We actually went over the line a couple times driving on windy roads through the mountains, going through and by small French towns, then small Italian towns, then back again through the Alps foothills. One of my great-grandmothers might have been from around here. She always said she was French but the birth certificate said Italy. I can see how you could get confused.
Eventually the mountains dwindled down into the sea, which we followed along, passing Nice and Cannes, until arriving in the small town of Saint-Clair by evening.
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Amanda's parents stayed in their apartment, which they'd be working on for much of the stay, while the two of us were in her uncle's next door.
It was strange to unpack and know that we weren't going to be moving within the next couple of days. But it was very nice to know that we could start up some laundry. Italy was a great place to move every few days and pack our days to the brim. Saint-Clair called for a different traveling lifestyle. And I was ready for it; a certain amount of travel fatigue had set in and I was looking forward to relaxing.
We walked the 200ft to the beach, took a good look around, and got dinner at a nearby restaurant. Lots of delicious seafood, fish and mussels. Unfortunately no crustaceans for me since my body decided to become allergic to them in the last couple of years.
The following day, we had a nice leisurely breakfast on the patio. The sky was cloudless, and we went for a good little run through town while the washing machine worked non-stop.
We began our beaching in the late morning. Apparently in August there's hardly room to place your towel, but late June is still plenty sunny and warm. The water is usually nice and clear and a great temperature for swimming. There's a good little pontoon to swim out to too. It was great to relax, get some sun, read, swim, dry off, repeat. Then for lunchtime, just hop back to the house, then right back out there. It's really not a bad way to spend your time. I guess you'll just have to trust me on that one.
In the evening, we walked along the waterfront to Le Lavandou, a larger town next to Saint-Clair. There's this great path over the rocky shore that connects the two waterfronts.
We got a drink before making mushroom pasta and stuffed zucchini from their garden for dinner. The nights were lovely.
The next morning, we drove to the nearby town of Bormes-les-Mimosas. There are sizable outdoor markets that move from town to town during the weekend, so we were tracking down one of those. Bormes is also famous for its flowers. We had breakfast there before wandering around the market. Lots of food, linen, clothes, and much more. We had our eyes out for some stuff for the upcoming Chicago apartment.
We strolled through the town, which is nice and compact and old. We picked up some postcards, checked in online, and headed back down the hills to Saint-Clair for the good ol' beach-lunch-beach routine. Except I think this time we mixed in a little tandem kayaking with some gear from the house. That night we got yummy pizza (because no way we had enough in Italy) and topped it off with ice cream (see last parenthesized comment).
The following morning, it was Le Lavandou's turn for the market, so we got there at a good hour after breakfast at the house. Amanda and I then spent the day on the island of Port-Cros, part of the three island Îles d'Hyères. Port-Cros is a national park, so we were looking forward to that. It has some small forts dotting it too.
We did a nice little hike to one of the beaches there (Baie de la Palud), where we could also use our snorkeling gear.
This little hero was chasing seagulls like it was his job.
There aren't many ferries back and forth, so we made sure to get back to the port in time, getting a cool beverage nearby. It would have been a nice island to explore further.
Back at the house, we had a relaxing evening of food. Ratatouille, leftover pasta, steak, mmm.
The next day was Day 25, July 1st. We all went to Saint-Tropez, a substantially larger and ritzier Riviera town not too far away.
In between the absurdly large yachts-for-hire and the trendy people, it's actually quite a pretty place. It was also the first town in Southern France to be liberated in WWII. Joseph Heller's B-25 bombed gun platforms not far away.
We went to a nice impressionist museum there.
Lunch was more delicious seafood. On the way back to Saint-Clair, we stopped to pick up groceries and more hardware supplies for the renovation. Then it was clearly the time for more beaching. That evening was really good risotto and leftover chicken.
The next day, we thought that the market was back in Le Lavandou but were incorrect. Oh well! Back to the beach. This was our last full day there, so we really had to beach hard. And eat up a lot of leftovers for lunch.
A couple of days there were the most adorable little baby twin boys in matching blue onesies and bucket hats. They were barely starting to walk, but scampered any way they could all over the place, leaving their mom and grandmother to keep them from killing themselves. In my mind they looked considerably like mini Philip Seymour Hoffmans. If that's not cute in your mind, make it cuter and then you have it.
We went back into Le Lavandou for really good Moroccan food that night. Then we had to follow it with ice cream.
The next morning we did some last laundry and a big clean so that we could close it up nicely. We had enough time to say a little goodbye to the beach by means of lying on it and swimming before starting the drive north in the late afternoon.
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