a dark, rather foreboding feeling. Nothing that a nicely flavoured creme glace couldn't dispel, though!
Below is a view of the Lot River taken from the crumbling ramparts of some old castle in the town.
The funny thing about St. Cirq Lapopie was that despite the blue skies in these pictures, it didn't feel like a sunny day -- the narrow alleys and close proximity of most of the buildings seemed to cut out the light and added to the gloomy medieval feel.
Seeing that it was going to continue raining for some days, we decided that we needed to choose some sights that wouldn't really be affected by the weather. This whole area has a number of sights with evidence of human habitation from Paleolithic and Neolithic times. One of these famous sights is the Grotte du Pech-Merle, which is about 30km from our farm. The Grotte du Pech-Merle is an underground cave that is as spectacular for its calcium carbonite stalactite and stalagmite formations as it is for its ancient art. We had no idea what to expect when we went, and it ended up being a real highlight. The visit involved descending down into this unbelievable cave with crazy different moonscapes. This site allows a limited number of people per day to see the sight, and as a visitor, one is required to go into the cave with a guide (groups range in size from 15 - 20 people). The tour started with an explanation of the site and its discovery, all in French (!), and then we got taken through a heavy door and down, down, down some steep stairs and into the first chamber of the cave.
At first it just felt like a deep cave, but after being led into the next chamber we all felt like we had entered a different world. The ceilings dripped with enormous, oozy-looking stalactites, and the floors were covered with equally huge stalagmites. There were crystal formations all over the place, and then on various walls there were large frescoes of ancient art depicting herds of Aurochs (an ancient bull type creature), Mammoth, and other animals. It was all really quite amazing, despite not being able to understand much from our guide. It didn't really matter that we couldn't understand the guide, the cave and its art spoke for itself. There were some really spectacular paintings -- very realistic in their shapes and very imaginative in their design and execution -- the piece de la resistance was the two spotted horses (sorry it is a little blurry.)
After an outing day, it was time for a home day filled with some schooling and then a long-promised "Polka Dot Shoppe" session. Polka Dot Shoppe is make-up play, something that goes way back to Skye's youth and to her "Auntie" Diana's Polka Dot Shoppe sessions with 'the girls.' Pippin had been hankering to get into Skye's make-up for awhile, so on this rainy day, we decided to let her go for it. From the picture below, it is hard to see the crazy end-result, but we sure had a lot of fun with it.
After having checked out the southern Lot Valley for a number of days we finally decided to head north to the Dordogne region. We quickly fell back onto our old bicycle route (from a decade before), and kept arriving in areas and villages whose sights quickly snapped back into our heads. Below is a funny poster we saw in one of the villages that had John, Pippin, and Kai in stitches -- they all thought it was bizarrely funny and over the top.
We made our way through Loubressac on towards Carennac. On our way between the two, we decided to veer off to check it out some amazing old houses . . .
We discovered a local farm selling Eau de Vie, Ratafia, and dried prunes. Ronato had been on a mission to find some more dried prunes (a local specialty here -- they ARE fabulous and delicious), so we thought we would go check it out. We had a marvelous time sipping and sampling tasty items and chatting in our muddled French (the kids had opted to stay in the car, so no translators were handy), all the while laughing and piling up our purchases. In the end, we rolled out with samples of just about every item our hostess was selling. With waves, "Au revoirs," and big smiles we then headed off on our merry way. This little chance finding ended up being one of the highlights of the day.
Our final stop on this particular day, before heading home, was Carennac. It was only once we got to the church's entrance that we remembered the town from before.
After days of local sightseeing, we all felt it was time to go a little farther afield. On the recommendation of a number of friends, we had been told that "Carcassonne is not to be missed!" So we all got up to an alarm for the first time in awhile, and we quickly got into our vehicles for the journey down -- we thought it would take about 2 hours, given the distance and the speedy Autoroute that was supposed to take us there. Well, 3+ hours later we had finally arrived, and we were all feeling a little road-weary after making our way through heavy truck traffic and the usual speed-crazed, tailgating French drivers. We were all looking forward to the supposedly amazing medieval sights awaiting us in La Cite -- the old walled town. To say we were all a little disappointed with what we found is a bit of an understatement. The picture below shows how we all felt about it.
Okay, maybe that is a bit strong, but truthfully Carcassonne is a place that one can see was once an amazing treasure, but which has now been turned into a total tourist trap. It was hard to see the structure of the place because of all of the tourist stores. The streets were full of tourists who had arrived on tour buses. We were all disappointed at first, especially after our long, and rather grueling drive down, but then we all started to laugh about it. We managed to salvage the day with our levity. Below is a picture of a street performer in La Cite, not very medieval, but interesting nonetheless. This crystal ball "dance" is a phenomena we have sighted in Bangkok, Paris, and now, Carcassonne -- each artist has their own style.
On Saturday, we decided to take in one of the bigger local markets. Sarlat-la-Caneda is a beautiful old medieval town that has a huge Saturday market. When we got there, the town was was filled with vendors in every direction. While the market itself was not the best we have seen, the town itself was just lovely. The architecture was stunning and well preserved.
There were some great food stalls.
One of the cute cats we found on one of our rambles.
The field from our veranda..
A lovely little spot we found beside the Dordogne river on our way back from Sarlat. Pippin spent lots of time in the water.
Grannie Bay and Kai having some head-to-head time. It has been SO great having John and Bay here as part of this adventure and time away. By all being away from our day to day duties we have been able to spend some quality time.
With only a few days before Jill's departure back to Canada, we all felt that we needed a dinner out together. Last night we hit the local restaurant in Labastide Murat where we all had a superb dinner, probably our last dinner out while we are in France. We savoured every bite and every sip! Here are some pictures from this balmy evening . . .
Grandpa John was in his element with a large slab of tender beef grilled to perfection in front of him.
Ronato's delicious asparagus risotto . . .
Kai and lovely Jill . . .
Sweet Pippin . . .
Until next time . . .

Skye, Ronato, Kai & Pippin