How are we doing today?: Villefranche-sur-mer Winter 2018

Dear Friends,

A lot has happened since I last posted. Last Friday, we went by train with some friends to Ventimiglia (Ventimille in French), Italy. It is about a 45 minute train ride from Villefranche just into Italy. When we got to the train station in Villefranche, we needed one more ticket, but of course there was nobody there and the ticket dispenser did not work. We boarded the train anyway and when the conductor came around we explained the problem even though she had not asked to see our tickets. She did not think it was a problem, but we were nervous the whole time.

Here we are happily in Ventimiglia without having a problem about the lack of one ticket.

The reason for our trip was to visit the very famous and very large Friday outdoor market. It goes on for miles with stand after stand. Some are repetitive and some are completely unique. There was no way I could get a picture so here is one I found on the internet. The white lines are all stands.

You can find all kinds of clothes, toys, kitchen utensils, purses, shoes, watches, jewelry, etc. You can also find some cheeses and salted fish.

In the 1.5 hours that we wandered around the stalls without getting to all of them, we bought a couple of things. If you like open air markets, you must visit this one.

Ventimiglia is also famous for its indoor food market. Think of the biggest farmers' market you have ever seen and multiply it by lots. Again, I could not get a picture nor could I find one that did the size justice, but here is one from the internet.

There were beautiful fruits and vegetables of all kinds as well as nuts, candies, pastries, fish, poultry, meats, etc. I have decided to spare you the picture of the skinned rabbit with head still on and eyes intact.

Of course the other reason for going to Ventimiglia is to eat. In fact the first thing we did after leaving the train station was to make a lunch reservation. Here is where we ate.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but we had a great lunch.

We took a slightly later train home since we had to have a two hour lunch. This time we all had tickets. The ride home was interesting, however, because when we crossed the border from Italy back into France a number of French police and military boarded the train. We were never asked for our tickets, but we did have to show our passports. The person who asked for ours clearly was not looking for people like us. As soon as he saw the the US passports, he moved on without so much as opening them. There were several people who were not so fortunate as they were marched off the train. They all had much darker skin than we did. Apparently the area is known as a place where immigrants enter without documentation.

As soon as we got home, we had to start packing as we needed to change apartments on Saturday. We were the first to rent this apartment for January so we have it in January for so long as we keep coming. The people who first rented the apartment in February and March have the same deal, so we needed to move out as they were arriving. So we packed everything up.

Saturday morning Danny a nice, strong guy who works for our landlady arrived exactly on time to move our stuff to the new apartment. We each carried one load of light things for the two block walk to our new apartment, while Danny and our landlady carried the rest in several trips. I will provide more about the new apartment later.

We had to leave almost immediately so that we would not be late for Saturday morning pétanque. It was a big group this Saturday with 8 players, 4 girls and 4 boys. Naturally it was boys against the girls. The girls jumped off to a big lead of 9 to 3. The first one to 13 wins. There was lots of kibitzing and measuring to see who was closer (got the point).

The girls were mean and aggressive. Jane once hit my ball out of the way when it was the closest to the couchonnet (the little ball that is the target) and left her's getting the point. It was a great shot, but not very nice to her poor husband. In any case the skill of the boys finally prevailed. Here are the winners!!!

After going to the Saturday market to restock our new kitchen, we returned to our new apartment. The view is even more incredible than from our old one as it is about 180 degrees, high up and right by the water.

Our apartment is the one on the top floor of the yellowish/orangish building that sticks out closest to the water. As a point of interest, you may recall that a sailboat sunk in the wind storm a couple of weeks ago. It is still there. You can see the mast in the foreground of the picture.

This apartment is smaller than our old one, and the kitchen is particularly small. Nevertheless, we were able to prepare a delicious dinner for our first night. Here we are having used up almost all of the counter as well as the stove top as we dish up.

And here is the final gourmet delight - faux filet; sautéed mushroom, onions and leeks; roasted tomatoes; fresh broiled asparagus; baked (literally in the oven as there is no microwave) potatoes with crème fraiche and of course some red wine.