Early on Tuesday morning we got in our cab and headed for Terminal 5. The airport seemed less busy that I would’ve expected given that it’s the middle of August.
The journey itself presented no highlights or disasters and we arrived at La Colle 15 minutes after leaving the airport. Mel, Graham, Elsie and Jake waited for us to arrive before they had lunch. The fresh food of salad, cheese, salami etc was just what the doctor ordered. We messed around in La Colle for the rest of the day.
On Wednesday we adjourned to the beach. We arrived around 10:30 at a beach in Villeneuve-Loubet which surprisingly had plenty of parking space. We camped out near the water so Mel and Graham could keep a close eye on the kids as they played in the sea. We had plenty of shade, towels and covers to sit on plus a picnic. The sea water refreshed you from the hot stones and baking sun. I think the temperature stood at around 34º C all day.
In the evening we walked around the village where they usually have summer music events. This evening a middle aged man taught salsa dancing to a whole bunch of students of various ages from toddlers to grand-parents.
Thursday saw Maggi and I drive to Grasse where we met up with Clare and Martyn. Clare had booked a restaurant called the Cafe Des Musee. The Cafe sits at the top end of the old quarter of Grasse opposite the Fragonard museum. We had a pleasant 90 minutes together talking about our forthcoming adventure in Crete and other bits and pieces. We bought some scented soap in the Fragonard shop and wandered down the centre of the old town before we headed back to our car to drive home.
In the evening Mel, Elsie, Maggi and I wandered into the village to see what festivities were taking place. A band called Lady Soul held the stage in the middle of the square. They played well but their choice of music didn’t inspire anyone to stand up and dance. Eventually they played the Aretha Franklin hit Respect and a bunch of us started to jive around in front of the band. As a result of moving around we were all bathed in sweat.
On Friday Maggi and I took Melissa to Nice to look around. We parked in the port and walked around the headland to the Cours Saleya where they had coffee and I had a tonic. We then took a stroll through the back streets of old Nice looking into far many shops for my liking. The trip from our coffee stop to place Garibaldi and back lasted approximately 90 minutes. It did, however, remind me that there is a belt shop in the old town and I need a new belt.
All the time we wandered around Nice Graham looked after the kids on the beach. We eventually met up with him around 1:30. He had played with them, fed them and kept them entertained for 3 hours. What a hero! Us three new arrivals immediately jumped in the sea to cool off. After our sandwich lunch Maggi and I headed back to La Colle and left the rest on the beach.
In the evening we drove up to St Paul de Vence where Maggi and I camped out at the Cafe de la Place, while everyone else toured the town. We watched the locals play boule as we sipped our drinks.
We drove back down the hill and arrived at the pizza restaurant which is part of the expensive bakery called Le Lys D’Or. The restaurant goes under the title Piz’zatti. It took us sometime to get served but the waiters all had a smile. I ordered a salad Nicoise.
I was extremely please with my choice, it contained plenty of tuna, anchovies and a nice mix of salad ingredients. The children had a €10 menu consisting of a pizza, drink and ice-cream which seems like reasonable value. Mel and Graham both ordered pizzas which looked delicious . However about half-way through eating his meal Graham realised he had meat in his pizza. He wanted to forget it, but we insisted we tell the waiter. He couldn’t explain how the mishap had happened but very generously removed the cost of the pizzas from the bill and offered us a free drink at the end of the meal.
We will definitely go back again and hopefully everyone will get the right meal they have ordered.
Last full day with Mel and team
Graham and Mel set off fairly early to go to the beach at Antibes. Maggi and I stayed in and had a quiet day. In the evening after we had eaten our dinner we all went down to the village to see the entertainment.
We watched the band for over an hour. After they had left for a break they came back and every number they played was a very danceable song. All danced and had a good time. Unfortunately the heat made us all sweat.