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