Italy Day 1

Today was officially declared Julie does nothing day. So I spent the morning strolling through the vineyard behind our B&B, communing with the local pets, catching up on my 5 Aspects of Women bible study and reading. So lovely!


The beautiful vineyard!


The little kitty likes me - either that or the cat nuzzle was too far away for easy commuting.


"Red" catching some rays.

Pete had his own adventures while I was relaxing.
(Pete grabs the microphone)
I had a blast visiting 4 wineries! The first few minutes of each were exactly the same:
1) I drive up to a house
2) A dog ("cane") barks viciously
3) Person appears
4) I use my standard phrase, with the help of Google Translate: "dove è la cantina?"
5) Big smile, followed by tour/wine tasting.
I ended up purchasing a bottle at each winery.


We joined up in the afternoon - had some Panini Pete picked up and took a tour of the local estates :)

That night we had the distinct pleasure of dining with our hosts Emy and Don Pablo and their daughter. We picked up Pasta Fresco which Emy cooked up and we dined like kings, sampling the wine Don Pablo makes from their vineyard (Yummy!), olive oil their friend from Turin makes, and the Honey another friend produces etc, etc. Ahh to live and have friends in a place like Italy!

France (2) Day 6 - Italy Day 0

Our last breakfast in France - we stopped by a bakery on our way out of Nice and totally indulged ourselves - totally out of control!

Pete displaying some of our purchases - he's been going to spokesmodel school.

It was a longish drive into the Asti region of Italy. One of those fairy book type experiences, the lovely Italian countryside, picturesque, if only fighting the urge to loose my pastry breakfast somewhere over the curvy country roads had occupied less of my time I could have soaked more in :)

We arrived and met Emy and Don Pablo, the owners of our Bed and Breakfast - Maggiora 131. We went into town to grab dinner at a great place that they suggested. It was like pizza only wrapped up on a hot tortilla and drizzled with olive oil.

The old town center has a monument erected over the point where some hot springs surface. The steam rises many tens of feet - an interesting sight. 

France (2) Day 5

We woke up to rain showers so we decided to hit the road to Monaco to go shopping (window only - who can afford those prices!!)

The drive up afforded a few interesting sites:

The special wine show at the local Champion supermarket.

A rich middle aged woman washing her Mercedes at the local U-Wash - dressed entirely in white linen. What you might not be able to see from the photo is that we are exceedingly close to the coast here - ocean is probably visible through the window in the back of the U-Wash stall. 

Pete getting friendly with a Lamborghini at the local gas station.

We loved the views on the drive to Monaco - this is still France - and in my opinion far less spoiled looking than the crowded Monaco harbor.

We managed to take a few self takes. This one was snapped from atop our Euro-Mobile across a busy 2 lane, cliff side road. We had to take breaks for surges in local traffic :)

Pete striking a pose in front of the Monte Carlo Casino.

This was dinner. After a heady day with rich movers and shakers it was nice to enjoy the simplicity of pasta. Doesn't Pete's marvelous presentation make it look gourmet though?

France (2) Day 4

We slept in appallingly this morning, managed to be on the beach by 3PM... got to swim out to the floating platforms, have Pete tow me around through the waves on our 4€ yellow floaty thinger. We also got to use the totally useless but hopelessly cute little beach umbrella I made Pete buy me - hopefully the Hettingers (Pete's sister's family) will be able to use it when we're gone :)

We stopped by a grocery store on our way back from the beach (note to potential French Rivera tourists - Nice only has rock beaches (nice smallish smooth beautiful white stones, but ouch, not great to lay out on), so we had wandered west to Cannes to lay out on their seemingly endless sandy strands - all totally fake we hear, every comfortable ounce trucked in.

Pete slaved over dinner while I took a shower. (Did I mention anything about "super husband"?)

It turned out spectacular. Yummy-in-the-tummy!

France (2) Day 3

Today the move to Nice. We hit several beaches on our way east 'long the French Rivera, or as the French call it, the Côte d'Azure.

Shops where eminently cute - think I have a new thing for small bush like plants in miniature terra cotta pots. Aren't these little olive tree plans surprisingly adorable?

We weren't too busy shopping to stop for a lunch of Crêpes :) The artist capturing the scene outside the Crêperie lent a bit of ambiance. 

Pete found our "retirement home" on the last stretch of costal road before Nice. We went out for dinner at a little restaurant around the corner from our hotel/hostel (Hotel Meyerbeer). I got the curry lamb, Pete had the shrimp flambée- we forgot that shrimp here come more fully endowed with legs, eyeballs, etc. in regions other than the sterile US. After a lovely diner, we were off to bed - we must rest up for a long day at the beach tomorrow :)

France (2) Day 2

T'was 9am in the morning, and all through our "Gite"
Neither of us was stirring, cause man were we beat
When in our living room, there arose such a clatter
we threw on some clothes to see what was the matter
our host had brought breakfast, piled high on a plate
we beamed joyously, as we munched and we ate
baguettes, rolls, jam, yogurt, fruit, and the like
zipped down our throats, suggesting a hike
But first Julie would sleep and Peter would read,
hours would pass before the hike's call we'd heed
...
We ended up exploring the gite property a bit, and then Julie's womanly urge to do laundry overtook her. We did a load, so that it would be done - ready to hang to dry - by the time we would finish reading. Around 3:30, we struck out to explore the countryside; our first stop: The winery close by that the pizza van dude had recommended. We found it easily, and luckily it was open this fine Sunday. The proprietress was more than happy to pour her wines, although she couldn't stay and chat long: seemingly noble grape stains and smears on her elbows attested to the hard work of grape harvesting and crushing. I had mentioned our love of the Sauternes district, and she let us try her "cooked" wine - they boil the grape juice right after the crush, and then allow the yeast from the air in the winery to begin the fermentation! Quite labor-intensive. The wine was very sweet and pleasant, so we couldn't leave without buying a bottle. On our way out, we asked her for a restaurant recommendation, and she pointed us at Louvradec(?), a short 20min drive away.

Julie discovered she was famished when we arrived, so Peter procured a mozzarella and tomato sandwich from a nearby bakery. We then shopped through the town, discovering enough nick-knacks to fill even the largest of land-fills (guess who's writing this :-) ).



We also tried various olive oils at the local Château - all very interesting and different - but Peter discovered his dislike for massive amounts of oil consumed by itself. Yuck!

Since the local restaurants didn't open until 7:30pm at the earliest, we burned some time by writing post-cards, chatting, and visiting more stores.



Peter especially liked one large modern wine shop, with a nice and large tasting bar. The French girl hardly spoke English, but happily poured a few tasty wines and lambics, two of which we ended up purchasing.



Since the city teemed with restaurants, we asked her for recommendation, and she steered us to the "Michel Angel" restaurant right around the corner. It was ok but not as good as we had been hoping. Our main beef was the lack of an "amuseé-bouche", which everyone else got except for us. How lame is that?! The rest of the food was good, but not exceptional. We did enjoy talking with the other restaurant patrons, and noticed that only one couple there was actually French. The rest of Europe was well represented - Two tables of English people, two of Germans, etc.

Spain Day 8 - France (2) Day 1

I woke up this morning to an apartment almost fully packed by my sweet husband who didn't want to wake me till the last possible moment! I am so blessed! We pulled the European "stop-in-the-middle-of-the-road-with-your-hazards-on" to load up the car - I feel like I truly belong now :) We stopped by Gaudi's Sagrada Família and Park Güell on the way out of town.



Long day of driving - we decided to cover a longer distance than we originally intended, because of the pouring rain. It totally worked and when we arrived in Aix-en-Provence (suggested by Pete's mom) the sun was shining brightly. We immediately pulled in at the first Château B, tasted the wine and inquired about lodging. We were directed to the tourist office where we promptly called through 1/2 the "Country Cottage" page before landing on a place with openings. After an "adventurous" comedy (the black kind) of directional errors, we finally arrived as the last sparkles of dusk retired for the evening. We settled in and after opting for cooked breakfasts instead of "kitchen privileges," we headed out to find a scrap of something to eat. The restaurant we had spied on the way in was closed by the time we circled back to the itsy-bitsy village near our gite. Plan B - the Pizza Van around the corner - in what could only be described as the itsy-bitsy town square.



We had a truly french pizza experience, complete with Chèvere chese, salted ham, bell peppers and creme, yup creme poured directly on the pizza before it was thrust into the wood burning crucible (the black smoke stack protruded obviously through the roof of the Mercedes vanigan, as if that wouldn't turn heads on the freeway.) With full tummies, we are ready to turn in - gotta be ready for an astonishingly early 9 o'clock wake up call for hot french breakfast!