rhkkmk spring europe trip report
 

after months of anticipation, april 28th finally rolled around and we were set to go...

the trip is two sided....the first section is family and friends in the south of france and the second section is friends in italy....total time 20 days....

the first 12 hours or so were less than satisfactory, but more about that later; but the rest of the trip was almost perfect...

Hedley picked us up about about 4:45 PM at our house outside boston....we had a quick trip to logan airport....the line at air france (using delta frequent flyer tickets) was not long.....immediately we see that our youngest daughter, her 14 month old daughter and her husband are at the check in desk already.....we wait patiently.... tabitha (our daughter) signals that i should approach the desk with her, so i go forward....the long and the short of it is that the air france clerk, while a very nice young woman, is simply stupid.....after over one hour we are checked in, after the help of two air france supervisors....

we have brought a heavy snack to have before the flight, becasuse even after millions being spent on the new logan international terminal, it is still poorly equipted for customer convenience and service...they just don't get it....

the flight is slightly delayed--about an hour...we arrive in paris only 1/2 behind schedule, but i had anticipated this and choose not the first continuing flight, but the second, because of the baby and all her stuff....we arrive in Nice about 2:30PM... both flights were on air buses and quite comfortable and totally full...the meal was quite good as well...we had window/aisle and they had aisle, center, center which was perfect for them...

Madison, our grandaughter, slept almost the whole time in her car seat---hardly a peep.

upon arrival in nice we were all geared up for a nice holiday....next the second problem....Auto Europe....at the desk in the lobby there was a sign instructing you to go directly to the car park if you had a confirmed reservation...we did so, and across the street we headed....there were no directional signs which made it a bit difficult at first...but we found it...

at the building of auto europe there was a line with perhaps 30 people in it and lots of families in the courtyard waiting area....i joined the line...i thought this is unusual and then i learned from the guy in front of me that it was a bank holiday weekend so many more people than usual were waiting.. i soon discovered that the line moved very slowly....one guy took a complete nutty and yelled and swore, so i knew it would prove interesting....after two hours-----YES TWO HOURS... we got our car....the staff were totally inept...i will say no more other than that i may not rent from auto europe again...more on this later...

when our car was finally brought forward we were very pleased to see that it was a shinny black audi A6 dissel station wagon with automatic everything, including transmission....it had only been driven 700 kilometers...we had ordered a VW dissel Passat wagon, so this was a huge upgrade...even though i was mad as hell, this part was pleasing...our stuff just barely fit in, but we were off for Collobrieres, VAR, about a 90 minute drive towards St Tropez and up into the maures (hills)...

Hey, Bob, been waiting for this!

we were heading to a house in the village of Collobrieres, which is about 30 minutes directly west of st tropez up in the hills in wine and chestnut country....the house belongs to some english friends and we have stayed there a few times in the past, but this was the first visit for our daughter (35) and her family....

we were not sure they would like it as it is a very small town with only 1200 residents, but as it turned out they loved it....

the house is a row house as are most in the village, and is three floors with an enclosed sunny terrace in the rear....the ground floor is a large open area set up today as a sitting room...there is a full bathroom on this floor and a utility room with a washer....
on the first floor there is a large eat-in living room and a decent sized well-equitped kitchen, including a dishwasher and a small table where we had breakfast each morning....off of the kitchen is a large terrace, which is surrounded by the walls of other buildings, but some how sun shines brightly down into it....the terrace is very pleasant and private....large french doors lead from the kitchen to the terrace...
on the top floor there are two comfortable double bedrooms, a large hallway and a large bathroom with a tub which has direct access from one of the bedrooms as well as from the hallway.....a huge skylight allows natural nite to filter into the hallway....there are large shuterred windows for wonderful light and air in all rooms...

Sandy and Chris, our english friends, are waiting for us in the lower room as i drive the audi up to the front of the house on the very narrow rue raspail.....what a nice greeting!!!

sandy and chris have arranged to stay a few streets over in some friend's house for the week so that we can use their house...this is a vacation house for them as they live outside london...

Bob
Too bad about the problems at the beginning of your journey, but hopefully things get BETTER and BETTER.

Looking for more...
Carol

If you're grandaughter was destined to be named after a president, it could have been Clinton, Carter or the like.

in the village two nites per week, there is a truck from which custom made pizzas are sold....they have a coal burning oven which makes fabulous pizzas....pizzas are ordered, and karen made a huge salad from the wonderful greens we purchased from the large grocery shop just off the highway on our way to collobrieres....one head of some sort of wonderful lettuce was at least 18-20 inches across and lasted us all week...we had stopped to buy a few things including wine and pampers....two very important items...

so we had a nice dinner including a torte with fresh berries: strawberries and rasberries and whipped cream, and tons of wine...rose is the speciality of the area...

it was off to bed early and eveyone slept really soundly....the village is very quiet at nite, but stirs early in the morning...


my usual habit in collo is to rise early---early for me that is....so i was up and out of the house by 5:45 AM....we were in bed by 10 the nite before...
i was off to the local bakery in the village square, just around the corner...they were not yet opened but opened up about 6:10AM...i sat in the marie square waiting for them to open...the bar across the street was open for morning coffee and some men arrived early for this delight...sitting amongst the large plain (sp) trees is quite lovely with the marie building (town hall) off to one side...it was quiet and all i could hear were the birds, a few cars starting up and the water dribbling in the fountain in the square....

i bought fresh croissants and other pastry for our breakfast, plus a bagette... madison was to have her first croissant this morning...such a treat for all of us!!! we devoured it all...

this was sunday and it was our plan to lay low this day and just hang around collo....sunday is market day in collo....this means that the small marie square fills up with vendors selling everything from flowers to shoes, to fresh goat cheese to paella by 7 or 8 AM...

so after much deserved showers and a bath for maddie, we were off with our market basket for supplies... the kids marvelled at the old buildings in town and the quiet town way of life....so different from boston and NH/ME where we all live...

now i have turned to karen's log for better info....first ommission i see is that our first dinner included pates and other goodies that sandy had supplied and that we had this dinner out on the terrace in the lovely evening air.....

so back to sunday....karen and i were out of the house by 9:30 while the kids slept...we wanted to check out the market square...the pre-cooked selections did not look all that interesting so we went to the top of the town to a butcher and bought two spit cooked chickens for that nites' dinner... we were back to the house by 10:15...the kids were eating when we arrived and shortly thereafter sandy and chris arrived...

karen and i went with them over to where they were staying....the house is in transition as there is a lot of work to be done both inside and outside as their friends had only recently purchased it....it is a grand old house in any case....they have added a huge roof deck/terrace area where there will be a mini kitchen as well....it overlooks a lovely part of town and has a full view of the hills to the east as well as the village church....

we head home to prepare lunch and plan the rest of the day with the kids...

we decide that we will venture out of the village and go "up and over" (which means climbing up and over one of the mountains' one lane road tracks to near-by towns....using up and over saves tons of mileage, but is not for the faint of heart....huge drops to the valley below with little or no guard rails...)---meeting another car means comming to an almost full stop and squeezing by....

we head over to Bormes les Mimorsa near to the coast....they are having a huge spring plant show and sale and much of the town is closed off to traffic...we head over to the near-by port/marina of le Lavandou which we know our son in law, chris, will enjoy...we have our first delicious european ice creams and walk around for an hour or so, take pictures, and check out the opening times (for later in the week) for one of our favorite restaurants, Chez Francis, purveyor of huge pots of moules (mussels).... we found a new road (to us), the D 80, which takes us home without many of the driving problems of 'up and over'...it takes you through some of the best vineyards in the area---of which there seem to be thousands...

sandy and chris came by for drinks...madison had an early dinner and was put down for the nite...

karen prepared a delicious dinner with the chickens, plus asparagus, zucchini, new potatoes and fresh young artichokes (this dish failed and was tossed away)...we had bought some pastry from the bakery for dessert---each person had a different kind...

we watched our pics taken thus far through the TV screen and watched the video chris had made...off to bed...another good nites sleep....

monday---pastry from the bakery as usual...

we decide to head for Toulon this morning...boring, so we head on....road through several seaside towns but nothing catches our fancy....nice ride however...we end up in Port Porthuau, near to Hyeres, at a seaside restaurant for lunch....very expensive but good seafood....after lunch we head back through hyeres, but everything is closed up tight for the bank holiday....back to collo....

we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the village, climbing up to the top of the town and viewing the ruined ancient church ... took lots of pictures....we stopped in a child play area next to the current church where maddie enjoyed playing on a childs stationary swing....

sandy and chris invited us to their place for a drink, from where we all ventured over to a new village restaurant (at the site of the old pizza restaurant at the top of the village).....sandy had made us a reservation for 7....

the restaurant is cosy and quaint and we are shown to a table by the owner on the second floor....maddie has a nice child seat (c. 1955) which is perfect....the restaurant name is: La Terrasse Provencale...

we all eat the set meal at 23 euros...choices of mussels, salmon, tomatoe/mozzorella salad for starters; steak, whole fish, or scollops for a main course, plus tarte tartan (apple), tiramisu and other items for dessert...some of the best wine of the trip....an aparitif, bubbly, on the house to start, coffees and a complimentary conac to finish things off....one of the best meals of the trip and a great way to start off....

a special meal for maddie as well....

the host was charming and most welcoming....sandy and chris eat here often, so undoubtably that helped with our good service...

final bill 183E for 6 adults and one child....fabulous!!

more tonight...

oh my goodness...

Your trip so far sounds like a fantasy!

How lovely - can't wait!

Bob
Yes, it does sound really lovely. I haven't spent time in France since the late 80's, and it was Easter time in Cannes and Les Cap Antibes, staying with friends in their villa, but it was soooooo crowded and soooooo much traffic. YOUR trip sounds much better! Keep the report coming. I'm anxious to hear about your adventures in Italy!
Carol

So, Carole...this is where you're hiding...over on the Europe forum....fly back over to the Asia forum! Smiles. Happy Travels!

Hi guenmai
This is Carol (no e). Carole (with e) is the one who went to the Ct GTG the other day.

I'm actually bouncing around from Asia, Europe, and USA forums because of trips to Europe just a month ago, and a trip to DC that ended yesterday. Not a lot of time to read or post on fodors but I'll try to do better! (smile) Any word on a GTG in HNL?
Carol

Sorry about the "e" Carol. I'll probably forget again...so please just ignore it if I do. Smiles. Anyhow, no news on a Honolulu GTG for the Asia forum group. Maybe it's just too early for them to know what their schedules will be. But, I hope they do one and I hope that I can go again. Anyhow, take care. Got to fly back over to the Asia forum and check in. Happy Travels!

Tuesday

we all set off in the morning for ST Tropez after breakfast, in two cars...up and over using the ridge road this time....even higher...

traffic is always terrible in and out of st tropez and today was no exception....we headed for the Lice garage which is centrally located and chris' favorite....it was market day and we had to wait to get into the garage (french garages are spotless -- one could eat off the floor....your tires squeek as you drive around)...once top side again we emerged into a beautiful garden which surrounds the garage...the market is adjacent and huge...it was hard to get around with a baby stroller so we left the market and headed down the lovely lanes of ST T....shops are fabulous and very expensive....picture a bathing suit for a baby for $125.....eventually we made our way down to the harbor....it is beautiful but the large boats---those in excess of 100 feet, are missing, but there are plenty of $1 million + vessels tied up....unlike other visits it is not too crowded....

as noon approached we decided to head out of town and stopped at a casino cafeteria for a quick lunch....after lunch we seperated from sandy and chris....we headed over to the hill top town of Gassin and they did errands around town....

after arriving in gassin we found parking easily near the top of the hill and spent the next hour or two walking around....it is high up and there is a great view out into ST T outer harbor and the sea areas....the village is very picturesque and there are a few shops...also wonderful restaurants....

tabitha expressed an interest in returning to ST T which we did....we walking around ST T for an additional 2 hours including more time around the harbor, and then headed home in a terrible traffic jam....

stopped at mcdonalds to get maddie her dinner of nuggets/fries as it was getting late....we did some shopping at the huge Ghent grocery store just on the outskirts of ST T....i did not mention it above but i bought some more french cheeses--a weakness for me.....we had them each nite...i had bought a few our first nite....

home once again we put maddie to bed and karen and tab made delicious ommlettes and a huge salad...an appricot tart finished our meal and we fell into bed....

Bob, Really enjoying your report -- can almost taste the tartes & croissants! just love Provence & would love to rent a house and do something like this with our daughter & son in law when the new baby gets old enough. Sounds like you and Karen managed beautifully with your granddaughter! Keep writing.

Goodness Bob, you're making it difficult to keep to my diet :)

Wednesday

very busy day....we had decided to visit Nice for the day...our original plans had us spending a nite in nice with the kids before going on to italy but this had changed, so now we thought we would like to introduce it to them on a day trip....

we parked the car (the audi by the way was perfect for us in every way) in the garage under the marche aux fleurs....the flower market which is at the center of a huge walking street area in the old part of the city...

i wanted to visit the mephisto shoe shop in nice so we headed there first...i bought three pairs of shoes for myself...that took about 40 minutes i think and tempers were building...my fault...great savings over US prices by the way...maybe 35+%....i had been to this shop before and knew it was near to the gallery lafayette store....

after shopping for shoes we spent 15 minutes on the ground floor of the GL looking at french beauty products but it was determined that they were no longer a bargain over US pricing...

back to the flower market area....we were now eager to eat something....we choose an outdoor cafe--Bistro Romain....we had a quick lunch...set meal of 2 courses for 9.5 euro for two of us....chicken caesar salad for me and pasta for tab and a kids meal for maddie...

walked up into the old town further and decided to head back to the car...nap time for maddie....

we drove west on the prom. des anglais (the main shore road), passing through downtown cannes and got into a huge traffic jam in juan les pins where there was lots of road repair...

started to look for a place for dinner but nothing would be opening until 7....stopped at one bakery/coffee shop and bought some food but no one liked it so we moved on ......decided to head back to collo.....

this was the pizza van nite so we arrived back in collo by 7:30 and ordered pizza as we drove by and they would be ready by 8:10....perfect!!

put maddie to bed and chris walked down for the pizza....karen and i decided we would go back to the LA Terrasse Provencale restaurant for dinner....sadly it was closed that evening....so we went next door to the La Petite Fontaine, long the leading restaurant in most people's minds in collo....we had never been there before...they were always closed or full when we wanted to go there...

it is very small...we ordered, but quite honestly were somewhat disappointed after the fabulous meal we had had next door days earlier...we had the 24 E menu...(pate, salad, a rich beef stew--which was good, potatoes au gratin, also good, cheese and dessert...a bottle of wine also...some brandy followed as a gift..the owner of the other restaurnant was having dinner there...

from there we walked to sandy and chris' place and had a chat with them before returning home for bed...the kids were in bed already...

thursday

spent the morning around the house and village....did some laundry...we had coffee with sandy and chris and the kids took a nap...

started to repack as we would be leaving collo on friday morning...

on our very first nite we had a wonderful rose wine from pierre feu (sp), the nearest larger town....we had seen the winery on the D80 so we headed over there....the kids wanted to do a tasting....its a lovely spot...we were the only people there and tasted most of their selections...chris bought 12 bottles, including a very smokey tasting red usually reserved for very expensive wines in the US...they did not have any of the wine we had had the first nite...damn...

from there we drove along the coast to La Londe area, including a view of the president of france's weekend retreat house..

we ended up back in the port area of le lavandou at the moules (mussels) restaurant, chez francis.....all but me had moules...i had lasagne, can you believe it...mussels are not a favorite...

for about 10E+ per person you get more moules than an army can eat, plus fries...good wine too....the moules are steamed in milk and wine and served with a huge quantity of the broth which is delicious to drink by itself...

sandy's hand was bothering her....a day or two before she had received a prick on her finger from a plant on the terrace in their borrowed house....now her wrist was red and swollen...it hurt....she had red lines starting up her arm...she had been to the pharmacy and he gave her anti histimines (sp)....

karen is a nurse and did not like the look of it but said little....after we returned home, chris arrived at the door and asked karen to come and look at it again....they called the doctor and he said he could come by the next morning....cut to the chase....she had a huge infection and he gave her the appropriate medecines....house call and medecine about 30E----HOUSE CALL...??? it bothered her for the rest of the holiday btw...

friday....

up early at 7...a busy day ahead...all packed up...leaving this fair town, sadly...au revoir, but not good bye...

we left money for the house to be cleaned, and for laundry...chris would not allow us to pay for the electricity we had used....

packed up the car...difficult..

heading for Monaco...tabitha's only requested visit for the trip...

its about a 2 hour drive...if you have not arrived there by car, it is very dramatic....you enter a tunnel very high up off of the highway, and minutes later you emerge with the principality laid out below and in front of you...its amazing...

i knew of the garage located under the oceanographic museum, so we headed there---its at the very bottom near to the ocean--end of the road essentially....it is built into the rock, like much of monaco...took elevators and escalators up to civilization, emerging in front of the museum.....decided to return there later...walked along the lovely new garden area, along the east edge of the cliff overlooking the boat basins and large buildings below...it is very unusual....entered the palace square and walked around and over to the other side of the cliff area (west) which overlooks another boat basin and the casino area of town....in the middle of town below were the seating areas for the monaco grand prix which was to be the next week...it was all very exciting to see...there are huge yachts in the harbor...this is one of the wealthiest cities in the world...

had a lovely lunch in the old part of town....tab did some shopping and walked around a bit more...

returned to the oceanographic museum and all went in, but me...they loved it...huge fish tanks, etc...interesting exhibits...great for kids...visited the main church and saw all the princes's tombs including princess grace and prince ranier's (sp)...

back to the car and took a drive around the rest of town, including part of the race course...

our plan was then to head back to villefranche, the small seaside resort town where we would spend the nite....it is between nice and monaco, but nearer to nice....karen has wanted to stay at the famous Hotel Welcome there for years, and today would accomplish this....

the hotel is at sea level and every room has a full harbor view...it is quite lovely...the hotel is not lux, but decent...expensive at about 175E per nite for 3 stars....

they had a drink down the street while i unwound on the balcony of our room...

the hotel suggested several dinner places and we choose the one almost next door---an excellent choice...Michael's is the restaurant name...it is in the "square" adjacent to the hotel along with several other places....we had a wonderful meal and maddie behaved wonderfully even though it was late....finally tabitha had to take her off to bed at 9:30....

after dinner we all sat out on the balconies for a while and talked...

essentially this ended the french portion of the trip as we would drop the kids off in nice the next morning and return the car at the airport where chris and sandy would pick us up and we would head to tuscany...

more tomorrow...

Don't stop now Bob - this is great reading. I have never been to this area but it sounds lovely. I would go just for the Moules!!!

Enjoying your report and can't believe how reasonable the restaurants are.
Anxiously waiting to read more as you keep such great notes.
Pat