Catching up!

O, we have not forsaken you, loyal readers!

The last few weeks have been really crazy. We did our last trip before Kevin departed for the US to Italy (see previous post) and then had to get him out the door 4 days after we got back. There were lots of people to see and lots of things to get sorted out.


A final farewell with some friends at the Absinthe Bar


At the airport

Kevin got back fine. He's in the process of getting our household set back up while I finish my last few weeks of work here. I had to give a 3 months' notice period, so my last day is December 11. I will fly back to SFO on December 15.

So not only did we just get Kev out the door than I came down with a headcold that put a bit of a damper on my Hallowe'en weekend. Which was followed quickly by a bout of food poisoning that took me out of work for 3 days. Not good. But as of today, I feel in the 90th percentile. Yay.

The only really exciting event this weekend was going out for a bit this morning to watch the Nice to Cannes marathon. I managed to get outside in time to see the elite men's pack go by. (Damn, those guys were haulin'!) And then, despite the chilly temp, decided to stay out and cheer on a few thousand more. I was a one-woman clappin' machine, I tell ya. But it was worth the numb hands later because so many people looked me straight in the eye and said, "Merci" as they ran past. That was pretty cool. And I even saw the one woman I know who ran today.

Last Dance - Italy

We went to Italy for a week and stayed in a town called Lucca (as in Little Lucca?), which is in the Tuscany region. It is a 4.5 hour drive from Antibes, about a half hour from Pisa. The old city center still has its walls, which have been turned into walking and bike paths and parks. It is a nice place. Really enjoyed it. It has a couple of pretty good museums, several good restaurants, and lots of shopping.


Outside the Lucca city walls


Nearby Roman aqueduct


Tuscan countryside


Villa Torrigiani - we did the tour, very cool

We did a few day trips using Lucca as our base. One day we took the train to Florence (Firenza in Italian). We were not ecstatic about Florence. Had heard quite a few good things about it, but maybe we just hit it on a bad day. It seemed drab a bit expensive to us. The cathedral is pretty spectacular, as are all the cathedrals that we have seen on our journeys. We went to a couple of museums which were pretty good. But Florence was just okay to us. Have a visit and decide for yourself though, don't let our review put you off.


The duomo in Florence


Brunelleschi's dome


Florence

One day we drove to Siena. Siena wasn't bad, liked it a bit more than Florence. Walked through the town, checked out the cathedral and its museums (there is a combined ticket for the cathedral, the two related museums , baptistry, and crypt for 10Euros, which we thought was a very good bargain). They do a horse race in the town, the Palio, twice a year, around the Piazza del Campo. They throw down some dirt, the riders race around, trying to knock the other riders off (there are apparently minimal rules). Looking at the plaza (it is not that big), trying to imagine 10+ horses going around it, it must be a mad race.


Il Campo at Siena


The duomo at Siena


Inside the duomo

We also drove around Lucca and checked out some Roman ruins. One of the things about Italy that we find a wee bit frustrating, other than the mad drivers, is that there are a lot of Roman ruins that have no information at the site. I guess the Italians are so used to them, it is like the Golden Gate Bridge or Golden Gate Park to us.


Our 10th wedding anniversary at the Roman ruins

Famous person sighting!!!

On the way back to the apartment after dinner just now...passed Pete Townshend from the Who on the street!!! Did a double-take and made eye contact with him...he knew that I knew "who" he was. Kevin discreetly followed him for a block and a half to confirm my observation...and it was definitely confirmed by Wikipedia and a photo from 2007 when we got home.

Good beer in the Loire Valley

Our last day in the Loire Valley, we were going to go wine tasting after visiting Chateau Cheverny. We headed back to Mosnes, because we had noticed several wineries in the area. Chaumont is a town next to Mosnes, on the same road (think Millbrae and San Bruno). And there, on that road in the Loire Valley, in Chaumont sur Loire, is the Brasserie du val de Loire, la fabrication d'une biere artisanale. A brew pub. A new brew pub that has only been open for a year.

We tasted a couple and bottle several bottle for consumption later (they are finished as of this posting) and they were very tasty. Finally, I found some good beer in France, but alas, it was a bit distant.

The place was run by two women (what?, what do women know about beer?) One of them had been making beer in her kitchen as a hobby for about 15 years. She had three small batches, each tank was only the size of a 50-gallon drum. This was a very new brewery. But the beer is good and cheap (well, compared to what we have become used to in Antibes, where a pint runs 5.50E to 6.50E).

So, if you find yourself in the Loire Valley, go to Chaumont sur Loire and visit the Brasserie du Val de Loire, right on the main street at 23 rue du marechal de Lattre de Tassigny, across from the church. Email at brasserieduValdeloire@hotmail.fr.

North of France

Our penultimate trip (for this go-round, at least!) was a week in the north of France. We flew to Paris Orly, picked up a rental car, and headed out.

We spent the first two days in Bayeux, where we saw the famous tapestry and several D-Day cemeteries. We paid a visit to Omaha Beach and the American cemetery there, although we both agreed that we liked the British cemetery in Bayeux the best. It was more personal since each headstone had a message from relatives on it. We even visited a German cemetery, just to cover everyone. We also drank lots of cider, since that region is known for it.


A street in Bayeux


The cathedral in Bayeux (see the US flag?)


The US cemetery at Omaha Beach

From there, we drove east to see the sight that is Mont St. Michel. It's quite spectacular, but the walkway up to the abbey is nothing but touristy junk shops and restaurants. Although the crowds thinned out a bit by the time we got into the tour of the abbey itself. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch about 1/2 way up the mount in a park that overlooked the bay and the causeway from the mainland.


On the walkway leading down from the abbey

We had booked into a hotel just down the road and expected to stay in a grand manor home. But, turns out they put us in this hut thing. We were not happy. Maybe if we had expected to stay in it... But oh well.


The hut

Then it was a long drive to the Loire Valley. We stopped first at Fontevraud Abbey, the final resting place of King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Richard I (Lionheart). It was a beautiful abbey and well kept.


The Plantagenets and their final resting place


The all-stone kitchen at the abbey

From there, we headed to our B&B in a town called Mosnes, just off the Loire river. It was a gorgeous B&B. The owners were super-nice, and our room was impeccable. Not too much going on in the town itself, but there was a hotel up the road that had a great restaurant where we ate twice.

We visted 3 of the main chateaux over the next couple of days: Chenonceau, Cheverny, and Chambord. Spectacular. I like Cheverny the best because it had fully-furnished interiors. :)


Chenonceau


Cheverny


Chambord

We even rented bikes for an hour at Chambord and had a quick ride around the grounds. Fun!


You really don't ever forget how!


My chateau is THIS BIG!

We also paid a brief visit to the city of Blois.


A church in Blois

Our final night we spent in Chartres. We had a fantastic room that was just a stone's throw away from the amazing cathedral. Chartres is a really nice town also.


At Chartres cathedral


This is how close the hotel was to the cathedral...

It was a really great trip. We decided that we are definitely more north of France type people than south of France. It's just too bloody hot in the south!

The joys of moving

So we all know how moving can be such a pain in the posterior. Well, it's no different in any other country.

For example, here in France, it was recommended to us to send a registered letter to each of our utilities to let them know we were moving out of our flat. And the reason we were supposed to send them registered was so they couldn't come back later and say that we never notified them. So we did that for each of our 4 providers the first week of September: EDF (electricity), GDF (gas), France Telecom (land line), and Orange (Internet and phone).

On Tue, 9/22, I noticed on our router that the phone service light was not blinking, which means our internet phone (how we made all our phone calls) was not working. Now, at first, I didn't think anything of it because from time to time it would go down for a few hours and then come back. No biggie. But, by the next day, it didn't come back, and I thought, "Huh."

So then, Kevin got up on Thu morning to check something online and says to me, "We have no Internet." Instead of keeping our service on until 10/10, they cut it off on 9/21. Without telling us. This is the week before we were leaving for a week-long trip to the north of France (more on that to come...) and while we're trying to get the move sorted out.

So on Thursday, I called the bank and told them to put a block on any further automatic withdrawals for both Orange and FT. No service = no money.

And it gets better...

So after this whole episode, I had some of my very nice, French-speaking co-workers call EDF and GDF to ask how we're supposed to proceed with the move out. EDF says that we just take the reading on the meter on the final day and call them. They'll process the amount and 2 weeks later take it out of the account. Done.

But GDF says that we have to make an appointment for the guy to actually come and read the meter AND we actually have to be there:
KOD: OK, no problem, we're moving out on Sat the 10th.
GDF: We can't come on a Saturday. We can come the following Monday?
KOD: We won't be living there on the Monday, won't have the keys, and aren't coming back to the flat.
GDF: Well, we can come on the Thursday between 10 and 12.
KOD: Fine.
GDF: OK. Then we'll process the final bill and take the money out of the account in 2 weeks.
KOD: Great.

So fast forward to today, the day they show up. Kevin arranged to be at the flat and met the guy. Apparently, the guy wasn't just there to read the meter. He was there to shut it off completely. So Kev said, "Um, we're not leaving until Saturday and my wife steadfastly refuses to take cold showers." (Ok, so I'm summarizing.) So the guy says then we should call and get them to come back on Monday.

Kev then phones me to tell me what's going on and is supremely annoyed (aka: p'ed off as hell) that all of this is so silly and complicated.

Now, when we moved in, I'm 99.44% sure that we didn't have anyone come out to turn the gas on. It was just on, and when we moved in we took a reading from the meter. So, that's what we're going to do this time too. We'll take the reading from the meter when we move out on Saturday, call them with it, and voila. That's all she wrote.

Because they get a block at the bank at the end of the month anyway.

Mwah-hah-hah-hah!

Some familiar faces pay a visit...

In the middle of September, we were lucky to have a visit from Dave and Dominique, our neighbors from around the corner in Pacifica. Dominique has family in the north of France, and they had come over to celebrate her mom's 80th birthday.

They were staying in Nice for a few days and took the train down to Antibes one afternoon. We had lunch and walked around Antibes for a couple of hours. A great visit and nice to see some folks from the homestead!


At the Antibes marina