Villefranche-sur-mer Winter 2018 - 2

Dear Friends,

It is raining again today.  I have to say the weather so far this year has been windy, rainy and dreary.  When added to Jane's illness and my bad cold, it has been rather depressing.

Last Saturday, we were planning on playing pétanque even though we were not feeling all that well because it would be a fun outing.  Needless to say it rained Saturday morning and even though it cleared a little later in the morning, we could not play pétanque.  We went shopping and even the Saturday market was small and rather unexciting.  We did, however, splurge and buy six beautiful big red strawberries.  They were not like the big strawberries we get in the supermarkets in the United States.  These were all red and tasted really good.  They were a day brightener.

As we were walking home, three friends who are attending the Institut for two weeks arrived by taxi from the airport.  It was great to see them.  We left them to unpack and sleep because we were meeting them for dinner at Le Serre.  At least the sun was shining when they arrived.  Jane and I went to dinner with them and one other person that night.  There were 5 women and me.  So that was another day brightener.  We ran into our landlady at Le Serre, and she said that Hotel Welcome was having a jazz trio that night.  Much to my surprise all five women wanted to go even those who had just arrived from the United States.

The Hotel Welcome is the most famous hotel in Villefranche.  It has been on the water forever and many famous writers, artists and others have stayed there.  So at the end of dinner at Le Serre, we skipped their limoncello which is delicious and costs about 4 euros so we could go to the Hotel Welcome and have limoncello for 10 euros.  Of course the limoncello came in a fancier glass with ice cubes in a silver bowl and a slice of lemon and the music as well.  The music was good and not so loud that we could not talk.  The limoncello, however, was nowhere near as good.  At about 9:30 the recent travellers all faded so we left.  The evening was a nice respite from the dreary weather.

Sunday, we were going to go on an outing with the new arrivals and agreed to start around 11.  The weather was threatening rain, and the wind was blowing hard.  We decided to go to Beaulieu, pick up some things at the Super U (think small super Target) and have lunch at the Gran Caffe.  We also decided to take the bus rather than walk which is what Jane and I usually do.  The group did not move quickly or with any sense of urgency which was too bad because we missed two buses and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.  That was actually lucky because later in the day the wait could have been closer to an hour.

We got off the bus in Beaulieu at a fancy market so had to wander through it for awhile.  We then headed off for the Gran Caffe.  We walked past the Super U where several of the new arrivals wanted to get some supplies but decided it would be better to get them after lunch and walking around.  When we arrived at the Gran Caffe, it was closed for some reason.  In all the times we have gone there for lunch, it has never been closed.  Oh well on to a different restaurant.  We found one that was fancier than we were looking for but decided it was our best chance.  Even by French standards the server showed no urgency.  It turned out the food was quite good and since the weather was bad why not spend a couple of hours eating and talking.

After lunch we returned to the Super U only to discover that it is closed on Sunday afternoons.  We could have read the sign first time we were there, but live and learn.  It is right next to the train station so we decided to take the train home.  First we had to figure out which side of the tracks we needed to be on to go to Villefranche and not Monaco.  The train system in France was initially designed by an Englishman so the trains run on the tracks the way the British drive.

We were proud of ourselves that we found the tunnel to the other side of the tracks before a train arrived, only to discover that there was not distributor of tickets on that side.  The small stations do not have ticket offices with people, just machines.  So we returned to the other side.  Fortunately I had tried to use the machine before because it is not completely intuitive.  I got to the end and put in my American Express card which of course was not accepted by the machine, only Visa.  So I had to start over with five women looking over my shoulder and making helpful suggestions.  To give my kibitzers more confidence, I switched the language to English.  Unfortunately when it came time to type in our destination, the english keyboard didn't work so I had to start over.  This time I did it in French and used my Visa card, and it worked.  I led the group back through the tunnel to the other side and the train arrived as we were walking onto the platform.  The preparation for the trip took 10 or 15 minutes but the trip only took about 2 minutes.

Yesterday and today I was able to get the shopping done between periods of rain.  Unfortunately we are about to return to the doctor since while feeling a little better, Jane is still not well, and it is raining.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal