Villefranche sur mer - Fall 2025 - 7

 Dear Friends,

We leave tomorrow to start our trip back to the United States.  We are sad to be leaving, but it is always nice to go home despite what Trump is doing to our country.  When we are in France, I feel like I am not doing my part to save our democracy.  I will have to make up for that when we get back.

When we are here, we do not have a car so we take public transportation all the time.  You need to have a ticket, and you need to scan it before/as you get on the bus.  You can be fined if you are caught without a scanned ticket.  In all our time here, we had never been checked nor seen anybody getting checked until a couple of days ago.  The French do not seem to ever take advantage of what is really an honor system.  Yesterday when our bus arrived at the port of Nice, the transportation police were there, and they checked each person who got off the bus.  Then they entered the bus and checked several people, including us, who were not getting off at that stop.  Fortunately, we had scanned our tickets as soon as we got on the bus as we always do.  Thankfully we were not ugly Americans.

The Villefranche weather is being very nice to us today.  It knows we are leaving so it is very sad.  First the low hanging clouds over the hills above us descended into the town and now it is raining, a slow but constant rain.  But the town is very charming even with the low hanging clouds and rain.

So for now we must say goodbye to Villefranche.  Fortunately we will return soon.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villeffranche sur mer - Fall 2025 - 6

 Dear Friends,

Even in paradise, there are chores to be done on a Saturday morning. I hope my pants and sweater will dry because I plan to wear them tonight as we are going out to Le Serre, our favorite restaurant with our French teacher and her family.  Hope for the sun to shine and the breeze to continue.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche sur mer - Fall 2025 - 5

 Dear Friends,

I took this picture rather haphazardly and didn't realize what it meant until I looked at it later.  

Villefranche has been a city of many things in its centuries long history.  Much of its history revolves around the fact that the bay of Villefrance (the "Rade") is the, or at least one of the, only deep water well protected bays on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.  

For many years it was known as a fishing village with many families depending on the sea and the fish in it for their livelihoods.  I do not know the exact number of families, but people here talk about more than 25 to 30 in the not too distant past.  Today there are one or two fisherman who you can see going out each day.  There may be others but you only see one or two boats at a time in the Rade.  If they have fish that have not been promised to restaurants and retail outlets, you can buy them at the quay.

Now you will see more paddle boards, motorized hydroplanes and even super yachts on the bay than fishing boats and the economy of the town is now very dependent on tourism.  Unfortunately much of the old town life has changed even in the 11 years that we have been coming here.  There used to be two full time boulangeries, a green grocer and a butcher in the old town.  Now there is a full time boulangerie that is struggling and only really offers bread when it is open.  The green grocer is gone.  The butcher will probably be gone when Pascal retires.  Even now, if he takes time off, the shop is closed.  If you don't know the various schedules, you can find yourself in the old town without any place to buy a loaf of bread or a bottle of wine.

The smart mayors of towns like this understand that the old town is what keeps the tourists coming and the charm and character of the old town needs to be protected if the tourism economy is to continue.  This year is an election year for mayors all over France.  The current mayor of Villefranche is facing a real challenge.  His primary challenger understands Villefranche and what it needs to succeed which balances the needs of the people who live here and the needs of the old town which supports the economy.  It is a difficult balancing act.  The current mayor doesn't seem to understand the competing dynamics so we are hoping his challenger will win so at least there is a chance of preserving both the old town and a wonderful city for the people who live here.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche sur mer - Fall 2025 - 4

Dear Friends,

Today it is raining and cool, an all around crappy day.  We had a three hour french lesson this morning as we do four mornings a week, with homework each day.  We had a great lesson learning about such things as "until" when preceded by a negative statement compared to "until" when preceded by a positive statement.  Trump will not stop until the people stand up to him (Trump va s'arrêter pas avant que les gens lui tiennent tête.)  Trump will continue saying crazy things until he can no longer talk. (Trump va continuer à dire des choses insensées jusqu'à ce qu'il puisse plus parler.)  You can see the one that starts with the negative phrase uses avant que for until and the other uses jusqu'à ce que.  In both cases the until phrase uses the subjunctive.

While having that grammar rule reinforced in us was fun, it was not the highlight of the day.  The highlight was having lunch with friends, Melinda and Jean Paul at La Table de la Réserve in Beaulieu.  La Table de la Réserve is a small chic bistro that is part of La Réserve de Beaulieu, a really fancy and very expensive hotel.  It has an extreme gourmet restaurant, Le Restaurant des Rois (the restaurant of the kings), a place fit for Trump.  

By comparison here is La Table de la Réserve where we had lunch.

The chefs use La Table de la Réserve to try out new and exciting recipes and combinations.  Those of us that have lunch there get incredible food, creatively presented at a fantastic price.

At both restaurants you can order from an à la carte menu or a special menu where you get several courses.  Here is the special menu for La Table de la Réserve for this week.  The cost for this menu is 28 euros.

The menus for Le Restaurant des Rois range in price from 195 euros to 295 euros.   I am afraid that we will never see the inside of Le Restaurant des Rois, much less eat there.

Tonight we are having penne pasta with tomato sauce and sauté zucchinis, onions and tomatoes with a 10 euro bottle of wine and followed by a piece of chocolate.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche sur mer - Fall 2025 - 3

 Dear Friend,

Even though I wanted to sleep in today (Sunday), I was up at 7:00 am and was rewarded by this beautiful sea and sky.  It doesn't fully capture the beauty and calm of the moment, but I am not Ansel Adams.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche sur mer - Fall 2025-2

 Dear Friends,

We found a No Kings protest in Nice so off we went.  It was on the Promenade des Anglais which is the huge promenade along the giant bay beach in Nice.  There is a part of it called, Quai des États Unis on which is located a replica of the Statue of Liberty.  There were between 50 and 100 enthusiastic resisters.

Keep Resisting!!

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche sur mer - Fall 2025 -1

Dear Friends,

It has been a long time since I have written.  We were in fact in Villefranche for January and February 2025 and had a great time, but I didn't write.  We are now back for a three week stay in October.  Much is different.  For a variety of reasons we are not in our regular apartment which feels odd.  The new apartment has some very nice qualities.  The view is spectacular.

The building is located just across the street from the old town so everything is very convenient.  There are lots of windows and sliding glass doors so it is very light and airy.  It also has an elevator which is great because it is on the 5th floor.  The apartment is made from two smaller apartments so it is a little strange, and it is very minimalist.  The kitchen has an induction stove top but no oven other than a sort of grill in a tiny microwave that is placed very high.  There are lots of plates and utensils but the pots and pans are sorely lacking and they are all non stick.  There is, in fact, no sauce pan.  There are no kitchen garbage cans or placemats and only one small kitchen towel and a couple of napkins.  Except for the lack of an oven all the problems could be easily and inexpensively solved.  We bought some napkins, placemats and towels that will work well for us at home.  We are somehow managing to survive and make some decent meals.

Steak, artichoke, baked potato and provençal veggies

chicken breast, roasted potatoes and asparagus

pork chop, mushroom dijon sauce, zucchini onion and tomato sauté, baked potato

chicken breast, rice, peppers and onions, provençal veggies

Of course we have not eaten all our dinners at home.  As usual we had dinner at Le Serre on the first night.  It was so great to be back again.

For my birthday dinner, we went a little more upscale to Le Bistro de L'étoile.  It was a perfect evening to sit on their great terrace and soak in the ambiance.

The food was also delicious.

filet de loup (sea bass)

tuna

île flottante

I also went for my annual birthday swim in the Mediterranean.  It was beautiful and refreshing, and the beach was quite crowded.  You have to take my word for it that I am the one waving from the sea.

Of course Jane was there to record the swim and watch out for me.

I have played pétanque.  The group is smaller in the fall, but the competition is intense.  Needless to say, I won.  Just look at that form.

So we are happily ensconced in our own little paradise while the world crumbles around us.  Neither  France nor the United States has a budget as required by law, but in France the government is still open although the prime minister who resigned last week was reappointed one day later.  Government stability is lacking here but at least they are still a democracy.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal